GoFundMe Releases New Tools and New Data to Help Students Pay for College

REDWOOD CITY, CA | February 15, 2017 — GoFundMe today released a new guidebook highlighting the growing trend of college students who are turning to GoFundMe to pay for tuition and other costs associated with college. In the last three years alone, over 130,000 GoFundMes have raised $60 million from over 850,000 donations for college tuition and related campaigns.

The GoFundMe Guidebook includes three sections:

National Data:
New national data about the growing trend of students using social fundraising to pay for school.

Step-by-Step Instructions and Tips to Launch a Successful GoFundMe:
Step-by-step instructions and important tips for students about how to create a successful GoFundMe to raise money for college.

State-Specific Data:
State-specific data about the cost of college and information about students in your state who have turned to GoFundMe to help reduce their college costs.

To view the guidebook, click HERE.

GoFundMe today also released a new college fundraising hub, which will serve as a resource for students and their communities. We want to make it as easy as possible for GoFundMe donors to find students, as well as giving students and their families the tips and tools they need for a successful campaign. Students and donors can visit the college fundraising hub here: https://www.gofundme.com/college-tuition-fundraising

GoFundMe has made these new resources available to all students, parents, faculty and staff at college campuses across the country to show how easy it is to reduce a student’s bills. GoFundMe will continue to share tips and best practices directly with students to empower them to start campaigns.

About GoFundMe
Launched in 2010, GoFundMe is the world’s largest social fundraising platform, with over $3 billion raised so far. With a community of more than 25 million donors, GoFundMe is changing the way the world gives.

For more than 100 years, The New York Times has raised funds to help those in need. Generous readers contribute to The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund to provide direct financial assistance to individuals and families going through a tough time. To raise awareness of the fund and show its impact, The Times shares the stories of some of its beneficiaries.

GoFundMe believes in empowering people to help people, and we are excited to collaborate with The New York Times to help raise money for this important fund. For the first time, The Neediest Cases Fund campaign on GoFundMe allows readers to easily donate and share comments online.

The 105th Neediest Cases Fund kicked off on November 13, 2016. To date, it has raised over $5.7 million, including $1.26 million from nearly 5,000 online donations. The donations poured in from all 50 states and 16 countries around the world, with an average donation size of $253.88.

To support the fund, click here:

#2 Best Workplace in Technology

Big news! GoFundMe was just named #2 Best Workplace in Technology by Fortune for 2017.

Fortune’s partner Great Place to Work evaluated companies based on key qualities: a sense of mission; trust (from managers) and autonomy (for workers); and a culture of teamwork and communication. Based on direct feedback from GoFundMe employees at all levels and teams, you can see just how much we love the work that we do and the people we get to work with.

Here are a few highlights:

GoFundMe’s mission is to empower people to help people, and it’s something all of us here are passionate about. Each and every day we strive to make it as easy as possible for GoFundMe campaign organizers to raise funds from donors all over the world.

We think our product manager Andrew Chang put it best: “On Fridays, I leave the office inspired by all of the love and compassion shown by people helping others in times of need. GoFundMe is helping people shine a light of hope and love in the world, a world that’s sometimes filled with darkness and despair.”

Kelsea Little, GoFundMe’s media director, adds: “Knowing that I can come into work every day and make a positive impact in someone else’s life is the best feeling in the world. And being surrounded by so many talented co-workers who feel the same way makes for a truly incredible working environment.”

Redwood City, CA — GoFundMe, the world’s largest social fundraising platform, today announced that it had acquired CrowdRise, the leading online fundraising platform for charities and non-profits.

“There is a perfect synergy between GoFundMe’s brand of person to person social fundraising and CrowdRise’s expertise in fundraising for charities through peer-to-peer, race events and corporate campaigns,” said GoFundMe CEO Rob Solomon. “GoFundMe aims to be the giving layer of the Internet. By joining forces with CrowdRise, we can offer both people and organizations the right fundraising strategy for any sort of cause they care passionately about.”

Going forward, CrowdRise will focus on fundraising for charity and fundraising for individuals will be directed to GoFundMe. CrowdRise will remain the same brand its users and partners love and trust, and continue to deliver its unique blend of services to its customers.

