GoFundMe used to be for crises. Now it’s for ‘essential expenses’
One of the largest crowdfunding websites saw a steep increase this year in people fundraising for basic necessities, like food and housing. GoFundMe reports that campaigns for “essential expenses” have quadrupled since 2023.
The reasons for this are clear: inflation’s lingering effects on household goods and food, coupled with rising housing costs.
GoFundMe’s report highlighted housing, citing the success of a campaign to rehouse one family that had been evicted from their Los Angeles home after living there for more than three decades. According to reports, Gustavo and Ana Martinez were shocked when their landlord served them a 60-day notice to vacate the premises. Reportedly, the landlord wanted to move her son into the apartment.
GoFundMe has also marked how morally bereft our health care system is, becoming the fundraiser du jour for Americans unable to afford care.
Unfortunately, instead of combating costs, Donald Trump’s Republican Party is planning to levy strict tariffs on countries whose goods the U.S. relies on. Experts are nearly unanimous in finding that Trump’s tariffs would raise prices on essentials. Worse, Trump often seems not to understand what groceries even are.
All this comes while the GOP’s billionaire class pushes for more spending cuts to social safety nets. Trump’s billionaire ally Elon Musk, along with tech bro Vivek Ramaswamy, plan to use their advisory commission, known as the Department of Government Efficiency, to promote the kind of austerity policies that even Musk admits would wreck the economy.
The good news is that less fundraising for essentials might take place during Trump’s incoming presidency. The bad news is it’ll probably happen only because there will be more people asking for help than there will be to give it.