Over the past few years, creators have become an essential part of campaign messaging strategy. But for Larkin, Picker’s recent stream is the latest sign that online influence is being leveraged for direct fundraising, too.
Picker is not alone. YouTuber Trisha Paytas, with over 5 million subscribers and a long history of provocative stunts, isn’t known for her political activism, but in February she donated more than $10,000 to a campaign called Creators Against ICE. The campaign, organized by creator collective Creators for Peace, is one of a series of fundraisers organized by a coalition of creators turning social media followings into political fundraising machines.
Unlike traditional fundraising models like super PACs, which collect money from publicly reported donors, these creators aggregate audiences and leverage social networks and off-the-shelf tools like Shopify and Tiltify to convert followers into donors. Creators for Peace is one of the most prominent groups in the line of creator coalitions, working on issues ranging from Gaza relief to immigration aid – setting a model that could reshape grassroots fundraising ahead of the midterm elections.
“I think there are a lot of creators who recognize the power of a platform,” says Hassan Khadair, one of the organizers of Creators for Peace. “I think the call to action culturally with creators is greater than ever.”
Creators for Peace was founded in 2024 by Nikki Carrion in an Instagram group DM with a few other creators to raise money for Gaza relief. That group chat expanded into a more than 120-person Discord server, comprised of influencers with millions of followers on platforms like Instagram, Twitch, and YouTube. Joining the likes of Curtis Conner, Hassan Pikar, and Try Guys, who collectively have more than 15 million followers on their primary platforms. Members shared infographics with their audience and hosted a livestream. By the end of the campaign, the group had raised more than $1.6 million.
Khadair says, “We largely start from scratch on each new campaign. I’ll personally reach out to a number of creators, we’ll hit a few, and then once we allow it to catch fire on its own, a group of creators will reach out to us.” For the Creators for Peace immigration fundraiser, Khadair says, “We really wanted to try to break out of the leftist bubble a little bit, because a lot of our audience connects with us on these issues.”
Joining forces with more apolitical creators like Paytas, the Creators Against ICE campaign has raised nearly $140,000 for the National Immigration Law Center, according to the group’s Tiltify fundraiser.
The creators have faced criticism for remaining silent on political issues over the years. During the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, audiences began demanding that influencers creating content on anything from fashion to food speak out publicly and take sides on political issues. In these online spaces, silence is often viewed as complicity.
Groups of Democratic political influencers such as UndertheDeskNews have also begun raising funds for whistleblowing to alert communities to the presence of ICE agents and support community surveillance. In February, approximately 80 creators were part of an anti-ICE merchandise fundraiser tied to Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl performance, selling T-shirts, hats, and stickers featuring the singer’s Sappho Concho mascot. The campaign raised over $100,000 for the Immigration Legal Defense Fund.
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