Gofundme faces scrutiny: states accuse platform of unauthorized charity fundraisers
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel leads a growing chorus of officials criticizing GoFundMe for creating unauthorized donation pages for thousands of charities. The move, announced Tuesday, follows a formal letter from 21 states demanding answers and greater protection for both organizations and donors.
Gofundme created pages for 1.4 million charities without permission
The letter details how GoFundMe launched its own donation web pages for 1.4 million charities across the United States in October, bypassing standard protocols and failing to obtain consent from the organizations themselves. This sparked immediate concern from charities nationwide, who found themselves unable to control their fundraising narratives and branding.
The National Council of Nonprofits had previously voiced similar concerns about GoFundMe’s actions. The state attorneys general’s letter alleges problematic practices, including inaccurate information on some pages – misrepresenting logos, social media links, and even the charities' missions. In other instances, donations were routed through donor-advised funds rather than directly to the intended recipient.
Perhaps most concerning, the letter suggests GoFundMe may have applied a default “tip” of approximately 16.5% to the donations, effectively diverting funds to the platform itself. This raises questions about how much of each donation actually reached the charities.
Michigan officials are urging any Michigan-based charities facing unauthorized GoFundMe campaigns to report them to the state's Consumer Protection Team. The situation highlights the risks of relying on third-party platforms for fundraising and the urgent need for greater oversight in the digital giving space. The incident underscores a broader tension between the ease of online fundraising and the responsibility of platforms to safeguard donor intent.
The letter demands verification from GoFundMe that all unauthorized pages have been removed and greater safeguards implemented to prevent future incidents. A failure to adequately address these concerns could have lasting repercussions on the trust donors place in online giving.