Go Fund Yourself: GoFundMe making over $600,000 from Vegas victim fundraiser

[Dan Druff]

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?

[Dan Druff]

Here is the justification Sisolak gives on the GoFundMe page for why the fees are okay:

We have been in touch with GoFundMe since the beginning and they have been a trusted partner from the moment this campaign launched. The support for this campaign has been extraordinary, and donors have had understandable questions about GoFundMe’s fees. GoFundMe has committed significant resources to the management and distribution of these funds in the most ethical, effective, and timely way, and they have also donated $150,000 to directly help victims and their families.

[cmoney]

Here is the justification Sisolak gives on the GoFundMe page for why the fees are okay:

We have been in touch with GoFundMe since the beginning and they have been a trusted partner from the moment this campaign launched. The support for this campaign has been extraordinary, and donors have had understandable questions about GoFundMe’s fees. GoFundMe has committed significant resources to the management and distribution of these funds in the most ethical, effective, and timely way, and they have also donated $150,000 to directly help victims and their families.

I was wondering about this as well. So gross they are taking the fees, and in fact, would be a better business move to not take the fees and actively promote they were not taking fee for certain events. For example, National disasters, mass shootings like this ,etc.

I donated before on their site to some people and recently got spammed by Gofundme to help Puerto Rico Victims and to click her. So low of them.

And LOL at this "significant resources to the management and distribution of these funds"

That is like saying Poker Stars spent ""significant resources " to collect rake on their site.

[Lord of the Fraud]

I hate disagreeing on this issue, but I do.


Because what about people with illnesses who are trying to fund life-saving treatment. Should they be given a pass too?

Because if they were, the company would probably run at a loss (i'm exaggerating a little there)

But the whole idea of the site is to help raise urgent cash for people in desperate need. So making exceptions for certain tragedies, or even individuals would probably be a bad idea as they'd be put on a public guilt trip each time they didn't give a pass to a kid with cancer etc.


Anyway, fuck that. Your government should be taking care of those people affected. It's embarrassing that authorities have to go on live TV and beg the public for money.

[cmoney]

I hate disagreeing on this issue, but I do.


Because what about people with illnesses who are trying to fund life-saving treatment. Should they be given a pass too?

Because if they were, the company would probably run at a loss (i'm exaggerating a little there)

But the whole idea of the site is to help raise urgent cash for people in desperate need. So making exceptions for certain tragedies, or even individuals would probably be a bad idea as they'd be put on a public guilt trip each time they didn't give a pass to a kid with cancer etc.


Anyway, fuck that. Your government should be taking care of those people affected. It's embarrassing that authorities have to go on live TV and beg the public for money.

Couldnt agree with you more. It is painful how much we pay in taxes and how much they fucking waste it. I swear you could just put Druff in charge of the budget , slash it by half, and you would get better services. They just never put something in charge of these things that has an "efficient/pragmatic/does it work?" mind. I am not even one of these anti tax guys, and I am not even complaining about my tax rate. But it so sickening sending half your money to these fools only to see it go down the rat hole it does.

[Lord of the Fraud]

I hate disagreeing on this issue, but I do.


Because what about people with illnesses who are trying to fund life-saving treatment. Should they be given a pass too?

Because if they were, the company would probably run at a loss (i'm exaggerating a little there)

But the whole idea of the site is to help raise urgent cash for people in desperate need. So making exceptions for certain tragedies, or even individuals would probably be a bad idea as they'd be put on a public guilt trip each time they didn't give a pass to a kid with cancer etc.


Anyway, fuck that. Your government should be taking care of those people affected. It's embarrassing that authorities have to go on live TV and beg the public for money.

Couldnt agree with you more. It is painful how much we pay in taxes and how much they fucking waste it. I swear you could just put Druff in charge of the budget , slash it by half, and you would get better services. They just never put something in charge of these things that has an "efficient/pragmatic/does it work?" mind. I am not even one of these anti tax guys, and I am not even complaining about my tax rate. But it so sickening sending half your money to these fools only to see it go down the rat hole it does.

Internal wastage and corruption aside. Think of all that cash which gets shipped into war zones only to missing later on. One example - they sent billions of dollars in boxes of cash to Iraq which just literally vanished after it arrived.

Or what about when there's a natural disaster at home, or even on foreign shores. Money is magically made available then.

I can't believe a big pot of cash wasn't immediately made available to the injured and family members of those who died.

[SenseiKreese]

There are administrative fees in conducting an online fundraiser so its not all profit as Todd suggests. Credit Card and PayPal fees are a nice percentage of it. Even if they are deducting for site overhead, you can't deny that there are admin costs. Some sites may find other streams of revenue to offset the costs. However, this is how gofundme operates. I'm not privy to their profitability, but if they are a business, they are not looking to lose money in this endeavor.

At least they are up front about it on their website. An individual can make their own decision on how to donate. I personally don't like donating to gofundme accounts for this reason. I'd rather ask for an address to donate and mail a check.

There are other sites that have lower fee structures like youcaring.com (but you can't get away from the financial transaction fees with a credit card or PayPal), but it seems like gofundme is the most popular one that people recognize.

