GoFundMe campaigns from the wealthy receive more donations than those from poorer people, a new study shows.
It comes as millionaire actress Alyssa Milano faced criticism for setting up a fundraiser for her son’s baseball team. She joins Bella Hadid, Kylie Jenner and Megan Fox, who have previously been criticized for asking for donations.
In the study called Money to Burn: Crowdfunding Wildfire Recoveryresearchers from Colorado and Wisconsin analyzed data on crowdfunding campaigns from the 2021 Marshall Fire in Colorado.
They found that crowdfunding beneficiaries with incomes above $150,000 received 28 percent more support than beneficiaries with incomes below $75,000 as a result of the natural disaster.
They said the difference between how good GoFundMe is for rich and poor people is based on the social network of the rich.
Several celebrities have faced backlash for asking their fans to donate to GoFundMe campaigns instead of using their own wealth
Both Kylie Jenner and Megan Fox have faced backlash for not using their riches to pay for their friends’ GoFundMe requests
“Higher-income people have broader and deeper networks of financial support than their lower-income counterparts, even if they come from the same area and face the same disaster,” the study said.
According to the study, Marshall Fire GoFundMe campaigns have raised $23 million in just a few weeks. By comparison, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provided grants to individuals totaling just $2 million.
Homeowners who received FEMA assistance for property damage from the Marshall Fire received an average of $2,564, the study said.
By comparison, the researchers found that the average GoFundMe campaign for Marshall Fire survivors raised $23,744. Among homeowners, the average was $31,422.
The researchers found that a total of 10 percent of fire survivors with a GoFundMe campaign received more than $60,000, while 12 percent raised less than $5,000.
Founded in 2010, GoFundMe reported raising more than $106 million for natural disaster relief by 2023. The New York TimesThat’s about one-seventh of the amount FEMA has spent on individual disaster assistance grants — $765 million.
Several celebrities have faced backlash for asking their fans to donate to GoFundMe campaigns instead of using their own wealth.
Charmed star Alyssa Milano made headlines last week when she shared a GoFundMe post asking for $10,000 in donations for her son’s baseball team’s trip.
People wondered why a Hollywood actress worth an estimated $4 million, who drove her $200,000 electric Porsche Taycan with son Milo on Saturday, would have to beg for $10,000 donations from her fans of more modest means .
Despite the criticism, the fundraising page for the Birds 12U team has raised more than $11,000.
In August, supermodel Bella Hadid received disapproval from fans for sharing a GoFundMe page for her friend and holistic healer Tracy Piper, Cosmopolitan reported.
The fundraising page was temporarily suspended after Hadid shared it for violating the company’s terms of service, which prohibit offering rewards or giveaways.
The page reportedly asked for “help in completing the purchase of our upstate New York location to continue helping people with health issues find alternative and holistic ways to improve their health.”
Researchers analyzed crowdfunding campaign data from the 2021 Marshall Fire (pictured) in Colorado and found that beneficiaries with incomes above $150,000 received 28 percent more support than beneficiaries with incomes below $75,000
According to the study, Marshall Fire’s GoFundMe campaigns (pictured) have raised $23 million in just a few weeks. By comparison, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provided grants to individuals totaling just $2 million.
People wondered why Milano, who is worth an estimated $4 million and was spotted with son Milo on Saturday in her $200,000 electric Porsche Taycan, should beg for $10,000 donations
Megan Fox faced backlash after asking fans to donate to a GoFundMe for her longtime nail tech Brittney Boyce, whose 64-year-old father Michael is battling pancreatic cancer.
Fans expressed their outrage on social media as they accused the star of ‘money hoarding’ by asking people ‘much poorer’ than her to reach into their own pockets.
In March 2021, Kylie Jenner came under fire for asking her fans to help pay for a makeup artist’s brain surgery needed after a car accident, revealing that she herself had donated $5,000.
The original goal was $10,000 and $6,000 had already been pledged, so she added another $5,000 to exceed the goal. The amount pledged increased to more than $100,000 after Jenner’s support became public.
Yet Jenner was criticized for not doing more for the makeup artist with whom she worked only twice in 2015, when he was still a stylist.
