When bad things happen, good people show up.

Over the past 15 years and through hundreds of crises, GoFundMe has developed a robust process to prevent fraud. This includes:

• Image and video review to mitigate copycats and abusive behavior.
• A robust human review from our world-class Trust & Safety experts.
• Technical tools designed to catch misuse.
• We report misuse and abuse to law enforcement.
• Identity verification for any customer who receives funds.
• Machine learning to catch higher-risk donations.

We allow anyone to report a fundraiser for suspicious activity at any time, and our team will promptly review it. We want to hear from you. If you see something, please tell us. Here’s how report a fundraiser.

It is always free to set up a fundraiser. If you raise funds, we collect standard transaction fees of 2.9% + $0.30 per donation, which helps us pay our payment processors and safely deliver funds. GoFundMe is primarily powered by voluntary tips and relies on these completely optional contributions to run our platform. Learn more about our pricing.

In our 15 years of operation, we have never heard from customers who have lost FEMA support due to their GoFundMe. We work closely with FEMA and other government agencies during crises. FEMA also addresses this on their website, saying: “By law, FEMA cannot duplicate benefits you receive from another source. However, there are many different types of assistance available through FEMA and we review each application to ensure you receive the aid for which you are eligible.”

You can transfer the donations you’ve received from your GoFundMe account to your bank account in a few steps:

• Decide whose bank will receive the funds: You can have the donations sent to your personal bank account or someone else can withdraw the funds. If you select someone else, the beneficiary will be the one who adds banking information.
• Add personal and bank information: Our payment partner will use the information you enter to verify who you are. Your information needs to match your government-issued photo ID exactly.
• Share supporting documents (if necessary): In order to ensure that funds reach the right place we may ask for a copy of your bank statement, government-issued photo ID, or information on your relationship to the fundraiser.
• Receive money to your bank account: Once your details have been verified, funds will transfer from GoFundMe to the bank account on file.

In some cases, we see that those affected by crises can’t provide an ID due to damage or loss. If you’ve lost your ID due to the crisis, we strongly recommend adding a trusted beneficiary to receive funds.

At GoFundMe, we pride ourselves on providing secure fundraising you can count on during times of crisis. If your fundraiser is under review, please respond to our outreach and work with our team to address the questions that prompted the review. We are a trusted leader in online fundraising and our global team of Trust & Safety specialists allows both our fundraisers and donors to be confident funds will get to the right place.

Contact our help team