GoFundMe opens fundraising doors for Australian charities

The world’s largest social online fundraising platform, GoFundMe, has launched a tool to unlock new donor potential and allow Australians to easily raise money for their favourite charity.  

Following successful launches in the US and Britain, GoFundMe’s charity fundraising feature enables Australians to raise funds on behalf of registered charities.    

The donations, which are tax deductible, are received and granted to charities via PayPal Giving Fund, a public ancillary fund and charity registered with the Australian Charities and Non-profits Commission.

GoFundMe CEO Rob Soloman said while charitable fundraising had long been associated with throwing spare change into a tin, technology was changing the way people gave.  

“We want to work alongside donors and charities to help them welcome the shift in the way people give, and the new GoFundMe features do just that,” Soloman said.

“Having helped thousands of charities fundraise more effortlessly since we introduced the same feature in the US and UK, we are excited to now bring it Down Under, to provide the same level of ease for our Australian users.”

Katherine Raskob, CEO of the Fundraising Institute Australia (FIA), told Pro Bono News that given the awareness of the for-profit crowdfunding platform she was hopeful the new tool would influence an upward trend in charitable giving.

“Given the number of users and causes for which donations have been sought to date, it may be that Australians see it – and other social media platforms – as an easy way to raise funds for the charities they support,” Raskob said.

“Perhaps total giving will increase, particularly as newer generations of potential donors are more accustomed to using social media platforms and transacting on them.”

She said charities should use the tools to complement the many other fundraising tools they used.

“Charities should take the time to learn about these new tools and platforms and have a level of detailed knowledge that makes them feel confident they are the right tools for their charity,” she said.

“They should also consider how they best work in the array of all the tools at their disposal, as well as ways to engage with donors following best-practice guidelines.”

The launch of the charitable giving tool comes after Facebook launched a tool late last year, allowing users to donate and fundraise for charities via PayPal Giving Fund.

Instagram also jumped on board in February, launching a fundraising sticker, which allows users to donate directly to a charity of their choice.

Raskob said the fact that GoFundMe was set up for the purpose of giving might mean it was more successful than other social media platforms who offer the same tools.

Since GoFundMe’s launch into Australia in 2016, over two million people have donated to campaigns, with more than $200 million donated to support various causes.

Australia is one of the company’s largest markets outside of the US, with over 700,000 campaigns donated to in 2018.