Gen Z is giving back — despite not having deep pockets. Why young people are driving donations to GoFundMe.

Thirteen-year-old Kya Foss wanted to raise money for food and snacks for K-6 students after her North Dakota school district made budget cuts. Like many Gen Z-ers, she turned to the popular crowdfunding platform GoFundMe. More than 30 people jumped in to help, raising over $2,000 for the school. “I believe kids deserve snack[s],” the teen shared on her GoFundMe page.

Foss is one of many Gen Z-ers who are fueling the popularity of GoFundMe, which donated more than 42 million times to individuals and more than 23 million times to nonprofits in 2024 alone — all at an impressive average rate of two donations per second, according to GoFundMe’s 2024 Year in Help report.

Despite lacking the deep pockets of baby boomers, Gen Z-ers in particular are not only driving GoFundMe donations but also amplifying fundraising campaigns they feel strongly about and rallying others to join in to help, according to GoFundMe’s 2024 Social State of Giving report, which surveyed more than 1,000 adults, from Gen Z and millennials to Gen X and boomers.

Part of that is because of how GoFundMe campaigns have shifted over the years. Fundraisers for essential expenses, such as food and rent, quadrupled last year, according to GoFundMe’s report, with monthly bills being one of the fastest-growing categories people donate to. And an increasing number of people are setting up GoFundMe campaigns to help pay their medical bills.

When GoFundMe launched in 2010, most people were looking to raise a few extra dollars for their wedding or honeymoon, along with donating to charities and foundations. But as an increasing number of people are facing financial challenges, they’ve been relying on the crowdfunding site to cover more basic needs like food and rent, rather than the originally lofty “ideas and dreams” — and it’s these personal stories and the ability to help directly that resonate with Gen Z especially.

Why GoFundMe appeals to Gen Z

For years, giving to charitable organizations often looked like this: You’d get a solicitation in the mail from a national organization, have to write a check, put a stamp on the envelope and mail it. GoFundMe and other online giving platforms have changed all of that, taking the friction out of donating and making it as easy as clicking a button.

It’s something that appeals to Gen Z and younger generations in particular. “As a tech-savvy generation who has held technology in the palm of their hand since an early age, a platform like GoFundMe fits their digital-first mindset and behavior, whether launching a purposeful campaign or contributing to one,” Mark Beal, an assistant professor of communication at Rutgers School of Communication and Information whose research focuses on Gen Z, tells Yahoo Life.

For people who don’t have a lot of disposable income, like Gen Z, GoFundMe also offers “a very rare combination of the ability to make an extremely small donation and to do it in a way that your peer group and extended social network sees,” Jason Dorsey, president and co-founder of the Center for Generational Kinetics and co-author of Zconomy: How Gen Z Will Change the Future of Business ― and What to Do About It, tells Yahoo Life. “It’s the perfect tool to make these donations that fit whatever your income or ability to give is and creates a fast feedback loop where other people can see it — and Gen Z is very into fast feedback loops.”

Gen Z cares about personal causes and the public good

According to Dorsey, Gen Z-ers support causes that feel more personal to them — “friends of friends in their network, someone in their community that’s having a challenge or a cause they feel deeply personal about,” he says. “The personal, emotional connection to the types of campaigns they’re supporting is very strong when compared to, for example, traditional national nonprofits trying to raise money for a campaign.”

It’s a mindset and approach this generation has had for years, notes Dorsey. “It’s very consistent,” he says. “We’re seeing them stay exactly on trend and support various organizations and people and individuals through GoFundMe.”

But bigger causes are also important to them. Dorsey’s research firm has been studying Gen Z since 2016 and puts out a State of Gen Z report annually. “What our studies have consistently shown is that Gen Z overindexes for supporting causes that are mission-driven or have a public good purpose,” he says. “Gen Z is very focused on doing something positive in the world that also aligns with their values.”

Corey Seemiller, a leadership educator at Wright State University and Gen Z researcher for more than a decade, has seen the same thing in her research, which shows that Gen Z is interested in social change and “being a part of something bigger.”

