NEW YORK, NY (March 3, 2026) — New York Attorney General Letitia James joined a bipartisan coalition of 19 other attorneys general and charitable regulators in sending a letter to GoFundMe raising concerns about the company’s creation of more than 1.4 million donation web pages for charities without their prior knowledge or consent.
Attorney General James and the coalition warned that the actions may have violated state charitable solicitation and consumer protection laws. The coalition secured a guarantee from GoFundMe that the company will remove all pages created without authorization and is now demanding immediate confirmation and proof that the pages have been removed, practices have changed, and meaningful steps have been taken to protect charities and donors.
“When Americans open their wallets to support a charity, they deserve to know exactly where their money is going,” James said. “By creating fundraising pages in charities’ names without their knowledge or consent, GoFundMe misled donors and put public trust in charitable giving at risk. We are demanding clear answers and meaningful reforms to ensure charities control their own fundraising and donors are fully informed.”
In October 2025, GoFundMe reportedly created donation web pages for approximately 1.4 million charities across the United States without first seeking permission. Many charities were unaware the pages existed until after they were published and raised concerns about misuse of their names and logos, inaccurate descriptions of their work, and confusion among donors.
Some organizations reported they were unable to control how their identities and missions were presented, creating a risk of misrepresentation and donor confusion.
In the letter, James and the coalition stated that some pages promoted incorrect charity information and failed to clearly disclose when donations were routed through a donor-advised fund rather than sent directly to the featured charity. In certain cases, the presentation of the pages may have given donors the impression that fundraising campaigns were operated by or directly affiliated with the named charities when they were not.
GoFundMe also reportedly applied a default “tip” of approximately 16.5% to contributions, with that money going directly to the company rather than the charity. The company also used search engine optimization practices that may have caused its pages to appear above official charity websites, potentially diverting donors away from legitimate fundraising efforts.
The coalition warned that these practices may violate state laws requiring written consent before a third party may solicit funds in a charity’s name, as well as laws prohibiting deceptive or misleading conduct in charitable fundraising.
GoFundMe acknowledged that creating fundraising webpages for charities without consent was wrong and committed to corrective actions, including removing all plagiarized pages. The coalition is seeking proof that all unauthorized pages have been removed, confirmation that prior written consent is now required before creating any charity donation page, and a detailed explanation of the company’s takedown procedures. The coalition also requested clarification on how GoFundMe has modified its SEO practices to ensure charities are not disadvantaged.
The states requested a formal response within 14 days and said additional investigative steps may follow if necessary.
GoFundMe sent Talk of the Sound the following statement:
“GoFundMe is committed to helping nonprofits reach new donors by making it easier for the millions of people on our platform to discover and support the causes they care about. Nonprofit Pages were created using publicly available information to help people support nonprofit organizations, with donations going to the intended nonprofit. After hearing feedback from nonprofit leaders in October, we acted quickly to make Nonprofit Pages fully opt-in, removed and de-indexed unclaimed pages, and turned off search engine optimization by default. The immediate changes we made in October directly addressed the concerns outlined in the letter received today from the state Attorneys General, and reflect our continued commitment to transparency, accountability, and partnership with the nonprofit sector. We welcome the opportunity to share with the Attorneys General the concrete steps we have already implemented in response to the issues raised.”
Joining James in the letter are the attorneys general of California, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin, as well as the charitable regulatory agencies of South Carolina and Tennessee.
This article was prepared with the assistance of AI tools under the direction and editing of Robert Cox.
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