WASHINGTON —  Thousands of people have made donations to an online fundraiser intended to ease the financial burden families of the five employees murdered Thursday at the Capital Gazette could face.

The fund was started by D.C.-based Bloomberg Government journalist Madi Alexander. More than $172,000 has been donated since the shooting — far beyond the effort’s initial fundraising goal. 

“They are going to have funeral costs out of nowhere,” said Phil Davis, a reporter at the Capital Gazette at a vigil on Friday. “All of their families are going to have to deal with grief and they’re going to have to deal with it in real time.”

The page invites donors to subscribe to the Gazette and to read the obituaries of each staff member who lost their lives.

The generosity of donors has been overwhelming.

Alexander had initially set out to only raise a few thousand dollars. But GoFundMe has suggested increasing the goal each time the total has approached the previous target, Alexander said on the page.

“So long as people are supporting this effort, it will continue to rise,” she said.

The specifics of what that money will be used for is still up in the air.

“Once things settle a bit, we will work together to formulate a clear plan for withdrawals and how the money will be handled,” GoFundMe said on the account’s page.

“We can discuss those specific details in the coming days as we want to allow the Capital Gazette team a bit of time to settle, grieve and remember the lives of their colleagues.”