Tory Martin, director of communications and strategic partnerships at Grand Valley State University’s Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy, tells Yahoo Life that Gen Z is not a “sit-on-the-bench generation.” She adds: “They see that older generations are not making moves to build the world they want — and they are, quite admirably, willing to make those moves themselves. In order to do that, they have to galvanize one another — to say, ‘Hey, I’m doing this. What are you doing?’”

Gen Z-ers donate — even when they have little to give

While they don’t have a lot of disposable income, that doesn’t stop Gen Z-ers from giving to others. The Blackbaud Institute’s May 2024 report, Gen Z at the Table: A Special Edition of the Next Generation of Giving, revealed that 84% of Gen Z-ers support nonprofit organizations, charities or other causes. According to research from the Abacus Cooperative, each Gen Z donor made 5.3 donations on average in 2022, which “eclipsed” both millennials (4.8 donations per donor) and Gen X (4.7 donations per donor).

Young generations are also more likely to contribute more to disaster relief campaigns, for example. A 2023 online survey of more than 2,000 U.S. adults conducted by the Harris Poll on behalf of Vanguard Charitable found that 53% of Gen Z (and 54% of millennials) donated to disaster relief in the past 12 months compared to 42% of Gen X and 37% of baby boomers.

While boomers donated the most money — $1,225 on average — in the past 12 months, Gen Z donors gave the second-highest average at $785, surpassing Gen X at $712 and millennials at $656, according to the report.

“Boomers may give $200 and Gen Z may give $20, but they give what they can and like being part of their story,” Seemiller tells Yahoo Life.

Dorsey agrees, saying: “They can support a cause with very little money. What I think is overlooked is it may only be $5 or $10, but that could be a lot of money to them.”

While other generations may scale back when money gets tight, Gen Z-ers lean in. Classy’s Why America Gives 2022 report found that Gen Z and millennials, known as next-gen donors, “make sacrifices in daily life to have funds to donate.” Gen X and baby boomers are more likely to cancel their recurring donations when feeling financially strapped, but Gen Z and millennials are more willing to cut back on their spending in other areas so they can keep giving — and even donate more — to charities they care about.

Gen Z is more vocal about making donations — and mobilizing others

Beyond giving money, Gen Z-ers use their voice. They’re pros at posting about causes they care about on social media and enlisting others to help. While 88% of boomers occasionally, rarely or never share anything about their causes, half of Gen Z shares fundraisers or causes at least once a week, according to GoFundMe’s Social State of Giving report, which calls social sharing Gen Z’s “superpower.”

"Gen Z is actually 10 times more open to sharing a fundraiser or sharing that they donated online compared to baby boomers," a GoFundMe spokesperson tells Yahoo Life. "Nearly half of Gen Z-ers believe people should be sharing their donations online. For Gen Z, it’s not just a way to say, 'Hey, donate to this cause,' but also, 'This is what I believe in and what I think you should support." And that sharing makes a difference: According to GoFundMe research, every time an organizer shares their fundraiser publicly, that helps drive an additional $100 toward their goal on average.

“Gen Z is also an unprecedented generation of content creators who amplify and advocate their experiences across work, social and the community,” says Beal, adding that “they are posting content to influence and inspire their Gen Z friends and followers to join them in supporting the cause.”

Seemiller says Gen Z-ers excel at being mobilizers and influencers. “They have little to give, but are really good at getting others to donate money,” she says. “They have no qualms about asking, but they have to really believe it. They have to fully get behind a candidate or cause — and they’re the best fundraisers or spokespeople.”

As Martin points out, philanthropy is about more than just charitable giving. “It’s about contributing time, talent, ties and testimony as well,” she says. “Gen Z is ready and active, speaking on behalf of people and causes they believe in, to bring others along with them.”

She says this peer-to-peer influence is historically significant in philanthropy, noting that many people are inspired when they witness acts of generosity. That doesn’t mean the only way to be generous or an influence for good is to make a public donation, says Martin, “but it can be a reminder to others that they can be philanthropic too, even in small ways,” she says. “Perhaps even especially in small ways.”

Martin adds: “By seeing the contributions of others, we see how our own contributions — of any size or kind — can be valuable too.”