GoFundMe Charity is shutting down—here's what you need to know

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In February 2021, it was reported that GoFundMe Charity would be merged into GoFundMe.com, shutting down the fundraising-dedicated site on September 30, 2021. Existing campaigns will not be transferred over to GoFundMe.com and recurring gift arrangements will be cancelled on that date.*

If you're a nonprofit who raises money through GoFundMe Charity, this could be concerning to you and you may want to consider a different social fundraising platform. In fact, GoFundMe has announced that it will end support for third-party integrations and its public API on March 31, 2021.**

Luckily, nonprofits (like you) are used to being scrappy, particularly when it comes to fundraising. And this time, we're here to help you out through what could be a whirlwind of a transition.

Why is GoFundMe Charity shutting down?

That is an excellent question, and frankly, no one but GoFundMe can know for sure why GoFundMe decided to shut down GoFundMe Charity.

According to a statement released by the platform, GoFundMe Charity is uniting with GoFundMe.com to bring personal and charity fundraising together under GoFundMe.com "to best serve [GoFundMe’s] charity customers." GoFundMe also stated that the "new experience will make it easier for [GoFundMe’s] community of donors and fundraisers to discover and support their favorite charities, while allowing charities to seamlessly connect with GoFundMe's vast audience."**

Frankly, we were very surprised by this action by GoFundMe. In our opinion, charity fundraising is often very different from personal fundraising. We also find it surprising that  GoFundMe Charity—which was launched in November 2019--is shutting down after only 15 months. We can only imagine that those charities who previously used the GoFundMe Charity platform to raise funds for their respective worthy causes will now have to look elsewhere.

And probably soon. As explained above, GoFundMe has announced that it will end support for third-party integrations and its public API on March 31, 2021. GoFundMe has also announced that the last day to create a new campaign on GoFundMe Charity is June 30, 2021, and that September 30, 2021 is the last day it will accept both one-time and recurring donations online via GoFundMe Charity campaigns and donate buttons.

In light of these deadlines, you may want to download your data from GoFundMe Charity before March 30, 2021—which is the last day that GoFundMe Charity will support integrations and apps built on its public API. This includes GoFundMe Charity-developed integrations such as Salesforce and Mailchimp.***

GoFundMe Charity provides a detailed explanation on how you can download your data here.***

Alternatives to GoFundMe Charity

If you're looking to fundraise on a new social fundraising platform, please visit our guide on the top 7 GoFundMe alternatives.

See why so many nonprofits use Givebutter

Givebutter has helped countless charities raise tens of thousands of dollars for good causes. Just look at the Bululu Well Project, who raised over $7k on Givebutter to provide clean drinking water in Uganda, or Cannonball Kids' Cancer foundation, who raised over $27k to defeat pediatric cancer. Or take notes from Project Restore Us, who put together a team fundraising campaign on Givebutter to raise over $54k for COVID-19 relief to feed families and save restaurants.

With Givebutter, your good cause can keep 100% of the funds you raise, run creative campaigns through ticketed events, and collect donations through a number of payment methods including Venmo and Apple Pay.

Best of all, your team can run a seamless fundraising campaign through our built-in solutions and third-party integrations. We've made it easy to switch from any platform to Givebutter in four quick steps.

Third-party sources

* Paul Clolery, GoFundMe Charity Being Shut Down, February 10, 2021, https://www.thenonprofittimes.com/technology/gofundme-charity-being-shut-down/.

** GoFundMe, Inc., The Future of GoFundMe Charity, https://charitysupport.gofundme.com/hc/en-us/articles/360054900012-The-Future-of-GoFundMe-Charity.

*** GoFundMe, Inc., End Date for Integrations and Public API, https://charitysupport.gofundme.com/hc/en-us/articles/360054900852.