BY SAM GUTELLE
Thanks to their highly engaged and passionate fans, YouTube stars are capable of raising millions through crowdfunding. A new initiative will give a handful of those stars an opportunity to put their audience-building skills to good use.
Crowdfunding platform GoFundMe and the Special Olympics have teamed up with five YouTube stars—Burnie Burnsand Gavin Free of Rooster Teeth, Meredith Foster, Teala Dunn, and Matt Santoro—to support prospective Olympians through coordinated fundraising efforts.
The participating YouTube stars will sponsor individual Special Olympians and will launch campaign pages on GoFundMe to support those athletes and raise money on their behalf. The accrued funds will help the featured Olympians travel to the 2017 Special Olympics World Winter Games, which will take in the Austrian towns of Graz and Schladming between March 14-25. The YouTube stars will come along for the journey as well and will spectate the games in Austria while helping to spread the event’s positive message
“I’m thrilled that Rooster Teeth is able to support the Special Olympics in a meaningful way through this GoFundMe initiative,” said Burns in a press release. “Gavin and I are overjoyed to be able to attend the Winter Games and witness these incredible athletes as they fulfill their lifelong dreams.”
“Special Olympics is near and dear to my heart and I’m thrilled to use GoFundMe to spread the word to Merebears everywhere and raise money for such a worthy cause,” added Foster.
Rooster Teeth’s GoFundMe campaign can be found here, Foster’s is here, Dunn’s is here, and Santoro’s is here. All of those projects are part of a bigger partnership between GoFundMe and the Special Olympics. To see all of the groups raising money for specific Olympians, click right here.