Digital Ambassador Zoella smashes £10,000 fundraising target in less than 24 hours

Zoe Sugg, aka Zoella, Mind’s Digital Ambassador, has helped to raise £13,845 by launching a fundraising page on her 28th birthday and asking her followers to donate to Mind.

Driven by her own experiences of mental health problems, Zoe encouraged millions of her online followers to also share the page to help promote Mind’s online resources, having used them herself when she first experienced anxiety.

Launched on 28th March, Zoe’s birthday fundraising page has seen donations from thousands of supporters, surpassing the original target of £10,000. Funds raised from the initiative will help us to continue to provide online services such as Elefriends and our web resources supporting the one in four of us who will experience a mental health problem this year.

Zoe said: “As a teenager I really struggled with what was going on inside my head. I didn’t understand what was happening. The Mind website was the first place I got support from for my mental health and it helped me to recognise my anxiety; so I wanted to find a way to give something back. It’s an honour to be Mind’s Digital Ambassador and I’m over the moon with the response, so I’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone for being so generous with their donations.”

Paul Farmer, Chief Executive at Mind said: “We’re hugely grateful to Zoella for choosing to support Mind as part of her 28th birthday celebrations. To raise almost £14,000 in under a week is incredible and I want to thank everyone who donated and shared the fundraising page. The initiative has raised vital awareness of Mind’s online services, as well as helping to ensure that Mind can continue to provide mental health support for people when they need it the most.

“We support over 16 million people through our award-winning information services, which includes extensive online advice and guides on all aspects of mental health. Additionally we run a free Infoline and legal line, which deals with over 76,000 enquiries each year. Aside from this we pioneer new forms of support, including our online peer support community Elefriends, which currently supports over 61,000 people.

“It is only thanks to kind donations and fundraising initiatives like this that we are able to continue our work, so on behalf of everyone here at Mind I’d like to thank Zoe and her very generous followers again.”