Falcon Report

Matt Ryan reacts to huge anonymous donation, GoFundMe now holds $1.1 Million

An anonymous donor is helping Matt Ryan make a big-time impact on the black community in Atlanta.

Chris Vinel

Matt Ryan made headlines last week by starting a GoFundMe and pledging $500,000 to support the black community in Atlanta.

Many members of the Atlanta Falcons organization joined him, with Dan Quinn, Thomas Dimitroff, Dirk Koetter, Matt Schaub and others contributing thousands of dollars.

Then, Monday afternoon, someone anonymously matched Ryan’s $500,000 donation, nearly doubling the amount pledged. The person’s identity has not been revealed.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the fund holds more than $1.17 million of its $2-million goal. More than 1,900 people have donated.

"I'm obviously really excited about the response that has come in the last four or five days," Ryan said Tuesday on a media Zoom call. "I'm overwhelmed by everyone's generosity and commitment to, you know, wanting to make change. We still have a little ways to go, but we've done an extraordinary job to start this off."

Shortly after the huge anonymous offering Monday, Ryan wrote a thank-you message and posted it on his Instagram page.

“From the bottom of my heart; thank you to every single person who has donated to my GoFundMe. Over 1,700 have donated since Friday and we have raised more than $1M which will ALL go to help support the black community in Atlanta. I’m so moved by how many people have joined me in this mission but we still have work to do. We are more than half way until we hit that $2 million dollar goal. Please continue to donate and share, aa you do, write in the comments your IG handle and I will select some of you at random to highlight in my IG Story.

“This week, I’ll be working to continue listening, reading your comments and hearing from leaders in the black community to find how we can make the biggest impact. More news is coming this week, let’s go ATL, Rise Up!”

"We're getting close to that $2-million point, and I can't thank everybody that's committed money and time and just reached out — it means a lot to me," Ryan said. "I'm committed to trying to do the best job that I can with this and make the biggest impact we can make.

Join The Falcon Report community!

Follow The Falcon Report on Twitter.

Like The Falcon Report on Facebook.

Subscribe to The Dirty Birds Podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Published
Chris Vinel
CHRIS VINEL

I'm currently a Journalism major at Miami (Ohio) University, where I serve as the sports editor of The Miami Student. In 2019, I interned at The Oxford Observer and have been published in multiple outlets, including The Youngstown Vindicator and Chatterbox Sports.

Home/News