GoFundMe
American crowdfunding platform
Follow GoFundMe on Notably News to receive short updates to your email — rarely!
December 2024 | Multiple GoFundMe campaigns for the legal defense fund of the alleged shooter in Brian Thompson's killing were removed from the platform. |
October 16 2024 | The Family of Arlene Connolly O'Neill fundraiser initiated |
July 13 2024 | Support For Butler PA Victims fundraiser launched, raising $5,399,200 by July 19, 2024 |
August 2023 | GoFundMe froze over $90,000 donated by 1,100 contributors to The Grayzone, a pro-Kremlin far-left news website, citing unspecified 'external concerns'. Grayzone founder Max Blumenthal claimed the freeze was politically motivated due to the website's coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. |
June 27 2023 | Jean Messiha initiated a controversial GoFundMe campaign raising €1.6 million for the family of a police officer who killed 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk during a traffic stop in France, sparking widespread protests and riots. |
January 2023 | The British disinformation analysis organization Logically reported that GoFundMe had funneled over $330,000 in donations to fundraisers for injuries supposedly caused by the COVID-19 vaccine. |
May 2022 | GoFundMe acquired Classy, a non-profit donation site, which will continue to operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of GoFundMe. |
February 4 2022 | Following widespread criticism, GoFundMe reversed its initial decision and announced that all donations for the Freedom Convoy fundraiser would be refunded within 10 business days. |
February 4 2022 | GoFundMe removed the Freedom Convoy 2022 fundraiser from their platform, citing violations of terms of service related to 'violence and other unlawful activity'. Initially, the company planned to redistribute the $9 million in donations to charities and only offer refunds upon application. |
January 2022 | Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a vaccine mandate for truck drivers crossing into Canada, which prompted the formation of the Freedom Convoy 2022 protest movement. |
December 2021 | The Sunday Times reported that GoFundMe had enabled donations of over €300,000 to anti-vaccine campaigns and challenges to vaccine certificates. |
May 2021 | Brian Kolfage was separately indicted on federal charges of defrauding the IRS and filing false tax returns. |
March 24 2021 | The 'Help the Anwars Find Peace' fundraiser began, raising $1,051,250 by April 1, 2021 |
February 13 2021 | Voddie Baucham's Medical Expense Fund campaign started, raising $1,073,180 by February 16, 2021 |
2020 | By the beginning of 2020, GoFundMe had facilitated over $9 billion in fundraising, with contributions from more than 120 million donors. |
October 2020 | By mid-October, The $1K Project had successfully fully funded more than 800 families through individual GoFundMe pages with donors contributing $1,000 per month for three months. |
August 2020 | Brian Kolfage was indicted on federal charges of defrauding 'We Build the Wall' donors by diverting raised money to personal use, alongside Steve Bannon and two other co-defendants. |
August 2020 | Andrew Yang's Humanity Forward Foundation committed to matching donations dollar-for-dollar up to $1 million for The $1K Project, supporting families affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. |
April 9 2020 | The $1K Project launched, ultimately raising $2,500,000 by October 14, 2020 |
June 2019 | GoFundMe terminated a $3 million fundraising campaign for Israel Folau, an Australian rugby player, who was seeking to finance a court case appealing his dismissal after posting social media content deemed homophobic. |
March 2019 | GoFundMe banned fundraisers from anti-vaccine activists, including Stop Mandatory Vaccination founder Larry Cook, citing violations of their terms of service. |
February 14 2018 | GoFundMe hosted fundraisers for victims of the Stoneman Douglas High School Shooting in Parkland, Florida, supporting survivors' recovery and memorial causes for deceased victims' families. |
November 2017 | GoFundMe announced a change in fee structure, eliminating the 5% fee per donation for individual campaigns in the US, Canada, and UK, and instead relying on donor tips to support the website. |
March 2017 | GoFundMe became the largest crowdfunding platform, having raised over $3 billion since its debut in 2010, with monthly donations exceeding $140 million. |
January 2017 | GoFundMe acquired CrowdRise, expanding its crowdfunding platform capabilities. |
2015 | GoFundMe suspended and subsequently banned legal defense funds for the Sweet Cakes by Melissa bakery case, which involved a bakery fined for refusing to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding. This led to a policy change where the platform announced it would no longer support legal defense funds on their platform. |
2015 | GoFundMe announced that the site would no longer support legal defense funds on their platform, specifically after suspending funding for the Sweet Cakes by Melissa bakery defense. |
June 2015 | Damphousse and Ballester sold a majority stake in GoFundMe to Accel Partners and Technology Crossover Ventures, with the company valued at around $600 million. They stepped down from day-to-day company oversight. |
May 31 2015 | The MMS Defense Fund was removed from GoFundMe after Smith's conviction. |
May 27 2015 | Louis Daniel Smith was found guilty of fraud and other charges related to selling 'MMS' (Miracle Mineral Supplement). |
2010 | GoFundMe was founded, initially not purposefully designed as a medical fundraising platform, but eventually becoming a significant resource for individuals seeking financial help for medical expenses. |
2010 | GoFundMe was founded as a crowdfunding platform, enabling individuals to raise money for various personal events and challenges. |
May 2010 | GoFundMe was officially founded by Brad Damphousse and Andrew Ballester in San Diego, California, after renaming and upgrading their original platform. |
This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia article GoFundMe, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.