Important Update for Nonprofits: GoFundMe Creates Automatic Pages Without Direct Consent
Important Update for Nonprofits: GoFundMe Creates Automatic Pages Without Direct Consent
Recently, many nonprofit organizations in the United States have discovered something unexpected: a GoFundMe donation page bearing their name ……. that they never created.
According to recent reports, GoFundMe launched a new feature allowing users to donate directly to more than 1.4 million nonprofit organizations by automatically generating pages using public IRS data and information from partners like the PayPal Giving Fund.
GoFundMe says this initiative is intended to make it easier for donors to “discover and give to charitable organizations they care about, even if the organization hasn’t actively created a campaign.” While this may sound helpful in theory, the rollout has caused confusion and concern across the nonprofit sector.
What’s Happening
In many cases, nonprofits only discovered their new GoFundMe pages after a supporter reached out with a question – sometimes asking if the page was legitimate. These organizations had never been notified, asked for approval, or given the option to opt out before the page went live.
For many nonprofit leaders, this raised immediate concerns about:
- Transparency: How donations are processed and distributed.
- Accuracy: Whether their mission, logo, or description were represented correctly.
- Control: The ability to manage donor relationships, messaging, and compliance.
GoFundMe representatives have acknowledged that communication could have been handled better and stated that the company plans to contact nonprofits directly in the coming months to improve transparency and awareness.
What About Fees and Tipping?
In addition to the automatically created pages, many organizations were surprised by the optional “tipping” feature that defaults to around 16.5%, which donors must manually adjust if they do not wish to include it.
GoFundMe also charges a 2.2% + $0.30 transaction fee on nonprofit donations (or 2.9% for individual campaigns). These fees and default tipping settings have raised further questions about donor understanding and informed consent.
What Nonprofits Can Do
If your organization uses GoFundMe — or even if you’ve never created an account — it’s important to take a few quick steps:
- Search for your organization on GoFundMe to see if a page exists under your name.
- If you find one you didn’t create, you can either:
- Claim the page to gain access and control over its information and donor visibility, or
- Unpublish or request removal if you prefer not to be listed.
- Visit support.gofundme.com to connect with a representative for assistance.
- Communicate with your donors — let them know how to give through your official channels, such as your website, donation platform (like GiveButter or Donorbox), or verified social media pages.
A Note from Impact Funding Solutions
At Impact Funding Solutions, we believe transparency and consent are essential to maintaining donor trust. While technology has created exciting new ways to fundraise, it’s critical that nonprofits retain ownership of their stories, data, and donor relationships.
If you’ve discovered an unexpected GoFundMe page tied to your organization, don’t panic — take a few moments to verify, claim, or remove it, and keep your donors informed.
As always, our team is here to support you with fundraising strategy, donor communications, and platform selection that align with your values and mission.
Because every dollar — and every donor — deserves clarity and care. 💙
