Over €50m raised: Inside Ireland's GoFundMe campaigns and how the money is spent
Crowley's Music Store, whose owner Sheena Crowley set up a fundraiser to keep Rory Gallagher's iconic fender Stratocaster guitar in Ireland: (top left) Mick and Sheena Crowley; right, unloading equipment into the music shop.
Ireland has garnered a reputation as being one of the world's most generous nations when it comes to donating to worthy causes — be it helping terminally ill people fulfil their bucket list dreams, or paying to repatriate the body of a family's loved one from abroad.
For six straight years, this country has topped the donor league compiled by the online fundraising platform GoFundMe.
An eye-watering near €50m was raised for various causes across the country last year, with more than 15,000 fundraisers launched over the 12-month period.
While Galway emerged as Ireland’s most generous county in 2024, Cork wasn’t far behind in third place, with the tiny community of Killeagh topping the chart in sponsoring a huge fundraiser for the second year in succession — that of local GAA star Rory Motherway who suffered life-changing injuries in a road collision.
The Irish Examiner has revisited some of the biggest GoFundMe campaigns to see how the money is being spent, and the positive impact it is having.
The story of 30-year-old Cian Murtagh is an evolving one.
Having lived without a home for years, the Meath native, who spent his youth in State care, had given up on life before a chance encounter with Limerick woman Maeve O’Brien changed the trajectory of his life.
Maeve and her local community of Kilbehenny on the Limerick/Cork border came together to establish a GoFundMe — the aim of which was to buy Cian a home. The money to do so was duly raised, and a 200-year-old cottage in Sligo secured at a cost of €41,000.
This is not a fundraiser which has closed however — the portal remains open and now stands at more than €108,000 raised. With good reason — having purchased a home for Cian, the place now has to be made liveable. Not an easy task. When purchased the property had no running water, electricity, or septic tank.
Which brings us to the latest development in Cian’s story — from working full-time in construction in Dublin while sleeping rough just two years ago, his quest to renovate his cottage will see him star in RTÉ’s this summer.
The programme sees Australian builder and sustainability advocate Harrison Gardner guide hopeful property owners through the duress of construction and renovating their own homes.
“Basically, after Cian’s story was covered across the media, Harrison saw it and contacted us to say he’d like to give Cian a place at his Common Knowledge build school for a week. And Cian was all on for it because he wants to be a part of renovating his home, and he already had the background in construction,” Maeve says.
So Cian spent a week in Clare at the school, learning new DIY skills. And then the opportunity to be on the show popped up.
“Harrison is very eco, very sustainable, he had already renovated his own cottage in Clare. So when he saw Cian he was like ‘I can help this guy’,” says Maeve.
Filming began on Cian’s episode (there are six in the series) last summer. The cottage has now been dismantled, and the walls are off, with the project being both expedited and streamlined with Harrison Gardner’s influence.
“There are a lot of costs being cut, Harrison is teaching Cian and a lot of businesses have sponsored the work, the materials, the furniture, and they’ll all get credit on the show. It’s very good for Cian as it’s given him a lot of life skills he’d never had,” Maeve says.
She admits that the GoFundMe is unlikely to cover the entirety of the project. “All the money is coming from the GoFundMe. He does need a lot, there’s a lot to be done, and it probably will fall short. We’re still relying on the generosity of the public. The link is still there, and Cian is so grateful,” she says.
Maeve cites the contribution of two people in particular without whom the cottage renovation might not have happened. Her old friend Patrick Ward who owns the Coach House Hotel in Ballymote, Sligo, took Cian in and gave him food and shelter. “I can’t say enough for what he has done, he took him in until we were able to sort a caravan for Cian on the site,” she says.
Fergal Meagher, managing director of Sligo firm Kilcawley Construction, meanwhile, stepped in and came on board for the renovation as build manager, helping Cian to reduce his costs as much as possible.
The whole story is one that needs to be stuck with, says Maeve.
“It is a big deal, because so many people are invested in his story, they want to follow it up and see what happens next. We’re a year on and he’s got his home being renovated and he’s going to be on TV, and he comes across so well,” she says.
