5 Reasons Your Nonprofit Needs to Act Now on GoFundMe’s Auto-Created Donation Pages

A large purple arrow with the words GoFundMe rises above and blocks other arrows representing nonprofits

Erin Booker

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October 21, 2025

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8 minutes

Nonprofit Trends

How To Nonprofit

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If your nonprofit is in the U.S., GoFundMe may have already created a donation page in your name—without your knowledge or consent.

Here’s why you need to pay attention.

GoFundMe is redirecting your donors. Their donation pages are outranking your official website in Google search results—sending supporters to GoFundMe instead of to you.
GoFundMe is reselling your mission. They’re collecting donations on your behalf, keeping donor data from you, and delaying payouts.
GoFundMe isn’t building for nonprofits. This rollout shows exactly who they’re serving—and it’s not you. Find a fundraising platform designed for the real needs of nonprofits.

What happened with GoFundMe?

In 2025, GoFundMe launched over 1.4 million donation pages for nonprofits across the country using publicly available IRS data. These pages can collect donations in your nonprofit’s name—even if you didn’t create them, don’t have access to them, and don’t know they exist.

One of the scariest parts? Each page includes a “Claim This Page” button that anyone can click—and the verification process is a black box. (Yes, your editor tried it with the permission of a local organization.)

If a page isn’t claimed, donations made there are processed through PayPal Giving Fund (PPGF). That means:

Donations may take up to five months to reach your organization.
You may never receive donor information.
You can’t issue refunds directly; all requests go through GoFundMe.

For nonprofits already stretched thin, this rollout creates confusion, competition, and concern.

What does “reselling your mission” mean?

When we say GoFundMe is “reselling your mission,” we’re talking about for-profit platforms using your nonprofit organization’s identity—your name, story, and more—to generate revenue for themselves.

As a result of the nonprofit community advocating for themselves, GoFundMe Pro put out a statement that rolled back some of the more egregious problems with their Nonprofit Pages, like removing the optional tip until consent has been given by the organization and removing logos from unclaimed pages.

Before GoFundMe's response, George Weiner, founder of Whole Whale, illustrated the situation perfectly in a LinkedIn post. He compared it to four real-world situations:

You hire a graphic designer for your rebrand. Then they take your logo, put it on their own site, and sell merch with your intellectual property—giving you whatever percent of the profits that they choose.
You hire a real estate agent to sell your house. Their brokerage lists a duplicate property at the same address, shows it to buyers, collects offers, and takes the difference on the higher sale you never agreed to.
You hire a web dev firm to build your site. They create your site and then another shadow site that lets them run ads and take data based on your intellectual property and SEO authority.
You hire Classy (now GoFundMe Pro) to run your fundraising infrastructure. You pay for branded, permission-based donation pages. Then the same company auto-generates a shadow donation page:
- Uses your name, logo, and mission.
- Grants itself control of donor data.
- Competes with you in search results.
- Sets a 16% default “tip.”
- Takes 5% of recurring donations.

When we look at these these examples from George, it's pretty clear to see how nonprofits’ trust, identity, and impact can be leveraged by others without permission.

5 reasons you need to take action on your nonprofit page

1. Anyone can claim your nonprofit’s page

As nonprofit leader Shane Tharp shared:

“The verification to claim it was absolutely non-existent. It asked only for an email… and I was still able to claim it. If y’all are on there, don’t let it sit. Others may be able to claim it without your knowledge.”

If someone outside your nonprofit organization claims your page, they could control donations made in your name—and as GoFundMe's Support says,

“The person who claims your page within GoFundMe Pro will become the main admin of your Nonprofit Page. This person replaces any admin connected previously and will be the only user able to log in to GoFundMe and change the settings for your page.”

What this means is that if someone else claims your page, you may not be able to claim any donations that supporters want to go to your nonprofit, and the person who claims your page may now control a giving experience that outranks your nonprofit's own website.

Action: Check if your nonprofit organization has a page and claim it immediately—or request removal if you prefer not to participate.

2. Donors may be redirected away from your official website

GoFundMe has a stronger domain reputation than any individual nonprofit. As a result, these new pages are already outranking nonprofits’ official donation pages in Google results.