[sonatine]

raking 600k from almost 10m in donations is how they keep the lights on.

plus they knocked 20% off their fees with that 150k headshot so i dont see what the problem is here.

yeah it would be peachy if they could do all this shit for free every time a kitten stubs its toe or whatever but the logistics of somehow designating some events exempt while others are not sounds like a moral and logistical nightmare, capable of burning through 600k in labor hours just in defending their positions and mitigating the fallout from them.

lol fuck that shit.

[sonatine]

Credit Card and PayPal fees are a nice percentage of it.

christ i hadnt even considered this, thats what 3% off the top?

where is the outrage at paypal & the CC companies for raking 285k off these donations?

[PLOL]

When did Druff become such a bleeding heart anti-capitalist liberal?

[JoeD]

You forgot the best part, which is that some of these GoFund campaigns result in hefty tax bills to the recipient

http://www.dontmesswithtaxes.com/201...donations.html

[cmoney]

This is like a wormhole opposite pick thread.

[GambleBotsChafedPenis]

what the fuck is going on here...tine defending companies, druff going at 'em...

this week was definitely not the week to lay off the drinking...

[simpdog]

You forgot the best part, which is that some of these GoFund campaigns result in hefty tax bills to the recipient

http://www.dontmesswithtaxes.com/201...donations.html

So you donate money that has already had taxes deducted, and the gov't takes another cut.

I thought you were able to gift money to people without any taxes applied (smaller amounts say if you gift someone $500).

[GambleBotsChafedPenis]

You forgot the best part, which is that some of these GoFund campaigns result in hefty tax bills to the recipient

http://www.dontmesswithtaxes.com/201...donations.html

So you donate money that has already had taxes deducted, and the gov't takes another cut.

I thought you were able to gift money to people without any taxes applied (smaller amounts say if you gift someone $500).

yeah the maximum gift amount that an individual can give to another individual tax free is $14K, so don't know how the IRS has a leg to stand on on this one...

[sonatine]

what the fuck is going on here...tine defending companies, druff going at 'em...

this week was definitely not the week to lay off the drinking...

im just saying, its really not that much money, they are clearing like 300k off 9.5m. they basically tipped their dealer 1/3 the pot.

[SenseiKreese]

Basically, gofundme takes 5% admin fee for the service 5% + 2.9% and 30 cents (processing fee which basically goes to the financial institutions). I do not think 5% is unreasonable to operate the site.

People tend to bunch up the financial fee thinking it goes to gofundme's coffers.

If you want to complain about the 5%, then it is what it is. GoFundMe did donate $150K of what would be their operating profit to the fund. There is a cost of service to operate. I actually don't think they are making any money off this fundraiser when you factor operating costs and their 150K donation. There are plenty of worse charities that take 20%, 30%, 50% for admin costs and millions of people donate with a smile on their face.

When you donate to any charity that takes a credit card or online payment. Trust me, the admin costs to take your donation are getting deducted from what actually goes to the charity. It is never 100% to the cause.

[JoeD]

So you donate money that has already had taxes deducted, and the gov't takes another cut.

I thought you were able to gift money to people without any taxes applied (smaller amounts say if you gift someone $500).

yeah the maximum gift amount that an individual can give to another individual tax free is $14K, so don't know how the IRS has a leg to stand on on this one...

I don't know what the end result was, but my guess is like most IRS stuff, they act first and then put the burden on you to explain why it shouldn't be taxed.

Also, the Vegas Victim Relief Fund is not an individual so my guess is there's no way millions will be changing hands without the government asserting a claim to its piece of the pie

Either way I agree it sucks

[cmoney]

yeah the maximum gift amount that an individual can give to another individual tax free is $14K, so don't know how the IRS has a leg to stand on on this one...

I don't know what the end result was, but my guess is like most IRS stuff, they act first and then put the burden on you to explain why it shouldn't be taxed.

Also, the Vegas Victim Relief Fund is not an individual so my guess is there's no way millions will be changing hands without the government asserting a claim to its piece of the pie

Either way I agree it sucks

If Trump accomplishes anything I hope it is tax reform. I think both sides can agree that the complexity of it is a fucking joke. They are going to look back in 100 years and be like "wtf" was wrong with these people. In so many other countries , compliance takes about 5 mins.

[GambleBotsChafedPenis]

yeah the maximum gift amount that an individual can give to another individual tax free is $14K, so don't know how the IRS has a leg to stand on on this one...

I don't know what the end result was, but my guess is like most IRS stuff, they act first and then put the burden on you to explain why it shouldn't be taxed.

Also, the Vegas Victim Relief Fund is not an individual so my guess is there's no way millions will be changing hands without the government asserting a claim to its piece of the pie

Either way I agree it sucks

totally agree the gobment will try to get a piece of anything...this however, the optics would be fucking terrible...don't think the gobment would be that stupid, but then again these people seem to amaze me with their stupidity so it's entirely possible...

plus I think that this fund might be shielded from taxation anyway since I'm guessing it's gonna be operating as a non-profit fund of some sort...it may not be a tax deduction for the donors because it's not an "official charity"...and also aren't the donations going to the local government for distribution? thought that's who started this gofundme page originally...