Watch the hardworking 90-year-old veteran be surprised by the huge donation
A 90-year-old Air Force veteran working in New Orleans, the Louisiana grocery store receives a life-changing GofundMe donation.
LOS ANGELES – When Tim Cadogan took the reins as CEO of GoFundMe in March 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic began wiping out the world and quickly set the tone for his tenure.
“We’ve come to know that Gofundme is an important part of people’s lives, but there are levels of need and ways in which people can take it to a completely different level with the pandemic,” Cadogan said in an interview with USA Today.
The company he directed announced on May 6 that it had crossed the 15-year milestone and raised $40 billion at that point.
“It’s easy to count, so I wish there was a way to quantify love and care associated with $40 billion. It’s not easy to count love and care, but it’s huge,” Cadogan said.
Cadogan said GofundMe’s next frontier is normalizing seeking help.
“Fifteen years ago, if I had said that, you would have said, ‘We’re going to do business going to the back seat of a stranger’s car,’ and ‘You’re a banana,'” he said. “Now, it’s called Uber, right? We want to do something like that, but it’s okay to help things that matter in your life.
As part of the anniversary, the company announced GoFundMe Pro, a platform aimed at helping nonprofits raise funds.
“We are extremely excited to empower millions of best friends, an organization that people care about,” Cadogan said.
GoFundMe CEO sees a bigger international footprint, bigger institutional contributions
Cadogan said it hopes to increase from the current rate of 2% of the country’s gross domestic product.
“We think that by making it even more personal, we can change it and seek more people to help and lean towards the natural tendencies that more people want to help,” he said.
Cadogan pointed out technology including AI. AI is included in the Pro platform the company says makes it easier for individuals and nonprofits to ask for donations. He said the platform provides a non-profit tool that can mobilize the community, even if it doesn’t have an online presence.
“We’re really working hard on ways to make it easier to ask for help, whether it’s for yourself, your friends, your relatives, or the organization you care about,” Cadogan said. “Open that door and ask for help, do something brave. All help is coming.”
He also pointed to the company’s potential expansion into new markets, recognizing that it would take time to expand beyond the 20 countries currently operating.
“It takes a little while for the market to start and then it really starts to accelerate. For example, Germany was a market where people were a bit skeptical at first, but now it’s getting accelerated,” Kadogan said.
Los Angeles will impact GoFundMe CEOs
Cadogan was forced to evacuate during the deadly Eton fire that swept Altadena in January.
He never lost his home in the flames, but he is a colleague on the search and rescue team he volunteered for.
Cadogan set up fundraisers for both his colleagues and the search and rescue team, saying that GoFundMe Pro has strengthened the role he can play in helping people get back on their feet.
“It strengthened the strength of this mosaic of support, how important this is. It really brought it to me to the home. “What’s so important is what we can do to help organizations succeed along with their individual funds.”