​”Our entire team at CrowdRise is incredibly excited to be a part of the GoFundMe revolution because we authentically share their vision,” said ​Robert Wolfe, CEO of CrowdRise. “We really believe that this combination is going to comprehensively rewrite the way the people take care of each other and act on their desires to make the world a better place. The scale of what we can do together is truly awesome.”

“From our first conversations, I knew CrowdRise and GoFundMe would be a natural combination,” said CrowdRise Founder Edward Norton. “We share the same conviction that there needs to be a platform specific to people’s passion to support causes just as much as there are platforms for their social lives, their business lives, and anything else. GoFundMe has built one of the most powerful tools for social good ever and we are so psyched to join forces with them.”

Since it was launched in 2010, more than $3 billion has been raised on GoFundMe from our community of more than 25 million donors. To date, there have been more than 2 million campaigns on GoFundMe.

CrowdRise was founded in 2010 by actor/activist Edward Norton, producer/activist
Shauna Robertson, and Robert and Jeffrey Wolfe. They have over 1 million members and 20,000 charities on the platform and CrowdRise’s campaigns have raised over $500 million for non-profit organizations.

In addition to supporting people’s individual campaigns for nonprofits, CrowdRise is the fundraising platform for many of the top endurance events in the country, including the Boston Marathon, New York City Marathon, Chicago Marathon, Ironman and Tough Mudder, along with thousands of small and medium size events.

A Look at the Growing Trend of Online Fundraising

Canadians Raise $140 Million from 1.8 Million Donations on GoFundMe

GoFundMe, the world’s largest online fundraising platform, today released new data highlighting the growing trend of Canadians raising money for personal causes on GoFundMe. Canadians have started 88,000 GoFundMe campaigns, raising $140 million from 1.8 million donations. In 2016 alone, GoFundMe campaign organizers in Canada raised more than $66 million.

“Time and again, Canadians have come together to help each other on GoFundMe. From sheltering the homeless to supporting families who have fallen on tough times, people across the country have shown their generosity, empathy, and willingness to make things better. We’re excited to see what can happen when even more Canadians are empowered to help one another,” said GoFundMe CEO Rob Solomon.

Heatmap of giving on GoFundMe across Canada

Donations Per Province and Territory

Total Donations to Canadian GoFundMe Campaigns

Ontario

KEY STATS

Alberta

KEY STATS

FORT McMURRAY FIRES

In May 2016, fires in Fort McMurray destroyed homes and businesses, ravaged entire communities, and displaced tens of thousands of Canadians. The GoFundMe community rallied together to support the victims and everyone impacted by the devastating fires.

6 Steps to a Successful GoFundMe Campaign

1. Share with Friends and Family on Facebook

If you’re raising money for something that you strongly believe in, chances are that the people in your life will be eager to support you.

Sharing on Facebook is the best way to reach out to those closest to you, and let them know what or who you are raising money for. Your friends and family will be the ones most willing to contribute, and will also be more likely to reach out to others on your behalf to share your campaign as well.
Key points:
-Sharing your campaign on Facebook increases donations by 350%. It really is that important.
-Be sure to add a personalized message when you share, explaining why your campaign means so much to you – a simple, direct, and heartfelt appeal will get you the most views.
-Ask your friends and family to “Like” and share your campaign on Facebook as well.

2. Share your link through email, text messages, and other social networks

After sharing your campaign on Facebook, you’ll want to spread the word to any other social networks and communities that you are a part of. Building a strong sense of community and awareness around your campaign will go a long way with maintaining consistent donation volume.

3. Make your campaign look its best

We recommend doing the following things to create a compelling campaign:
– Use a great photo or make a video.
– Write a catchy and descriptive title.
– Your Campaign Description will fill in the details and answer any questions donors and visitors may have. The best campaign summaries include an introduction of yourself, a brief explanation of what you’re raising money for, and why the cause is so important to you. You can also use this area to add more photos or videos.

