GoFundMe, celebrating 10 years since it was founded, has named Ireland as the most generous country in the world for 2020, reporting that the country has the highest number of donations per capita.
People in Ireland offered nearly 1.5 million donations via GoFundMe through 2020, more than three times the amount of donations made in 2019.
John Coventry, GoFundMe’s senior international director, said Ireland’s compassion shines through from the fight against Covid-19 to rallying round poorly kids and everything in between.
GoFundMe, which opened its first international office in Dublin in 2016, named Galway as the most generous city in Ireland followed by Dublin, Limerick, Cork, and Waterford.
Elsewhere, Derry City in Northern Ireland proved to be the most generous city in the United Kingdom, while Massachusetts was named as the most generous state in the US, followed by New York.
Ireland is joined by the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia in the top-five most generous countries in the world per capita, with the Netherlands, Italy, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and Denmark. Meanwhile, 2020 proved to be a particularly generous year for Irish GoFundMe users, with 40% of donors making more than one donation this year.
The fastest growing donor categories in Ireland were community, faith, and sports.
The most popular donation day in Ireland this year was April 21, right in the middle of Ireland’s first coronavirus lockdown when a number of charities launched online appeals to make up for their loss in fundraising revenue.
25,000 donations were made on April 21 and could be linked to a major Irish donation drive to help the Native American Navajo Nation, which was among the worst-affected regions in the US at the time.
Irish people donated to the Navajo cause in huge numbers as a means of returning a 170-year-old favor after the Choctaw tribe donated to the Irish Famine relief, despite enduring significant hardship.