The Irish arm of crowd funding platform GoFundMe last year benefited from a Covid-19 pandemic dividend as pretax profits increased more than threefold to $13.22 million (€11.72 million).
The Dublin-based GoFundMe Ireland Holdings Unlimited operates all GoFundMe crowd-funding platforms outside the US.
Accounts show that the company enjoyed the sharp increase in profits as revenues more than doubled from $25.8 million to $52.7million.
The pretax profit last year followed a surplus of $3.96 million in 2019, an increase of 233 per cent.
Profits
The accounts attribute the rise in revenues and profits to the Covid-19 impact.
They note the business “observed a strong increase in demand for fundraising campaigns in response to the pandemic which has significantly improved the group’s results for 2020”.
On the risks faced by the US-owned business, the account said that “as the impact of Covid-19 lessens, there may be reduced demand for the platform and the revenue growth may decline. As a result, the company’s business . . . may be harmed and . . . not be able to sustain its recent growth rate in the future.”
Notable GoFundMe campaigns during the year include the drive to repatriate bodies of a Kurdish family killed in a crash on the M6 last August.
A campaign was also mounted to repatriate the remains of musician Tom Kennedy who died in Georgia last September after an alleged fatal assault.
GoFundMe earns its revenues through charging donors to non-charities 2.9 per cent on transactions for third-party payment processing, plus a €0.25 charge per donation.
The buoyant performance of GoFundMe during the pandemic allowed the GoFundMe Ireland based unit to pay a $9.78 million dividend to its parent last year.
Revenues
The Irish unit’s post-tax profits last year came to $11.12 million after it paid corporation tax of $2.1 million.
The Irish revenues for the business are not disclosed. However the accounts show European revenues last year at $16.1 million, with UK revenues at $16.9 million, Canada revenues amounted to $12.6 million while Asia and South Pacific revenues hit $7.06 million.
Numbers employed by the Irish based unit last year increased from 28 to 42 as staff costs last year rose by 72 per cent from $2.57 million to $4.4 million.
The staff costs last year included bonus payments of $602,000 – compared to bonus payments of $278,000 in 2019.
The business’s cash funds last year increased from $15.5 million to $27.4 million.
