Updated GoFundMe Review:
2014 Proves to be yet another GREAT year for GoFundMe
For the third consecutive year GoFundMe has maintained its
5
star ranking and remains our #1 pick.
Whether it’s an individual who needs help with medical bills, a student going off to college or a family in need after the passing of a loved one. GoFundMe continues to not only be an intuitive, easy to use site but they continue to provide the user support needed for campaign creators.
GoFundMe.com has also excelled in providing the premier crowdfunding platform for national news events. Some of the most successful campaigns of the year have been hosted on our top pick including campaigns for Rebuilding Ferguson, Relief for victims of the Boston Marathon Bombing, Colorado Flood Recovery, Oklahoma Tornado Relief or Hurricane Sandy. GoFundMe provides the perfect platform to offer aid directly to those effected. (GoFundMe Wiki)
The one thing we have found to hold particularly true is the interface seems to be the least intimidating. Many folks that consider crowdfunding as a method of fundraising find some of the competing websites to be rather intimidating. While Go Fund Me earns extra credit in our book by offering an easy to use interface that proves perfect for the “first time” crowdfunder. While still offering the Social Sharing features needed to help get the word out on your campaign.
Andy Ballester and Brad Damphousse, the company founders just announced some remarkable fundraising results for 2014. Total donations for campaigns were $470 million surpassing Kickstarters’ $444 million for 2014. In terms of dollars raised GoFundMe is now #1 crowdfunding platform in the world.
I suppose going forward people will no longer be looking for sites like Kickstarter or search for Indiegogo alternatives. I am proud to say that campaign creators and donors have voted, reaffirming what we have been saying for the last 3 years. Which is we can not recommend strongly enough that you visit GoFundMe for your personal fundraising needs.
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Congratulations to GoFundMe for being name the Crowdfunding Website Reviews
“Crowdfunding Platform of the Year” for 2013
This is their second consecutive year holding our top spot.
They continue to be the fastest among the fastest growing platforms, providing exemplary customer service and remain the platform with the most liberal acceptance policy. Allowing platform creators to create the campaigns needed for their financial needs and personal passions. We expect another incredible year from GoFundMe in 2014.
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There comes a time that almost every individual has the need to raise money. Whether it’s to achieve the goal of your dreams, fund your latest business endeavor, money for a youth sports team, raising money for school or paying medical bills that have piled up. You often need a way to reach out and get by with a little help from your friends. The most difficult part of this is having an outlet to help get donations from friends and family to support your cause. Building a website simply doesn’t make sense sometimes and you may not have the resources to collect money at that point. If you want a simple, easy to use, resource for ‘crowd funding’, check out gofundme.com.
Creation of a fundraising campaign, whether it’s a personal goal or a non-profit organization you’re looking to fundraise for, has never been easier. With a fully customizable interface, you can give your campaign the color design that you want, with the opportunity to import photos right into your campaign page. The amount raised versus your goal is prominently displayed, so your friends and family will know just how far you’ve come in financing your dreams.
Crowd funding is one of the hardest things to communicate to your friends and family. Often, your links are pushed aside because your campaign doesn’t offer any eye-catching content. With GoFundMe.com, you’re sure to know that your link will stand out on Facebook news feeds. Additionally, you have full-integration with Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+, so your crowdfunding campaign can be shared with friends of friends, and so many other people, allowing you to grow your exposure as much as 50 times what it normally would be if only your friends saw what you were trying to do with your dreams.
GoFundMe.com’s crowd funding platform offers everything you need for analyzing the success of your campaign. You can see how many people have viewed your campaign, who has donated, and how much they have donated.
Collecting donations has never been easier with GoFundMe.com. Their website accepts PayPal and most major credit cards with an easy to use payment processing provided by WePay. WePay is the most used payment processor specific to crowdfunding and currently handles over $30 million a month through various crowdfunding platforms. Friends and family can donate to your cause with just a few clicks of a mouse.
