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policies & disclosures

GoFundMe.org is committed to transparency. Please review our policies and disclosures so you are aware how we protect your privacy and manage your donations. Effective as of June 2016.

FIELD OF INTEREST FUND POLICIES

These policies describe how GoFundMe.org field of interest funds work. Please review these policies carefully.

What is a field of interest fund?

A field of interest fund is a fund established on the books of GoFundMe.org that is dedicated to supporting a particular mission, or “field of interest”. Donors contribute money or other property to the GoFundMe.org, which holds the contributions in a segregated fund. GoFundMe.org then makes expenditures from the fund in support of the particular field of interest. Such expenditures can include grants to further the charitable interests of the fund, whether to organizations or to individuals, or direct expenditures in support of the field of interest.

Contributions to the fund

Once a field of interest fund (a “Fund”) is established, the Fund can receive donations from other donors, including donors on a crowdfunding site, at any time. GoFundMe.org may reject, in its sole discretion, any contribution.

All contributions to the Fund are irrevocable gifts to GoFundMe.org. The Fund is the property of GoFundMe.org, and GoFundMe.org has ultimate discretion and control over all property in the Fund, including any income the Fund earns. All contributions to the Fund are subject to GoFundMe.org‘s variance power, which means that at all times GoFundMe.org retains full discretion and control over the Fund. However, the Fund can only be used for the restricted purposes set forth in the Field of Interest Fund Statement establishing a particular Fund.

Distributions from the fund

All grants and distributions from the Fund must be exclusively for charitable or educational purposes, as those terms are used in Section 170(c)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”). All grants and distributions must also further GoFundMe.org’s charitable and educational purposes, as determined by GoFundMe.org in its sole discretion.

Management of the fund

Investment of the Fund. GoFundMe.org has full discretion and control over the investment of Fund assets. Funds may be pooled with other assets for investment purposes. Fund investment activity will be tracked separately, regardless of how the assets are held.

Income. All income (including gains) earned on assets held in the Fund will be allocated to the Fund.

Administrative Fees. GoFundMe.org may assess an administrative fee against the Fund based on the amount of donations to the Fund.

Other Expenses. GoFundMe.org may in its sole discretion deduct from the Fund any costs, including legal fees, that GoFundMe.org incurs with respect to the Fund.

DONOR ADVISED FUND POLICIES

The policies outlined below describe how GoFundMe.org donor advised funds work. Please review these policies carefully.

What is a donor advised fund?

A donor advised fund permits future grants for charitable purposes while maximizing the donor’s current tax benefits. The donor contributes money or other property to GoFundMe.org, which holds the contributions in a segregated fund. The donor (or others named by the donor) may then recommend grants from the donor advised fund.

Grants from the fund

Eligible Grant Purposes. All grants from the Fund must be exclusively for charitable or educational purposes, as those terms are used in Section 170(c)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”). All grants must also further GoFundMe.org’s charitable and educational purposes, as determined by GoFundMe.org in its sole discretion. In addition, if the Donor Advised Fund Agreement or communications to donors to the Fund indicate a specific purpose for the Fund, then all grants from the Fund must comply with the stated purpose restriction. GoFundMe.org may, from time to time, notify the Advisors of suitable grant recipients.

Eligible Grant Recipients. GoFundMe.org will only make grants from the Fund to U.S. charitable organizations that are tax-exempt public charities; U.S., state, or local government organizations qualified to receive tax deductible charitable contributions, such as state colleges or universities; private operating foundations; or certain non-U.S. organizations. GoFundMe.org will not make grants from the Fund to individuals.

Restricted Organizations and Purposes. GoFundMe.org will not approve recommendations for grants:

  • to non-functionally integrated Type III supporting organizations;
  • to supporting organizations that are controlled by or that provide support to organizations controlled by any Advisor, or certain family members or affiliates (as defined below) of such people;
  • to private non-operating foundations;
  • that are for lobbying, political campaigns or other political activities; or that are for any purpose that is not entirely charitable.

Enforceable Pledges. In general, no Advisor may recommend a grant that would discharge or satisfy (in whole or in part) a legally enforceable pledge or other obligation, including a pledge or other obligation of any Advisor or their family members or affiliates.

“Family members” means spouses, registered domestic partners, ancestors, children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, brothers and sisters, as well as the spouses or registered domestic partners of children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, brothers, and sisters.

An entity is an “affiliate” of a person if it is a corporation at least 35% owned (by voting stock), or a partnership at least 35% owned (by profits interest), or a trust at least 35% owned (by beneficial interest) by such person and/or such person’s family members.

Return Benefits. No Advisor may recommend a grant that would cause or enable any Advisor or family members or affiliates of such people, to receive a return benefit, such as the opportunity to attend a fundraising dinner or event. Grants with prohibited return benefits include so-called “bifurcated” grants, in which attendance at an event (or the receipt of any other benefit) is paid for separately but contingent on receipt of a charitable contribution or grant.

Management of the fund

Investment of the Fund. GoFundMe.org has full discretion and control over the investment of Fund assets. Funds may be pooled with other GoFundMe.org assets for investment purposes. Fund investment activity will be tracked separately, regardless of how the assets are held.