“It’s been a year of ups and downs but right now it’s in a great place.”
You can contribute to the Cian Murtagh fundraiser here.
The events of Thursday, November 23, 2023 felt like something of a tipping point for Dublin. The stabbing of several primary schoolchildren and their carer outside a gaelscoil on Parnell Square that afternoon, and the horrific rioting which followed nearby amid a sea of misinformation as darkness fell, showed the city and its residents the fragility of the fabric on which social order is maintained.
But not every story emanating from a terrible day was a sad one. A GoFundMe set up for the children affected by the stabbing and their injured carer raised nearly €270,000 before closing.
After it closed, willing donors were referred to a successor fund specifically for the five-year-old girl who suffered life-changing injuries during the savage attack. That new fund has raised more than €125,000 to date, with donations continuing to pour in across Christmas 2024.
An update from the little girl’s mother on New Year’s Eve said she can “safely say that there is nowhere we would rather be: home, in our pjs, having a low-key New Year celebration”, before wishing donors “health, love, forgiveness, strength, and resilience”.
Perhaps the most remarkable of the fundraising efforts involved Caio Benicio, the now 44-year-old Brazilian Deliveroo rider who subdued the assailant using his motorbike helmet. Soon after the attack, a Dublin man set up a GoFundMe simply titled ‘Buy Caio Benicio a Pint’. The result was staggering.
Over 34,000 donations were made via the fundraising portal, with the account eventually breaching €370,000, and Benicio taking possession of the funds — and raising a pint — some two weeks later. A mass expression of solidarity from a city gravely wounded by what had happened in November, the fundraiser was a fulsome reward for an act of bravery.
Benicio returned to Brazil to see his wife and children, who he hadn’t seen in six months, but returned to Dublin with a new purpose — an ultimately unsuccessful run for local government in the June 2024 council elections for Fianna Fáil.
While falling short in his first shot at electoral politics, he is still firmly based in Ireland. Now living in East Wall in north Dublin, he explains how the GoFundMe fundamentally changed his life.
“I was amazed, and very surprised. At first I thought it was a scam as I hadn’t asked for anything and I’d never even heard of a GoFundMe, but then it was explained to me.
He has invested the money in his home country. “It would buy one house in Ireland, and five of them in Brazil. The income those investments can make will guarantee my kids’ future,” he says.
Caio first left Brazil to work here after his business, a restaurant, burned down and he struggled to re-launch it with the onset of covid. Thanks to the GoFundMe, he no longer has to put in a 70-hour week as a delivery rider.
“But I still have to work, I have some plans.” Those plans involve setting up a new company in Ireland for the tracking of stolen vehicles (he had a motorbike stolen himself recently), a venture well in train, and bringing his family — his two children are of college and secondary school age — to live here from next August.
“The weather is going to be the biggest challenge. And my kids will have to change school and leave friends behind. My boy is 13 years old, it will be hard for him. I don’t know about my long-term future, but right now the best thing for my family is for them to come here and learn the language. I cannot plan my life for longer than that at this stage,” he says.
And politics, is he done with that?
“It never crossed my mind in the first place. But everything that happened (with the attack) I realised my reaction had been very meaningful. I think that could still be the way that I give back, although I have much more to learn about Irish history and politics,” he says.
“But there is a Brazilian community of thousands living in Ireland. Maybe that could be how I help them."
A fundraiser for an East Cork family struck by a double tragedy has raised more than €500,000 following an “overwhelming” response from the local community.
The Walsh family of Killeagh, near Midleton, were devastated in April 2023 after a fire reduced their family home to ruins. Just over a week later, the family was struck by a second hammer blow, when father-of-five Brendan passed away tragically.
The following months saw both the locality and the wider GAA community rally around the family in spectacular fashion.
After the establishment of a GoFundMe, which made clear the esteem in which the Walsh family is held within the locality, more than 7,000 donors stepped forward to help contribute towards a fund aimed at rebuilding the family home.
“It was a double tragedy for the Walshes losing their home and their dad within 10 days. But from a community point of view the response was just overwhelming,” Denis O’Sullivan, vice chair of Killeagh GAA Club, for whom Brendan played with distinction and which organised the fundraiser, says.
