An American model has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Australian bushfire victims by offering nudes in exchange for donations.

Kaylen Ward, who describes herself as The Naked Philanthropist on social media, came up with the idea to send naked photos to every person who could prove they had donated at least $10 to an approved relief fund.

"I was seeing all the posts on Twitter about the Australian fires and I was really concerned there wasn't a lot of media coverage and not a lot of people donating," the Los Angeles-based influencer told BuzzFeed News.

Twitter Model Kaylen Ward came up with the idea to send people nudes as a reward for donating.

Ward advertised the deal on Twitter, and since posting on Saturday has received thousands of direct messages and more than 50,000 retweets.

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She told BuzzFeed News she had hired a team of four people to help her sort through the messages and verify the donations.

On Monday morning (NZ time), Ward reported that her efforts had helped raise an estimated US$500,000 (NZ$751,000), earning her much praise online.

Twitter Ward reported she had raised US$500,000 on Monday morning.

"Not all heroes wear capes, some wear nothing at all," said one Twitter fan.

"Saving the world, one nude at a time. Just beautiful," wrote another.

The campaign wasn't all positive for Ward though — amid all the publicity, Instagram deactivated her account, saying she had posted "sexually suggestive content".

But the model shrugged it off, tweeting: "My IG got deactivated, my family disowned me, and the guy I like won't talk to me all because of that tweet.

"But f... it, save the koalas."