# Meet the GoFundMe campaign organisers who have made a difference

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2016/08/12/meet-gofundme-campaign-organisers-made-difference/
- Published: 2016-08-12T17:23:30+01:00
- Author: Guest Blogger

**How much of a difference can one person make? It’s a question many of us ask ourselves,
especially if you’re a professional fundraiser.**

We think the answer is: a whole lot. And to show you why, we’re highlighting how
some the most powerful campaigns on GoFundMe generated their tear-jerking, awe-inspiring
results. These campaign organisers aren’t charity professionals, but they can remind
us all how to best galvanise an online community to make remarkable things happen
for an important cause.

## An InnoWalk for Christopher Hardman

Taking steps and being able to kick a football are abilities most of us take for
granted, but these small acts had been out of reach for 12-year-old Christopher 
Hardman, who suffers from a neuromuscular condition—that is, until a [wildly successful campaign](https://www.gofundme.com/innowalk-for-chris)
organised by his mum Natalie raised over £28,000 from more than 350 donors in just
five months.

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Natalie learned about a life-changing piece of technology called an ‘InnoWalk,’ 
which would allow Christopher to re-engage his muscles and improve his overall health.
The InnoWalk was well beyond what the Hardmans could afford, so they started the
campaign in hopes of offsetting the costs.

We could see from the outset that the campaign was going to fly – of the first five
donations, three were of over £100 and the average contribution amount of the first
20 donations was almost £65. Often, when the average value of donations in the early
stages of a campaign is very high, new donors are encouraged to give more – so this
huge generosity from people inspired by Christopher’s story was great news for Natalie.
At the end of her campaign, the average donation amount was a staggering £82.

Just a few months later, thanks to the overwhelming generosity of donors from across
the UK, Christopher has his InnoWalk:

 

## Donate4Mike

To her save husband’s life from a rare form of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, Kate
has started not one but two incredibly successful campaigns. First, she organised
a #Shake4Mike stem cell donor drive that resulted in a transplant. Things seemed
to be going well—and she and Mike went from engaged to married—but in April of this
year Mike’s leukaemia returned and was spreading.

That’s when Kate started her second campaign, [#Donate4Mike](https://www.gofundme.com/donate4mike).
A combination of the heartfelt video plea on her page, the sense of urgency of her
appeal and the use of a hashtag to encourage social media shares – all of which 
make campaigns more likely to reach their full potential – worked to boost the campaign’s
profile and encourage donations from people across the UK.

In particular, we’ve seen that sharing a campaign on Facebook can really help to
boost the number of donations and the #Donate4Mike campaign page was shared over
23,000 times on Facebook.

In just over a week, she was able to raise the £400,000 needed for a new treatment
only available in the U.S. The campaign was such a success that it became the largest
ever GoFundMe campaign ever in the United Kingdom at the time. To date, #Donate4Mike
has raised an incredible £453,319 in three months, from over 22,800 individual donors.

What’s more, just recently Kate shared some hopeful news:

> “Prior to starting the therapy Mike’s bone marrow was almost completely made up
> of leukaemia cells. 28 days later there were none.”

## The Acts of Kindness Collective

Last year, Justin and Eoin were descending Everest Base Camp when a 7.9 earthquake
struck Nepal. They witnessed terrible death and destruction. Many in their place
would have tried to escape as soon as possible, but these two stayed and decided
they had to help. They created The Acts of Kindness Collective to raise funds for
the people who needed it the most after the devastating quakes.

Although the sense of urgency in the immediate wake of the earthquake would have
been a strong driver for people to donate, Justin and Eoin wanted to ensure their
campaign has longevity. With longer-running campaigns, regular updates and sharing
developments on how the money is being used is key for donors to realise the genuine
positive impact of their funds. This, in turn, encourages more people to continue
donating.

The [Acts of Kindness Collective](https://www.gofundme.com/AOKNepal) has harnessed
this power by posting regular updates to inspire the public. To date, they’ve raised
more than £80,000, and you can see their latest update in this video:

We think these campaign organisers have made a huge impact, and we see so many others
like them every day, making a difference in their communities because they chose
to take action.

Is there a campaign that inspires you? Let us know: [pr***@******me.com](https://fundraising.co.uk/2016/08/12/meet-gofundme-campaign-organisers-made-difference/pr***@******me.com)
⌊
Rob Solomon⌉_**Rob Solomon** is GoFundMe’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
[GoFundMe.com](http://www.gofundme.com/) is the world’s most popular fundraising
website for personal causes and life events and has raised £1.5 billion since launch._