SoFi employees are among the thousands who have lost homes as wildfires rage on in Northern California, but their coworkers aren’t going to leave them hanging.
In one day a GoFundMe page that the company says came about by employee demand has raised over $46,000 of its $100,000 goal. As of press time on Wednesday, Oct. 11 there were 183 contributors donating anywhere from $25 to $1,000 apiece. Many left thoughtful messages while some are creating solidarity with the hashtag #SoFiStrong.
Screenshot of SoFi’s GoFundMe page.
The company’s message on the GoFundMe page reads as follows:
SoFi Team,
Many of you have reached out and asked how we can help our fellow employees in Healdsburg, particularly those who have lost homes in the fires. We have set up a GoFundMe campaign to help raise funds for those who would like to make a contribution to help those employees. SoFi will pay the fees taken from every donation to ensure that 100 percent of funds donated will go to our employees. Thank you everyone for your support on this!
The city of Healdsburg is located in Sonoma County north of San Francisco, while SoFi’s office is based in the city proper.
SoFi joins Airbnb, which activated its Open Homes program to allow hosts to open their homes to evacuees and relief workers, in providing relief from the wildfires that broke out this weekend.
Launched in 2011, SoFi succeeded early by refinancing student loans at rates significantly lower than federal loan prices, but it branched out to mortgages two years later, specifically with loans geared to owner-occupied residences and secondary homes. Currently, it has funded $20 billion in student loans, personal loans and mortgages for more than 350,000 customers, according to company data.
SoFi has between 500-1,000 employees, according to Crunchbase.