That means when someone searches for your organization’s name, they might land on GoFundMe’s donation page instead of yours.

Funraise CEO and Co-founder Justin Wheeler put it best:

“GoFundMe has better SEO than almost any nonprofit in the U.S., and these donation pages are already ranking higher than real nonprofit pages. That’s a problem when a for-profit company is outranking the organizations it claims to support.”

Why this matters:

You lose valuable website traffic and visibility.
Donors build trust with GoFundMe—not your organization.
Your mission, message, and brand get buried under someone else’s platform.

3. You don’t control donor fees—or donor data

Prior to their statement and rollback, GoFundMe donation pages were defaulting to a 16% (!!) tip (or 5% for recurring gifts). Yes, that has since been rolled back, but what happens once a nonprofit claims their page and becomes a GoFundMe customer? What is the default tip at that point?

And donors are encouraged to create GoFundMe accounts—making it easier for GoFundMe to contact your donors later with suggestions to give to other causes. Why should GoFundMe have access to your audience?

Why this matters:

You can’t see who’s giving.
You can’t thank or steward those donors.
You lose out on long-term donor relationships.
Your donor retention rate goes down the toilet.

4. Your nonprofit’s visibility could suffer long-term

If GoFundMe’s donation pages continue to rank above your official ones, your nonprofit’s search engine optimization (SEO) and AI engine optimization (AEO) will suffer.

Already we're seeing AI assistants and search tools increasingly reference GoFundMe’s pages as the official donation source for your organization. Over time, this pushes your nonprofit further down in visibility—giving GoFundMe control over your digital fundraising presence.

5. GoFundMe may have gotten your nonprofit's information wrong

Because they pulled from publicly-available IRS data, GoFundMe may not have the most up-to-date website or contact information for your nonprofit. We all know that IRS data takes forever to update, so even if you want this page to collect donations on your behalf, it's possible that GoFundMe or PayPal Giving Fund's outreach may not reach you.

And for small nonprofits that are run out of people's homes, did they just put your home address on the internet for anyone to find? Imagine you run a nonprofit with a controversial stance on something...

Bonus ripple effects that GoFundMe's Nonprofit Pages could have

We've given you a bunch of capital-r Reasons to claim and/or remove the page GoFundMe created for your nonprofit. But this is such a big deal that it's going to have long-running, far-reaching ripple effects. Here are just a few that you should be aware of.

Your home address could be visible. If the address listed with the IRS for your nonprofit is your home address, it's likely on the GFM page.
Having no logo on the page isn't actually better than having the wrong logo. It just looks like your nonprofit couldn't be bothered to put any effort into their donation page.
By claiming your nonprofit page, GoFundMe is gathering more data on your nonprofit. Same with donors—as donors give, they provide GFM with more and more and more data (that you don't get).
You could run into compliance issues if you're not set up to solicit in specific states. We can't provide too much guidance there, but we still want to flag this as something to look into.
AI models are already recommending these GFM Nonprofit Pages in chats and overviews—instead of your actual donation page.
When you have the page removed, it just goes to a "Page Not Found". There's no redirection, so your potential donor may have hit a brick wall.
Seeing a scammy page or a broken link doesn't necessarily erode the donor's faith in GoFundMe; it's your name on the page. But even more than breaking the trust between donor and nonprofit, this breaks the donor's trust in our sector and in philanthropy. Makes us seem like we're only in it to get our greedy hands on their dollars.

What you can do about GoFundMe's Nonprofit Pages

Step 1: Find your page

Visit GoFundMe’s nonprofit directory.

Search your nonprofit organization’s name or EIN. If a page exists, you have two options:

Step 2: Claim it or remove it

To claim: Follow GoFundMe’s instructions to Claim Your Page. As of this writing, it seems that anyone can claim any page, so act quickly.
To remove: Contact GoFundMe support and request that your nonprofit’s page be taken down. Are you surprised that GoFundMe doesn't make it easy or obvious to get this page removed? Our lips are zipped on that, but we'll say that George Weiner built you a Nonprofit Fundraising Page Takedown Generator.

If you're a GoFundMe Pro customer, they still created a page for your nonprofit. Yes, that means that they're competing with their customers for donations and donor data. But lucky you, at least you can can decide whether you want your nonprofit page to be visible on GFM and discoverable by search engines.