4. Keep your donors in the loop

Donors and followers love to know how their donations are working for you. Keep your story fresh and interesting by posting frequent ‘Update Messages’ to your campaign. Make sure that you check the options to also post your updates to Facebook, Twitter, & Email.

5. Show your appreciation

Thank your donors! They’re spending their hard earned money to help you do something that is special and important to you. We’ve made it simple for you to let them know just how much their support means to you.

Tips for Donors

1. Donors fully protected — we guarantee it
Our platform is backed by the GoFundMe Guarantee, the first and only guarantee for crowdfunding. The GoFundMe Guarantee adds unprecedented security to all stages of the giving experience. Donors will now be protected by a refund policy in the very rare cases of campaign misuse, and funds raised by GoFundMe campaigns are guaranteed to go to the right person, ensuring donors’ intentions are honored and the recipient gets the help they need. Users can learn more about the GoFundMe Guarantee at gofundme.com/guarantee.

As more than 25 million donors already know, GoFundMe is the safest, most secure platform for giving. Campaigns with misuse make up less than one tenth of one percent of all campaigns. As the largest online fundraising platform in the world, GoFundMe is able to provide this guarantee so donors and recipients never have to worry about the rare cases where something goes wrong.

2. We’re looking out for you
Our top priority is a safe, seamless donation process. To achieve that, we employ state-of-the-art fraud-prevention technologies and a team of dedicated specialists working to protect you around the clock.

3. Get to know the campaign
If you want to know more about a specific campaign, contact the Campaign Organizer directly by clicking the icon next to their name on the campaign page. Learn more about the transparency guidelines that we urge all campaign organizers to follow.

4. Still have questions?
Just ask. Our team is here to help, and we’ll get back to you with a rapid response in 5 minutes or less.

Wednesday, December 7 will mark the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the GoFundMe community has raised over a quarter of a million dollars for commemoration events and travel to the historic site.

More than 100 GoFundMes were created in honor of this anniversary, including:

Pearl Harbor 75th for Ed Hamilton
Boston, Massachusetts

Ed Hamilton is a World War ll vet from South Boston. His community set up a GoFundme Page so that they can donate to help defray the costs of his going to Hawaii to attend the 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor.

Pearl Harbor 75th Anniversary
Schaumburg, Illinois

For the last 5 years, Paolo Cascio has been photographing veterans, and his dream has been to document the final survivors of the USS Arizona. Thanks to his GoFundMe, he’s currently in Hawaii, filming and taking photos of these Pearl Harbor heroes.

KMS Marching Saints to Pearl Harbor
Kerkoven, Minnesota

The KMS Marching Saints have been selected to participate in the 75th Anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. They are honored to be the only band to represent Minnesota in tribute to those who fought at Pearl Harbor.

For more Pearl Harbor campaigns, visit this page.

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‘Twas the night before Black Friday and all through the town,
Folks were all dreading what was ‘bout to go down.
They’d saved up their money and gassed up their cars
And set the GPS for where the stores are.

They’d buy and they’d buy. You can just bet
They’d load up their carts. They’d get, get and get.

But when the time came, here’s something strange.
All the stores opened and nobody came.
They stayed home with family, they stayed home with friends.
They looked at the season through a new kind of lens.

“Getting” they said, “Is no way to live.”
Much better than getting is to give, give and give.

But how do you give? It’s not hard. I’ll explain:
You just see a need, then you start a campaign.

Here is a young student who can’t make tuition.
Start a campaign. Bring her dreams to fruition.

Here is a family struggling to cope.
so start a campaign and give them some hope.

And here is a vet whose mortgage is late
And an amazing kid with an uncertain fate

You’ve got the idea. You know what to do.
Start a campaign to help them out too!

Then rally your friends to join in your quest.
That’s how campaigns turn out the best.
Because, you, you, and him, her, him you and me
Are so much more powerful joined together, as “We.”

So let’s get a move on. Let’s contact our friends.
Let’s invite them to be part of the trend

Talk to your siblings, your dad, and your mom
And start your campaign at GoFundMe.com

With the holiday fundraising season just around the corner, we at GoFundMe are thrilled to announce a new partnership with PayPal Giving Fund that will give charities and nonprofits an exciting new way to boost donations. It also empowers ordinary people to make an extraordinary difference by starting a GoFundMe for a charity—with more than one million charitable organizations so far to choose from.

