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Robert Alexander is a credentialed Senior Correspondent recognized by the United States Press Agency (USPA) and German Daily News.
GoFundMe’s social media cover image promotes its mission statement, “Helping people help each other” | Image by @gofundme/X
GoFundMe has launched a new feature allowing users to donate directly to nonprofit organizations — but many groups say they never approved it.
The company created 1.4 million nonprofit pages using public IRS data and information from partners like the PayPal Giving Fund. GoFundMe claims the move helps its 200 million global users “easily discover and donate to nonprofit organizations, helping them support causes and charitable missions they care about, even if the organization hasn’t actively created a GoFundMe campaign,” according to ABC News 7.
However, several nonprofits were surprised to find donation pages bearing their names.
Dave Dornlas, treasurer for the Friends of the San Bruno Public Library and president of the San Bruno Amateur Radio Club, learned of the issue after a donor inquired about a GoFundMe page tied to the library.
“It was something that we did not set up and were a little concerned about,” Dornlas said. “We weren’t sure what was going on.”
Both organizations discovered GoFundMe had created donation pages without their knowledge. “The fact that they would just on their own build pages for nonprofits that they’ve never spoken to is a problem,” Dornlas said. “I’m a believer in opt-in, not opt-out.”
GoFundMe’s Senior Director of Nonprofit Communications, Krista Lamp, said the pages are part of a broader effort to support charitable giving. “What we were finding is that people were already organically coming to GoFundMe to support nonprofit orgs,” Lamp said. She added that in 2024 the platform supported 70,000 nonprofit organizations.
Lamp acknowledged the company plans to improve communication. “The more we can communicate and speak to the nonprofits directly is always beneficial to us,” she said. “As we continue later in 2025 and 2026, we plan to do more communication directly to nonprofits about the nonprofit pages.”
Dornlas also criticized GoFundMe’s optional tipping feature, which defaulted to 16.5%. “They solicit a tip of 14.5% … which doesn’t have to happen. That’s what bothers me,” he said.
Both organizations later removed their pages from the site.