{"id":2278939,"date":"2026-02-12T14:50:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T14:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2278939"},"modified":"2026-02-12T14:50:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T14:50:09","slug":"james-van-der-beeks-familys-gofundme-reaches-1-million-after-his-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/james-van-der-beeks-familys-gofundme-reaches-1-million-after-his-death\/","title":{"rendered":"James Van Der Beek&#8217;s family&#8217;s GoFundMe reaches $1 million after his death"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The GoFundMe page for James Van Der Beek\u2019s family surpassed $1 million in donations following the<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2026\/02\/11\/celebrity-news\/james-van-der-beek-dead-at-48-after-colorectal-cancer-battle\/\"> actor\u2019s death.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/support-for-james-van-der-beeks-family\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The page<\/a>, created Wednesday by James\u2019 friends, has raised over $1.32 million as of Thursday morning.<\/p>\n<p>The fundraiser\u2019s initial goal was $250,000, but it increased to $1.5 million on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>James Van Der Beek\u2019s friends created a GoFundMe page for his family on the day of his death <span class=\"credit\">vanderjames\/Instagram<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>The page has raised over $1 million as of Thursday morning. <span class=\"credit\">GoFundMe<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Over 26,000 people have contributed to the GoFundMe, including actress Zoe Salda\u00f1a, whose donation was set at $2,5000 a month.<\/p>\n<p>Other celebrity donors include Derek Hough, Ricki Lake, Lydia Hearst and Kaley Cuoco.<\/p>\n<p>James died on Wednesday at age 48 after <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2026\/02\/12\/celebrity-news\/inside-james-van-der-beeks-final-days-before-cancer-death\/\">battling colorectal cancer<\/a>, leaving behind his wife of 16 years, Kimberly, and their <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/parents\/meet-james-van-der-beeks-6-kids-with-wife-kimberly\/\">six children.<\/a><\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>Zoe Salda\u00f1a is donating $2,500 monthly to the GoFundMe <span class=\"credit\">MediaPunch \/ BACKGRID<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>James died on Wednesday, Feb. 11, at age 48. <span class=\"credit\">James Van Der Beek\/Instagram<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The GoFundMe was created to cover James\u2019 family\u2019s essential living expenses, pay bills and support the children\u2019s education.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThroughout his illness, the family faced not only emotional challenges but also significant financial strain as they did everything possible to support James and provide for his care,\u201d\u00a0the page reads. <\/p>\n<p>The fundraiser adds that James\u2019 loved ones are \u201cout of funds\u201d due to his <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2026\/02\/11\/celebrity-news\/james-van-der-beeks-friends-set-up-500k-gofundme-after-actors-cancer-battle-left-family-in-significant-financial-strain\/\">expensive cancer treatment costs<\/a> and \u201care facing an uncertain future\u201d following his death.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery donation, no matter the size, will help Kimberly and her family find hope and security as they rebuild their lives,\u201d the page states. \u201cThank you for considering a gift to support them.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>The GoFundMe is covering the Van Der Beek family\u2019s essential living expenses, bills and children\u2019s education. <span class=\"credit\">vanderjames\/Instagram<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>James\u2019 wife promoted the GoFundMe page on her social media after the actor\u2019s death. <span class=\"credit\">vanderjames\/Instagram<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Kimberly shared a link to the GoFundMe on her Instagram Stories, writing, \u201cMy friends created this link to support me and our children during this time. With gratitude and a broken heart.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>James announced his cancer diagnosis in November 2024, revealing that he received his diagnosis over a year earlier, in August 2023.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0He <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2025\/11\/12\/entertainment\/james-van-der-beek-auctions-off-dawsons-creek-memorabilia-to-fund-cancer-treatments\/\">auctioned off his personal \u201cDawson\u2019s Creek\u201d memorabilia<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 including the outfit his character, Dawson, wore in the show\u2019s pilot\u00a0\u2014\u00a0and <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2026\/02\/11\/celebrity-news\/james-van-der-beeks-wife-said-he-was-bouncing-back-from-cancer-before-death\/\">jerseys from his movie \u201cVarsity Blues\u201d<\/a> late last year to fund his cancer treatments.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve been storing these treasures for years, waiting for the right time to do something with them, and with all of the recent unexpected twists and turns life has presented recently, it\u2019s clear that the time is now,\u201d he told People in November 2025 about the decision.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>\u201cMy friends created this link to support me and our children during this time,\u201d Kimberly wrote on Instagram. <span class=\"credit\">James Van Der Beek\/Instagram<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>James was diagnosed with cancer in August 2023. <span class=\"credit\">vanderjames\/Instagram<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DUoR_x4EkTm\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">In a statement <\/a>on Wednesday, Kimberly shared that her husband \u201cpassed peacefully.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe met his final days with courage, faith and grace,\u201d she wrote on Instagram.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is much to share regarding his wishes, love for humanity and the sacredness of time. Those days will come,\u201d Kimberly added. \u201cFor now we ask for peaceful privacy as we grieve our loving husband, father, son, brother, and friend.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source pagesix.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The GoFundMe page for James Van Der Beek\u2019s family surpassed $1 million in donations following the actor\u2019s death. The page, created Wednesday by James\u2019 friends, has raised over $1.32 million as of Thursday morning. The fundraiser\u2019s initial goal was $250,000, but it increased to $1.5 million on Wednesday. James Van Der Beek\u2019s friends created a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2278940,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25177],"tags":[23383,22062,24003,315673,349865,350582,305129],"class_list":["post-2278939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrities","tag-cancer","tag-celebrity-deaths","tag-celebrity-news","tag-fundraising","tag-gofundme","tag-james-van-der-beek","tag-zoe-saldana"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/James-Van-Der-Beeks-familys-GoFundMe-reaches-1-million-after.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2278939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2278939"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2278939\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2278941,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2278939\/revisions\/2278941"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2278940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2278939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2278939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2278939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}