Kingston ranks third on GoFundMe’s list of Most Generous Cities in Canada
The global fundraising platform GoFundMe released its annual Year in Giving Report on Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2020. Kingston has ranked third ‘most generous city’ in Canada for the year, based on donations per capita.
“Kingston continues to prove its generosity, from helping a local music scene legend fight terminal bone cancer to supporting hospitality and restaurant workers,” said Amy Williams, a communications representative for GoFundMe.
Williams said Kingston’s top fundraisers included a campaign to help 17-month-old Scarlett Rose during treatment for neuroblastoma ($38,000) and support for Zak Colbert, a legend in the Kingston music scene who was diagnosed with terminal bone cancer. His fundraiser, initiated by fellow musician Emily Fennell, surpassed its $5,000 goal over six times, currently sitting at $32,000.
A team of Queens University students, staff and faculty also started a fundraiser to 3D print protective equipment for Kingston’s frontline workers. In their first few months they printed over 15,000 items of PPE.
Local donation recipients also include Angela Bodzasy, a foster and adoptive mother of over 20 children who was diagnosed with Stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer, and Davis Sheridan who is battling Burkitt Lymphoma, a rare and fast-progressing form of Hodgkins.
Kingston ranked third among these top five cities:
- Victoria
- Kelowna
- Kingston
- Saskatoon
- Calgary
Trends for Canada, Ontario
GoFundMe said that Canada’s most prolific donor gave 201 times to 163 different fundraisers. They noted that 70 per cent of all donations were under $50.
Top campaigns across Ontario included ForEva Strong ($1.02M raised), Justice for Regis ($480K raised), Feed the Frontlines TO ($657K raised) and 1492 Land Back Lane Legal Fund ($365K raised).
GoFundMe said Canadians donated more than 30,000 times on Tuesday, Jun. 2, 2020 making it the most generous day of all time, nationally for the platform. Canadians also contributed significantly to campaigns in the United States, Australia, the UK, France and Ireland, Williams said.
Since launching in Canada in 2010, Williams said GoFundMe has raised over half a billion CAD, and shows no sign of slowing.