Indiegogo Life is a new platform for charitable fundraising

Fundraising has become an increasingly common way to use crowdfunding sites, and today Indiegogo is making a big play to become the go-to site for running one. It’s launching a new section called Indiegogo Life, which allows fundraising campaigns meant to help yourself or others to be run for free, with fees only removed for credit-card processing. That’s a big advantage over other sites, which typically take a small percentage off of all funds received regardless of the campaign type. 

A couple of years ago, Karen Klein, a 68-year-old bus monitor, made headlines when a video surfaced of four adolescent schoolboys bullying her during a ride. But that viral clip wasn’t just pure awfulness. After seeing the video, Canadian do-gooder Max Sidorov started a campaign on crowdfunding site Indiegogo with hopes of sending Klein on vacation. He set a goal of $5000, but the link was passed around until more than 32,000 people from 84 countries backed the project. The final amount raised: $703,168. Now, Indiegogo will enable more of these charitable crowdsourced fundraisers. Today, it’s launching Indiegogo Life, a standalone service that lets people raise money for emergencies, medical expenses, celebrations and other important life events. “We saw how many people started using the platform to raise money for themselves, a loved one, or even a stranger they wanted to help,” Danae Ringelmann, Chief Development Officer of Indiegogo, tells WIRED. “Indiegogo Life is a response to their needs.”