- Wallstreetbets users on Reddit donated more than $ 256,000 for gorilla conservation.
- Over the weekend, users ‘adopted’ gorillas by donating money to the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund.
- Hippos, warthogs and leopards were also adopted by members of the group who donated to charities.
- Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.
WallStreetBets, the Reddit site that led to the rise of GameStop shares, raised more than $ 265,000 for a gorilla conservation fund.
On Friday, a user posted that they had sent a donation to the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund allowing them to “adopt” their own gorilla in a ceremonial way. The post was nominated more than 100,000 times and the idea quickly caught fire with the WallStreetBets community.
Since you can not buy shares over the weekend, the community decided to spend some of their new money they earned from GameStop shares, which fetched $ 350 last week, on something positive.
The fund was established in 1972 and is one of the oldest and longest-running primate conservation organizations, helping to detect and protect gorilla populations. Gorillas protected by the fund are considered adopted by donors who support the organization.
The gorilla connection comes from ‘monkey gang’, an internal nickname for the subreddit, which refers to the idea that the group is like a bunch of monkeys on buttons on a keyboard to buy shares. Users regularly send messages with gorilla emojis to allude to their so-called ‘monkey gang’.
Jim Cramer, host of Mad Money on CNBC, was against those on reddit
Reddit / GriffyTizzle
On Saturday and Sunday, the cover of the subreddit was flooded with adoption screens, with users using meme-inspired aliases like ‘GameStop’, ‘Jim Cramer’s Tears’ and ‘Tendie’ in their adoptions. There were so many new adoptions that hit the subreddit, that the moderators created a mega thread where users could post their new animal friends.
WallStreetBets members also found other conservation funds and adopted hippos, snow leopards, donkeys, bonobos, warthogs and so much more.
Adopting your own gorilla on the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund website costs from $ 60 to $ 150. For this one-time donation, you will receive a video of the gorilla in action, a certificate and an annual update from your new furry friend .
This seemingly random snowball of philanthropy was spotted by the fund, who added the phrase “APES TOGETHER STRONG” to their website and tweeted on Saturday that they had raised $ 77,000, before breaking $ 100,000 by Sunday.
By Monday, WallStreetBets donations had broken a quarter of a million dollars, the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund told Insider.
—Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund (@SavingGorillas) 14 March 2021
The director of the fund, dr. Tara Stoinski, made a video thanking the people on Reddit for donating money to the fund, which was posted on the subredit. This post has been nominated more than 160,000 times in 160 days and has received dozens of Reddit awards that have cost real money.
“The money these individuals have donated is an investment, not only in the Fossey Fund’s mission to help people save Gorillas, but also in the future of our planet,” Stoinski said in a statement. Insider said. “We rely on individual donors who give to us year after year because they know we can trust to be careful stewards of their donations, no matter how big or small they are.”
WallStreetBets continues to grow in popularity and now reaches 9.5 million members who want to spend money on stocks. Through an attempted coup and a federal investigation into insider trading, the subreddit is still the centerpiece for traders who just want to see their “stonks” go up.