More and more people are turning to GoFundMe for help covering the cost of housing, food, and other basic needs.
The for-profit crowdfunding platform’s annual “Year in Help” report, released Tuesday, underscored ongoing concerns around affordability. The number of fundraisers started to help cover essential expenses such as rent, utilities, and groceries jumped 20%, according to the company’s 2025 review, after already quadrupling last year. “Monthly bills” were the second fastest-growing category behind individual support for nonprofits.
The number of “essentials” fundraisers has increased over the last three years in all of the company’s major English-speaking markets, according to GoFundMe CEO Tim Cadogan. That includes the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Australia.
In the United States, the self-published report comes at the end of a year that has seen weakened wage growth for lower-income workers, sluggish hiring, a rise in the unemployment rate and low consumer confidence in the economy.
Cadogan said GoFundMe can see that people are struggling to keep up with the rising cost of living.
“Someone may be behind on rent or needs a little bit of extra help to get through the next month,” Cadogan said. “That’s a function of what’s going on in these economies. And what is interesting is that people do step up and support folks in those situations.”
Among campaigns aimed at addressing broader community needs, food banks were the most common recipient on GoFundMe this year. The platform experienced a nearly sixfold spike in food-related fundraisers between the end of October and first weeks of November, according to Cadogan, as many Americans’ monthly SNAP benefits got suddenly cut off during the government shutdown.
These uses suggest that online crowdfunding has come a long way from its roots as a way for entrepreneurs to raise money for their artistic or business endeavors, according to University of Toronto postdoctoral researcher Martin Lukk.
Lukk, who studies economic inequality and co-authored a book about the “unfulfilled promise of digital crowdfunding,” said the findings act somewhat as a “barometer of where things are at in terms of desperation.”
“When there’s no other net to catch people, I think GoFundMe is where they often end up,” Lukk said.
Lukk cautioned that GoFundMe data doesn’t show the “full extent of the desperation” because not everyone in need participates and many users don’t end up reaching their goals. Organizers must have internet access and technological know-how, he said, and a successful campaign often requires savvy storytelling and strong social networks.
Iesha Shepard, 34, was initially embarrassed to ask for help.
The New Orleans native said she’s dealt with chronic heart failure ever since she was shot multiple times four years ago. A single mother of two daughters, she said she fell sick last month and hasn’t been able to work her part-time hotel job for the past three weeks.
Then came the eviction notice. As someone who “barely can make a living,” Shepard said she has struggled to keep up with the rising cost of rent and groceries. When her social security application got denied for the second time, she said she felt especially discouraged.
She turned to crowdfunding because, as she said, “I don’t want to be homeless with my children around the holiday time.”
“That was my last option,” Shepard said. “I prayed and I did a GoFundMe.”
She never expected the response she’s gotten. Her fundraiser has collected more than $1,000 of her $1,800 goal. Setting up the campaign was easy, she said, and the donations really ramped up after she uploaded TikTok videos about her situation. A Nov. 29 post has been viewed more than 10,000 times.
Cadogan said his team always hopes that countries have strong government programs around health, housing or seniors’ well-being, for example. But GoFundMe recognizes that no country’s systems address everything, he added.
At the end of a year that began with the Los Angeles wildfires that struck Cadogan’s community of Altadena, the GoFundMe CEO said he is “blown away” by the power of help. While asking for help can be a “difficult step,” he said, it is a “courageous act” that is worth taking.
“Taking that action opens the door to what can be incredible goodness,” Cadogan said.
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—James Pollard, Associated Press