Single Woman Launches A GoFundMe To Pay For A Matchmaker & Asks Followers To Donate $8000 To Help Her Find Love
Is finding a partner worth rallying community funding?
Scopio / Canva Pro Let’s get one thing straight — finding love in today’s world is not an easy journey. Many people struggle to find their “perfect match” in the trenches of the modern dating landscape.
Winnie Parker, a 30-year-old TikTok creator and single mom, is one of many people seeking (and struggling) to find love. She typically uses her platform of over 100K followers to discuss her dating life, but recently, things took an interesting turn.
In a now-deleted video, Parker asked her followers for a favor: a donation to hire a matchmaker.
Parker asked her followers to donate over $8000 for a matchmaker, so that she could find love as a single mother.
“I live in the worst city for dating statistically, and I think a matchmaker can weed out men … who are serious about looking for the love of their lives.”
There are a million ways to find a partner — a coffee shop, mutual friends, and dating apps, to name a few. While sourcing a professional dating expert like a matchmaker is an option, it comes with a hefty price tag.
After struggling in her own dating life, with particular difficulty finding “quality partners,” Parker decided matchmaking was her best option — however, as a single mother, she confessed, she can’t afford to hire one.
“I really want to hire a matchmaker,” she said in the video. “It’s exactly what I need. The only thing in my way is that hiring one is extremely expensive … That’s why I’ve created a GoFundMe account.”
Parker created a GoFundMe asking her ‘community’ to finance her dating journey.
Acknowledging that she couldn’t afford the price of a matchmaker — an investment that can cost anywhere from $1000 to $100K — she turned to her “community” of followers for help.
The GoFundMe, “Help Winnie Find Love,” was initially set with a goal of $3000; however, its description clarified that the actual fundraising goal is closer to $8000 for several months of services.
“I refuse to lose hope,” Parker wrote in the GoFundMe description. “I truly believe that investing in a matchmaker could be the key to finding my special someone who will embrace me and my little one with open arms.”
Photo: Anton Kornieiev / CanvaPro
The donation page has only sourced $225 as of this writing, but it has earned thousands of critics, comments, and videos condemning Parker for using her followers as a means to finding a partner. “Everyone is lonely and struggling with finding love,” one commenter wrote. “Why is she making it everybody else’s problem? Feels so out of touch.”
Parker's critics claimed she was taking advantage of her followers. ‘Finding a partner is a choice, not a requirement,’ they said.
With the prevalence of influencer scams, fake brand deals, and outrageously out-of-touch creators, it’s not surprising that the majority of the internet is using this opportunity to shame Parker for her request.
Hundreds of videos pointed out the unnecessary nature of her request, suggesting that finding a partner is “an individual choice” and not something that should be funded by followers looking for content.
“I find it so funny when people say that I’m desperate,” Parker said in a recent update. “Don’t get me wrong, I want to find love. Trust me, I have standards and refuse to settle … It blows my mind that we’re in 2024, and other women are shaming me for wanting to find love.”
Although Parker’s videos about self-love, individuality, and confidence have convinced many viewers in the comments that her initial donation request was valid, many others complained that her update was misguided.
“We’re not shaming you for wanting love,” one person wrote. “We’re shaming you because you’re taking advantage of your followers and making up this elaborate story for something you don’t need.”
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a news and entertainment writer at YourTango, focusing on pop culture and human interest stories.