The Challenge, hosted on the Crowdrise fundraising platform, pitted 12 celebrities in a race to see who could raise the most money for a charitable cause. Users could donate directly to the charities or sign on as co-fundraisers through Crowdrise.
Sophia Bush won the challenge, which ran for a month, in support of F- Cancer, raising $117,405. Seth Rogen and Hilarity for Charity came in a close second, raising a total of $114,465. These numbers, however, are all the more impressive for how they were reached.
Bush's campaign attracted 63 independent fundraisers who, through their own steam, decided to help F- Cancer win the contest. More over, 83% of the Challenge's total donations were less than $100, said a Mozilla spokesperson. That means that instead of several wealthy donors running the contest, the results were truly a result of everyday people giving what they could to help a cause.
Not all the charities broke the $100,000 mark -- most landed somewhere between $50,000 and $20,000. That's not too shabby, considering the Challenge raised a total of close to $600,000, all through small donations and good will. To help, Mozilla will be giving Bush and F- Cancer an additional $25,000. Because of the contest, F- Cancer has been fully funded through 2012.