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GoFundMe Charity Being Shut Down
GoFundMe Charity Being Shut Down

GoFundMe Charity is being merged into GoFundMe.com, shutting down the fundraising-dedicated site on Sept. 30. Campaigns will not be able to be transferred to GoFundMe.com and recurring gift arrangements will be cancelled on that date.

GoFundMe Charity will end support for third-party integrations and the public Application Programming Interface (API) after March 31, according to an announcement from the firm.

GoFundMe declined to provide a spokesperson for interview but provided a statement to The NonProfit Times. It read, in part: “To best serve our charity customers, GoFundMe Charity is uniting with GoFundMe.com to bring personal and charity fundraising together under one platform. This investment in a unified experience will make it easier for donors and fundraisers to discover and support charities, while allowing charities to engage and connect with GoFundMe’s global community.”

GoFundMe Charity launched in November 2019.

There will be more information from the firm “in coming months,” according to the statement.

There are several important dates for GoFundMe Charity users:

  • March 31: Last day that GoFundMe Charity supports third-party integrations
  • June 1: This is the deadline for adding new fundraising minimums, which will be extended to Sept. 30
  • June 30: Last day to create a new campaign on GoFundMe Charity
  • September 30: Last day to accept donations online via GoFundMe Charity campaigns and donate buttons. Last day for recurring donations to process
  • Dec. 31: Last day to view and export GoFundMe Charity donor and fundraiser data and content. 

GoFundMe Charity campaigns will not be transferred automatically to GoFundMe.com. Fundraisers must recreate any ongoing fundraisers to continue raising money on GoFundMe.com, according to the announcement.

All active recurring gift plans will be canceled after Sept. 30. Payments scheduled to process on Sept. 30 will be charged, but payments scheduled for Oct. 1 and beyond will be canceled automatically, according to the firm.

“Ending recurring donations, ending campaigns, especially at a time when nonprofits are working to collect donations from anywhere that they can as thousands of organizations face closing down amidst the hardships of the pandemic is going to hurt all of the organizations using that platform now,” said Amy Sample Ward, CEO at NTEN in Portland, Ore.

“This feels like another example of platforms expecting nonprofits to fit into platforms that aren’t made for them. GoFundMe Charity was celebrated when it launched as it provided a way for nonprofits to use a recognized platform but with the kind of functionality that they needed,” said Sample Ward. “It also provided clear context and reassurance to donors that the campaign they were giving to was an organization, often fundraising for existing programs and services with the infrastructure and staffing to make them successful.” 

The shuttering of GoFundMe Charity is concerning for many nonprofits, said Megan Anhalt, chief strategy officer at consultancy WholeWhale. The move “makes us question whether GoFundMe will be a reliable home for nonprofits moving forward,” she said.

The worst part is the potential impact on recurring donors, a critical audience for many nonprofits. “Closing the API so quickly in March also slams the door on some key integrations with Salesforce, Eventbrite and MailChimp to name a few that could hurt nonprofits using these tools even sooner than expected,” said Anhalt.