GoFundMe, an eight-year-old crowdfunding site that has raised more than $5 billion, held top drives in the past year for charitable causes and disaster aid, according to a new report. The report noted that 61 percent of the people who gave to the site in 2018 were first-time donors.
GoFundMe declined to give the percentage of campaigns that are for nonprofits, but “we continue to see the charity space grow as more people and organizations leverage social fundraising, from people raising money on behalf of their favorite charities to nonprofits hosting big fundraising events,” said Rob Solomon, GoFundMe’s CEO, in a statement.
Most of the GoFundMe campaigns that raised the largest amounts this year were associated with nonprofits or charitable causes.
Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund is the largest GoFundMe ever. The campaign is still active and has raised $22 million and counting. A spokeswoman for GoFundMe said the results are a strong indication that nonprofits can succeed on the platform. In April, after the Humboldt Broncos bus crash in Canada that took the lives of 16 young hockey players, coaches, and staff, 141,984 individual donations from more than 80 countries were made to the Humboldt Broncos Memorial Fund — raising more than $15 million Canadian, or $11.2 million U.S. The Stoneman Douglas Victims’ Fund received $10 million from more than 26,000 people. Following the Parkland shooting, more than 60 drives were started to support the March for Our Lives in Washington, D.C. as well as dozens more fundraisers for local marches. The effort raised more than $3.5 million. Houses for Rohingya Refugees, which continues to raise money in collaboration with the charity Love Army, has attracted $2.1 million. The GoFundMe for the Tree of Life Synagogue victims has raised more than $1.2 million. Additional findings:
Causes big in the news were big with GoFundMe donors, such as the California wildfires. Nearly $30 million was raised in more than 9,000 drives to help those affected by the fires. Small fundraising efforts became global, like Frederick Joseph’s GoFundMe to help kids in his Harlem neighborhood see the movie “Black Panther.” That single GoFundMe turned into the #BlackPantherChallenge, inspiring more than 600 drives that raised nearly $1 million. The 10 states that gave the most as a percentage of the population were: 1. Alaska 2. Massachusetts 3. Colorado 4. Washington 5. Vermont 6. California 7. New Hampshire 8. Connecticut 9. New Jersey 10. Oregon. The 10 U.S. cities that gave the most as a percentage of the population were 1. Steamboat Springs, Colo. 2. Washington, D.C. 3. Redding, Calif. 4. Tallahassee, Fla. 5. Midland, Tx. 6. Tucson, Ariz. 7. Bend, Ore. 8. Gainesville, Fla. 9. Las Vegas 10. Lincoln, Neb.