PayPal Giving Fund
PayPal Giving Fund is a registered charity and donor-advised fund that receives donations made through partner programs it names, including eBay, Meta, GoFundMe, Deed and Twitch. Its help centre states that when a charity does not respond and a check is returned or refused, the donor has 14 days to pick another charity, and the fund remains the donee of record. It is named in the Alaska Attorney General's March 2026 suit.
The checklist
What we have checked on PayPal Giving Fund, what we found, and what it rests on.
- 1. Off-domain Present, research only
A Move for Hunger charity page was captured at paypal.com/us/fundraiser/charity/2262011 on 2026-07-21; the 2026-09-18 bundle did not capture a real charity page.
Basis: Shadow Donation Directory, nonprofitnewsfeed.com - 2. Auto-generated Unresolved
Whether a charity can be listed before it enrolls is not answered by anything captured; the Alaska AG alleges pages were auto-generated from public data.
Basis: Dated evidence bundle - 3. No consent Unresolved
Same open question as autoGenerated; the consent claim rests on the Alaska AG's allegation.
Basis: Dated evidence bundle - 4. Takes gifts Present
The fund states it receives donations through its partner programs and grants them to donors' recommended charities.
Basis: Dated evidence bundle - 5. Intermediary Present
The fund documents reassignment when a check is returned or refused, with a 14-day window for the donor to name another charity.
Basis: Dated evidence bundle - 6. Search-indexed Present, research only
Page 4950 states the Move for Hunger charity page was Google-indexed on 2026-07-21; the 2026-09-18 evidence found charity pages not enumerated in the public sitemap, which limits sitemap exposure but does not show noindex.
Basis: Shadow Donation Directory, nonprofitnewsfeed.com
Event log
Everything that has happened on the record, newest first.
- Capture
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
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 - 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: the Move for Hunger charity page and a Google search.
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), 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 - Published
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
If your organization is on PayPal Giving Fund
We have not verified a removal or claim route for PayPal Giving Fund yet. Search the platform for your legal name and EIN, and contact the platform directly.
Reply and corrections
PayPal Giving Fund 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.