Tim Cadogan Money when it matters

When there's a crisis, like a war, a natural disaster or a personal tragedy of some kind, one thing that's needed to fix it is money. That's why, in times of crisis, many people start a GoFundMe campaign, to collect donations that will help them deal with the problem. GoFundMe is the world's largest online crowdfunding platform — since it started in San Diego in 2010, it has enabled users to collect more than $15 billion in donations worldwide. In 2021, a donation was made via the platform every second. Its CEO, Tim Cadogan, is a tech industry veteran who believes the company fulfils an important role in society.

Cadogan grew up in a rural village in south-western England during a time when, as he told The New York Times, "the world that we live in today truly did not exist. I mean, the job that I do, the industry that I work in — none of it existed." Early on, he seemed destined for a very different career. "I had a lot of crap jobs, tough jobs. I worked building sites. I worked as a cleaner. I worked moving. Those jobs definitely taught me that I wanted to do something with my mind."

Leaving that world behind him, Cadogan relocated to the US, where he did an MBA at Stanford University and started working at the consulting company Boston Consulting Group. Later, he had a few key management positions in the tech industry — at the web-services provider Yahoo!, for example. And he was CEO of the programmatic-advertising company OpenX for 12 years.

Community volunteer

Cadogan considers his education and work experience to have been vital in preparing him for his role at GoFundMe. No less important, however, was his work as a volunteer in the community. Joining a search-and-rescue team, he helped save many lost hikers in California's Sierra Madre Mountains. Comparing his volunteer work with his job at GoFundMe, he told Fortune magazine: "The motto of our search-and-rescue team is, ‘Anywhere that someone needs help' — and we're trying to do the same."

A fundamental part of human nature may be coming together in difficult times. This, Cadogan says, is at the heart of GoFundMe. "It's the fact that your family, your friends, some people in your community that you don't know, some strangers who aren't even in your community, would rally around and say: ‘I'm really sorry this happened. We just want to help you,'" he told The New York Times. "We provide a place to convey that."

A new job in a changing world

At the time Cadogan took on the role of GoFundMe CEO, the world was in crisis. It was March 2020, the same month the World Health Organization declared the Covid-19 outbreak a pandemic. Within days, the company switched fully to remote working. Soon after that, the platform was hosting tens of thousands of pandemic-related campaigns, to buy protective equipment for medical workers, for example, and to support small businesses. "Learning the business in the middle of this crisis was pretty intense," he says.

Cadogan, however, was well prepared for the task — like his previous employers, GoFundMe is a private, for-profit tech company. It is free to start a campaign, but the platform charges a small fee per donation. Since starting, he has learned to embrace the new normal, combining his passion for volunteering with his business experience in his role as GoFundMe CEO.