Crowdfunding was never meant to be easy, and we have no doubt your goals, even with funding, will be even harder. Trust GoFundMe to help you deliver the money you need to get what you want out of life or possibly save the life of another person.
One of the questions we are most commonly asked are:
Are there other crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter?
The answer we always give:
If you are looking for a Kickstarter Alternative, head over to GoFundMe.com, you won’t be disappointed
Not only is GoFundMe a site like kickstarter, quite frankly in our opinion, IT’S BETTER!!
When Family or personal friends ask my advise on raising money for schools, medical bills or youth sports teams, I have always been comfortable recommending GoFundMe.com for their campaigns. Which is why I am very comfortable recommending their crowdfunding platform on our website.
I took a look at Go Fund Me, and there are a couple of things that struck me right away. There are many photographs of smiling faces. I think that’s important, because it made me want to check out the site even more. But what really struck me was the layout of the site. Go Fund Me is user friendly. There’s nothing worst than having to deal with a site that is difficult to understand. I truly feel that if I have a cause I need to promote, Go Fund Me is the place where I should start. Thank you for introducing me to this wonderful website.
I really like the clean and neat interface of this website. Everything is well-organized and easily visible. I’m trying to think of ways to raise funds to support my friend’s cancer treatments… Bills are really just astronomical, and it pains me to see him struggling because of lack of aid from the government and his poor family background, and not every crowdfunding websites is suitable for this cause… especially if i don’t have much materialistic stuff to give in return. This is an excellent platform to raise for his cause, and thank you for recommending this!
It’s definitely easy to get accepted, and the community there is so polite and enthusiastic about supporting each other. When I posted a question regarding the concept of crowdfunding, I got my answer in less than 24 hours. It’s like they are all so eager to help one another out… And that’s one of the best asset you can ever have in your website!
I can totally see why it’s your number 1 choice, and with a good Alexa ranking within the top 20,000 websites in the world, there’s a very good flow of traffic to reach your project no matter how small it may be. This platform also serves a good way to sneakily advertise your website at the same time too haha!
This one looks like a true grassroots effort. You feel like everyday people are involved and benefiting.
I just got involved with Go Fund Me. It’s super easy to get started and to set everything up. Everything is user friendly and there’s the functionality to promote your fundraising goals on Facebook and Twitter. They don’t accept PayPal, but what they do work with is We Pay. They’re pretty similar to PayPal. Go Fund Me is a number 1 site, and I understand why.
Why would anyone use another crowdfunding platform apart from Kickstarter?…
Why would anyone use a social network other then MySpace 🙂 New Sites that come along will likely be better, 1st to market is only an advantage for so long…. Take a look at the GoFundMe review https://crowdfunding-website-reviews.com/crowdfunding…
I have a firm belief that life is about presentation. Your job interview, asking out the girl you like, and even collecting donations is all about the presentation.
That’s where gofundme comes into play. It allows you have a professional looking and engaging medium which allows your friends and family to learn about whatever that’s you are trying to achieve.
Even charities spend money to ask for your money, so if you hope to raise money successfully it is best that you do it right the first time around. I was truly impressed looking at the donations that were being made live over at gofundme and best of all it’s free to try.
[…] main crowdfunding sites like kickstarter, serve well for two main types of projects: small business starts and large project launches. […]
What’s Happening i am new to this, I stumbled upon this I have found It absolutely useful and it has aided me out loads. I hope to give a contribution & assist other customers like its aided me. Great job.
I do believe all the crowdfunding concepts you’ve presented to your post. They’re very convincing and can certainly work. Nonetheless, the posts are too brief for novices. May you please prolong them a little from subsequent time? Thank you for the post.
I’ve found the goFundme is one of my personal favorites for not only myself but for some of the clients I have worked with.
Hey my name is Ricky Martinez and I am trying to fundraise to pay for my college!
