150: All Press is Good Press? | GoFundMe Creates 1.4M Nonprofit Donation Pages Without Consent...

What happens when a for-profit giant “helps” nonprofits without asking first? Spoiler: chaos, confusion, and a lot of angry fundraisers. In this episode, I sat down with my good friend and fundraising pro, Ephraim Gopin of 1832 Communications, to unpack the wild story of GoFundMe auto-creating donation pages for 1.4 million nonprofits — without their consent. Real Listener Question: “What do we do if our nonprofit suddenly has a GoFundMe page we didn’t create? Is that even legal?” When news broke that GoFundMe scraped IRS data to create “official” donation pages for nonprofits, my inbox blew up. In this episode, Ephraim and I dig into what this means for your organization — from donor confusion to legal implications — and why this so-called “help” might do more harm than good. We cover everything from the basics of what a good donation page should look like, to why this move could affect your nonprofit’s SEO, compliance status, and even your donor relationships. What You'll Learn: What a solid, conversion-ready donation page really needs Why GoFundMe’s “auto-created” nonprofit pages are a huge problem How this affects your branding, donor data, and trust Why accepting those donations could mess with your state fundraising compliance Whether you should claim your page, delete it, or ignore it entirely How big platforms exploit “helping nonprofits” to make a profit And what to do right now if your org was affected Bottom line: Just because something is legal doesn’t mean it’s ethical. Nonprofits deserve respect — not to be treated like SEO bait. Whether you’re claiming or deleting your GoFundMe page, make sure the donations that come in are on your terms. Resources from this Episode Read GoFundMe’s statement about the nonprofit pages here: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/gofundme-pro_at-gofundme-our-mission-has-always-been-activity-7387176830908407808-3AXY? Connect with Ephraim Gopin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ephraimgopin/ Listen to our episode with Ephraim about Giving Tuesday: https://birkenlaw.com/charity-therapy-podcast/ct126/ Previous Episode: How Many Times Should a Nonprofit Board of Directors Meet? https://birkenlaw.com/charity-therapy-podcast/ct149/ Episode Transcript: https://birkenlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/CT150_Transcript.pdf Connect with Us Jess Birken: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessbirken/ Listen & Engage Listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Amazon Music Rate & Review on Apple Podcasts: Click "Ratings and Reviews" then "Write a Review" Send us your nonprofit questions: https://birkenlaw.com/podcast/#podcast-story Stay Connected Sign up for the Birken Law Email list: https://birkenlaw.com/signup/ Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter