50 States in 50 Days: A Fundraising Journey for St. Jude

Ryan Trahan and Haley Pham raised money for St. Jude by advertising a 50 day U.S.A exploration with twists and turns throughout

Famous Youtuber Ryan Trahan along with his wife and fellow Youtuber, Haley Pham, went on a trip across the United States in an attempt to raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital this summer. 

In his efforts for the foundation, Ryan Trahan uploaded 50 videos every single day this summer for 2 months, being in a different state each day and staying in what they deemed to be the ‘most unique’ Airbnb in each state. The roadtrip series immediately rose to trending status, generating well over 150 million views for Trahan’s channel in the 50 days they were posted, and raising over $11.5 million for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. This total includes user donations, company contributions, and off-site contributions, with the campaign goal set at $10,000,000. 

The consistent, wholesome, emotionally effective creator-led campaign triggered huge donations and some fundraising records being broken. Not only did he complete the challenge with weather conditions and his own set of rules, but he kept having to up the goal from $1 million at the beginning, all the way to $11 million dollars due to generosity from viewers. Brands quickly and strategically got involved with the kid-friendly campaign and donate to the cause. His channel currently sits at 21.5 million subscribers on YouTube, creating ‘challenge’ and ‘reviewing’ type content for years, and created this series not for the brands, but the foundation and his followers. They consistently show up with high retention rate, supporting and donating to any of his ventures. These subscribers were a massive part of the effort in building contributions.

Trahan did not build this series to attract brands or businesses. However, the companies started tuning in and pouring donations. His content is fun and provides real informational and entertainment value, making a collaboration with his brand extremely appealing.

 Any donation over $5,000 got a small written text included within the video. Strategically, with his massive following, this was one of the best-value sponsorship systems put in place for content creators today. For $5,000, a brand or individual donation was seen by millions. But most important, they were getting directly involved with the audience in the donations and are supporting the cause. 

This makes it not an advertisement but an alignment with the movement. 

Bob Evans Burger donated $56,000 and messaged them to eat at their chain.

Lectric E-Bikes gave them a free e-bike on the first night of the fundraiser and offered to pay $10,000 everyday the bike was included in the series.

Of course, every business who invested saw some mutual benefit from giving away the money to his channel’s fundraiser. Even small shops and restaurants that were randomly featured in the discussion about how much attention they’ve gotten from 50 States 50 Days.

Mike Mena, owner of Cafe e Dolci, gave Ryan Trahan a ride in the state of New York after Ryan visited the Menas’ shop in Warwick. The result of this interaction made Mike Mena and his wife, Brianna, instant fan-favorites amongst Trahan’s massive community. I talked with Mike about his new found fame. 

Mena has noticed “at least 15-20 people are dropping by a day from the series and I even just had a person come all the way from Niagara Falls today.” 

Avid fans of Ryan Trahan wonder how his experience in the videos was and if there are any moments significant to him that the cameras didn’t capture. Mena explained to me that Trahan “was really good at capturing the vibe and summarizing everything we did on the road trip through the editing on Youtube.” Mena recalled one if his favorite moments when “Haley passed Ryan and me on the interstate, Ryan was so happy and in disbelief she was nearby, that the final product didn’t quite capture Ryan’s joy on the ride and how many times he replayed the same clip he got from the camera in his car.” 

 In each and every state, Ryan Trahan connected with other strangers or ran into fans, told stories on the road, conducted research for sightseeing in each state, and encouraged his audience to donate. The impact speaks for itself. While the St. Jude website did not explicitly state if the fundraiser was the largest in St Jude’s history, it is definitely one of the most viral and significant charity campaigns for St Jude Children’s Research Hospital to date. 

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