Introducing GoFundMe's Next CEO

The GoFundMe team is excited to welcome our new CEO, Tim Cadogan to the company. I will continue my role as chairman of the board and will remain actively involved in determining the strategic direction of GoFundMe.

Ten years ago, the GoFundMe founders, Brad Damphousse and Andy Ballester, had the idea of creating a fundraising site. They quickly realized that people truly DO want to help one another. They built the foundation, hired the right people and created a culture that is uniquely GoFundMe. This became the start of the GoFundMe you know today.

As they grew the business, and wanted to scale, they brought me on to take the reins. The past five years have been the highlight of my career. We have become the undisputed leader in a very important category. Serving as the CEO through an innovative business model change, acquiring multiple companies, and working with the best team ever towards furthering our giving layer vision, has been an incredible journey. In becoming the Internet's take action button, we have built a community that has raised over $9 billion from more than 120 million donations.

New GoFundMe CEO, Tim Cadogan

Just as Brad and Andy knew when it was time to let someone else lead, I've now recognized the need for a leader who has a combination of consumer tech and B2B experience, along with proven success leading companies, and teams of different sizes. Tim is that leader and, combined with his strategic approach, a passion for social good, and a people-first leadership style, his expertise will help GoFundMe grow and expand in new areas.

We’re excited to embark on the next 10 years with Tim at the helm. Today, Tim shared his excitement for joining GoFundMe, and below I share my outlook in a letter to employees:

Letter to the GoFundMe Team:

Nine months after joining GoFundMe, I was invited to a small event with a “who’s who” of different industries: including Silicon Valley business leaders, sports stars, musicians, journalists, and celebrities… My first thought was, what am I doing here? The old Sesame Street song, ”One of these things is not like the other” started playing in my head. As I absorbed this surreal situation and scanned the room full of people I admire, the host turned to a group and introduced me as, “the CEO of one of the Internet’s most important companies.” GoFundMe hadn’t yet gone mainstream. It was at that precise moment, I realized I had the best job in the world! We crossed the chasm. It wasn’t just people that worked at GoFundMe who understood the power of what we were doing. GoFundMe’s community was blossoming and by helping millions of people AND using technology for good, we were on our way to becoming one of the most important Internet companies.

For the past five years, I’ve had the adventure of a lifetime. Back in 2015 when I joined the company, GoFundMe was still relatively unknown. The platform had just reached $1 billion raised and was about to hit 15 million donations. Flash forward to today, we are everywhere. We have reached the rarefied status of ubiquitous Internet brands. “Start a GoFundMe” is part of the everyday lexicon, and has become ingrained in the social fabric. GoFundMe is the Internet’s take action button. The little web site that launched in San Diego, is now available in 20 countries. All thanks to each one of you, and our powerful GoFundMe community.

Moments have become movements. Young changemakers have made a difference in their communities. Millions of lives have been changed. Recently, we have embarked on a journey to leverage our brand, technology, and social fundraising expertise to move into the enterprise fundraising space. With GoFundMe Charity, our goal is to help all charitable organizations (whether small, medium or the largest .orgs in the world) raise more money and meet new donors/supporters across the entire mobile and digital landscape. Charitable organizations across the world raise more than $500 billion annually. Nearly all of that is still being raised offline. This is a BIG category with endless opportunities! 

The traditional methods that most charities use are archaic and inefficient. GoFundMe is changing that. This is one of the mega-categories that has yet to be disrupted by the Internet. This is the beginning. And we aim to be the leader. Our goal isn’t to disrupt charities that have powerful missions to solve problems across all categories. Rather, we will be the platform that helps them raise more money, further their missions, and most importantly introduce them to new donors. In turn, connecting people with causes they care about. 

As we double down on our charity offerings, we have made a decision to bring someone on with extraordinary skills at building platforms that leverage insights and bring unique solutions to market. Starting in March, Tim Cadogan will become our new CEO, and I will continue to serve as the chairman of our board. Connecting donors with new charities and causes will become a big part of our future and Tim is uniquely qualified to take the company on this journey. We will be a rare company that has a massive consumer footprint AND a powerful B2B business.

I can’t wait for the next phase, and to reach our BHAG of getting to one billion donations. I welcome Tim and look forward to working alongside him at GoFundMe, as we continue to build one of the world’s most important companies. 

All the best, 

Rob