This is GoFundMe, the "crowdfunding" platform in which money has been collected for Emiliano Sala's private research.

The figure was surprising in the solidarity of tens of thousands of people. The family of Argentine footballer Emiliano Sala has launched a campaign in a network of "crowdfunding" in order to be able to badume the costs of private search of the missing plane. in the Channel and in just 48 hours, they raised more than 360,000 euros (more than 15 million pesos).

The application has received financial support from more than 4,000 donors and has been shared on Facebook nearly 20,000 times. For example, the Sala family, from the modest town of Progreso, which has a population of just 3,000, found the financial support needed to continue the search for the plane that displaced the 28-year-old Argentine Nantes (France) to the Welsh city of Cardiff. The mbadive donation has helped maintain the hope of finding the football player. After last Thursday, the Guernsey police decided to stop the search.

The fundraising campaign began on the GoFundMe website, nothing less than today's most popular crowdfunding site, which has been able to handle multi-billion dollar transactions.

Established in 2010, during its first eight years, GoFundMe managed to accumulate $ 5 billion through more than two million campaigns and enabled contributions from some 50 million donors, more than the whole population in Argentina.

The operation of the web is simple. Anyone with an economic need for a specific purpose can launch a campaign waiting for monetary support from the rest of the users around the world. The most active campaigns are those related to health, whether it is badistance for the payment of a complex operation or the visit of specific medical centers abroad.

To date, GoFundMe has operations in 19 countries in Europe, North America and Oceania, and according to early 2018 statistics, receives more than $ 140 million in donations per month. According to its directors, landings are sought in countries with the spirit of "solidarity and participation".

For most of its existence, the platform has kept 5% of the money raised in each campaignwhile payment platforms (credit and debit cards and electronic payment systems) collected 3.55% of each donation. However, in November 2017, GoFundMe decided to remove the 5% collected for each campaign and to bet on the "voluntary tips" of the donors themselves.

The web in Spanish includes 18 categories, among which Health, Education, In Memoriam, Emergency, NGO and Animals. There are also more picturesque sections, such as newlyweds, desires or faith.

The site itself indicates that for a campaign to be successful, the narrative must be consistent and credible. Thus, with the help of "likes" networks, the necessary economic sums could be reached.

During its eight years of existence, GoFundMe has been the scene of million dollar campaigns that have successfully transcended public opinion. Perhaps, the most powerful one was created by an American in which he asked for economic help for US citizens to build the wall promised at the time by President Donald Trump on the border with Mexico.

So, It has been possible to raise over $ 20 million through the contribution of nearly 350,000 people and the creation of We Build The Wall.. Even the creator of the campaign, Brian Kolfage, has been interviewed by some of the largest television networks in the United States.

Most of the campaigns that raised the most money were those that supported victims of natural disasters, shootings or attacks. Similarly, another striking mission was that of American athlete Emily Scott, who requested financial support to participate in the discipline of ice speed skating, at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Despite this, the most powerful Crowdfunding website also has critics. Over the past eight years, there have been hundreds of fake campaigns in which creators have been able to cheat donors and in many cases have kept money. Most of these cases responded to false diseases or to health treatments.

The most critical criticisms relate to the possibility of fraud without overly exhaustive control, as well as some campaigns promoting hatred, racism or discrimination.