Note: Claiming your page does not mean you’re endorsing GoFundMe—it simply protects your organization from someone else claiming it first.

Here's an idea from Kirsten Rogers:

Once you're in, update your GFM bio/profile with the following (or a variation to suit your style): “Go to <add website url here> to donate. GoFundMe created this page without our consent. We are trying to get this unauthorized page removed, but GFM is making it very difficult. Thank you for understanding.”

Step 3: Check PayPal Giving Fund for pending donations

If donors have already given to your organization through a GoFundMe Pro page, you can find out through PayPal Giving Fund.

Log in to your nonprofit’s PayPal account.
Go to the PayPal Giving Fund section to check for pending donations.
If you don’t have a PayPal account, you can create one using your nonprofit’s EIN and email address—this will automatically display any donations waiting for disbursement from GoFundMe, Facebook, or other platforms that route through PPGF.

If you find donations listed there, follow the instructions in your PayPal dashboard to claim them.

Step 4: Understand the risk of doing nothing

This is the secret third option we didn't present earlier: Ignore it. But even doing that is a conscious choice. Here's what could happen if you ignore this issue:

Someone else could claim your page and control donations in your name.
Donations might go unclaimed or be redirected after months.
Donor data will remain with GoFundMe—not with you.
Your website could continue to be outranked by GoFundMe’s page.

Protect your reputation, your donors, and your mission by taking ownership now.

Step 5: Talk to your team

Make sure your staff, volunteers, and board know about this. Transparency protects your nonprofit’s reputation and donor trust.

Step 6: Reevaluate your fundraising strategy

Ask yourself:

Are your donors finding you—or a third-party platform?
Do you own your donor relationships?
Is your data accessible, secure, and under your control?

If not, it may be time to explore tools that prioritize nonprofit ownership and transparency in fundraising efforts.

Voices from the sector

“Nonprofits already have it hard right now, and it’s disheartening to see a large for-profit company systematically extracting value from the very sector it claims to empower.” —Alex Szebenyi

“You can claim [the page] for free. But when I reached out, I ended up roped into a sales call for the pro version.” —Elizabeth Johnson Sellers

“It’s a big opportunity to demonstrate why trust matters. GoFundMe is a reseller of impact; Funraise builds tools that protect it.” —Tony Sasso, Chief Product Officer and Co-founder of Funraise

A response from Funraise's CEO

As this situation unfolded, over at Funraise, we kept asking ourselves what we should do for nonprofits facing this compounding problem. And as we watched and listened, it became apparent: Nonprofits were advocating for themselves. You didn't need us to shout about it. You didn't need another toolkit. Your entire job is advocacy, and you used those skills to stand up for your needs—and you're winning.

Still and all, Funraise is here for you, and we'll fight for you. Here's what Funraise's CEO and Co-founder, Justin Wheeler had to say in a LinkedIn post:

When GoFundMe acquired Classy, I wrote about this being bad for the nonprofit community.

Why?

GoFundMe’s track record speaks for itself. Prior to the Classy acquisition, they bought CrowdRise and YouCaring, launched GoFundMe Charity in 2019 and then shut it all down in 2021, forcing tens of thousands of nonprofits to scramble.

Here we are, yet again, witnessing another “GoFundMe Scramble,” this time at a much larger scale & the nonprofit community has spoken up about it. Loudly.

Listening to nonprofits and consultants over the last week has left me in awe and so proud of your advocacy and reminded me of the power of the nonprofit collective.

Don’t get me wrong, GFM is a great product, but its end market is for the consumer, not your nonprofit.

They know, because they own so much of the consumer giving demand, that they can scale their business faster without you.

That is exactly why they programmatically created 1.4M donation pages. They didn’t want to wait for you to find and cultivate your donors, they wanted to find and monetize them faster.

After 15 years on the front lines building nonprofits, I’ve seen too many tech companies treat our sector as an add‑on rather than a mission.

I haven’t always gotten it right over the last ten years. I’ll own that.

But one thing I know for certain is this - I would never let our growth tactics compete with your mission.

Nonprofit friends, KEEP speaking up about this. While GFM's first response was underwhelming, your collective voice can and will push them to do the right thing.