What’s more, as part of GoFundMe’s #GoBeyondGiving Challenge, any campaign started on behalf of a charity before December 9 will have the chance to win a $10,000 donation—all you have to do is add the hashtag #GoBeyondGiving and have at least 10 unique donors.

Read on for more about how you can go beyond giving this season with our partnership with PayPal Giving Fund.

I work at a charity. What does this partnership and #GoBeyondGiving Challenge mean for me?

Great news! Thanks to this new partnership, you now have an additional way—and a very special reason—to rally donors to your organization.

Here’s how to get your supporters involved in #GoBeyondGiving: Visit this page and you’ll be prompted to enter your name, email address, and the tax ID of your charity. You’ll then receive a custom link and social media copy that you can send to your audience so they can fundraise on behalf of your charity. By adding the hashtag #GoBeyondGiving to the campaigns they start, your supporters will be entered to win a $10,000 donation toward your charity.

I want to give back to a charity this season. What can I do?

Glad you asked! We’re encouraging everyday people to #GoBeyondGiving by starting a GoFundMe for charity. Thanks to this partnership with PayPal Giving Fund, you can now find over a million charities to fundraise for on the GoFundMe platform. Just start here and we’ll walk you through each step of the process.

What are some of the charities I can find on GoFundMe?

Though there are over a million worthy charities on GoFundMe, here are 10 charities that are are among the most popular on our platform—and all are 3 or 4 star rated charities by Charity Navigator. Start a campaign for one of these organizations to give back today.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of America (3 stars)
Doctors without Borders, USA (4 stars)
ALSAC – St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital (3 stars)
American Refugee Committee (4 stars)
Make-A-Wish America (3 stars)
Water for People (4 stars)
Equality Florida Institute (3 stars)
Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (4 stars)
Helping Hand for Relief and Development (4 stars)
Susan G. Komen for the Cure (3 stars)

For more than 100 years, The New York Times has raised funds to help those in need. Generous readers contribute to The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund to provide direct financial assistance to individuals and families going through a tough time. To raise awareness of the fund and show its impact, The Times shares the stories of some of its beneficiaries.

GoFundMe believes in empowering people to help people and we are excited to collaborate with The New York Times to help raise money for this important fund. For the first time, The Neediest Cases Fund campaign on GoFundMe allows readers to easily donate and share comments online.

How to Donate

The 2016-17 campaign runs from Nov. 13, 2016 through Feb. 3, 2017. The fund distributes its donations to eight nonprofit organizations who serve people of all ages and backgrounds in New York and beyond. You can donate directly to the fund here:

On Sunday through Thursday, The New York Times will profile individuals who have been helped by the fund. Each story will include a GoFundMe campaign, allowing readers to contribute directly from the story. We are already seeing generous readers take action and help those in need. In the first week of the campaign, the GoFundMe community and The New York Times readers have contributed over $95,000 to the Neediest Cases Fund.

Empowering People To Help People

Charitable giving isn’t a new phenomenon. What’s different today is the ability to help just about anyone in the world in just a few clicks—and GoFundMe’s social fundraising platform does just that. We are continually working to make it possible for anyone to quickly raise funds for those in need. In minutes, you can donate to or create a GoFundMe campaign, share it on social media, and encourage your online networks to do the same.

GoFundMe makes it simple to lend a helping hand. Thanks to the generosity of the GoFundMe community and Times readers, we believe we can continue to spread empathy and to help more people than ever before. We’re excited about this collaboration, and we hope you consider donating to The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund.

About The Neediest Cases Fund
Established in 1911 by Adolph S. Ochs, publisher of The New York Times, The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund has raised $288 million since its inception. The Fund’s 105th annual campaign runs from Nov. 13, 2016 through Feb. 3, 2017. Each profile illustrates the stories of those who benefited from the fund and shows the difference that even a modest amount of money can make. The money is distributed to individuals through the fund’s eight participating organizations, often in small amounts targeted to specific needs.