Essentials Fund

For millions of Americans, one unexpected crisis—such as a lost job, an unexpected medical bill, or a broken-down car—spells disaster. Roughly 45%of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, and more than a quarter have no emergency savings. In these circumstances, even a small amount of flexible financial support can determine whether a family weathers the storm or falls into deeper hardship.

Launched in 2020, the Essentials Fund was created to support Americans asking for help on the GoFundMe platform with a one-time emergency cash grant made as a surprise donation to their fundraiser.

Grantees of the Essentials Fund are most often individuals who, through no fault of their own, have experienced an unexpected crisis and are suddenly unable to cover critical expenses like food, housing, or utilities.

Read their stories.

To date, the Essentials Fund has raised over $1.8 million and provided direct support to more than 5,000 individuals and households in need.

Why donate?

Via this Fund, GoFundMe.org provides swift support directly to people asking for help—almost dollar for dollar.* Donations to this fund are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by U.S. law. We’ll send you a receipt upon donation completion and keep you updated on the impact of your donation.

Donate with confidence

The GoFundMe Giving Guarantee provides a full refund for up to a year in the rare case something isn't right.

Learn more

For more information, click here to review a one-pager about this fund.

To donate via DAF, please select the DAF Pay option as the payment method once you click “donate now” on this page. If you would like to donate to this Fund via stock, ACH/wire, crypto, check, or by Private Foundation please visit our offline donations page and we will add your donation to this fund as an offline donation so that your contribution is recognized on this Fund page.

GoFundMe.org is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (EIN 81-2279757) that works to swiftly mobilize donations raised to support individuals and communities impacted by crises, natural disasters, and social inequalities. We accept tax-deductible donations from donors into funds created for a specific philanthropic purpose. From these funds, we issue grants to charitable classes of individuals, nonprofit organizations, and charitable projects.

Donations to this fund are tax-deductible to the extent permissible by U.S. law. Money will be given to verified charitable needs at the discretion of GoFundMe.org.

*A 2.9% + $0.30 transaction fee is automatically deducted from each donation.