A coalition of state attorneys general is investigating GoFundMe after the platform allegedly created more than 1.4 million fundraising pages for charities without their knowledge or consent.
In March, California Attorney General Rob Bonta joined officials from 20 states in demanding that GoFundMe provide evidence it had removed the unauthorized pages. The request came months after the company said it had taken them down.
Officials said the pages contained inaccurate information about charities and may have misled donors about where their money was going. They also raised concerns that the pages were optimized for search engines in a way that could place them ahead of official nonprofit fundraising campaigns. GoFundMe charges a 2.2% fee plus 30 cents per donation, and regulators also questioned whether an optional 16.5% “tip” to the platform was being clearly understood by users.
The bipartisan coalition argued that creating these pages may have gone beyond simply facilitating donations and could potentially violate consumer protection and charitable solicitation laws.
GoFundMe stated that it is committed to transparency and donor protection. The company said it generated the pages in October 2025 using publicly available nonprofit data and removed unclaimed pages later that month. It now requires nonprofits to opt in before pages are created on their behalf.
Chief legal officer Kim Wilford pointed to California’s AB 488 law, which allows donation platforms to process contributions for nonprofits without written permission, and said the company complies with all applicable regulations.
However, some nonprofit representatives remain concerned that donors may not fully understand how their contributions are handled.
Advocates for nonprofits welcomed the scrutiny, saying it highlights broader accountability issues in the donation platform industry. They noted that while AB 488 improved fee transparency, it also created unintended complications for charities, including registration and compliance hurdles.
The broader sector has faced instability as well. Donation platforms are required to register annually with the California Attorney General’s Office, but enforcement gaps remain. A state filing showed GoFundMe processed over 323,000 donations totaling $33 million in 2024, while deducting more than $820,000 in fees.
Meanwhile, other platforms have struggled financially. Oakland-based Flipcause filed for bankruptcy after owing nearly $29 million to nonprofits and later faced a cease-and-desist order for failing to properly register as a charitable donation platform. A recent state review found that a significant number of donation platforms were not in compliance with registration requirements.