You can read my story and donate on this website:
http://www.gofundme.com/175kfs
I thank each and every one of you for whatever amount you are able to donate – you have my greatest appreciation and my deepest gratitude! Thank you!!!
Informative write up, you frequently prepare the most
practical resources and GoFundMe.com CrowdFunding | CrowdFunding Website Reviews is absolutely no different!
I’m aware that Kickstarter is supposed to be the big name in town, but it’s so widely known that sometimes it kind of pushes people away. When you mention kickstarter people connect it with having to pay up right off the bat and that’s not a good thing when you haven’t even began to pitch your idea to them. This is why GoFundMe.com is attractive. It’s not as widely known, but it’s got a good reputation so far. I’d like to give it a shot for my next project.
There are many reasons that I like gofundme, but the number one reason has got to be the facr that I was able to withdraw my funds at any time. Some CF sites make you wait until you hit your goal.
I am somewhat new to ‘crowd funding’ – lol, at first I didn’t even know what it meant. However, now that I do, I can think of many things that raising funds would be beneficial for. I was referred to your site by a friend, who said she had used it to raise funds to send her handicapped daughter to summer camp, and she found it very easy to use and most helpful. I would have to agree.
These guys are by far the best around. I have used them twice and both projects were easy and over-funded! I have nothing but good things to say about gofundme.
I’m using Gofundme.com right now and I’m loving the site! It’s Very easy to setup, post updates and connect your contacts to your dream. My page is setup to help me build my new invention – GoFundMe.com/Kickstart – An alarm clock that you can’t accidentally turn off before you’re out of bed for the day! Check It Out!
Had several questions. Never got answered.
NO customer service! Zip! Zero!
VERY disappointed!!!
Great concept, but…..
Gofundme offers a lot of promise, BUT, for people who are genuinely struggling, it is horrible!
If you don’t have a Facebook account, nor an active support system (friends and family that can help), this site is absolutely useless. Your plea (account) will not be “live” on their website unless you give them your contacts and have $100 in your gofundme account.
The concept is extremely flawed and their motive are less than honorable. Gofundme makes it difficult for those individuals who are truly struggling and desperate. This website provides zero benefit whatsoever for people who truly are in their darkest hour.
http://www.gofundme.com/497shs Helpful however getting help with traffic to site and no donations.
You fail to say that it takes a week to get your money from them. Plus they are mis-leading about the fees.
Hi please check out our page. Anything is appreciated thanks!
http://www.gofundme.com/4nta1k
Love Go Fund Me!!! The Best By Far…
Just launched my campaign and it was easy to create and is very easy to manage. Having a hard time reaching a larger audience with interest in a fashion campaign. http://www.gofundme.com/fabulousdevelopment
http://www.gofundme.com/ajrcbo
[…] 5 star ranking from Crowdunding Website Reviews for GoFundMe.com Top choice for personal and not for profit crowdfunding […]
Hello my name is Nicole. I’m trying to raise money for college!
Read my story at http://www.gofundme.com/co16n8
Any amount will be greatly appreciated
My mother has pancreatic cancer any amount will help. God bless you all.
http://www.gofundme.com/dl0gck
I’m currently running a GoFundMe campaign at http://GoFundMe.com/Gamer-Problems
I really like how easy this site is to use and how open ended the options are for projects. The payment method is also less restrictive than Kickstarter in the sense that you don’t need to link a bank account to GoFundMe, which is nice.
I also like the daily update for how many times a campaign was shared on social media as well as how many people have visited for a 24 hour period and how many have visited total.
I would say that I would like to see more in-depth analytics that showed hourly activity, referring website, and state/country of visitors. It would be really helpful to show what kind of audience is being reached for the campaign.
I heard about GoFundMe when I saw several stories on the news that used the site to raise funds after tragedies. I was a bit nervous at first putting my story out there but it has worked out beautifully. Reaching people is very easy. I even put an article in the newspaper and that has worked. Customer service is excellent. I receive answers to my questions right away. I love how People can share my story which is just as effective as receiving funds themselves. If anyone would like to help me out, check out my page: gofundme.com/mike-08244. Thank you.
