GoFundMe, the online donation platform, announced Thursday (Nov. 30) it is introducing a zero percent platform fee with new, U.S.-based personal fundraising campaigns.
In a press release, GoFundMe said the move will make it possible for more people to get help as quickly as possible.
“The holidays are a time for giving and generosity. GoFundMe is always looking for ways to make fundraising easier, faster and more successful, and this time of year made perfect sense for introducing this pricing structure,” said CEO Rob Solomon. “From the beginning, our giving community has been incredibly generous. With this zero percent platform fee, we will rely on voluntary tips from our donors to help with the costs associated with providing our best-in-class customer service, trust and safety protections and social fundraising technology.”
The company said that for now, all charity and international campaigns on GoFundMe will retain their current pricing structure.
The move comes just in time for the holidays, a strong time for giving. Last December, the crowdfunding platform released its second annual giving report, which showed the company has helped campaigns raise more than $3 billion since the site launched back in 2010. The report also noted a few other milestones for the platform, including that it has 2 million program organizers and more than 25 million donors, and that the number of people helped through its campaigns tripled in 2016.
One of the things that have helped the company to scale and set itself apart from similar platforms is the uniquely personal nature of the GoFundMe campaigns. Fundraisers are launched for any manner of causes, while other crowdfunding sites, such as Kickstarter, have focused on creative or art-centered activities. Other more recent models have included equity crowdfunding, and activity has expanded to focus on small corporations and geographic reach.
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