Over 20 states insisting GoFundMe delete unauthorized charity pages

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is among officials across the country who are criticizing GoFundMe for the creation of unauthorized financial donation pages for thousands of charities and organizations.

This step, taken on Tuesday, includes a formal letter signed by attorneys general and charitable regulators of 21 states. 

While GoFundMe told state officials that all of the unauthorized fundraising pages have been removed, the letter demands verification of those steps and that "more be done to protect the interests of charities and donors." 

GoFundMe, which launched in 2010, is an internet crowdfunding platform that allows people and organizations to fundraise and solicit donations for a variety of causes through its website pages. 

The letter explains that in October, GoFundMe created its own donation web pages for 1.4 million charities in the United States, without first asking the agencies for permission to do so. The actions resulted in "an outcry from charities nationwide," the letter said, as the agencies were unable to directly control their fundraising and branding efforts. 

The National Council of Nonprofits also publicly criticized the GoFundMe effort at the time. 

In some cases, the attorney general's letter said, the pages included inaccurate names, logos, social media sites and charitable purposes of the featured organizations. In other cases, the donations would go through a donor-advised fund rather than directly to the charity. 

Furthermore, "public reports indicate GoFundMe's donation pages may have applied a default 'tip' of approximately 16.5% intended to pay GoFundMe directly," the letter said. 

And given the intended or likely placement of the GoFundMe pages within internet search results, the letter said some prospective donors may have been directed to the unofficial pages rather than the actual charity's site. 

Following up on the attorneys general letter, GoFundMe has issued 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."