Home South African Spike in crowdfunding shows unity of South Africans in desperate times

Spike in crowdfunding shows unity of South Africans in desperate times

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Image: Pexels

AS THE Covid-19 pandemic reaches its peak in South Africa, residents from around the country are doing their bit to help out others in need.

Online crowdfunding platforms such as Backabuddy and Feenix have reported a spike in the number of campaigns since the start of the nationwide coronavirus lockdown in March.

Typically, a crowdfunding campaign allows a large group to pool small individual investments to provide the capital needed to get a project off the ground. These funders can make their donations via the online crowdfunding website/platform or the conventional cheque book. 

Feenix, a platform connecting funders to tertiary education students to help settle their fees and study debts, reported a 200% increase in new user registrations.

The organisation also saw a 155% increase in individual donations on their platform.

“The very existence of these crowdfunding initiatives speaks to the principles of social responsibility and compassion at a time when South African businesses and individuals are facing a great deal of uncertainty and fear,” said Feenix CEO Leana de Beer in a statement on Monday.

Backabuddy, another local crowdfunding platform, reported a 32% increase in the number of campaign submissions and a 72% increase in individual donations. 

According to Wanda Zwane of Backabuddy, from March to April the platform has seen more than 900 new campaigns, which raised almost R15 million in donations. 

“We’ve had about 18 000 new donors since the lockdown started,” Zwane said on Tuesday. 

Zwane added that crowdfunding is a good way of bringing together strangers to support a worthy cause in times of need. 

– African News Agency (ANA)

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