Denis notes that the GAA “is supposed to be the biggest network in the world”. “So we sent the GoFundMe to every county board in the county. That saw it go to every county board in Ireland, and thus on to every club secretary, and then to every member. So you’re hitting a huge proportion of the population. But so many others contributed also,” he says.
The Walsh family’s misfortune was one of two tragedies to strike the local GAA community in just 12 months, with young player Rory Motherway suffering life-changing spinal injuries in a car crash in May 2024.
That tragedy also led to a GoFundMe fundraiser, one which saw an additional €250,000 sourced from kindhearted donors. “Within a very short time we’d raised a quarter of a million to refit the family home to get Rory home,” Denis O’Sullivan says.
“Killeagh has a population of 500 people. To raise €750,000 in 12 months from such a small community is phenomenal I think.” He says that the tragedies which befell Killeagh, and the response locally and across Ireland in both cases, showcases the much-maligned world of social media “at its very best”.
“There is no way any organisation would have been able to raise those funds if it didn’t have those media tools available to it. Everyone was sharing the link,” Denis says.
Both the Walsh and Motherway GoFundMes have now shut.
Construction work on the rebuild of the Walsh’s home has begun within the last few weeks, meanwhile, with Denis O’Sullivan acting as intermediary between the GAA club and the family in terms of disbursing the funds raised.
“The rebuild has been a learning process for all concerned, as you have to go for planning all over again,” he says.
“You have to go for demolition first, and then for a brand new application.”
“We hope the funds will be sufficient, the costs of building have obviously increased dramatically in recent years, but not only did we receive contributions of money, but also there were pledges from companies in terms of the materials needed. So hopefully we will get there,” he says.
The largest GoFundMe in Ireland in 2024 came late in the year in tragic circumstances in Co Clare. On November 21, young athlete Joe Slattery, who had only celebrated his Junior Cert results months before, suffered life-changing injuries while training with his local GAA team Corofin.
In launching the GoFundMe, his uncle Clive noted: "Joe is a big brother, a son, a friend and a team-mate. He is loved and respected by all who know him. He has represented Clare in hurling and football and was Junior Cert student of the year 2024 in his school."
As evidenced on multiple occasions in similarly tragic circumstances, the GAA network is an incredibly wide-ranging community of willing givers. Clare GAA called for support for Joe, one of its youngest stars, while Corofin itself asked for donations and prayers.
The call echoed across disciplines and codes, with the Clare branch of soccer’s governing body the FAI calling for support for the Slattery and Jones families, saying “every little will make a difference”.
Within 24 hours the fundraiser had raised nearly €400,000 for Joe’s rehabilitation, which will require lifelong care. "We are blown away by the generosity of response. It’s humbling," Clive Slattery said as the sheer scale of the fundraising effort became clear.
The drive had an initial goal of €475,000 with a view to helping with Joe's medical expenses, ongoing care, and home adaptations. To date, just under €714,000 has been raised from nearly 11,000 separate donations, outstripping the largest donation seen in Ireland in 2023 by a distance.
One month later, Clive detailed the efforts that people had gone to to raise money for the campaign at Christmas time.
Those activities included quiz nights, raffles, concerts, GAA tournaments and more, he explained, involving efforts from transition year students, teens on Wren Day, and similar efforts from schools, GAA clubs, soccer clubs and many more across the country.
“Significant too are offers from people to lend their skills and resources now and into the future,” he said.
“We look to the New Year with renewed hope and positivity. Our profound thanks to all involved and all who continue to support the family. We wish you and your families the best in the New Year,” Clive added.
For Sheena Crowley, an online fundraiser was a no-brainer. “The news broke on July 8, and I set up the GoFundMe straight away,” she says.
The news in question referred to the decision by the surviving relatives of feted blues guitarist and Cork man Rory Gallagher to put his various instruments and paraphernalia up for auction.
Sheena had a particular interest in the situation — a music shop owner, she's the daughter of the Cork man who sold Gallagher his iconic fender Stratocaster guitar more than 60 years ago.
