Some eyebrows were raised when Clark County Commission Chair Steve Sisolak created a GoFundMe page to help the victims of the Vegas shooting.
People wondered, "Will GoFundMe make money from this? Is that really appropriate?"
Indeed, that's what appears to be happening.
GoFundMe takes 7.9% of the total donated, PLUS a flat $0.30 fee for EACH donation! Fee list is here: https://www.gofundme.com/pricing
As it stands right now, 78,594 people have donated, and a total of $9,616,849 has been raised.
Let's do the math.
7.9% of $9,616,849 is $759,731.07.
$0.30 flat fee paid 78,594 times is $23,578.20.
That means $783,309.27 worth of fees have already been paid!
However, GoFundMe themselves donated $150,000 to the cause, so let's subtract that.
This brings it down to $633,309.27.
Pretty sweet profit from a national tragedy, huh?
Right now this isn't getting much press, but as the figure approaches a million dollars (which it probably will), I have to imagine that a lot of people are going to be pissed off.
Some in Vegas are already grumbling about it, claiming that it could have been done much cheaper through a county website.
Will GoFundMe do the right thing and donate all the fees back to the fundraiser?