Most individuals regard GoFundMe as the premier funding source for emergency situations. However, the platform can also be used for raising funds for your business. The following GoFundMe review will break down the services and capacity of the company and how the platform works.
An Overview of GoFundMe
GoFundMe serves to be the largest charitable site for crowdfunding as of the time of this writing. The platform is most famous for need-based and medical crowdfunding, typically in times of financial crisis for families and individuals. However, most individuals do not know that the platform can also be used for raising funds for businesses.
In comparison to other crowdfunding platforms, GoFundMe is not known to charge any platform fees. However, just like any other fundraising website, around three percent of what you will be able to raise will ultimately go to the payment processor when you process the money from the platform to your bank account.
GoFundMe Review Based on Service
GoFundMe offers access to a dedicated platform for users wherein they can solicit money from social media followers, friends, and family. They can get access to monetary help from almost anybody who might be moved to action by the respective fundraising campaigns.
Upon signing up with GoFundMe, they will explain that it is possible to fundraise for the following causes:
- Memorial
- Medical
- Nonprofit
- Emergency
- Animals
- Education
- Community
- Business
- Creative
- Competition
- Faith
- Event
- Sports
- Family
- Volunteer
- Travel
- Wishes
As long as you do not fundraise for any prohibited reason, your campaign will have a dedicated place on the website. You will realize that the majority of fundraising categories on the platform are related to need-based purposes. However, entrepreneurs and businesses can also consider leveraging the service of crowdfunding through GoFundMe as well.
There are several instances available in the campaign lists of GoFundMe featuring successful business-centric project campaigns. For instance, a restaurant based in San Francisco was capable of raising around $50k to get itself out of a debt situation. At the same time, you can also come across the reference of a veteran who was able to raise around $2k to go ahead with launching his motorcycle repair shop. Due to the innate nature of the platform, it is quite helpful when you have a compelling story to narrate -including extenuating circumstances, hardships, and so on. This is especially important when you are executing business crowdfunding.
What are the Business Qualifications to Receive Crowdfunding Through GoFundMe?
GoFundMe serves to be immensely permissive with respect to the types of campaigns it is capable of supporting. There are several terms that most business campaigns are expected to comply with. Some of the common terms are:
- Absence of illegal activity
- Absence of weapons
- Nothing misleading or fraudulent
- Absence of gambling
- Nothing related to investments, money service transactions, equity contracts, cryptocurrencies, or debt collection
- Absence of promoting violence, hate, terrorism, discrimination, intolerance, or harassment
- Absence of controlled substances or related items
- Absence of pornography or adult content
- Absence of dealing with entities under sanctions of the United States of America
- Absence of ransom, exploitation, or human trafficking
- Absence of gift cards or monetary rewards
- Absence of debt settlement services or credit repair
- Absence of collecting payments on behalf of consumers
- Absence of transactions for selling items before the seller will have possession or control of the particular item
- Absence of offensive graphic or sensitive content
Moreover, if you wish to launch campaigns on GoFundMe, you are expected to be a citizen of the following nations:
- The United States of America -however, citizens from nations like Guam, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, the Northern Marina Islands, and American Samoa are not capable of hosting a campaign on GoFundMe
- The United Kingdom
- Canada
- Ireland
- Australia
- Belgium
- Austria
- Finland
- Denmark
- Netherlands
- France
- Germany
- Norway
- Portugal
- Luxembourg
- Italy
- Switzerland
- Sweden
- Spain
It is important to note that you are not expected to be a citizen of these nations to make a donation towards GoFundMe campaigns. You are able to make a donation from practically any nation of the world. However, some of the exceptions to countries donating are China, Syria, Iran, Cuba, North Korea, and Sudan.
GoFundMe Review Fees and Terms
Crowdfunding campaigns at GoFundMe do not prompt you to set up a specific funding period. Rather, you are expected to set up a dedicated funding goal. Still, you can keep the entire amount you are able to raise -irrespective of the scale of donation you receive. You can also go ahead with keeping your campaign active for an indefinite period of time while raising money continuously even when you might have surpassed the respective funding goal. At the same time, there is no specific limit to the amount of money you can raise through a campaign.
On the backend, GoFundMe has pledged that unlike other crowdfunding platforms, it will not be charging its donors any amount other than payment processing fees. Rather than a platform fee, GoFundMe has come forth with the option of tipping across its donation pages. These tips made to the platform tend to be completely voluntary. Donors can consider choosing ‘Other’ option in the drop-down menu of the platform while entering the amount of $0 as the tip amount, the donation will still go through successfully.
It is important to note that GoFundMe is capable of hosting two different types of crowdfunding campaigns. The campaigns that have been discussed until now are regarded as individual campaigns. These include everything from business fundraisers to personal causes to even raising money for beneficiaries. GoFundMe is also known to host nonprofit funding campaigns -serving as fundamentally different.
GoFundMe allows you to launch a dedicated fundraising campaign for the certified nonprofit organizations. In comparison to donations to individual campaigns, contributions that are made to nonprofit campaigns are ensured processing through the PayPal Giving Fund. It is a 501 c (3) public form of charity. Donors will receive access to a tax-deductible receipt upon making a donation. The Campaign Organizer is not expected to touch the given amount.
This tends to raise a major point that can be easily missed out by donors -a donation made to a standard GoFundMe campaign that remains non-tax-deductible. It is because GoFundMe itself serves to be a non-profit entity.
What is the Application Process of GoFundMe?
If you wish to set up a dedicated fundraising campaign with GoFundMe, you are expected to follow a self-explanatory and simple process. You are only expected to enter the details related to the campaign, the fundraising goal, and you can get your campaign up and running within one hour.
One thing that could be frustrating during the process is that the platform will aggressively and repeatedly send you prompts regarding connecting your campaign to the Facebook page while signing up with the help of the Facebook account. As a matter of fact, if you wish that your campaign appears in the Public Search Directory, you are expected to sign up with the help of your Facebook account. This implies that if you wish your campaign to be featured publicly on the website of GoFundMe, you are expected to have a dedicated Facebook account for it.
GoFundMe Review Sales & Advertising Transparency
While some users have complained about the overall fees of the platform or getting their campaigns removed from the website for violating the respective terms & conditions. The website of GoFundMe does not disclose this information. It is expected to be displayed in a highly accessible manner. There are specific conditions a particular campaign is expected to meet towards qualifying to receive funds.
GoFundMe Review Technical Support and Customer Services
GoFundMe has not listed any phone number for calling in case of immediate support. However, it still comes forth with a dedicated contact term for being in touch with the respective customer services. GoFundMe claims the support guarantee of five minutes or less. This serves to be a faster response time than most other competitors. Unfortunately, there is no provision of the live chat facility.
In addition to this, the website is capable of answering some standard questions about the respective services of the platform on the dedicated help pages or through their automated response service. Still, you can find only limited information on the terms page of the platform.
GoFundMe Review Complaints
Users and reviewers of GoFundMe in 2023 have come up with several reports of issues related to the company. A common review states that towards raising a fund on GoFundMe, the platform asks for the entire social security number. It serves to be a major point of concern as revelations of significant data breaches on a daily basis keep taking place all around.
A more concerning factor related to the services of GoFundMe is that people have also found it impossible to collect the funds that they have raised through the campaigns of GoFundMe. Some reveal that as they advance towards withdrawing funds, GoFundMe has responded only with repeated requests for obtaining more information. At the same time, there are reports that customer service of the platform is inadequate towards resolving the situation. Other users have put forth complaints related to WePay -the payment processor of GoFundMe.
