In a sobering sign of economic strain, GoFundMe CEO Tim Cadogan says more Americans are now turning to the crowdfunding platform to pay for basic necessities like groceries.
Fundraising for Groceries
Speaking on Yahoo! Finance’s “Opening Bid Unfiltered” podcast, Cadogan said there had been a surge in fundraising campaigns created not for medical emergencies or disaster relief, but for everyday essentials.
“Basic things you need to get through life [have] gone up significantly in the last three years in practically all our markets,” he said.
As inflation lingers and borrowing costs remain high, more families are finding it nearly impossible to make ends meet. Crowdfunding, once a tool for one-time crises, has increasingly become a platform for households juggling food bills, rent, and debt payments.
Grocery price increases are breaking household budgets as groceries cost far more than they did three years ago. Meanwhile wages haven’t fully caught up.
In fact, grocery prices have increased substantially, with a total increase of about 29 percent since February 2020, according to data published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Recent data shows a 2.9 percent increase for food prices between July 2024 and July 2025, driven partly by record highs in items like coffee and beef.
Consumers are also using “buy now, pay later” apps such as Klarna and Affirm for grocery purchases. According to Adobe Analytics, there has been a 40 percent incease in their use in early 2023.
And the Washington Post reported that inflation is causing more Americans to lean on the $309 billion industry to literally put food on the table.
“The consumer is incredibly adept at finding ways to stretch their spending and, healthily or not, buy now, pay later has certainly provided that outlet,” Simeon Siegel, an analyst with BMO Capital Markets, told Supermarket News in 2023. “It’s not the only way, but I think it has been the easiest way in recent years.”
Cadogan also pointed out that while the U.S. is entering a historic “great wealth transfer,” with baby boomers expected to pass tens of trillions to heirs, charitable giving has remained stagnant, comprising about 2 percent of GDP.
Some might say GoFundMe’s grocery campaigns serve as an economic barometer, a sign that for many Americans, the paycheck-to-paycheck struggle is real.
