Event log
Each entry is dated and carries its source. The same entries appear on each platform’s own page.
- Capture
- 18
- Finding
- 8
- Regulatory
- 8
- Platform change
- 8
- Published
- 34
- Response
- 1
- Correction
- 1
- Correction Meta / Facebook
Moved to Compared, not listed
Meta’s fundraisers are started by users, not generated by Meta for every nonprofit, so check 2 is absent. The register now shows Meta as a comparison rather than a listed platform.
Source: Shadow Donation Directory, nonprofitnewsfeed.com (page 4950) - Capture Giving Fountain
Takedown captured
Whole Whale captured the offline homepage; the directory, listing pages and facets API returned 410 Gone.
Source: Takedown captures - Finding Giving Fountain
Registry recheck with dashed FEIN
The California registry search was re-run with the dashed FEIN 41-3218258 and both name spellings; it still returned no record.
Source: Registry recheck captures - Published Giving Fountain
Page 4950 marks it offline
The NNF directory entry was marked offline since 2026-09-21 and its CA FEIN citation was corrected to the dashed form.
Source: NNF Shadow Donation Directory - Capture RoundUp.org
Evidence bundle captured
Whole Whale captured listings, Terms, the for-nonprofits page, 78 sitemaps and screenshots by anonymous public GET, plus a separate SEO and geo-directory bundle.
Source: RoundUp evidence bundles - Finding RoundUp.org
Registered in California
California's registry lists RoundUp.org, Inc as a commercial fundraiser (FP0004426) and Our Change Foundation as a charity (CT0281479); a control query returned its row in the same session.
Source: CA registry search captures - Published RoundUp.org
Added to page 4950
RoundUp.org was added to the NNF Shadow Donation Directory from captures made that day.
Source: NNF Shadow Donation Directory footer - Platform change Giving Fountain
Site closed
Giving Fountain took the site offline, stating it had closed in response to feedback from the nonprofit community and was no longer accepting donations or publishing listings.
Source: NNF Shadow Donation Directory events timeline - Published Giving Fountain
NNF article published
Nonprofit News Feed published "1.7 Million Nonprofits Are Listed on GivingFountain. Only 2 of Them Signed Up." (datePublished 2026-09-18T16:10:07Z).
Source: Nonprofit News Feed - Capture GoFundMe
Evidence bundle captured
Whole Whale captured the sitemap, charity pages, Terms, pricing, a 25-page field sample and two browser screenshots by anonymous public GET.
Source: GoFundMe evidence bundle - Finding GoFundMe
8,783 charity pages; 17.5% tip preselected
The charity sitemap held 8,783 /charity/ URLs, and the donate flow preselected a 17.5% tip to GoFundMe with nonprofit contact pre-checked.
Source: GoFundMe investigation README - Capture PayPal Giving Fund
Evidence bundle captured
Whole Whale captured the sitemap index, help-centre articles and two browser screenshots by anonymous public GET.
Source: PayPal Giving Fund evidence bundle - Finding PayPal Giving Fund
Reassignment rule and sitemap scope
The fund's help centre documents reassignment of gifts a charity never collects; its 1,213-child sitemap index names no charity sitemap, and the parsed en-us child holds no /charity/ URLs.
Source: PayPal Giving Fund investigation README - Response Giving Fountain
Operator describes a new removal path
In a public Google for Nonprofits forum thread about its Ad Grants application, the operator wrote that it had added an unclaimed notice and a removal-request link after a 2026-09-16 comment challenging its model.
Source: Google for Nonprofits Community thread 467963535 - Capture Giving Fountain
Evidence bundle captured
Whole Whale captured listings, checkout, Terms, fee pages, API responses and 26 screenshots by anonymous public GET, and submitted 13 URLs to the Wayback Machine.
Source: GivingFountain evidence bundle - Finding Giving Fountain
Not found in California's charity registry
Searches for "Giving Fountain" and its FEIN returned no record while a control search for Sierra Club Foundation returned its row; the directory listed 183,285 California organizations.
Source: CA registry search captures - Published Giving Fountain
Added to page 4950
Giving Fountain was added as the first entry on the NNF Shadow Donation Directory from captures made that day.