Justin Wheeler

CEO and Co-founder, Funraise

Your Next Step

This isn’t about fear—it’s about ownership. Your donors believe in your mission. You are the best ones to steward how they give, who they give to, and how those relationships grow.

Take a few minutes today to:

Search for your nonprofit on GoFundMe.
Decide whether to claim or remove the page.
Reaffirm control of your fundraising future.

And if you’re unsure which path is right for your organization, Funraise can help. Our team partners with nonprofits to build transparent, ethical, and donor-first fundraising strategies—no surprises attached.

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Woman looking at fundraising chart with button to book a call.

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Frequently Asked Questions About GoFundMe’s Auto-Created Nonprofit Pages

Why did GoFundMe create donation pages for nonprofits without permission?

GoFundMe used publicly available IRS data to automatically generate over 1.4 million donation pages for U.S. nonprofits. The company says this was meant to make it easier for donors to give to verified organizations—but nonprofits were not informed, consulted, or asked for consent before these pages went live.

Is it legal for GoFundMe to use my nonprofit’s name and information to create a fundraising page?

Technically, yes—it’s legal to use publicly available nonprofit information to create listings or fundraising pages. But legal doesn’t mean right. Many nonprofit leaders argue that this rollout ignored consent, transparency, and collaboration, which are essential to maintaining donor trust.

How can I tell if my nonprofit has one of these GoFundMe pages?

Go to GoFundMe’s nonprofit directory and search your organization’s name or EIN. If you find a page using your name, logo, or EIN, that page is collecting donations under your nonprofit’s identity.

What data did GoFundMe use to create these pages?

The data comes from the IRS’s public database of registered charitable organizations. It includes (often outdated) nonprofit names, EINs, and public addresses.

Does every U.S. nonprofit have one of these auto-generated GoFundMe pages?

Not all—but most 501(c)(3) organizations listed in the IRS database now have one (including nonprofits that are already GFMP customers!) If your organization appears in the IRS registry, you should check to confirm whether a page exists.

About donations and fees

If someone donates to my nonprofit through GoFundMe, will I receive the money?

Yes, but only if the donation successfully transfers through PayPal Giving Fund (PPGF) or you're an existing GFM customer. If your nonprofit hasn’t claimed its GoFundMe Pro page or linked a PayPal account, the funds may be delayed or unclaimed for months.

How long does it take to receive donations from GoFundMe Pro or PayPal Giving Fund?

PayPal Giving Fund donations can take up to five months to be disbursed. If your organization isn’t enrolled in PPGF, GoFundMe may hold the funds or redirect them if they can’t confirm your nonprofit.

What fees or tips are being charged to my donors on GoFundMe pages?

Originally, GoFundMe Nonprofit Pages automatically defaulted to add a “tip” for GoFundMe—typically 16% for one-time donations and 5% for recurring gifts. Donors could change the amount, but nonprofits could not adjust or remove this setting unless they became customers. GoFundMe rolled that back as a result of nonprofit backlash, and now they require consent before any tip setting is included.

Does my nonprofit get access to donor data from GoFundMe donations?

No. Unless your organization is a GoFundMe customer or the donor shares their information with PayPal Giving Fund, you will not receive donor names, contact information, or communication permissions. This is similar to the way it works with Meta's fundraiser pages.

Can I refund a donor who gave through a GoFundMe page?

Not directly. All refunds must go through GoFundMe’s support team and are processed under their Terms of Service.

Claiming or removing your page

How do I claim my GoFundMe nonprofit page?

Visit https://www.gofundme.com/charity/claim/search and follow the instructions to claim your page. Be aware that the verification process is set up so that it's possible for anyone to claim any page, so act quickly to prevent misuse.

Can anyone claim my nonprofit’s page? What happens if someone else claims it first?

Unfortunately, yes. As of this writing, there is currently no transparent identity verification process. If someone else claims your page, they become the page’s admin—and only GoFundMe can remove or reassign access after that.

What should I do if I don’t want GoFundMe to host a donation page for my nonprofit?

You can submit a request to GoFundMe Support to have your page removed. Be specific: include your nonprofit’s name, EIN, and a request to permanently delete or deactivate your listing.

