The Video That Raised $800K in Donations
I talked to Brittany Cabriales, Associate Director of Brand Marketing at GoFundMe, about the fundraising site's social response to the Los Angeles wildfires.
One week ago today, devastating wildfires broke out in Los Angeles. The place I live, the place I grew up. They are still burning. 24 people have died and dozens are still missing. Friends have lost everything. The city is grieving, the city is organizing.
Within 48 hours of the news, brands were using their social media accounts to mobilize. Babyletto's Instagram offered free cribs to families who lost their homes. Sorella Collective turned their page filled with charcuterie boards into one of the most up-to-date places to find information on food donations. Neighborhood accounts like @koreatown became an essential resource for volunteering. GoFundMe partnered with BIG TALK to share the stories (and fundraisers) of those impacted by the wildfires. So many more companies—including ones that aren’t even based in Los Angeles—used their social media to offer free services and donations.
During disaster, a behind-the-scenes meeting typically happens at a brand. I know this because I’ve been in them. Do we “pause”? Or do we take action? This is what happens when leadership and social teams choose the latter.
It’s also important to remember that our social media knowledge extends beyond the brands we post on behalf of. We know how to effectively communicate in an increasingly crowded online space. With Meta’s new policy updates, these platforms that we post on for a living will become even more difficult to navigate for people who aren’t “in it”. We can be a resource to those who rely on social media in crisis. We know how to craft a clear, actionable Instagram Story that will lead to more link clicks. We help businesses that lost everything give updates to their followers. We understand how to share vital information in a way that will lead to more eyeballs. This week I was reminded how powerful posting can be.
Today’s newsletter is an interview with Brittany Cabriales, Associate Director of Brand Marketing at GoFundMe. She’s someone who knows the power of posting. The fundraising site is estimating 30K social mentions per day right now. You may have seen this video interview on GoFundMe’s accounts with Walt, a longtime resident of Altadena who lost his home in the Eaton fire. Before the video, which currently has 20M views, Walt’s fundraiser had $7K in donations—it now has $882K. In our interview, Brittany talks to me about how that post came together, what advice she has for sharing GoFundMe links on your personal accounts, and the importance of telling stories.
Rachel Karten: Can you tell me a bit about your role?
Brittany Cabriales: I’ve been at GoFundMe for over 10 years and have had the unique privilege of watching the brand grow into a household name during that time. For the past one and a half years, I’ve been the Associate Director of Brand Marketing. Before that, I was the Head of Social Media where I led the brand’s social team, set its strategy, and helped lead all social content production.
RK: What has this past week been like for you and your team? I know the nature of GoFundMe is to be there for emergencies, but the scale of this feels unprecedented.
BC: During every crisis response, our cross-functional teams truly take an “all hands on deck” approach. For the social and marketing functions, that becomes quickly creating landing pages, amplifying stories, reaching out to influencers/partners, and educating users on platform best practices. As I’m sure we’ve all seen, the magnitude of the LA fires (and the response on social media) has been enormous. This feels like the largest social-led moment since the start of the pandemic.
At the moment, our social tools are estimating over 30K mentions across social platforms per day.
RK: How would you describe GoFundMe's evergreen marketing strategy? And how does that shift during emergencies?
BC: Our mission as a company is to help people help each other and this informs all the work we do. Our marketing strategy has a few main goals, specifically: make our organizers more successful, help donors discover more ways to help, and show everyone that you can use GoFundMe for more than you think.
During crisis moments, our priorities shift to really focus on the first two—by thoughtfully amplifying as many stories and ways to help as possible. Over the past few years, our team has really optimized the strategies and speed at which we’re able to activate. Within minutes of a large-scale crisis like the LA wildfires happening, to smaller-scale neighborhood emergencies, we already have multiple teams monitoring our website and ready to support.
RK: When I scroll through GoFundMe's social accounts, specifically Twitter, there's a lot of really thorough social listening. Responding to people who didn't tag you, sharing compassionate notes, and more. Can you talk to me about your social listening strategy?
