Your Donation Went to a Bad Place? Get a GoFundMe Refund With DoNotPay!

GoFundMe was launched in 2010, and it’s the biggest social fundraising platform used for free. Anyone can set up a fundraiser for personal, business, or charitable causes. GoFundMe has been used to raise over $9 billion from more than 120 million donations.

The platform offers a tool called GoFundMe Charity for North American charitable organizations. Big and small nonprofits that use this free software can access donor analytics, editable templates, and registration software.

GoFundMe Refund Policy

This fundraising platform regulates its refund policy through the so-called GoFundMe Guarantee. The aim is to protect the donors from misuse in cases of misleading campaigns, criminal charges related to the beneficiary or the organizer, or when the funds don’t go to the intended beneficiary.

You can request a refund based on the GoFundMe Guarantee if you meet the following criteria:

1. You are still in possession of the original payment method used for making the donation
2. Your refund request cannot be older than a year from the donation date
3. You haven’t already received a refund or requested a chargeback for the same donation

When GoFundMe proves misuse, donors can be reimbursed in the following ways:

• Donation refund not exceeding $1,000 per donor per campaign
• Credit that can be redeemed as a donation to another campaign
• Redirected donation to the proper beneficiary (if the misuse comes from a failed delivery of funds to the intended beneficiary)

How to Get a Refund From GoFundMe With DoNotPay

DoNotPay was created as the world’s first AI Consumer Champion that focuses on customer advocacy. Our goals are to make sure that your consumer rights are met, whenever possible, and protect you from unnecessary paperwork or administration.

Requesting refunds with DoNotPay is easy and straightforward. Our app features a sleek and easy-to-use interface so that even those who are not comfortable with new technologies can use it with no trouble. You can initiate the refund process when you set up your DoNotPay account in a web browser. It will take just a few minutes:

1. Select File a Chargeback from the homepage
2. Answer a few questions about your bank
3. Provide the necessary details about the donation you want to dispute
4. Confirm your identity and submit your claim

As soon as you’re done with our short questionnaire, our service will create a custom-made dispute letter and send it to your bank and GoFundMe. DoNotPay relies on the Fair Credit Billing Act of 1974, which enables consumers to request disputes for credit card charges not older than 60 days.

In case you need additional support for your claim, our app can provide the most important Visa and MasterCard codes to ensure your success.

Other Methods for Requesting GoFundMe Refunds

If you want to request a refund for a GoFundMe donation, you are advised to contact the charity directly. In case that’s not possible, you can try one of the methods from the table below:

There are two possible courses of action when requesting a refund on the GoFundMe website. They depend on how recent your donation is, and whether your refund request is based on dealing with a fraudulent fundraiser.

How to Get a Refund for Your GoFundMe Donations Made Recently

If you sent some money to a certified charity fundraiser before the 15th of the current month, you can request a refund until the 20th of that month. For donations made after the 15th, refunds are issued until the 20th of the next month.

Those whose donations fit these time constraints should follow these steps:

1. Open the Request a refund page
2. Enter your email address and select the type of the refund request
3. Type in the full amount of your donation
4. Enter the name or the link of the fundraising campaign
5. Click on Submit

How to Get a Refund for Donations on GoFundMe in the Case of Misuse

If you’re skeptical about where your money went and suspect misuse or fraud, the refund request process will differ slightly:

1. Open the GoFundMe Guarantee page
2. Scroll down and click on Submit a donor claim here
3. Fill out your contact information
4. Answer the questions about the fundraiser
5. State your reason for the refund request and describe your concerns
6. Upload evidence, if applicable
7. Click on Send Email to finish

Potential Issues You Might Encounter When Requesting a GoFundMe Refund

You should be aware of exclusions to the GoFundMe Guarantee policy. You cannot invoke this policy and request a refund in the following situations:

• Making donations to your campaign
• Donating offline outside of the GoFundMe platform
• Making a donation you regret
• Asking for a refund based on the personal disagreement or dislike of the beneficiary or organizer
• Disagreeing with the way the beneficiary or organizer uses extra funds
• Disagreeing over the payment method used to transfer the campaign funds
• If there are any undelivered rewards, promises, offers, or promotions made by the beneficiary or the organizer
• Donating to a fundraiser that has been removed for other reasons
• Disagreeing with GoFundMe
• Situations other than the documented and objective belief that misuse happened

How Long Does a GoFundMe Refund Take?

The amount of time you will have to wait to see the money back in your account depends on the form of payment used to make a donation. Most refunds are processed within three to seven business days.

Why Would GoFundMe Refund Money Without Your Request?

If you noticed that your donation to a GoFundMe fundraiser had been returned without your request, you can check the most common reasons for unannounced refunds:

• The organizer decided to stop the fundraiser
• The platform’s payment processor wasn’t able to verify your identity and rejected the donation
• The organizer didn’t transfer the raised funds within the allotted time or confirm their account
• The donation was made by you, but you are the fundraiser’s organizer

Use DoNotPay to Fight Other Bureaucratic Issues

Putting an end to rogue donations is just one of the things DoNotPay can do to protect your consumer rights. Our help is invaluable if you need to request refunds from other companies, including Uber, Amazon, Target, or Groupon. We can also assist you in getting your money back for airplane tickets or from companies with a no-refunds policy.

Successful refunds are just a fraction of DoNotPay’s power. Have you ever wanted to try out some new service or subscription during the free trial period, but you didn’t want your card to get charged if you forget to cancel on time?

With DoNotPay’s virtual credit cards, you don’t have to worry about it anymore. You can use them to sign up for any service that requires payment information upfront, but the risk of getting charged doesn’t exist since they’re not connected to your bank account.

DoNotPay offers so much more. Access all of our useful tools and features from any web browser and explore our diverse portfolio of solutions to various bureaucratic issues:

• Dealing with credit card issues
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