P-03 What Does Crowdfunding for School Shooting Victims Tell Us about Inequality?

Previous research on medical crowdfunding has suggested that it may deepen existing social inequalities, while drawing attention away from systemic problems in the welfare state. Few studies have examined the effect of race/ethnicity, gender, or age on crowdfunding success because these variables are not reported on most crowdfunding platforms. Our present study on the prevalence and success of crowdfunding campaigns for victims of school shootings has the potential to address this gap in the literature. Because school shootings are heavily publicized in the media, we can obtain nearly complete lists of victims, as well as biographical information from interviews and obituaries that provide more trustworthy data on race/ethnicity, gender, and age than could be obtained through analysis of crowdfunding campaigns alone. We also examine how injury status and community characteristics are associated with the prevalence and success of crowdfunding campaigns on the platform GoFundMe.com. Case studies of the 2018 shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and Santa Fe High School (n=53) showed that teen victims raised more than adults, killed victims raised more than injured victims, male victims raised more than female victims, and killed white victims raised more than killed racial/ethnic minority victims. Unexpectedly, injured racial/ethnic minorities raised more than white injured victims. Community factors, including higher income and support for gun control, were also associated with more money raised for victims. We are in the process of expanding this study to include all high school shootings in the United States between 2010 and 2019.