Money to Burn: Crowdfunding Wildfire Recovery

ABSTRACT Person‐to‐person crowdfunding is an increasingly important form of disaster relief, yet its distribution is poorly understood. Linking GoFundMe campaigns from a major wildfire to property and household credit records, we find that higher‐income households are 12 pp more likely to have campaigns and raise over 25% more, holding property losses constant. These disparities reflect unequal access to social capital: broader donor bases, more nonlocal ties, greater advocacy by friends, and more generous donors. Donors appear influenced by social pressure in online crowdfunding. These mechanisms mirror national patterns and underscore crowdfunding's limitations as a tool for equitable disaster relief.