Thursday October 23- GoFundMe

Hi !

I know a song: What’s cookin this week 

In this week’s enews…

• A horrible move by GoFundMe

• Action you should take ASAP

• Learn from the good: Keep people informed

• Great post: Why it’s important to segment your donors

• A free webinar you should attend

The solution to the Triple E (enews easter egg) from last week: Songs by ABBA. Loads of great earworms!

Before we get started, I wanna wish a warm welcome to all the new subscribers. Thank you for joining our community- I really appreciate it!

Today I’m going to concentrate on the current GoFundMe kerfuffle. For those who haven’t heard about it (and also those who have), I have info below plus plenty of links and posts for you to read.

What they did is inexcusable and there’s a very good chance it affects your nonprofit.

So let’s jump into it: When for profit businesses take advantage of nonprofits.

That gets on everybody’s nerves: The kerfuffle 

In short: GoFundMe (GFM), the largest crowdfunding platform, created 1.4 million “donation pages” for U.S. nonprofits without consent or any contact with said nonprofits.

In the bottom left of most of the pages is a CTA to claim the page. They want NPOs to claim the page and use it to fundraise.

Before I continue, I am sharing three links of posts that you should read to further understand.

1. Start here to understand what they did.

2. This is a good post about how they did it and the ethics around what they did.

3. Nonprofits were definitely taken aback by what GoFundMe did. Read what the President of the Dallas Jewish Community Foundation had to say.

Lemme be clear: GoFundMe is a private company and they are very bottom line oriented. They wanna maximize revenue, especially given the competition in the crowdfunding sphere. So it’s possible that they thought they could make money by creating these pages and getting people to donate to the nonprofits.

I think it’s a BS move. The information they posted on the nonprofit pages might be a couple years old. Some of these organizations may have gift acceptance policies which prevent them from taking gifts thru GoFundMe.

And on and on and on.

Not only that, but let’s say your organization has a page on GFM and people donated. Would you receive those donations? Well, maybe. Or maybe not. Look at what their Terms and Conditions say:

Add in that you may never receive the name of the donor who gave through your GFM page! Bye bye relationship building. Bye bye retention.

😡 

What caught my eye was the way the company responded to the kerfuffle. A few months ago I discussed crisis comms and the need to be ready in case you’re suddenly thrown into a crisis.

Based on what I’ve seen so far, GoFundMe is doing a horrible job.

Let’s start with this quote from their Senior Director of Nonprofit Comms. She admits that this move was done on purpose, they don’t care about getting permission from nonprofits to list them on the GFM website and they “plan to do more comms with nonprofits about these pages.”

Well, that puts me at ease. Case closed. 🙄 

Before I continue, side point: Some nonprofits showed how, when one searches on Google for their nonprofit, the newly created GFM page comes up in the search results BEFORE their organization’s website. This is HORRIBLE! It means people will go to these “fake” GFM pages to learn more about organizations rather than to the nonprofit’s actual website.

And since some of the info on the GFM pages may be outdated (the data they scraped from the IRS can be 2-3 years old), readers won’t get the full picture. That can mean fewer donations.

😡 

Back to comms. It took a few days but GoFundMe finally released a statement. And lemme quote myself: Their statement was a heaping, flaming pile of 💩 . Tone deaf. No apology. Nothing. (For those who want, here’s the full statement.)

Read the comments on my LinkedIn post and you’ll learn how bad this situation is and how much anger there is at GoFundMe. Will that anger translate into action? So far it hasn’t.

I firmly believe this is a cash grab on GFM’s part. They wanna raise revenue and beat the competition. And if nonprofits reputation and fundraising takes a hit? Well, that’s just how it goes in the business world.

And that is the most infuriating part of all. They’re publicly saying it’s a move that helps nonprofits but clearly they didn’t talk to any nonprofits before making this move.

Which all leads to: What should you do?

Everybody’s nerves: Take action

I have contacted current and former clients, advised them to check for a GFM unauthorized page and if it exists, ask GFM to remove it or remove it themselves.

Here are some steps you can take:

1. Check to see if GFM created a page for your organization (search here).

2. If they did, in their post GF said you could contact them via this link. Let them know you want the page taken down for your organization.

3. You might wanna consult with your lawyer about sending them a letter to take the page down. GFM’s legal team can be reached via this email address.

4. Will they respond? One commentor on my post did reach out and got a response. However, they are a Pro member and they might get better customer service.

5. Which is why this might be your best bet: Find your page, claim it and then delete it. Or hide it (if that is possible) until you wanna make it public and use it.

6. Stay on LinkedIn and follow sector experts who are staying on top of the story and posting advice about what to do. (I’ll be doing so as well and I’m always happy to connect with nonprofiteers on LinkedIn!)

It’s almost year-end campaign time. I know that many of you don’t have time to deal with this, which makes it all the more frustrating that GoFundMe did this.

But I’d recommend spending a few minutes on this ASAP. If they created a page about your organization and the info on the page is wrong or outdated, it could cost you donations.

Sadly, this is a company trying to make more money on the backs of almost two million organizations who are hard at work changing the world for the better. Shameful.

💡 Last minute findings you should read:

• A good post with a full roundup of the situation, screen shots, advice, what to do etc.

• An excellent post about the reasons for GFM’s actions, the ethics around it and what the sector should be demanding.

Yes on everybody’s nerves: Timely email

In this section I will share with you something good being done out there by a nonprofit that you can learn from.

I know that the current government shutdown is hurting some of you. Not great.

But it’s important that when something like this occurs, you clearly communicate its affect to your supporters.

The day after the shutdown, Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy sent this email to their list:

They tell people what they need to know and provide links to sites with more information. This is how you keep people up to date on the latest news.

Side note: I’m not a fan of the final paragraph. I’d leave this as an informational email without asking for a donation. I am well aware that the government shutdown means loss of funding but I’d make that ask in a different email. Let this stand alone as information only.

Consistent and constant communications is key to relationship building. When something happens, try to let people know as quickly as possible and continue to update them as warranted.

I know a song that gets on everybody’s nerves: A little of this and that

In this section I’m going to share with you great content I’ve picked out that you can learn from.

1. Why it’s important to segment your donors. MUST READ!!! (Ann Green)

2. 9 year-end giving campaign ideas (NextAfter)

3. How to build relationships with grantmakers (Nonprofit Learning Lab)

4. 5 different types of donor outreach (Soapbox Engage)

5. 10 red flags your NPO may be on the path to financial failure (Nonprofit Pro)

And this is how it goes: Register for this webinar!

When you have a chance to learn from one of the top fundraising experts out there, you should attend, listen, learn and implement!

Next week Wednesday (October 29) Barbara O’Reilly will be presenting a free webinar about fundraising in times of crisis.

She’ll share:

• How donors really respond during crises

• Proven tactics to build trust, clarity and urgency

• A donor stewardship framework that keeps supporters close

• Practical steps to sustain giving and grow loyalty even in uncertainty

Time to sharpen your message and build lasting donor confidence. Barbara will show you how to do that. Additionally, you’ll get a practical checklist and workbook to put strategies into action right away.

I’m looking forward to attending and learning from Barbara. Register today for free and boost your organization’s fundraising efforts!

🎶 During the first half of writing this I was listening to 80s hits but then I got interrupted, turned the music off and then never turned it back on. Not sure why but that’s what happened.

I’ll be back in your inbox next Thursday (and possibly Tuesday). Have a great weekend!