Irish Citizens Embrace Sports to Raise Over €2 million for COVID-19 Causes
- €4.5 million raised by Irish individuals during the height of COVID-19 restrictions
- 62% of all fundraisers were for COVID-19 causes
- 65% of all fundraisers involved sports or exercise
- GAA, Football and Hurling were the top 3 sports used to raise funds
- 225,000 km were covered by fundraisers, mostly running or cycling
- Each kilometre completed raised €6.37
Research by OLBG.com, an online sports betting community platform, finds that Irish individuals have embraced sports to raise over €2 million for COVID-19 related causes. The figure was revealed following a study of Irish fundraising campaigns that ran between March and May 2020.
Data collected from over 500 GoFundMe campaigns between March and May showed that 62% of all campaigns run during this time were for COVID-19 related causes. These campaigns aimed to raise €1.3 million but final funds exceeded this target by 52%, hitting over €2 million.
The study also revealed that 65% of all fundraising campaigns were sports-related, either being led by sports teams, societies and clubs or having a form of exercise as the central activity.