Oregon Charities Challenge GoFundMe Pages They Say Diverted Donations Meant for Them

A proposed class action lawsuit has been filed against GoFundMe for fundraising pages involving 1.4 million nonprofit organizations across the U.S., including Oregon charities.

Oral Arguments Scheduled for Tuesday

Oral arguments are scheduled before U.S. Magistrate Judge Amy E. Potter in the U.S. District Court in Eugene on Tuesday, October 27, at 9 a.m. in Courtroom 3.

Watts Law Firm, working with Lusby Law Firm of Eugene, filed the lawsuit on behalf of nonprofits. They allege their names, logos, and identities were used on fundraising pages without their knowledge or consent.

The lawsuit states that the pages misled donors, diverted charitable donations, and allowed GoFundMe to profit from fees and tips, harming fundraising efforts by nonprofits and impacting public trust.

By establishing fundraising pages for 1.4 million nonprofits, GoFundMe attempted to monetize nonprofit organizations around the country for its own financial gain, the attorneys allege.

The attorneys allege that GoFundMe charged 2.2 percent transaction fees and an additional 30-cent per-donation charge. Furthermore, the pages included a 14% to 16.5% suggested ‘tip,’ payable by donors, for GoFundMe’s benefit and not that of nonprofits.

GoFundMe Says Unclaimed Pages Were Removed and Tips Are Optional

In its March 13 response to state regulators, GoFundMe said it had modified this approach, and nonprofit pages were now created only with a charity’s affirmative opt-in.

GoFundMe said unclaimed nonprofit pages were removed from its platform beginning in late October 2025. It said unclaimed nonprofit pages were initially introduced as part of a good-faith effort to support charities.

‘As described on our pricing page, the transaction fee covers the cost of credit, debit, and ACH charges and helps us offer more ways to donate—through credit, ACH debit, PayPal, Apple Pay or Google Pay.’

It says tipping is fully optional and transparent.

“Given that our tipping practices are fully optional, transparent, and allow us to facilitate donations without deducting a separate platform fee from amounts raised, we do not believe it is appropriate to ‘redirect’ tips to charities.”