Viral online competitions are all over our social media feeds. Here's what to know before you enter or vote.
Viral online competitions offer thousands of dollars in prizes and donate part of the money raised to charity, but what should you know before you enter or donate?
CBS News New York investigative reporter Mahsa Saeidi spoke to some local artists who said they didn't fully understand how the competition worked until after voting began.
How the competitions work
Colossal, a for-profit professional fundraiser for charities, is the company behind many of these viral online competitions, including "Super Mom" and "Toddler of the Year."
The rules explain how the competitions work: You enter for free, and each day, your supporters can vote one time for free. But they can also pay to vote more, helping to boost you. All donations are final.
The competitions each have nine rounds of voting.
"What we're looking to do is divide them into equal groups at the start of the competition to make that more of a level playing field," Colossal CEO Mary Hagen said. "And so it becomes a bracketed tournament-style competition."
Hagen said hundreds of thousands of participants compete in each contest, and when you advance to the next round, you face a new group.
At four points during each competition, the slate is wiped clean, meaning every vote from the previous round, including paid votes, resets.
Hagen said the resets are for fairness, not to drive spending.
"We have many competitors who participate at a very high level and even become champions with primarily free votes," she said. "And a lot of people, you'd be surprised, are really talented at activation."
There is also a celebrity involved in each contest. Hagen said their involvement is mainly promotional.
Why one New Yorker withdrew from the competition
New York artists Jimmy Aponte and Muse Pane entered an online competition for artists. The winner gets $25,000, a feature in Artforum magazine, and a show in Los Angeles. Pane saw actor Johnny Depp promoting the competition in a video on social media.
"I was on Instagram, and I saw Johnny Depp make an emotional speech," Pane said.
"It looked very prestigious," Aponte said.
Aponte and Pane said they felt it was a potentially life-changing, once-in-a-lifetime shot.
"I would assume that most of the people applying felt the same way," Pane said.
Pane applied in March and received an email from the competition saying they'd reach out with next steps "should you be selected." A month later, she got a notice that her application was accepted.
In May, the voting began. Pane said she posted it on social media and sent it to her friends, family and supporters, but she hadn't reviewed the competition rules and didn't realize at first there was a pay-to-vote option. Her dad spent $100, her mom spent $50, and her friends chipped in, too.
"After a couple of days, I was in second place," Pane said.
But that was just one round. After Pane realized the competition was nine rounds and votes reset four times, on top of pay voting, she decided to withdraw from the competition.
"I finally got my page down after, like, five days of requests," she said.
Hagen said she thinks the company is "really clear" about the way the competitions work.
"I think the truth of the matter is that the information is maybe just not being looked at," she said. "The reality for us is that over the years, I've seen less and less confusion, less and less complaints."
Hagen added Depp donated his time for free to raise money for charity. CBS News New York reached out to his representatives and has not yet heard back.
The winner of the competition will be announced in August.
"You have to be actively keeping up with it"
Leah Lawler's dog, Buster, won the "America's Favorite Pet" competition last year, taking home prizes that included $10,000. She said her victory came from a combination of free votes and paid votes.
"I put the word out, and then all my friends and family put the word out to their people," she said. "I even went to a Staples and printed out real posters with QR codes for quick voting and I put them laminated in dog parks ... in the hair salons, dog groomer, vet, cafes."
She added, "You have to be actively keeping up with it all the time."
How money from the competitions is donated
Colossal is growing. The company went from raising $18 million in 2022 to $129 million in 2024.
Records from the New York State Attorney General show 54% of those dollars went to charity in 2024, exactly in line with the state average for professional fundraisers.
"We don't have to give 50%, but we do," Hagen said.
Three charities CBS News New York contacted about their work with Colossal praised the company for their partnership and support.
The National Breast Cancer Foundation said Colossal has raised over $27 million for their organization since 2022, adding, "Colossal's partnership has helped strengthen our financial sustainability and advance our legacy."
The organization GENYOUth said, in part, their work with Colossal has "significantly helped GENYOUth to meet our annual fundraising goals for two years in a row while elevating our brand's visibility and most importantly, helping us to ensure that schoolchildren thrive through good nutrition and physical activity. "
The Progressive Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) said in addition to the $21 million in grant funding they have received from Colossal since 2022, the competition engages a national audience and helps raise awareness for the organization.