Source: NNF Shadow Donation Directory footer - Published Charity Navigator
Moved out of the table
Page 4950 moved Charity Navigator to its not-a-shadow-page section after it disabled the donate button for charities that have not opted in.
Source: NNF Shadow Donation Directory footer - Published Whole Whale update
Verified Giving Protocol goes live
Whole Whale published the Verified Giving Protocol, an open standard that lets a nonprofit declare, from its own domain, the giving destinations it authorizes. It is the consent record a shadow donation page lacks: an AI agent or donor can check where the nonprofit says its money may go.
Source: verifiedgiving.ai - Platform change Charity Navigator
Opt-in requirement documented
Charity Navigator's help-centre article requiring a claimed page and opt-in to receive donations was last updated on this date; the date the policy took effect is not established.
Source: Charity Navigator Help Center - Capture America’s Charities
Charity sitemap counted
Page 4950 reports the public charity-sitemap.xml held 87 URLs when fetched on 2026-08-04.
Source: NNF Shadow Donation Directory - Published Donate.gg
NNF Shadow Donation Directory published
WordPress page 4950 on nonprofitnewsfeed.com was published on 2026-07-23 with evidence dated 2026-07-21; this platform's row carries that date. The page revision history was not checked to confirm the row existed on day one.
Source: NNF Shadow Donation Directory (page 4950) - Published GiveFreely
NNF Shadow Donation Directory published
WordPress page 4950 on nonprofitnewsfeed.com was published on 2026-07-23 with evidence dated 2026-07-21; this platform's row carries that date. The page revision history was not checked to confirm the row existed on day one.
Source: NNF Shadow Donation Directory (page 4950) - Published Network for Good
NNF Shadow Donation Directory published
WordPress page 4950 on nonprofitnewsfeed.com was published on 2026-07-23 with evidence dated 2026-07-21; this platform's row carries that date. The page revision history was not checked to confirm the row existed on day one.
Source: NNF Shadow Donation Directory (page 4950) - Published Pledge
NNF Shadow Donation Directory published
WordPress page 4950 on nonprofitnewsfeed.com was published on 2026-07-23 with evidence dated 2026-07-21; this platform's row carries that date. The page revision history was not checked to confirm the row existed on day one.
Source: NNF Shadow Donation Directory (page 4950) - Published GoFundMe
NNF Shadow Donation Directory published
WordPress page 4950 on nonprofitnewsfeed.com was published on 2026-07-23 with evidence dated 2026-07-21; this platform's row carries that date. The page revision history was not checked to confirm the row existed on day one.
Source: NNF Shadow Donation Directory (page 4950) - Published GreatNonprofits
NNF Shadow Donation Directory published
WordPress page 4950 on nonprofitnewsfeed.com was published on 2026-07-23 with evidence dated 2026-07-21; this platform's row carries that date. The page revision history was not checked to confirm the row existed on day one.
Source: NNF Shadow Donation Directory (page 4950) - Published PayPal Giving Fund
NNF Shadow Donation Directory published
WordPress page 4950 on nonprofitnewsfeed.com was published on 2026-07-23 with evidence dated 2026-07-21; this platform's row carries that date. The page revision history was not checked to confirm the row existed on day one.
Source: NNF Shadow Donation Directory (page 4950) - Published JustGiving
NNF Shadow Donation Directory published
WordPress page 4950 on nonprofitnewsfeed.com was published on 2026-07-23 with evidence dated 2026-07-21; this platform's row carries that date. The page revision history was not checked to confirm the row existed on day one.
Source: NNF Shadow Donation Directory (page 4950) - Published Meta / Facebook
NNF Shadow Donation Directory published
WordPress page 4950 on nonprofitnewsfeed.com was published on 2026-07-23 with evidence dated 2026-07-21; this platform's row carries that date. The page revision history was not checked to confirm the row existed on day one.
Source: NNF Shadow Donation Directory (page 4950) - Published Every.org
NNF Shadow Donation Directory published
WordPress page 4950 on nonprofitnewsfeed.com was published on 2026-07-23 with evidence dated 2026-07-21; this platform's row carries that date. The page revision history was not checked to confirm the row existed on day one.