I am a widow needing some help financial, daughter ill, if someone would please give a gift to help me had to buy medicine let bills go unpaid, my daughter has been ill for 3 yrs. with infection,i have another son who is disable also raising a grandson,we are in great need ,if anyone please contact. 55 Ashway Terrace Greeneville , Tenn.37743
I found out about the website when a friend posted on facebook asking for help. It has such a great concept and the design of the site is very easy to use. I started my own just recently. Check it out here gofundme.com/j4f140
I have been trying for two days now to sign up with GFM, disgusted with it, I tried to delete as far as I got with the process, but cannot do so, there is something wrong with this!
I agree with “HelpInAz” seems like a bank, if you have good credit your accepted and get the loan, (facebook & number of friends to qualify)some people that really need the help don’t even have a PC. but I also can understand GFM having concerns about crooks.
Please consider. I see so many people reaching their goal and beyond so why not me? I’m just as human. Please at least share on your Facebook or whatever social media you use. It only takes seconds and could help this campaign a lot. http://www.gofundme.com/selfsuffiency
I have just heard about this site and am gonna try it out, http://www.gofundme.com/lay76o this is my page and im gonna try to raise some money for my senior project to make sure it is a sucsess
[…] “I just got involved with Go Fund Me. It’s super easy to get started and to set everything up. Everything is user friendly and there’s the functionality to promote your fundraising goals on Facebook and Twitter” – Source. […]
http://www.gofundme.com/tuitionWilmu
anything helps. Greatly appreciate it from everyone. God Bless
Hello,I would love for u to help spread the word for my campaign for my grandmother.
I would love it if you took a moment to check out my GoFundMe campaign:
http://e.gofund.me/nn2h5g
Your support would mean a lot to me. Thank you so much!
Unlike many other requests for funding, this one actually will benefit a good person with a huge heart.
http://www.gofundme.com/oi4lpc
So thankful for gofundme to help in this time of need..
I’m trying to get as much exposure to my medical page as possible. I’ve battled health issues all my life from a mystery illness and am to the point where I’m hoping that by sharing this enough, maybe someone will read it and be able to offer support or treatment ideas. I’m now on short term disability and damned near on bedrest with this, so I’m at my wits end. It’s not so much about the money as much as it is just trying to find answers (I’m hoping to raise less than 10% of my medical expenses). If you can spare a moment to share, or hell, even just read, I’d be forever grateful. Thank you <3
Despite having this account for a while, I just made the forum handle so I can't post links…You can find it at:
gofundme.com/oxl5qg
This is for a good person with the biggest heart in the world.
gofundme.com/p7k940
[…] source and not so much a crowdfunding platform. Campaigns from KickStarter , Indiegogo and GoFundMe are listed as ideal campaign originating […]
my sister anne ratliff behr..recently had a gofundme account when her daughter passed, she closed it and said she still has not recieved her money…can someone tell me if she has or not…its been almost two months…
Go Fund Me Sucks!!!!! My wife and I have an extremely bad run of luck 6 Trips to the hospital in 4 years between us. This was our only chance to stay out of medical bankruptcy. We just wanted to pay of our obligation. With 10000 friends and family between us We raised exactly 0.00 in 3 weeks nothing zero. All this talk about all these millions of dollars and we could not even raise a penny. Its a joke they don’t even respond to you when ask for help. GO FUND ME SUCKS
Today, four weeks after we transferred the funds raised through GoFundMe into our account they went into our account without warning or permission and removed that funds!! We had already placed the funds raised into a 529 college fund so we were left with a $ 4600.00 shortage. No response from them. No phone numbers. Nothing. We are just speechless.
