Greek Bailout Fund: Crowdfunding campaign started by Thom Feeney to help Greece gains momentum

A crowdfunding campaign to save Greece from bankruptcy is gaining traction as the country faces the gloomy choice between prolonged austerity or defaulting on its debts and possibly even leaving the eurozone.

Thousands of people have chipped in a few euros for the Greek Bailout Fund, an online campaign "to [get] Greece sorted and hopefully get them back on track soon".

"All this dithering over Greece is getting boring. European ministers flexing their muscles and posturing over whether they can help the Greek people of not. Why don't we the people just sort it instead?" the campaign founder, 29-year-old Briton Thom Feeney, wrote.

A day after the fundraising page was started on website Indiegogo, more than 5,500 people have donated money to the cause, collecting more than €80,000 (£56,000, $89,000), with numbers growing steadily.

Feeney provided some incentives to lure more contributors while promoting Greece's embattled economy.

Pledging €3 you can get a postcard of Alexis Tsipras, the Greek prime minister, while €6 gets you a Greek feta and olive salad. Meanwhile, €10 wins you a small bottle of Ouzo and at the top end, a an offer of €5,000 leads to an all-inclusive holiday for two in Athens (there is also the chance to donate €1m – no prize is attached to that pledge but "you'll receive a lot of gratitude from citizens of Europe and particularly the Greek people").

The amount raised so far was still way short of the ambitious goal of handing Greece the €1.6bn it is due to pay the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on 30 June.

Nevertheless, Feeney said to be optimistic. "It might seem like a lot but it's only just over €3 from each European. That's about the same as half a pint in London," he wrote.

"I'm confident the people of Europe will get this campaign and sometime soon we'll all be raising a glass of Ouzo and having a bloody great big celebration."

The Yorkshire native who says he is works in a shoe shop in Covent Garden, central London, and has never been involved in Greek politics, has promised all profits will go to the Greek people and donors will be refunded if the targeted amount is not reached within seven days.

He added: "I'm not just making a statement, this is a real attempt to do something. But at the very least it's important to raise the issue of the plight of the Greek people at this time."