The fundraising website GoFundMe saw a sharp uptick this year in the number of people using the platform for help covering the cost of housing, food and other day-to-day necessities, according to the company’s annual analysis of campaigns.
GoFundMe's self-published “Year in Help” report found that the number of campaigns launched to assist people with rent, utilities and groceries climbed 20% over the previous year. The platform’s fastest-growing category was “Charity,” followed by “Monthly Bills.”
GoFundMe’s analysis underlines growing worries across the U.S. about affordability. In recent months, some economists and lawmakers have sounded alarms about softer wage growth for lower-income workers, declining consumer confidence and tepid hiring.
The affordability issue is also starting to loom larger in national politics. President Donald Trump regularly insists that consumer prices have come down since his return to the White House in January. This week, Trump gave the economy during his second term an “A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus” grade in an interview with Politico.
In GoFundMe's "community causes" category, more fundraisers were launched this year to support food banks than any other cause, the company said in a news release accompanying the report.
Between the end of October and early November, GoFundMe saw a nearly sixfold increase in food-related fundraisers on the site. The timing coincided with a federal government shutdown that abruptly halted SNAP food assistance benefits and forced tens of thousands of federal employees to go without paychecks for several weeks.
“In a year marked by natural disasters and growing everyday needs, the power of help united communities like never before: with 2.5 donations made every second on average, people across the globe came to GoFundMe to lift up others, support nonprofits, and strengthen communities,” the company said in the release.
The “most generous” day of the year was Jan. 10, in the midst of the Los Angeles County wildfires. GoFundMe users in all 50 states raised a combined $265 million for wildfire relief, according to the company’s statistics.
Ireland topped the list of the “most generous countries” for the seventh year in a row, followed by the U.S. and the United Kingdom.
