The 2021 Marshall Fire near Boulder is Colorado鈥檚 most destructive and costliest wildfire, burning down more than 1,000 homes and causing $2 billion in damages.
Years later, researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder donations sent through the crowdfunding site GoFundMe to hundreds of people who lost their homes in the blaze.
They found people with household incomes above $150,000 received nearly 30% more money, on average, than those with incomes below $75,000. What鈥檚 more, wealthier people were more likely to have a GoFundMe campaign started for them by a friend or co-worker.
鈥淏ecause of the advantages that wealthy people have in society in their networks, they know people who are in a better position to donate to them,鈥� said Tony Cookson, a professor of finance at UC Boulder and study co-author. 鈥淥n the flip side, it is sort of showing that this type of support isn鈥檛 evenly allocated.鈥�
Some Marshall Fire survivors received more than $60,000 in donations, while others received less than $5,000.
Cookson said federal disaster aid doesn鈥檛 fill funding gaps. According to the study, wildfire survivors who got property damage support from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) received an average of only $2,500.
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