In the last six months, the GoFundMe team has witnessed first-hand the incredible results that can be produced through crowdfunding. Not only has GoFundMe already set two records this year: the largest and fastest growing UK campaign and the largest worldwide campaign, we’ve also worked with campaigns that have prolonged lives, provided bionic legs and salvaged well-deserved holidays!
Here’s our round-up of top trending campaigns in 2016, highlighting how powerful GoFundMe has become as a tool for communities to show their support for people in times of need:
The Jo Cox campaign, which was set up in memory of the Labour MP who was tragically stabbed in June, became GoFundMe’s largest and fastest growing UK campaign. In just two days, the fundraising page received over 27,000 donations and, to date, has raised over £1.5 million. Our team worked with Jo’s family and friends to deliver a full scale PR push resulting in coverage in over 48 media titles including Mail Online, ITV News, Huffington Post, International Business Times plus a huge amount of traction on social media.
The Pulse Victims Fund was set up following the devastating Orlando shootings in Florida as a way of supporting the victims’ families. In one day, the campaign raised over $2 million and the total currently surpasses over $7.7 million. Our team reached out to the UK news desks as well as LGBT publications to ensure the fundraising page was covered internationally and encourage further donations from the British population. Coverage included Gay Times, Evening Standard Online, Telegraph Online and many more.
In July, around 140,000 holidaymakers were hit by the collapse of online travel agency, Lowcostholidays. Amidst rumours they may only be entitled to £7.78 in compensation, a number of families turned to GoFundMe in a desperate attempt to raise funds towards a new holiday. Our team collated and shared these campaigns with the UK media to help raise awareness and funds for these heartbroken families. The story gained 12 pieces of coverage including Guardian Online and print, MSN, Travolution and TTG.
The #BionicBruno campaign was launched to help Bruno, a world adaptive champion surfer walk again. At the age of 27, Bruno was tragically caught in an attempted hijacking resulting in a car accident in Cape Town, South Africa which left him paralysed from the waist down. Bruno set up a GoFundMe page to raise funds for bionic legs to allow him to walk again. The page received a great deal of attention and has raised over £29,000 to date. Our team secured international coverage in Lad Bible, Express Online, BBC South West, ITV and more!
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For further press information, please contact:
Jane Eggleton/Melissa Hobson/Natalie Garland/Sarah Sullivan
Rooster PR
T: +44 (0)20 3440 8925
E: [email protected]
About GoFundMe
GoFundMe was launched on 10 May 2010 and has quickly become the world’s most popular fundraising website for personal causes and life events, raising $840 million dollars since launch!
GoFundMe provides an ideal platform for people to organise their own campaign to raise money and invite those in their community to support their fundraising. People can use GoFundMe to raise money for themselves, a friend or loved one during life’s important moments. They can also share their campaign with my built-in connections via Facebook, Twitter or email.
People can use GoFundMe for things like medical expenses, education costs, volunteer programmes, youth sports, funerals & memorials – even animals and pets.
For more information, or to set up a fundraising page, visit www.gofundme.com or follow GoFundMe on Twitter or Facebook.
