GoFundMe, Inc Donates $1.5 million; First Pilot Program will Help Families in CA’s Central and Imperial Valleys
As extreme weather events become more common, GoFundMe.Org, a nonprofit, charitable partner to GoFundMe, is launching a Weather Resilience Fund to help address the impact of extreme weather on vulnerable individuals and communities. The Weather Resilience Fund’s first project, made possible by a $1.5 million donation by GoFundMe Inc, is a pilot program for low-income households in California’s Central and Imperial Valleys. Donations to the Weather Resilience Fund are tax-deductible and will support the expansion of this pilot, as well as other community-based resilience projects in the United States.
“This ‘new normal’ of weather-related disasters demands an approach that enables people and communities to proactively address the impacts of extreme weather,” said Amanda Brown Lierman, Executive Director of GoFundMe.Org. “Far too often, the people who can least afford to absorb financial losses are the most impacted. Through the Weather Resilience Fund, we can help families better withstand and recover from the ever more frequent weather disasters and related disruptions.”
Through community-based partners, the initial pilot program will provide approximately 250 households in California’s Central and Imperial Valleys with energy solutions and resources to help them withstand and adapt to dangerous weather conditions, given the extreme heat and poor air quality that impact these communities.
As the Weather Resilience Fund grows, GoFundMe.Org plans to invest in additional resilience projects in communities across the country that are vulnerable to extreme weather events.
Since 2018, more than $500 million of help has been delivered for natural disaster relief fundraisers through the GoFundMe platform from over 4 million donors. Over the past 5 years, there has been a 90% increase in fundraisers for natural disasters on GoFundMe. In that time, GoFundMe.Org has distributed over $6.2 million to GoFundMe fundraisers via more than 7,000 grants via its Hurricane and Wildfire Relief Funds. These relief funds will continue to provide critical help in the wake of natural disasters, while the new Weather Resilience Fund focuses on preventative measures to help homes and families in vulnerable areas withstand the impacts of extreme weather events.
