I find them in very poor taste, for the most part. The majority of the ones I've seen are cases where I say "that's what insurance is for." Things like house fires, car accidents, sudden death of the breadwinner, etc. I will absolutely donate GOODS to someone who is in need, but handing over money is something I'm not comfortable with in these types of situations.
There was a recent situation where a neighbor went on our neighborhood Facebook page to share the sob story of a family with 6 children who had been evicted from their rental home and are now living in a shelter. The dad has Type 2 diabetes, allegedly "cannot work" and the mom got laid off because she was missing too much work due to taking care of her kids. The story was full of excuses as to why the dad had not yet applied for disability, and was unable to make it to doctor appointments (no car) and the mom apparently cannot find a job because she has to take care of everyone. The GFM campaign was trying to raise money to get them back in a rental home and buy them a car. First of all, they wanted to come back and live in the same neighborhood, where rental homes go for about $3500-4000/month (it's a very expensive city, but there are several neighboring cities that are much less expensive). They already have a car, but wanted a second one so dad can get to appointments while mom works. We have public transit here, FWIW. This whole campaign was set up because the neighbor's 2 kids are "best friends" with two of this family's kids. The whole thing rubs me the wrong way. Like, this family doesn't want to give up their high standard of living so won't move elsewhere, and why does Type 2 diabetes mean that a dad can't watch his own kids before and after school so mom can work? And why is a couple who supposedly were both "professionals" not better prepared financially for this situation? They were living in a VERY nice home for several years and now find themselves in a shelter, which is admittedly terrible, but I feel like they would have had to be pretty irresponsible in the past to end up in this situation. I was happy to donate a bag of my boys old clothes since they asked for that as well, but I did not donate a penny to the GFM. Many people did, though, and have raised 15k of a 20k goal. The whole story is peppered with "this tragic situation could happen to anyone at any time" and I'm sitting over here thinking not so much, if you are a responsible adult.