GoFundMe expands to UK and Europe
Howard Lake | 6 January 2017 | News
Crowdfunding site GoFundMe has appointed John Coventry to leads its communications activities in the UK as it expands from the US to the UK and Europe.
Coventry, who joins from campaign platform Change.org, is the social fundraising platform’s first appointment outside the US. At Change.org he helped launched the UK operation before leading the European and global communications teams.
He will report to GoFundMe VP of Policy and Communications, Dan Pfeiffer, former Senior Advisor to President Obama. At the beginning Coventry will be joined in the UK by GoFundMe Media Director Kelsea Little.
GoFundMe suggested that other appointments were likely this year in Europe.
John Coventry has previously grown Change.org’s UK and European operations.
GoFundMe was launched on 10 May 2010 and has enabled people to raise £2.5 billion using it. People typically use it to raise money for themselves, a friend or loved one “during life’s important moments”. In particular it is used to raise funds for medical expenses, education costs, volunteer programmes, youth sports, funerals and memorials, and the latter includes for animals and pets.
GoFundMe in the UK so far
In the UK over 75,000 individuals have used GoFundMe to raise over £57m.
Successful UK campaigns on the platform include those for:
Coventry said:
Advertisement
“The power of the internet to give everyone the tools to stand up for the issues they care about is one of the defining stories of our times. GoFundMe is changing the way people raise and give money, and the team and product are incredibly impressive.”
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.