Best Practices for Donating Safely Online with GoFundMe

Donors like you continue to change the world for the better everyday on GoFundMe. If you’re wondering, “how can I donate safely online?”, read on to learn how GoFundMe makes it easy to do just that.

At GoFundMe, we are here to help you safely make donations online through our platform. It is our mission to help people help each other and being able to donate safely is crucial. While you can donate to a GoFundMe fundraiser with confidence knowing your donation is backed by the GoFundMe Giving Guarantee, here are a few things to consider when making a donation.

Review the fundraiser’s details

GoFundMe has dedicated teams and processes in place to help ensure that fundraisers are true and authentic. And, we’re constantly looking at ways to improve our tools and processes. When donating on GoFundMe, take a second to make sure you’re donating to the person or cause you are intending to support by reading the fundraiser’s description.

Donate on the GoFundMe platform

We encourage you to make all donations to a fundraiser directly through GoFundMe. To help facilitate the most seamless donation process and ensure funds are delivered to the intended recipient quickly, GoFundMe accepts various donation payment methods. These methods include credit cards, debit cards, PayPal, and many others. Take extra caution if someone requests that you send money for a fundraiser to an individual via means other than the GoFundMe platform.

Report anything that doesn’t look right

Fraud on GoFundMe is rare. If someone does create a fundraiser with the intention to mislead donors, our team takes swift action. If you believe a specific fundraiser is suspicious, you can report it here. Thank you for helping to keep our community safe.

Donate in confidence knowing you’re protected

You are making the world a better place for someone every time you give. GoFundMe believes it’s our responsibility to protect your kindness—by protecting your donation with the GoFundMe Giving Guarantee. Fraud on GoFundMe is rare, but in case something isn’t right, donations of any amount are covered for one full year after you donate.


You can confidently donate safely online with GoFundMe. To search for a fundraiser to support, visit the GoFundMe search page.