Crowdfunding appeals for Grenfell Tower fire victims raise £200k in hours
Howard Lake | 14 June 2017 | News
More than 250 crowdfunding pages have been set up on JustGiving in response to the Grenfell Tower fire in West London in the early hours of this morning. JustGiving has set up an emergency landing page on its platform where you can see all the appeals that have been created to support the victims and their families.
So far more than £200,000 has been donated via these 250+ campaigns, and of course other crowdfunding appeals are underway on other platforms.
Charities and grantmakers
Significant campaigns include one for The London Community Foundation by the Evening Standard Dispossessed Fund on behalf of residents of the Grenfell Tower.
The appeal page reads: “The appeal and distribution of funds to victims in need of support will be run by the London Community Foundation which has administered the Dispossessed Fund since it was launched eight years ago.
It has already reached its target of £5,000, with donations from 154 supporters.
Family Action has set up an appeal and raised £19,812 from 676 supporters. The charity has nearly 150 years’ experience of giving grants to those most in need, including the basics for setting up a new home.
Local residents’ appeals
Kensington residents and neighbours have also set up JustGiving fundraising pages.
Karolina Hanusova, a volunteer at The Rugby Portbello Trust, has already raised over £139,459 from 5,402 donors. Karolina said:
“I know families affected. We’re raising funds to help the residents of the burned down Grenfell Tower, London, W11 to get back on their feet.”
Local teacher Hayley Yearwood‘s appeal has already raised over £126,365 from 4,116 supporters. Hayley said on the page:
“I am a teacher at a local school and know that many of our students and their families will be affected by this awful fire. It is a really close-knit community and the trauma will be felt for years to come. I’d like to help in any way possible.
“We’re raising £1,000,000 to help the families of Grenfell Tower, West London who have been devastated by a fire which has destroyed their homes and taken loved ones.”
A JustGiving appeal created by brother and sister Anass and Bochra Boudarka from Earls Court who have friends missing in the fire which has already raised over £23,828 of its £4,000 total from 989 supporters.
Anass and Bochra said: “We know people missing in the fire. Please donate anything you can to help families that have lost their homes in the Grenfell Tower fire. Let’s help them get their lives back together.”
Rhys Goode, spokesperson for JustGiving, said: “The thoughts of everyone at JustGiving go out to the victims of this terrible incident. The team here are doing all we can to help coordinate efforts to best help those affected.”
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The Big Give doubles donations
The Big Give has established a matched giving appeal for the victims and families affected by Grenfell Tower fire.
Our thoughts are with everyone affected by the #GrenfellTower tragedy & we are doubling #donations on @BigGive. https://t.co/ZacecO1IuA pic.twitter.com/saN7ZKWxrF
— Big Give (@BigGive) June 14, 2017
Within hours it had raised over £112,000.
Over £112k raised so far @ukfundraising @CivilSocietyUK @ioftweets @CharityComms @CharityDigiNews @CSFundraising https://t.co/GJIXYvaS8F
— Alex Day (@observationAL) June 14, 2017
It has been confirmed that the fire which took place in the 24-storey Grenfell Tower in Kensington, West London shortly before 1am this morning has already killed six residents and more than 50 people are recovering in hospital this morning.
However, it is unknown at this time the final number of casualties. It is reported that firefighters rescued ‘large numbers’ but London Mayor Sadiq Khan has said that ‘a lot’ of people were unaccounted for.
More
- Manchester firefighter sets up fundraising appeal for victims of the Grenfell Tower (Manchester Evening News)
- London fire donations: More than £250,000 raised for Grenfell Tower victims hours after devastating inferno (Evening Standard)
- £1m raised as offers of help pour in after Grenfell Tower fire (South Wales Argus)
Main image from JustGiving’s site by londonfromtherooftops.com
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.