What Happened to GoFundMe?

GoFundMe was founded in May 2010 by Brad Damphousse and Andrew Ballester, initially as a platform for individuals to raise money for personal events and challenging circumstances. It quickly distinguished itself in the crowdfunding space by focusing on donation-based fundraising, where donors contribute without expecting a return, unlike reward-based platforms.

Initially, GoFundMe charged a 5% platform fee on each donation, in addition to payment processing fees. However, in 2017, the company shifted its model for most personal campaigns to rely on voluntary tips from donors, while still applying a standard payment processing fee of 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction. This change aimed to ensure more of the raised funds went directly to the beneficiaries. The platform experienced rapid growth, becoming the largest crowdfunding platform globally by March 2017, having raised over $3 billion since its inception.

Over the years, GoFundMe has become synonymous with fundraising for medical expenses, which remains its largest category, highlighting systemic issues in healthcare, particularly in the U.S. The platform has also been instrumental in disaster relief and social impact campaigns, often seeing surges in donations during major crises. Notable acquisitions include CrowdRise in 2017, expanding its reach into charity fundraising, and Classy in May 2022, further strengthening its offerings for nonprofits.

However, GoFundMe has faced its share of controversies. It has drawn criticism for content moderation decisions, such as terminating the Israel Folau fundraiser in 2019 and the Canada convoy protest fundraiser in 2022, citing violations of terms of service. More recently, in October 2025, a significant scandal emerged when it was revealed that GoFundMe had created approximately 1.4 million donation pages for nonprofit organizations without their prior knowledge or consent. This led to concerns about 'identity plagiarism,' donor confusion, and the platform's SEO practices potentially diverting donations from official charity sites.

As of March 2026, this controversy remains a pressing issue. A bipartisan coalition of 22 state attorneys general sent a letter to GoFundMe on March 3, 2026, demanding proof of the removal of unauthorized pages, new consent procedures for charities, and a review of its default 'tip' system, which allegedly misled donors into believing the tip went to the charity rather than GoFundMe. GoFundMe has stated it made changes in October 2025 to address these concerns, making nonprofit pages opt-in and de-indexing unclaimed pages. Despite these challenges, GoFundMe continues to innovate, launching an AI-powered smart fundraising coach on March 12, 2026, to help organizers create and manage campaigns more effectively. The company also announced it surpassed $40 billion raised globally and unveiled 'GoFundMe Pro' for nonprofits in May 2025, reflecting its continued investment in the charitable sector.