GoFundMe Launches $100,000 "We Love Teachers" Fundraising Initiative During Teacher Appreciation Week

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., May, 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- GoFundMe, the world's largest social fundraising platform, today launched a $100,000 "We Love Teachers" fundraising contest, a national initiative to support K-12 teachers. GoFundMe will donate $1,000 to 100 GoFundMes created by and for K-12 teachers. GoFundMe also released a new K-12 Fundraising Guidebook, which includes new national and state-specific K-12 fundraising data, as well as tips to help reduce or eliminate out-of-pocket expenses for teachers. As part of this initiative and in an effort to further reduce teachers' out-of-pocket spending, Yoobi, an innovative school, home and office supplies company that gives back, will offer an exclusive discount on supplies to all teachers benefiting from GoFundMes in May.

"Every student in this country deserves a quality education, and far too often the burden falls on teachers to make up for gaps in funding," said Rob Solomon, CEO of GoFundMe. "That's why everyone at GoFundMe is excited for this opportunity to give back to the hardworking teachers who educate and inspire our kids."

We all know schools across America are chronically underfunded. In order to ensure their students receive the best possible education, educators invest significant amounts of their own money in an effort to bridge resource gaps. According to an independent study, teachers collectively spend $1.6 billion out-of-pocket every year on classroom supplies, with an average spend of $500 per teacher per year. In fact, 91% of teachers used some of their own money to pay for school supplies. New data shows the growing trend of teachers, parents, and staff turning to GoFundMe to support K-12 classrooms. To date, $33.8 million has been raised by nearly 72,000 GoFundMes to support K-12 teachers.

Yoobi is offering an exclusive discount to qualifying GoFundMes for the duration of the "We Love Teachers" initiative. The discount of 15% will be applied to all supplies purchased on Yoobi.com. In addition, Yoobi will identify a teacher among the 100 winning campaigns chosen by GoFundMe to receive a special gift of essential school supplies for their entire school. Later in the month, the $1,000 donation and gift of supplies will be presented by representatives of GoFundMe and Yoobi during a celebratory event at the school of the teacher selected.

GoFundMe "We Love Teachers" $100,000 National Contest 
As part of Teacher Appreciation Week (May 1-5), GoFundMe is launching a "We Love Teachers" national contest. Campaigns for and by K-12 teachers are eligible to win $1,000, and 100 campaigns will be selected for donations. To be eligible to win a $1,000 donation, campaign organizers must create a campaign by May 8th and raise over $500 by May 18th.

Through the "We Love Teachers" $100,000 fundraising contest, GoFundMe will boost the efforts of teachers, parents, and community members to address immediate needs inside the classroom. Whether they need art supplies, new textbooks or computers, teachers can benefit from GoFundMe's online fundraising platform and this special effort to raise additional financial support for classrooms.

K-12 Fundraising Guidebook 
In addition to the "We Love Teachers" contest, GoFundMe also released a new guidebook to help teachers fundraise on GoFundMe. This guidebook includes three parts:

1. National Data:

• New national data about the growing trend of students using social fundraising to pay for school.

2. How to Launch a Successful GoFundMe:

• Step-by-step instructions and important tips for teachers about how to create a successful GoFundMe to raise money for school supplies.

3. State-Specific Data:

• State-specific data outlining the GoFundMes to support K-12 teachers in your state. To find your state, click HERE.

To view the guidebook, click HERE.

GoFundMe will continue to share tips and best practices directly with teachers, parents, and members of the community to empower them to start campaigns and ease this financial burden.

This initiative and new K-12 Fundraising Guidebook speak to the company's focus on education and its commitment to improving educational funding nationwide. In the last year, the amount raised for education campaigns on GoFundMe topped $60 million from over 750,000 donations to support schools, teachers and students across the country.

About GoFundMe
Launched in 2010, GoFundMe is the world's largest social fundraising platform, with over $3 billion raised so far. With a community of more than 25 million donors, GoFundMe is changing the way the world gives. Find us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

About Yoobi
Founded in 2014, Yoobi is an innovative school, home and office supplies company that operates on a "One for you, One for me" model – for every Yoobi item purchased, Yoobi donates an item to a U.S. classroom in need. Classrooms are defined by Yoobi's non-profit partner Kids In Need Foundation (KINF) as K-5 classrooms in schools where 70 percent or more of its students qualify for free or reduced lunch through the National School Lunch Program. To date, Yoobi has impacted nearly 2.5 million kids, donating over 32 million school supplies.

For more information about Yoobi, visit:www.yoobi.com.

SOURCE GoFundMe

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