GoFundMe
In 2025 GoFundMe generated donation pages for about 1.4 million nonprofits from IRS data, then announced on 2025-10-23 that pages would be opt-in with search indexing off by default. On 2026-09-18 its public sitemap listed 8,783 charity pages, whose checkout preselected a 17.5% tip to GoFundMe; donations route through PayPal Giving Fund. It is a named defendant in the Alaska Attorney General's March 2026 suit.
The checklist
What we have checked on GoFundMe, what we found, and what it rests on.
- 1. Off-domain Present
Charity pages are served at gofundme.com/charity/<slug>.
Basis: Dated evidence bundle - 2. Auto-generated Present, research only
GoFundMe used public IRS data to create pages for about 1.4 million nonprofits in 2025; whether pages created after its opt-in announcement are auto-generated is not established.
Basis: Whole Whale source article - 3. No consent Unresolved
The 2025 pages were created without consent, but for today's 8,783 pages the public fields contradict each other (npoProfileOptIn false and claimState APPROVED on all 25 sampled), and GoFundMe does not document them.
Basis: Dated evidence bundle - 4. Takes gifts Present
The Boys & Girls Clubs of America donate flow was reachable without signing in and offered PayPal, DAF and card payment.
Basis: Dated evidence bundle - 5. Intermediary Present
Charity pages reference PayPal Giving Fund 148 times, and PayPal Giving Fund names GoFundMe as a partner program through which it receives donations.
Basis: Dated evidence bundle - 6. Search-indexed Present
Exposure, not ranking: the charity sitemap lists 8,783 pages, and the saved Boys & Girls Clubs page, which is in that sitemap, has no robots meta tag and no X-Robots-Tag header; the saved American Cancer Society page, also in the sitemap, is noindex, nofollow, so the de-indexing GoFundMe announced on 2025-10-23 is not applied uniformly on this evidence.
Basis: Dated evidence bundle
Event log
Everything that has happened on the record, newest first.
- Capture
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
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 - Published
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) - Capture
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) - Regulatory
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
Multistate regulators demand answers
State charity regulators jointly demanded answers from GoFundMe about the unauthorized pages.
Source: FPLG Law update - Published
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 - Platform change
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
NNF podcast on the reversal
Nonprofit News Feed published "GoFundMe Backtracks After Backlash".
Source: Nonprofit News Feed - Platform change
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
Whole Whale removal guide
Whole Whale published a guide to claiming or removing a nonprofit page on GoFundMe.
Source: Whole Whale removal guide - Published
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
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
If your organization is on GoFundMe
Claim the page through GoFundMe's charity claim search, or request removal through GoFundMe's data removal form with the EIN, legal name and page URLs.
Reply and corrections
GoFundMe can reply to anything on this page by writing to letstalk@wholewhale.com. We publish replies and log corrections with the date they were made.