I don’t like gofundme.com. I was campaigning for funds for less fortunate children in the Philippines (http://www.gofundme.com/100-happysmiles) that would run all year round, unfortunately I had no enough donation for my $2000 target (only $50.00 was donated), so gofundme.com removed the donation url for that reason. I checked my account why, and their reason is because the donation did not reach $500.00, Because of this, I was not able to make anymore donation from where I embedded the donation code in my own website for a few more people to donate. The link was removed without prior notice, living me expecting it was working alright until I noticed the link did not exist anymore. I still have to try more crowdfunding sites that has no such policy and be more helpful to anybody seeking help.
Please help my cause https://www.gofundme.com/aw4zqgpc
Great for the donor. Easy platform to donate, promote -very positive. However if you are running the campaign I found the customer service to be worst in class -to the point of being unbearable. Although responsive, questions were never read in there entirety, never solved on the first half dozen exchanges. I felt like I was communicating with a bot – incredibly frustrating. Sheer incompetence. I won’t be using them again
I just started a Go Fund Me for my movie I’m making entitled “Canaan Land.” I’m learning as I’m going. My first step has been to send direct messages to 500 of my Facebook friends, and also emails to my yahoo email contacts. I’ve put together my Go Fund Me page with a story of why I’m making movie, utilizing pictures and videos. I like that my vamping doesn’t have to have deadline, and that donations are tax deductible. My page may encourage you and trigger your creativity in putting together your Go Fund Me campaign. To find my campaign, just go to go fund me dot com slash canaan land
Amicably,
Richard Rossi
Help Richard’s Dream Come True:
http://www.gofundme.com/canaanland
Absolutely terrible. We only raised 160 dollars, gofundme treated us as if we were applying for credit…30 emails..did everything they requested, then they asked for a picture ID of the person who we were raising money for, Tgey keep sending automated replies, This is my first time using this and never will again!!! Go to another fundraiser site!!!!!!
THEY SUCK. THey’re biased in who you raise money for, and they hold you up for “review” like you’re a freaking terrorist. I’ll never use them again. They never communicate by phone, only email, and they’ve made my effort to raise funds (for a victim of a hate crime) a miserable and tedious experience.
I want to raise money so I can travel to Rochester,Mn. to the Mayo Clinic and get a life changing/saving diagnosis. I’m in need of motel, food, and plane fare.
All my doctors/specialist are encouraging me to go. I am a mystery diagnosis. My condition is rare and wasting away my muscles an crippling me.
I set up a fund for a friend diagnosed with cancer and though the whole procedure was easy enough to do as well as the collecting of donations, there was a rude surprise when i tried to withdraw the money. I thought I had researched on the site well enough to know what to expect but was frustrated when it actually occurred. I my case I did not wish to burden my friend with any part of the process and wanted to handle it on my own. As i went trough the process to set that up, suddenly things became complicated. even with back and forth email I was never given enough information at one time to know what to expect. When it became clear that the only way the money would be released was with authorization from my friend, I proceeded only to discover that my friend had to make a copy of an ID with him in it and address some additional requirements. I was mad that only till the end did I find out that my friend, dealing with his diagnosis and medical appointments had to comply with requests for him to meet their demands. My advise is to be fully aware of what you must do before, during and after the fund is initiated.
https://www.gofundme.com/m25dvj8k any help at all would be greatly appreciated!!
Some facts: baby funerals are often free but no more than a few 100, mortuaries often give them; “counseling” for the family: FREE from thousand sof organizations and groups. Scams are abundant.
I like this website, I just create my campaign, I don’t have Facebook or any social media because I don’t have time for that, but I’m a 36 years old women who have a life threatening condition name Brugada syndrome, i own money in the hospital when I was dying and they put an ICD (defibrillator) , I have two jobs and its hard some days because I get real sick but I need to do it for my kids all I need is a litle help to buy his school suplies, clothes and pay that hospital bill that is affecting my credit.
http://www.gofundme.com/25gn7b2c
Is scary to leave like this because i dont know if i will wake up tomorrow.
Thank you for read this and I hope people can help me to promote my campaign ..
Thank you very much