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It’ll take months to distribute over $8M raised for Humboldt Broncos: GoFundMe

It will take several months to distribute the more than $8 million raised so far for the victims of a fatal bus crash involving the Humboldt Broncos, says the platform hosting the online crowdfunding campaign — the largest ever in Canada.
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It will take several months to distribute the more than $8 million raised so far for the victims of a fatal bus crash involving the Humboldt Broncos, says the platform hosting the online crowdfunding campaign — the largest ever in Canada.

More than 100,000 donors in 65 countries have contributed to the GoFundMe campaign — ranked among the five most successful campaigns ever on the platform — with donations ranging from $5 to $50,000 coming from individuals, families, sports teams and multinational corporations.

A spokeswoman for GoFundMe declined to say whether the money would be dispersed only among the families of the 16 people who died after a bus carrying a junior hockey team collided with a truck last week, or if it would also go to the 13 others who were injured.

“It’s still too soon for that level of detail and the distribution of funds will take time to organize,” Rachel Hollis said in an email. “We will ensure the Humboldt Broncos have all the support they need.”

A campaign of that scale presents logistical challenges, which GoFundMe said it’s still working through.

“This will likely be a process that’ll take several months,” Hollis wrote. “We’ll move as quickly as possible, but in the wake of a tragic and complicated event these things unfortunately take several months to fully resolve.”

GoFundMe said it has safeguards in place to ensure the money goes to the right place, including transferring funds directly to the beneficiary of the campaign, rather than its organizer.

The campaign was organized by Sylvie Kellington, a Humboldt woman whose son played for a youth version of the team, and the beneficiary is “Broncos team officials,” Hollis said.