GoFundMe is opening up donor-advised funds (DAFs) to small donors with the launch of its Giving Funds platform. It is attached to a registered 501(c)(3) public charity, GoFundMe Giving Fund.
Traditional DAFs hold more than $250 billion donated for charitable purposes, according to data from the National Philanthropic Trust, but the vast majority goes undistributed. The plan for GoFundMe’s Giving Funds platform is to turn DAFs into an everyday giving tool, rather than a substitute for a personal or family foundation.
Anyone in the United States can open a free Giving Fund account. There are no management fees and no minimum balances. The funds are available to grant to a nonprofit immediately after deposit. Once a grant is made, the money goes out “typically within a couple of weeks,” according to a spokesperson for GoFundMe.
More than 65,000 nonprofits received a donation via GoFundMe last year, according to an announcement from the firm.
“We built Giving Funds to give everyone a simple way to manage their charitable giving in one place — without the fees or barriers that once kept donor-advised funds out of reach for most people,” said Tim Cadogan, CEO of GoFundMe, said via a statement. “Charitable giving has hovered around 2% of U.S. GDP (gross domestic product) for decades. We believe that with the right tools, we can help increase that. Giving Funds expand GoFundMe into a full-service destination for generosity — empowering everyone to discover causes, support individuals and nonprofits, and find new ways to connect and give, all through a platform they know and trust.”
The platform has discovery tools, curated recommendations, and suggested sharing features. Users will be able to find charities in their communities and, in times of crisis, Giving Funds will surface trusted organizations providing urgent relief, making it easy to respond when it matters most.
GoFundMe has introduced during the past year tools such as Profiles, Live Fundraising, and a suite of AI-powered tools, which have now been used nearly 40 million times, according to the firm. In May, the company announced it has surpassed $40 billion raised globally and introduced GoFundMe Pro, a rebranding of its Classy platform.
