Whenever I donate, I prefer to contact the person directly, vet them, verify with references, and then pay them directly -- why should GoFundMe get 6 or 7%, plus, if he's in Canada and I'm in the US, I have been dinged with "currency conversion fees", so why should I pay a bank on top of it all? I didn't say that I was making my donation on-line now, did I???

My first criteria will be -- if he was robbed, does he have a police report number?