San Francisco (AFP)

They asked for it, GoFundMe did: the owners of the Endgame restaurant, near Seattle on the American west coast, owe the survival of their establishment to donations collected via this crowdfunding platform.

Like many entrepreneurs and artists who find themselves unemployed due to the coronavirus pandemic and containment measures, Michael Lamere and Austin Sines shared their precarious situation on the GoFundMe site ("finance me").

They raised more than 5,500 dollars, the minimum necessary to pay the bills while waiting for better days.

"Austin and I put everything we had into this adventure, and we hope to continue when it is all over," wrote Michael in his call for contributions.

Crowdfunding platforms allow you to raise funds for a project or association - or simply hold on until the end of the month.

With the health and economic crisis, these have become real lifelines.

On GoFundMe, more than 2 million people have already donated about $ 120 million to individuals or organizations struggling because of the Covid-19, according to Tim Cadogan, the executive director of GoFundMe.

"We are witnessing unprecedented levels of generosity," he enthuses.

- Stars -

A call for donations to equip caregivers with masks, gloves and overalls raised more than $ 6 million, thanks in particular to contributions from companies including the logistics giant Flexport.

Not to mention the support of former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Celebrity posts can take off campaigns, such as the so-called "American food fund" campaign launched by Leonardo DiCaprio, Laurene Powell Jobs (widow of Steve Jobs) and two major groups, Apple and the Ford Foundation.

It has raised 13 million dollars "for people who do not know if they will eat their fill tomorrow. They were more than 37 million before, and this figure is growing exponentially", plead the organizers.

In three weeks, almost 17 million people applied for unemployment benefit for the first time, unprecedented in the United States. Charitable and professional associations are turning to GoFundMe to deal with the emergency.

In New York, a campaign launched two weeks ago has already raised $ 220,000 to help the suddenly unemployed pay their rent.

In Miami, a call for donations raised $ 11,000 for former restaurant workers. In Los Angeles, a group of burlesque artists has reached half of their goal - $ 1,000.

"It seemed imperative to help my community of dancers who are already underpaid and have lost all means of earning money," explains Veronica Voss, organizer of the group.

- Chamber music -

Many artists choose to use another service: Patreon. More than 50,000 creators signed up last month on this San Francisco-based platform.

The idea is to offer exclusive content (making-off, questions and answers, tutorials, gifts ...) for regular remuneration.

The platform mainly attracts YouTubers, followed by podcast authors, designers and writers, who finance their artistic projects through subscriptions.

But lately, "I have seen artists walking in nature while filming themselves live for + walking around + virtually with their fans," said Carlos Cabrera, CFO of Patreon.

With the crisis, he feared a fall in donations. He was pleasantly surprised by the solidarity of the fans.

It is particularly welcome for musicians who usually perform on stage, and find themselves confined to making chamber music.

"For orchestras, it's double trouble," he notes. "They depend on live shows to live, and their audiences are made up mostly of elderly people, who are more vulnerable to the virus."

© 2020 AFP