GoFundMe’s new tools will make it easier to spread the word across all online platforms with a focus on younger generations.
The crowdfunding site hopes to meet digital natives in the online spaces where they often speak, simplifying the donation experience to inspire nonprofits and connecting mainstream nonprofits with demographics that prefer direct donations to institutional giving. Among the features rolling out this fall are fundraising widgets for video game streamers, personalized profiles to highlight users’ personal interests and an integrated button on Instagram to donate.
“We play a very important role in helping people ask for help and give back to the world,” GoFundMe CEO Tim Cadogan told The Associated Press. “We want to make sure that people can manage that, and communicate and express that, in the places where they spend time.”
The products reflect the for-profit company’s internal recognition that Gen Z habits make social media an untapped resource to drive charitable giving. Gen Z respondents aged 18-26 are more likely than adults to regularly share causes or fundraisers on their accounts, according to a survey conducted this summer by GoFundMe. Half reported doing so at least once a week and 41% said social media content compelled them to research or support a cause.
GoFundMe allows users to create online fundraising pages where both their personal networks and kind strangers can help cover major expenses through collective gifts. People turn to the platform for help with basic needs like rent or unexpected emergencies like surgery. The company collects a 2.9% commission and 30 cents on every donation.
He is not the only player in this space. But GoFundMe, already the world’s largest crowdfunding site with $30 billion generated since 2010, has recently moved to expand its influence in the philanthropic sector. It signed a deal in 2022 to acquire Classy, an online fundraising platform that helps give exclusively to non-profits.
The latest announcement marks GoFundMe’s entry into a market dominated by rival Tiltify, which allows fundraising on virtual live streams. On Monday, GoFundMe released video fundraising widgets for live streamers across platforms including Twitch and Instagram Live. The QR code brings viewers to the donation page and the tracker shows how close the campaign is to reaching its goal.
The move also reflects GoFundMe’s continued efforts to better serve its nonprofit partners beyond day-to-day organizers.
The Meta partnership will be launched on October 31st on Instagram for editors in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia. GoFundMe promises “seamless” integration of fundraisers into Instagram stories and a “polished look” to help campaigns stand out.
Nonprofits will be able to further grow donor relationships by identifying data on donors who donate through Instagram, according to a company spokesperson.
“It’s equally important for us to support nonprofits that are often working on very big, big, deep structural issues,” Cadogan said.
The company also creates user profiles. As of Nov. 13, individuals and organizations can personalize their accounts with more details about their giving.
Custom pages can be made private. But Cadogan said the goal is to encourage others to take action with more public announcements about users’ charitable efforts. Organizers can pin a fundraiser or nonprofit on their page with a brief explanation of why the cause is important to them. Unique links will track cumulative impact with reminders of how many people have donated money through a link on your profile.
If LinkedIn is a site where users highlight their professional side, Cadogan said he wants GoFundMe Profiles to be a site where people show that “I am a person who is doing good in the world.”
“We hope that eventually that becomes a place on the Internet where you express your personal side,” he said.
Youth-focused organizations must follow young people in the arenas where they find community, according to Fast Forward Executive Director Shannon Farley. His organization helps nonprofits measure their impact with software and he previously ran an online network of millennial philanthropists.
Online spaces offer a “real opportunity” for digital startup nonprofits, he said, but it’s hard for a “traditional, brick-and-mortar organization” to break into them.
“Social media is where young people and young donors live,” Farley said. “If you don’t go to places where people are every day, you’re missing out on a whole group of people who might support your cause.”
-James Pollard, The Associated Press
Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits is supported by AP’s partnership with The Conversation US, with funding from the Lilly Endowment Inc. AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit
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