Income. All income (including gains) earned on assets held in the Fund will be allocated to the Fund.

Administrative Fees. GoFundMe.org may assess an administrative fee against the Fund.

Other Expenses. GoFundMe.org may in its sole discretion deduct from the Fund any costs, including legal fees, that GoFundMe.org incurs with respect to the Fund. Certain grants, intensive due diligence, or Advisor-requested research may incur extra fees.

Reporting. GoFundMe.org will provide to each Advisor on a quarterly basis a report on the status of the Fund. The report will include additional contributions by the initial donor or other donors, earnings on investments, charitable grants from the Fund, and fees deducted. GoFundMe.org may provide additional reports upon request.

Termination

Upon termination of the Fund any remaining advisory privileges will end. However, prior to termination, the primary donor may express his or her recommendation to GoFundMe.org at any time regarding the distribution of Fund assets upon termination of the Fund.

No Remaining Advisors. The Fund will terminate if at any point there is no Advisor to the Fund.

Fund Minimum Balance. If the Fund balance remains below $5,000 for three consecutive months, GoFundMe.org will attempt to notify the Advisor(s). If GoFundMe.org does not receive either a grant recommendation or additional funds for contribution into the Fund within 90 days of such attempted notification, GoFundMe.org may in its sole discretion terminate the Fund.

Minimum Activity. When GoFundMe.org has received no grant recommendations from any Advisor to a Fund for 12 consecutive months, GoFundMe.org will request grant recommendations in each quarterly statement thereafter. If 18 consecutive months pass with no grant recommendations from any Advisor, GoFundMe.org may in its sole discretion terminate the Fund.

STATE NONPROFIT DISCLOSURES

Certain states require written disclosures for nonprofit organizations soliciting contributions. Individual state disclosures are below.

Florida: A COPY OF THE OFFICIAL REGISTRATION AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE DIVISION OF CONSUMER SERVICES BY CALLING TOLL-FREE, WITHIN THE STATE, 1-800-435-7352 (800-HELP-FLA), OR VISITING www.FloridaConsumerHelp.com. REGISTRATION DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT, APPROVAL, OR RECOMMENDATION BY THE STATE. Florida Registration #53599

Georgia: A full and fair description of our programs and our financial statement summary is available upon request at our office and phone number indicated above.

Maryland: For the cost of copies and postage, from the Office of the Secretary of State, State House, Annapolis, MD 21401.

Mississippi: The official registration and financial information of GoFundMe.org may be obtained from the Mississippi Secretary of State’s office by calling 1-888-236-6167. Registration by the Secretary of State does not imply endorsement.

Nevada: Contributions may be tax deductible pursuant to the provisions of sec. 170(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, 26 U.S.C. ¤170(c).

New Jersey: INFORMATION FILED WITH THE ATTORNEY GENERAL CONCERNING THIS CHARITABLE SOLICITATION AND THE PERCENTAGE OF CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED BY THE CHARITY DURING THE LAST REPORTING PERIOD THAT WERE DEDICATED TO THE CHARITABLE PURPOSE MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY BY CALLING (973) 504-6215 AND IS AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET AT www.state.nj.us/lps/ca/charfrm.htm. REGISTRATION WITH THE ATTORNEY GENERAL DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT.

New York: Upon request, from the Attorney General’s Charities Bureau, 28 Liberty Street, New York, NY 10005, 1-212-416-8686 or www.charitiesnys.com.

North Carolina: Financial information about this organization and a copy of its license are available from the State Solicitation Licensing Branch at 1-919-814-5400. The license is not an endorsement by the state.

Pennsylvania: The official registration and financial information of GoFundMe.org may be obtained from the Pennsylvania Department of State by calling toll-free, within Pennsylvania, 1-800-732-0999.

Washington: From the Secretary of State at 1-800-332-4483 or http://www.sos.wa.gov/charities/
West Virginia: West Virginia residents may obtain a summary of the registration and financial documents from the Secretary of State, State Capitol, Charleston, WV 25305.

Wisconsin: A financial statement of the charitable organization disclosing assets, liabilities, fund balances, revenue and expenses for the preceding fiscal year will be provided to any person upon request.

REGISTRATION WITH A STATE AGENCY DOES NOT CONSTITUTE OR IMPLY ENDORSEMENT, APPROVAL OR RECOMMENDATION BY THAT STATE.

privacy policy

Effective as of: July 13, 2022.

We are GoFundMe.org, a 501(c)(3) public charity (EIN: 81-2279757). This Privacy Notice (“Notice”) describes and governs how we collect, use, share and protect information collected in the context of mission and charitable purpose: to provide fast and effective relief to victims of disaster; to fund educational and other charitable initiatives (“Services”). Before you use or submit any information through or in connection with the Services, please carefully review this Notice. By using any part of the Services, you acknowledge the collection, use, and disclosure of your information as outlined in this Policy.

If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland (collectively “Europe”):

  • for the purposes of the EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (the “GDPR”), the data controller is GoFundMe.org and can be reached at info@gofundme.org; and
  • you acknowledge you have read and understood its terms.