BC: “Comments are the new creative briefs” is so true. Social listening is where your brand will find some of the best ideas for content, partnerships, and connecting with your community. Specifically for GoFundMe, this means using our social listening tools to verify fundraisers, get involved in cultural moments, or engage with accounts in a memorable way. But every brand should find out what works for them and lean into it.
RK: How did this video of Walt, an Altadena resident who lost his home, come together?
BC: This one was honestly kismet. We worked with Kalina—the creator behind Make Big Talk—two years ago and love her style of video. It’s honest, real, full of empathy and aligns so well with the GoFundMe brand. The day after the Palisades Fire started making headlines, Kalina sent me a message. She lives in LA and wanted to find a way to help. I quickly coordinated with GoFundMe’s communications team to send her a handful of verified fundraisers whose organizers we were already in touch with and had already agreed to sharing their contact information. Within a few hours, Kalina was on her way to film Walt.
Since then, she’s turned it into a mini series—using her platform and talent to help these families in their time of need. It’s beautiful to be a part of it and witness the ripple effect of kindness turn into help.
RK: I noticed quite a bit of GoFundMe's Instagram is collab posts. Are those all coordinated ahead of time or do you sometimes accept requests after the fact?
BC: For the vast majority of collab posts, we have long-standing relationships with certain accounts and are in close communication with them during crisis events. So they might have an idea for a fundraiser, and then we quickly coordinate behind the scenes to plan for those posts. But for some, we may accept the collab after the fact if it meets a few qualifications (like being reviewed by our Trust & Safety team, etc).
RK: At what point is something added to the Crisis Hub? Once that page is created, like the California Wildfire one for example, are there ways that it’s promoted on social that differs from individual donation pages?
BC: A fundraiser is added to a crisis hub only after it has gone through a robust due diligence review process. This process includes both a human review from our Trust & Safety experts, as well as technical tools designed to catch misuse. Once it passes the verification process, we add the fundraiser to our hub so it can be amplified to our community.
RK: Less about GoFundMe's social media, and more about sharing GoFundMe pages on personal accounts—but do you have any advice on how people can make sure they are effectively sharing links and pages out to their audiences?
BC: Storytelling is key! I think it’s more than just sharing a screenshot and a link—it’s about creating a connection to the person, why the cause matters, and what your support could do. Make an emotional connection, whether through a few sentences on screen or through a video, and it’ll go even further. GoFundMe research shows that every time an organizer shares their fundraiser, it can help drive an additional $100 toward their goal.
RK: Related to that—in your recent report The Social State of Giving it talks a lot about the importance of storytelling when fundraising. How does that impact the way you approach social media as a brand?
BC: Storytelling is all about connecting with your audience through simple, creative, and relevant content. Our platform is FULL of stories—so how do we make these posts more interesting, eye-catching, and shareable for our followers? Sometimes, we keep our copy honest and informational. Other times, we can lean into humor and personality. And sometimes, it takes the form of longer form content. Depending on the story, we can change the way it’s presented to get more people to share and donate.
RK: You've worked at GoFundMe for 10 years. What do you love about working there?
BC: I love my team, the brand’s mission, and my daily work. Every day, I get to be creative, make a difference, and work alongside amazing people who all want to leave a lasting impact.
I am organizing a way for businesses impacted by the wildfires to access free social media services. The Link in Bio social media matching service will match a social media professional with a business that was impacted by the Los Angeles wildfires. If you’re a social media professional that would be interested in volunteering your time (can be remote!) to help a business rebuild online through services like copywriting, asset creation, social fundraising, and strategy—please fill out this form. If you are a business that was impacted by the wildfires and would like free social media services—please fill out this form. I will follow up with details in the coming weeks. Thank you!
Link in Bio donated a portion of last month’s revenue to World Central Kitchen, Pasadena Humane, The Anti-Recidivism Coalition to support incarcerated fire crews, restaurants that are feeding firefighters like Anajak Thai and Little Fish, and GoFundMe pages.
We're quick to critique and brand-bash, but this is a powerful reminder of what happens when brands lead with purpose and compassion. Thanks for going all-in on this. Shared several times already this morning with friends and colleagues asking what they can do.
It's been incredible seeing how you've used your platform to mobilize support for your hometown.