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With a global community of donors who’ve raised over $15 billion, GoFundMe pays close attention to what helps people feel comfortable seeking assistance.
That also happens to be one of CEO Tim Cadogan’s missions within the company: Communicating that it’s okay to ask for help. When Cadogan joined the for-profit crowdfunding platform in March 2020, for instance, he sought out key employees who could help him understand important aspects of the business. “I was asking people to create a bit of time, even while things were very, very busy, to educate me,” he says. “Really the main thing you’re trying to do, as in so many aspects of life, is you’re trying to build a relationship of trust. That’s something that we do in our personal lives.”
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Cadogan, a former McKinsey consultant who led ad-tech provider OpenX as chief executive for close to a dozen years, started at GoFundMe just days before the WHO labeled COVID-19 a global pandemic. Activity on the platform was hitting new heights as increasing numbers of people looked for help to pay for food, rent, and medical bills. Then came the summer of 2020, when GoFundMe set a record for its highest number of donations in a single campaign: More than 500,000 people raised close to $15 million for the Official George Floyd Memorial Fund.
As part of a recent TIME co-sponsored Charter Workplace Summit, I spoke to Cadogan about his thoughts on shaping social impact, leading teams in a remote environment and his worries about the new era of hybrid work.
(This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.)
You joined GoFundMe at a very interesting time: March of 2020, as the pandemic was changing everything about work. How has that transition been for you?
We had to transition very quickly, and by the end of my first week, we said, ‘We’re going to go to fully distributed.’ I have…
Source : time
