Less than 13 days to the world’s foremost sports competition, the 2016 Olympics Games holding in Rio, Brazil, Nigerian athletes have taken to the social media platform to crowd-source funds for the competition. American-born Nigerian sprinter, Regina George, who represented the country at the 2012 Summer Olympics, has launched the campaign on the World’s number one personal fundraising website, gofundme.com.
GoFundMe is a crowdfunding platform that allows people to raise money for events ranging from life events such as celebrations and graduations to challenging circumstances like accidents and illnesses. The company is based in San Diego, California It allows users to create their own website to describe what they are raising money for. During this process, members can describe their fundraising cause, the amount they hope to raise, and upload photos or video.
Once the website is created, GoFundMe allows users to share their project with people through integrated social network links (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and email. People can then donate to a user’s cause through the website using only a debit card or credit card and track the progress of their funding. Those who donate can also leave comments on the website in support of the project. GoFundMe generates revenue by automatically deducting a 5% fee from each donation users receive. If the user receives no donations, then no charge is made.