She saw the auction as an opportunity to bring those items back where they belonged, to Ireland, and one step further, to Cork.
To that end, the fundraiser had a target of €100,000. That was never going to be enough to secure the main guitar in question — which was likely set to fetch €1m minimum — but the fundraiser coincided with a concerted campaign to raise awareness as to what was at stake in the auction — one which bore fruit when it mattered.
The GoFundMe itself raised almost €77,000, more than €64,000 of which was used to purchase Gallagher’s instruments at the London auction, along with running the campaign and organising a separate fundraising concert.
“After fees we had about €50,000 to spend at the auction, so we bought four guitars and an amplifier, which was the fruit of more than 600 donations,” Sheena says.
“The auction itself (at Bonhams on Bond Street last October) was incredible. We were there with my friends, and there was a group from Ballyshannon (in Donegal, were Gallagher was born), and another from Dublin.
“I got in touch with Donal (Gallagher, Rory’s brother), and he just said ‘best of luck’,” Sheena says.
“We knew the guitar was going to go for a million, and at the end of the day we didn’t get to the full amount, but we were constantly campaigning, and in the end we did reach people.”
One of those people was concert promoter Denis Desmond, owner of MCD Productions, who eventually acquired the guitar for just under €1.1m, before donating it to the National Museum of Ireland and assuring the world that the instrument “will end up in Cork”.
“He was in the campaign, he knew what the story was,” Sheena says of Desmond’s actions, adding that she’s been assured the guitar will be making its way to Cork in time for the 30th anniversary of Rory Gallagher’s death this summer.
“We had more than 600 donors, so we were very happy with that. It was brilliant. I always said that if a million people gave a euro we’d get there easily. But for me, the main thing was to stop the guitar going to a private collector, to someone who would just have it as a sort of trophy,” she says.
“At the end of the day Denis Desmond wouldn’t have happened without the GoFundMe. And the Gallaghers' message was ‘well done for what you did’.”
The money generated by a GoFundMe in aid of a Cork man diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND) should prove sufficient to adapt his home to the constraints of his illness. Fermoy local Pat ‘Bosco’ Roche, 55, was diagnosed with MND in September 2023 after feeling unwell for a sustained period.
His close friend Dave Daly says that more than €70,000 has been raised between the GoFundMe set up for the benefit of Bosco late last year and a series of fundraising events held across the locality. The GoFundMe has now closed, although it remains early days in terms of adapting Bosco’s house to his needs.
“There hasn’t been too much movement just yet, the work hasn’t started in the house,” Dave says, adding however that the funds raised for Bosco should be “sufficient” to cover the costs involved.
“He’d a lot of work to do to adapt the house. We’re putting in a lift through the ceiling which will take the wheelchair. We’re doing up the bathroom upstairs so it will take the wheelchair,” he says. The doors and interior of Bosco’s house will also need to be widened to in order to make the building wheelchair accessible.
Of Bosco himself, Dave says he is “doing ok”. “He has gone weaker and his voice isn’t great. We don’t know how long he actually had it, he thought it was long covid to begin with.”
MND is a rare condition that affects the brain and nerves and causes weakness that worsens progressively. The condition can be difficult to diagnose in its early stages as it often presents with the symptoms of fatigue or other neurological conditions.
MND received a great deal of publicity in recent years in Ireland after RTÉ reporter Charlie Bird chose to document the progression of his illness after his own diagnosis.
“From the beginning we didn’t want the fundraising to be just a GoFundMe,” says Dave Daly. “We did a few other fundraisers as well — we did a walk, a bingo night, and a charity singalong.”
Bosco had previously described the actions and help given to him by the Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association (IMNDA) as being “absolutely incredible” since his diagnosis. Dave Daly says that anything left over from the fundraising efforts will be gifted to the association.
“Anything in excess after the house is sorted will be put back into the IMNDA. So there will hopefully be a few pound for them as well at the end of it,” he says.
When the GoFundMe was first launched Bosco Roche made clear that his goal was to be able to stay in his own home and his own community “for as long as possible”.
Several months later, with close to €80,000 raised from within his own community, that goal is inching towards a reality.
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