GoFundMe has been the source of donations by tens of thousands of people in the past week who are giving to relief efforts related to Hurricane Harvey. At this point, nearly a week for many GoFundMe campaigns, the company has helped raise some $4.5 billion dollars for people and organizations affected by the storm.
GoFundMe is making a hefty profit on those donations.
According to GoFundMe’s website, it keeps 5% of every donated amount to campaigns plus 2.9% for processing fees. On top of that GoFundMe profits $.30 from every donation. That’s a hefty profit for a company that’s completed $4.5 billion dollars in contributions.
I did some math on one of GoFundMe’s trending campaigns that benefits a non-profit organization, 4paws, which needs money to care for an influx of pets that have been displaced from their homes and owners. The campaign has been verified by GoFundMe and is a reputable agency that clearly needs donations.  As I write this the “Harvey Disaster Animal Fund” has raised $224,435 dollars of a $25 thousand dollar goal. That money has been raised by 5,691 people in the past 5 days.
Using those numbers and even rounding down on the total amount of donations, GoFundMe has kept over $17,000 of the $224,000 raised. On top of that is the 30-cent take on each donation. As of right now GoFundMe has profited over $21,000 from this one campaign.
In total of the $4.5 million dollars in total Harvey donations, GoFundMe has made $355,500 plus the 30-cent/per donation. GoFundMe did not respond to my question asking for a total number of donations for Harvey related campaigns.
I’ve contacted GoFundMe twice this week with questions but have not received a response from a member of its team.
I mention this not to throw water on GoFundMe’s role in raising money for individuals and organizations that need help. It has helped many people raise money since the website launched in 2010. I mention it because I think donors would like to know how much of their donations make it to where they want it to go.
Nowhere on GoFundMe’s website does it mention anything about waiving fees for contributions toward relief efforts for Hurricane Harvey.