If I claim my GoFundMe page, does that mean I have to become a GoFundMe Pro customer?

No. Claiming your page does not require a paid subscription. However, GoFundMe may try to upsell you on GoFundMe Pro features once you’ve claimed it.

Does claiming my page mean I’m endorsing GoFundMe Pro?

No. Claiming your page simply protects your organization from unauthorized access or misrepresentation. It does not imply endorsement or partnership.

About PayPal Giving Fund

What is PayPal Giving Fund, and how does it relate to GoFundMe?

PayPal Giving Fund (PPGF) is a nonprofit organization that processes donations for third-party fundraising platforms like GoFundMe and Meta. When donors give through GoFundMe, the funds go to PPGF before being distributed to your nonprofit.

How do I check if I have pending donations through PayPal Giving Fund?

Log in to your nonprofit’s PayPal account, then go to the PayPal Giving Fund dashboard to view pending or completed donations. If your organization doesn’t have a PayPal account, you can create one with your EIN to see if funds are waiting.

Do I need a PayPal account to receive donations through PayPal Giving Fund?

Yes. Without an active PayPal account, PPGF cannot transfer funds directly to your organization.

SEO, Visibility, and Donor Trust

Why are GoFundMe pages ranking higher than my nonprofit’s website on Google?

GoFundMe’s domain has extremely high authority and SEO performance. When they created millions of new pages using nonprofit names, those pages began outranking official nonprofit websites for branded search terms like “donate to [your organization].”

How do these GoFundMe pages affect my nonprofit’s SEO and visibility?

They compete directly with your own donation pages, drawing traffic and donations away from your site. This also impacts your AEO (AI Engine Optimization), since AI search tools often reference higher-ranked domains as “official” sources.

What is AEO (AI Engine Optimization), and why does it matter for nonprofits?

AEO helps AI-powered tools (like ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Gemini) understand which website is the most authoritative source for your organization. If GoFundMe outranks you, AI may present their page—not yours—as the primary way to donate.

How can I protect my nonprofit’s online reputation and donor trust after this?

Claim your GoFundMe page (or request removal), strengthen your SEO, and clearly communicate donation links to your supporters. Transparency builds trust.

Ethical and Strategic Questions

Is this the same as Facebook or Instagram fundraisers?

Not quite. While Meta properties Facebook and Instagram also process donations through PayPal Giving Fund, they did so with announced partnerships and consent mechanisms. GoFundMe’s rollout happened without warning or collaboration.

Does GoFundMe Pro benefit nonprofits in any way?

Some small nonprofits may receive donations from new donors. However, without donor data, direct stewardship, or control over messaging to your donor base, most organizations see minimal long-term benefit.

What does “reselling your mission” mean in this context?

It means GoFundMe is leveraging your name, logo, and charitable mission to monetize your impact to benefit their for-profit model.

What are the risks of doing nothing about this GoFundMe page?

If you ignore your GoFundMe page, someone else may claim it, donations may be delayed or lost, your SEO ranking could drop, and your donor data will remain in GoFundMe’s hands, not yours.

What should I tell my donors if they find the GoFundMe page before I do?

Thank them for their generosity, then explain that donations through your official website go directly to your organization. Share your official donation link and clarify that GoFundMe is a third-party platform.

What fundraising platforms actually prioritize nonprofit ownership and transparency?

Platforms like Funraise are built specifically for nonprofits—ensuring full data ownership, transparency, and customizable donation experiences.

Action and Next Steps

Should my nonprofit claim the GoFundMe page or have it removed?

If you want to prevent unauthorized access or redirect donations quickly, claim the page. If you prefer not to be associated with GoFundMe, request removal. The key is to take action to protect your organization.

Who should I contact at GoFundMe for support or removal requests?

Submit a support ticket through GoFundMe Support with your EIN, organization name, and a written request to delete or transfer your page.

What can my nonprofit do to make sure we stay in control of our donor data in the future?

Use fundraising platforms that give you full data ownership, verify integrations, and never create pages or fundraising campaigns without your consent.

Pro Tip: Bookmark this article and share it with your team. GoFundMe’s changes may evolve, and being proactive will help protect your nonprofit’s donors, dollars, and digital presence.