The numbers are in and they reveal that South Africans are generous, community minded people who are willing to sponsor a stranger in the name of charity.
Since its inception in 2007, the online crowdfunding platform Back-a-Buddy has seen more than R100-million raised across 6 832 campaigns from 125 800 donors.
'As a platform, Back-a-Buddy allows us to come together as communities to support people and causes that we believe in, regardless of our differences,' said BackaBuddy CEO Patrick Schofield.
'For every cause, accident or catastrophe that we face, we bear witness to the many who step up when asked to by their peers.
'This is the immense power that crowdfunding facilitates and which goes far beyond just the funds that are raised.'
Campaigns for many causes, including medical and tuition fees, are hosted on the platform with the campaigns, with initial support, raising R20 000 on average.
A most notable Back-a-Buddy campaign was the raising of R80 314.46 for Siboniso, a young autistic boy from Shongweni, KZN.
Owing to his parents' financial struggles, Siboniso was unable to attend a school that would meet his special needs.
Everyday Siboniso would sit under a tree with his school uniform, polished black shoes and a little suitcase packed with books, and pretend he was in the classroom.
Responding to his plea to attend school, The Angel Network set up a campaign on Back-a-Buddy to fund his school fees of R40 000.
More than double was raised.
In another heart warming story, more than R1.4-million was raised for threeyear-old Aaron Lipschitz from Cape Town to receive a bone marrow transplant.
'Unfortunately some people are still very sceptical when it comes to donating to causes,' said Back-a-Buddy Chief Operations Officer Catherine du Plooy.
'To overcome this, we as an organisation have found that the public is more responsive to individual causes when donors are secure in the knowledge that their contributions are used for the intended purpose.'
Crowdfunding has also created an opportunity for NPOs to diversify their income stream.