Source: NNF Shadow Donation Directory (page 4950) - Published Charity Navigator
Listed in the original directory table
Page 4950 states Charity Navigator was listed in the original July 2026 table because its Giving Basket accepted gifts for charities that had not agreed to it.
Source: NNF Shadow Donation Directory - Capture Donate.gg
Page 4950 capture
Page 4950 dates its screenshots and sitemap column for this platform to 2026-07-21: a Feeding America page and a Google search, with Move for Hunger absent from the platform.
Source: NNF Shadow Donation Directory (page 4950) - Capture GiveFreely
Page 4950 capture
Page 4950 dates its screenshots and sitemap column for this platform to 2026-07-21: the Move for Hunger profile, a Google search, and a sitemap count of 36,700+ directory pages.
Source: NNF Shadow Donation Directory (page 4950) - Capture Network for Good
Page 4950 capture
Page 4950 dates its screenshots and sitemap column for this platform to 2026-07-21: a Google search for Move for Hunger; no live platform page was locatable.
Source: NNF Shadow Donation Directory (page 4950) - Capture Pledge
Page 4950 capture
Page 4950 dates its screenshots and sitemap column for this platform to 2026-07-21: the Move for Hunger organization page and a Google search.
Source: NNF Shadow Donation Directory (page 4950) - Capture GoFundMe
Page 4950 capture
Page 4950 dates its screenshots and sitemap column for this platform to 2026-07-21: a Google search for Move for Hunger and a sitemap count of 8,620+ charity pages.
Source: NNF Shadow Donation Directory (page 4950) - Capture GreatNonprofits
Page 4950 capture
Page 4950 dates its screenshots and sitemap column for this platform to 2026-07-21: the Move for Hunger profile and a Google search.
Source: NNF Shadow Donation Directory (page 4950) - Capture PayPal Giving Fund
Page 4950 capture
Page 4950 dates its screenshots and sitemap column for this platform to 2026-07-21: the Move for Hunger charity page and a Google search.
Source: NNF Shadow Donation Directory (page 4950) - Capture JustGiving
Page 4950 capture
Page 4950 dates its screenshots and sitemap column for this platform to 2026-07-21: a Feeding America page and a Google search, with Move for Hunger absent from the platform.
Source: NNF Shadow Donation Directory (page 4950) - Capture Meta / Facebook
Page 4950 capture
Page 4950 dates its screenshots and sitemap column for this platform to 2026-07-21: the official Move for Hunger Facebook page and a Google search.
Source: NNF Shadow Donation Directory (page 4950) - Capture Every.org
Page 4950 capture
Page 4950 dates its screenshots and sitemap column for this platform to 2026-07-21: the Move for Hunger donate page.
Source: NNF Shadow Donation Directory (page 4950) - Published Donate.gg
Whole Whale open letter
Whole Whale published an open letter to Donate.gg listing ten fixes, starting with requiring nonprofit opt-in before publication.
Source: Whole Whale open letter - Published Donate.gg
Second NNF article
Nonprofit News Feed published "Who Profits From a Pump.fun Charity Coin?".
Source: Nonprofit News Feed - Published Donate.gg
Law-firm client alert
Whiteford Law published a client alert on Donate.gg creating nearly 10,000 unauthorized nonprofit pages.
Source: Whiteford Law client alert - Published Donate.gg
NNF article published
Nonprofit News Feed published "$137M in Charity Memecoins: Nearly 10,000 Nonprofits Listed Without Consent".
Source: Nonprofit News Feed - Platform change Donate.gg
7,675 pages hidden from public view
A recrawl found the directory count had fallen from 9,731 to 2,058; hidden pages return "Charity not found" with HTTP 200 and no backend records were deleted. 1,962 of 1,964 funded unverified pages stayed live.
Source: Evidence addendum, 2026-07-13 - Capture Donate.gg
Baseline crawl
Whole Whale enumerated the platform's public charity listing endpoint: 9,731 live pages, 9,730 flagged unverified, 10,976 pages ever created.
Source: Evidence memorandum, 2026-07-10 - Published Every.org
Moved into the shadow-page table
Whole Whale moved Every.org from its not-a-shadow-page section into the table, on the rule that disclosing a lack of permission is a mitigation, not an exemption. Month only.
