REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (KGO) — GoFundMe is apologizing and taking action following a 7 On Your Side story that revealed a new product the company launched, aimed to solicit donations for nonprofits.
The company created 1.4 million nonprofit pages for charities around the world. But it was met with criticism from organizations who were unaware their own pages even existed.
PREVIOUS STORY: GoFundMe created 1.4M donation pages for nonprofits; some Bay Area organizations had no clue
Now the crowding funding platform has vowed to “rebuild trust.”
“The reason I even found out about it was because of 7 On Your Side,” said viewer Joni Smith following our first story. “I was just like — I couldn’t believe it!”
It dawned on her.
“I was like, ‘Oh wow… I wonder if they did that to our nonprofit too?'” Smith said.
Smith is the president of a small nonprofit, the American Literacy Corporation. She had no clue GoFundMe set up a page for her organization — including its IRS employer identification number — without her consent.
It was the same story for nonprofit president Dave Dornlas.
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“We weren’t sure what was going on!” Dornlas told 7 On Your Side.
Following our story, and concerns raised from the National Council of Nonprofits, GoFundMe is vowing to make changes — and issued the following apology:
“At GoFundMe, our mission has always been to help people help each other. This mission extends to every nonprofit: we strive to connect nonprofits with new donors, empower supporters to give and fundraise, and enable communities to rally behind the causes they care about.
However, we understand clearly that our recent efforts with Nonprofit Pages have caused confusion, concern, and distraction from the vital missions of the very nonprofits we aim to support. We are very sorry for this and take responsibility for missing the mark. Trust is foundational to our work with nonprofits, and we are fully committed to rebuilding it through better communication, collaboration, and partnership.”
“I’m a believer in opt in … not opt out…” Dornlas said.
In fact, GoFundMe says moving forward, only nonprofits that opt in to their nonprofit page and complete the verification process will have a public nonprofit page that is searchable on GoFundMe, making these nonprofit pages a completely opt-in experience. Nonprofit pages for organizations that have not been claimed and verified will be removed, and SEO will also be turned off by default.
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Once a nonprofit opts in, they can choose to index their Nonprofit Page, turn SEO on, and edit their Nonprofit Page. Nonprofits that opt in to their Nonprofit Pages will gain enhanced visibility, control, and access to certain supporter data for fundraising and compliance purposes, GoFundMe says. Nonprofits can verify their pages and learn more on the GoFundMe website.
In the meantime, the company added that unclaimed nonprofit pages will be de-indexed, meaning they will no longer appear in search engine results. Nonprofit directory listings will continue according to GoFundMe: “As we have done for many years, we will maintain basic nonprofit directory listings so nonprofits are discoverable, and organizers can create fundraisers to support nonprofits.”
The National Council of Nonprofits wrote: “On behalf of our network of nonprofits across the country, NCN raised these concerns directly with GoFundMe, and were pleased with GoFundMe’s openness and self-reflection. As we and others urged, the company has issued an apology to nonprofits and outlined the specific actions they will take to remove the unauthorized nonprofit pages, prevent further harm, and rebuild trust with nonprofits. We welcome this step by GoFundMe and the speed with which they took corrective action.”
But some organizations still raise questions.
One nonprofit assistant director wrote on GoFundMe’s LinkedIn page: “How about all those nonprofits who claimed them in fear so they could control them but didn’t want to? How do we remove the pages now?”
GoFundMe says any organization can still unpublish their page through the online portal. Search for your nonprofit, verify your identity, and upon verification you can unpublish. However, consumers tell 7 On Your Side it has taken several days or up to a week to do so.
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Other commenters asked for clarity on what happens to donated funds sent to unclaimed pages. GoFundMe told 7 On Your Side: “Regardless of whether or not a nonprofit had previously claimed their page, donations made through GoFundMe’s Nonprofit Pages go to the nonprofit organization through PayPal Giving Fund or through one of our payment processors… GoFundMe does not earn any interest.”
GoFundMe does take a 2.2% transaction fee on donations made to nonprofits (2.9% for individual fundraisers), plus $0.30 per donation. GoFundMe also includes an optional tip donors can choose to give — but the default tip we found upon checking is 16.5%, and donors must make their own adjustments, if they chose a different tip or opt out entirely. The pre-set 16.5% tip was still pre-set on donor pages when 7 On Your Side last checked. However, consumers report the pre-set tip varies.
As for Joni Smith…
“I tried to contact them to remove it and it was really hard to do that,” she said.
“‘We’ll process your removal right away,'” Smith said she was told by GoFundMe. “That was a week ago… and it’s still on.”
Following our request, GoFundMe offered to help Smith remove her page.
Take a look at more stories and videos by 7 On Your Side.
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