INFORMATION WE COLLECT

GoFundMe.org does not collect information from you unless you send it to us directly or donate to us through our use of online donation platforms.

Information You Send. You may send us your information in connection with a donation or grant, or as an inquiry. This may include your full name, email address, home or work address, phone number, bank records, or any other information you choose to provide us.

Information from Other Services. GoFundMe.org may use third party services so that we can raise money for a cause or organization. For example, it may use a crowdfunding platform such as GoFundMe or Facebook. In those cases, if you permit it, your information as a donor on such platforms may be sent to GoFundMe.org.

Information That is Passively or Automatically Collected. When you interact with GoFundMe.org, we may receive information from the devices you use to learn about us or donate to us. This includes browser information or ip addresses which may identify the city or country from where you logged into view our site.

OUR USE OF INFORMATION COLLECTED

GoFundMe.org uses the information collected in a manner that is consistent with this Notice. We use the information that you provide for the following purposes:

Communicating With You. We process this information as necessary (i) to fulfill our obligations under our contract with you or in order to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract, or (ii) for our legitimate interest, such as, to maintain our relationship with you or to protect you and us against fraud.

Legal. We process information to comply with legal obligations.

OUR DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION COLLECTED

There are certain circumstances in which we share information collected with certain third parties without further notice to you, as set forth below.

Business Transfers. As we develop our organization, we might sell or buy business or assets. In the event of a sale, merger, reorganization, dissolution, similar event or steps taken in anticipation of such events, user information may be part of the transferred assets.

Agents, Consultants, Vendors and Related Third Parties. GoFundMe.org contracts with other companies to perform certain organizational functions on GoFundMe.org’s behalf, and we provide access to or share your information with these companies. Examples of such functions include issuing grants or processing donations. We limit the personal information provided to these service providers and entities to that which is reasonably necessary for them to perform their functions, and we require them to agree to maintain the confidentiality of such information

Legal Requirements. GoFundMe.org can access, disclose, transfer and preserve your information when we have a good faith belief that doing so is necessary to: (i) comply with the law including with subpoenas, search warrants, court orders, and other legal process; and respond to inquiries or requests from government, regulatory, law enforcement, public authorities, or content protection organizations; (ii) protect and defend the legal rights, privacy, safety or property of GoFundMe.org, its employees, volunteers agents, contractors, or its users; (iii) permit us to pursue available remedies, commence, participate in, or defend litigation, or limit the damages we may sustain; or (iv) enforce this Notice.

Your Consent. In certain situations, we may share your information in the event that you consent to the sharing of your information. For example, we may partner with third party organizations to arrange for specific fundraisers. If you consent to our providing your contact information to a specific partner, we share, with the partner organization, your name, email address and other information you’ve provided in connection with your donation to the specific fundraiser.

LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES

This Notice applies only to the activities of GoFundMe.org. Our site may link to other web sites not operated or controlled by GoFundMe.org, which is operated by a different entity (the “Third-Party Sites”). The policies and procedures we described here do not apply to the Third-Party Sites. The links from our site do not imply that GoFundMe.org endorses or has reviewed the Third-Party Sites. We suggest contacting those sites directly for information on their respective privacy policies. That said, we use the GoFundMe Platform often, and thus provide the link to the privacy policy for that Third-Party Site here.

RETENTION OF YOUR INFORMATION

We retain your information for as long as we deem necessary for the purpose for which that information was collected and for our legitimate business operations; provided, however, that your information is only retained to the extent permitted or required by applicable laws. When we no longer need to retain your information, we will take reasonable steps to remove it from our systems and records and/or take steps to anonymize it so that you can no longer be identified from it in accordance with our internal document retention policies.

USERS IN EUROPE

If you are located in Europe, you have the right to ask for an overview of the information we process about you, and for a copy of your information. In addition, you may request us to update and correct inaccuracies, delete your information, restrict processing of your information, or exercise your right to data portability to easily transfer your information to another company. In some cases, you may object to the processing of your information and where we have asked you for your consent to process your information, you can withdraw it at any time. You may also withdraw a previously given consent for processing your personal information; the withdrawal of consent shall not affect the lawfulness of the processing based on consent before its withdrawal. The above rights may be limited under applicable law.

You can make a request to exercise any of these rights in relation to your information by sending the request to us at info@gofundme.org For your own privacy and security, at our discretion, we may require you to provide your identity before providing the requested information. Please note that GoFundMe.org may take up to 30 days to fulfill such requests.

The above rights can be limited under applicable law. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the local data protection authority if you believe that we have not complied with applicable data protection laws. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority of your residence, place of work or where the incident took place.

CHANGES TO THE PRIVACY NOTICE

GoFundMe.org reserves the right to update or modify this Notice at any time and from time to time. We will notify you of any material updates or changes we make to this Notice. If you disagree with our revisions to the Notice, please stop visiting the site. Please review this Notice periodically for any updates or changes.

By visiting our site, you acknowledge that you have read and understood the terms of the Notice as updated or modified.

CONTACTING GOFUNDME.ORG

Please also feel free to contact us if you have any questions about this Notice at info@gofundme.org.