Source: Whole Whale, The Rise of Shadow Donation Pages (July 2026 update note) - Capture Giving Fountain
Wayback capture of an early listing
An archived listing from 2026-06-12 shows no unclaimed notice, no removal link and no IRS-source note, and carries a Verified badge.
Source: Wayback Machine copy saved in the evidence bundle - Regulatory Giving Fountain
IRS ruling for the operator
The Giving Fountain, Inc. (EIN 41-3218258) received its IRS ruling dated 2026-06-01 and had filed no Form 990 as of capture.
Source: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer record - Finding RoundUp.org
Sitemap entries share one date
All 1.8M nonprofit URLs in the sitemap carry lastmod 2026-04-01, changefreq weekly and priority 0.5.
Source: RoundUp sitemap census - Regulatory Network for Good
Named in Alaska AG suit
The Alaska Attorney General sued six platforms (GoFundMe, PayPal, Charity Navigator, JustGiving, Pledge and Network for Good), Network for Good among them, alleging donation pages were created for charities without their knowledge or consent. The complaint text and case status have not been reviewed.
Source: Alaska Department of Law press release, 2026-03-10 - Regulatory Pledge
Named in Alaska AG suit
The Alaska Attorney General sued six platforms (GoFundMe, PayPal, Charity Navigator, JustGiving, Pledge and Network for Good), Pledge among them, alleging donation pages were created for charities without their knowledge or consent. The complaint text and case status have not been reviewed.
Source: Alaska Department of Law press release, 2026-03-10 - Regulatory GoFundMe
Named in Alaska AG suit
The Alaska Attorney General sued six platforms (GoFundMe, PayPal, Charity Navigator, JustGiving, Pledge and Network for Good), GoFundMe among them, alleging donation pages were created for charities without their knowledge or consent. The complaint text and case status have not been reviewed.
Source: Alaska Department of Law press release, 2026-03-10 - Regulatory PayPal Giving Fund
Named in Alaska AG suit
The Alaska Attorney General sued six platforms (GoFundMe, PayPal, Charity Navigator, JustGiving, Pledge and Network for Good), PayPal among them, alleging donation pages were created for charities without their knowledge or consent. The complaint text and case status have not been reviewed.
Source: Alaska Department of Law press release, 2026-03-10 - Regulatory JustGiving
Named in Alaska AG suit
The Alaska Attorney General sued six platforms (GoFundMe, PayPal, Charity Navigator, JustGiving, Pledge and Network for Good), JustGiving among them, alleging donation pages were created for charities without their knowledge or consent. The complaint text and case status have not been reviewed.
Source: Alaska Department of Law press release, 2026-03-10 - Regulatory Charity Navigator
Named in Alaska AG suit
The Alaska Attorney General sued six platforms (GoFundMe, PayPal, Charity Navigator, JustGiving, Pledge and Network for Good), Charity Navigator among them, alleging donation pages were created for charities without their knowledge or consent. The complaint text and case status have not been reviewed.
Source: Alaska Department of Law press release, 2026-03-10 - Platform change Donate.gg
Bulk page creation
9,642 of about 10,987 Donate.gg charity pages carry a createdAt date of 2026-03-03, per the platform's own API records.
Source: Donate.gg crawl README - Regulatory GoFundMe
Multistate regulators demand answers
State charity regulators jointly demanded answers from GoFundMe about the unauthorized pages.
Source: FPLG Law update - Published GiveFreely
Named in Whole Whale's source article
Whole Whale's article "The Rise of Shadow Donation Pages", dated 2025-11-06, discusses GiveFreely in its current text. The saved copy carries later updates (one marked July 2026), so presence in the first version is not separately confirmed.
Source: Whole Whale, The Rise of Shadow Donation Pages - Published Pledge
Named in Whole Whale's source article
Whole Whale's article "The Rise of Shadow Donation Pages", dated 2025-11-06, discusses Pledge in its current text. The saved copy carries later updates (one marked July 2026), so presence in the first version is not separately confirmed.
