GoFundMe created 1.4M donation pages for nonprofits; some Bay Area organizations had no clue

[Ban Hammer 14,632]

A new product from GoFundMe is intended to solicit donations for nonprofit organizations. But in one local case, several organizations had no clue these pages even exist.

Dave Dornlas is the treasurer for the Friends of the San Bruno Public Library and the president of the San Bruno Amateur Radio Club.

Recently, he got a call from the library that left him puzzled.

"One of our patrons at the library... they wanted to make a donation in someone's name who had passed away," Dornlas said.

Dornlas said the person went online and found a GoFundMe page tied to the library's nonprofit and wanted to know if it was legit or not.

"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."

Turns out GoFundMe created the page -- but Dornlas had no clue.

And he's not the only one.

GoFundMe has taken upon itself to create "nonprofit pages" for 1.4 million 501C-3 organizations using public IRS data along with information from trusted partners like the PayPal Giving Fund.

more at https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/gofundme-created-1-4m-donation-005156480.html

[TBoneTX 48,289]

Rather pretentious, but well-meant and potentially profitable for the 501(c)(3) outfits.  Even if only a few dollars come in, every little bit is a gain.

 

The only problem that I see is whether GoFundMe concentrates on nonprofits on one side of the political spectrum.  If they're doing it for organizations such as libraries, that's fine.

[Ban Hammer 14,632]

12 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

Rather pretentious, but well-meant and potentially profitable for the 501(c)(3) outfits.  Even if only a few dollars come in, every little bit is a gain.

 

The only problem that I see is whether GoFundMe concentrates on nonprofits on one side of the political spectrum.  If they're doing it for organizations such as libraries, that's fine.

well there is this - a significant financial gain for gofundme.
 

Quote

"GoFundMe also solicits a tip of 14.5%. In other words, 'We're doing this and we're great people. Give us 14.5% to do this'

When 7 On Your Side checked, the optional tip was actually set for 16.5%

The tip would be in addition to the 2.2% transaction fee GoFundMe charges nonprofits, plus $0.30 per donation. That fee goes up to 2.9% for individual fundraisers.

and at what point does gofundme disburse the money to the nonprofit?  if no one knows, it just sits in their bank earning interest..........

[TBoneTX 48,289]

I've never dealt with GoFundMe.  Those are good concerns.