GoFundMe Changes Olympian Campaign at Behest of USOC

(ATR) Crowd-funding website GoFundMe is changing the wording of its global competition for Olympic athletes in order to stay within the good graces of the United States Olympic Committee.

The competition will award $10,000 to the athlete who can raise the most money between June 27 and July 15 using the popular crowdsourcing website. However, the launch of the campaign on Monday was met with backlash from the USOC due to the use of various trademarks belonging to Team USA such as Olympics®, Olympians® and Road to Rio®.

"Businesses that are not Olympic sponsors may not associate with the Olympic Games in this manner and we are in the process of contacting GoFundMe to discuss this program and provide educational materials regarding the USOC’s trademark rights," USOC chief communications officer Patrick Sandusky told Around the Rings.

In response to communications from the USOC, GoFundMe has altered its blog post announcing the competition on its website, removing several references to the Olympics. The title of the competition was changed, Olympic athletes are now referred to simply as athletes and the reference to the Summer Games was replaced with ‘international competitions in Rio de Janeiro’.

The most notable change is the addition of the Team USA marketing rights disclaimer that reads: "You must also comply with any and all rules, policies and obligations of the US Olympic Committee or other governing Olympic organization, especially as it applies to marketing and the use of protected images and language." A link is also provided to the marketing rights guidelines.

GoFundMe spokesperson Bobby Whithorne could not confirm that the company has had discussions with the USOC, but did tell ATR, "we are working with all parties to help raise funds for the athletes."

Whithorne says it was the presence of several campaigns by Olympic hopefuls on the site that gave the company the idea for the $10,000 competition.

"Over the last several months we saw a number of athletes, almost 100 raising money on the platform for training and travel as they compete in trials so we created a landing page and a central hub for folks to visit the athletes’ pages," Whithorne tells ATR. "We felt like it was important to support the athlete and encourage additional donations from the GoFundMe community to the athletes who are training for and competing in Brazil."

This isn’t the first time athletes have used the website to reach their Olympic goals since its foundation in 2010. Prior to the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, U.S. speed skater Emily Scott raised just under $60,000 for her training and travel after Team USA cut off her funding following poor performances in 2013. Scott would go on to represent the U.S. in the Olympics and placed fifth in the 1500 meters.

"It’s an increasing trend that we are seeing for athletes to turn to GoFundMe to raise money for their family and friends to travel and watch them compete in Brazil, or for their training or a whole host of reasons," Whithorne tells ATR.

The GoFundMe page hub for the Olympic fundraising competition says more than 4,000 people have donated to the campaigns a total of $424,939 thus far. The competition comes to a close on July 15 and the Rio 2016 Olympics begin on Aug. 5.

Written by Kevin Nutley

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