Source: Whole Whale, The Rise of Shadow Donation Pages - Published GoFundMe
Named in Whole Whale's source article
Whole Whale's article "The Rise of Shadow Donation Pages", dated 2025-11-06, discusses GoFundMe in its current text. The saved copy carries later updates (one marked July 2026), so presence in the first version is not separately confirmed.
Source: Whole Whale, The Rise of Shadow Donation Pages - Published GreatNonprofits
Named in Whole Whale's source article
Whole Whale's article "The Rise of Shadow Donation Pages", dated 2025-11-06, discusses GreatNonprofits in its current text. The saved copy carries later updates (one marked July 2026), so presence in the first version is not separately confirmed.
Source: Whole Whale, The Rise of Shadow Donation Pages - Published PayPal Giving Fund
Named in Whole Whale's source article
Whole Whale's article "The Rise of Shadow Donation Pages", dated 2025-11-06, discusses PayPal Giving Fund in its current text. The saved copy carries later updates (one marked July 2026), so presence in the first version is not separately confirmed.
Source: Whole Whale, The Rise of Shadow Donation Pages - Published Meta / Facebook
Named in Whole Whale's source article
Whole Whale's article "The Rise of Shadow Donation Pages", dated 2025-11-06, discusses Meta/Facebook fundraising in its current text. The saved copy carries later updates (one marked July 2026), so presence in the first version is not separately confirmed.
Source: Whole Whale, The Rise of Shadow Donation Pages - Published Every.org
Named in Whole Whale's source article
Whole Whale's article "The Rise of Shadow Donation Pages", dated 2025-11-06, discusses Every.org in its current text. The saved copy carries later updates (one marked July 2026), so presence in the first version is not separately confirmed.
Source: Whole Whale, The Rise of Shadow Donation Pages - Published Charity Navigator
Named in Whole Whale's source article
Whole Whale's article "The Rise of Shadow Donation Pages", dated 2025-11-06, discusses Charity Navigator's Giving Basket in its current text. The saved copy carries later updates (one marked July 2026), so presence in the first version is not separately confirmed.
Source: Whole Whale, The Rise of Shadow Donation Pages - Published Tiltify
Named in Whole Whale's source article
Whole Whale's article "The Rise of Shadow Donation Pages", dated 2025-11-06, discusses Tiltify (as the platform that passes) in its current text. The saved copy carries later updates (one marked July 2026), so presence in the first version is not separately confirmed.
Source: Whole Whale, The Rise of Shadow Donation Pages - Platform change GoFundMe
Opt-in announced
GoFundMe announced that nonprofit pages would be opt-in and search indexing off by default.
Source: Whole Whale removal guide, update note - Published GoFundMe
NNF podcast on the reversal
Nonprofit News Feed published "GoFundMe Backtracks After Backlash".
Source: Nonprofit News Feed - Platform change GoFundMe
Logos and suggested tip removed
GoFundMe announced it was removing logos and the suggested tip from the auto-generated pages.
Source: Whole Whale removal guide, update note - Published GoFundMe
Whole Whale removal guide
Whole Whale published a guide to claiming or removing a nonprofit page on GoFundMe.
Source: Whole Whale removal guide - Published GoFundMe
NNF reports the 1.4M pages
Nonprofit News Feed published "1.4 Million Donation Pages Without Permission Created by GoFundMe".
Source: Nonprofit News Feed - Finding GoFundMe
About 1.4M pages created without permission
GoFundMe was found to have generated donation pages for about 1.4 million nonprofits from IRS data. Month only; page 4950 dates this October 2025.
Source: NNF Shadow Donation Directory events timeline - Platform change Network for Good
Donor-advised fund renamed For Good
The Network for Good donor-advised fund announced its new name, For Good, after Bonterra acquired the technology business. Date taken from the Business Wire release URL.
Source: Business Wire release - Finding RoundUp.org
Current product live by this date
A Wayback Machine capture from 2025-04-15 shows the current offer to send spare change to any nonprofit.
Source: RoundUp investigation README - Platform change Meta / Facebook
Donations move to PayPal Giving Fund
Meta began routing donations through PayPal Giving Fund and stopped covering the processing fees.
Source: Whole Whale, The Rise of Shadow Donation Pages