GoFundMe class action lawsuit overview:
- Who: Two donors from Illinois and Georgia filed a class action lawsuit against GoFundMe Inc.
- Why: The plaintiffs allege GoFundMe used deceptive website design to automatically add optional tips to donations without donors’ consent.
- Where: The GoFundMe class action lawsuit was filed in Illinois federal court.
A new class action lawsuit accuses GoFundMe of using deceptive website design to trick donors into paying optional tips that allegedly go directly to the company.
Illinois resident Sandra Donovan and Georgia resident Ebony Baker filed the complaint on Aug. 6 in Illinois federal court.
According to the lawsuit, GoFundMe automatically adds a preselected tip during the donation process while making the charge difficult for consumers to notice or remove.
Donovan and Baker allege the company also misrepresents how it funds its operations by telling donors that it relies primarily on tips while allegedly collecting transaction fees from charitable organizations and fundraisers.
They seek to represent a separate Illinois and Georgia class of consumers that paid GoFundMe a preselected fee in the form of a tip during the applicable statute of limitations.
The plaintiffs claim GoFundMe’s practices violate the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act and the Georgia Fair Business Practices Act. They seek actual, statutory and treble damages, attorneys’ fees, restitution and injunctive relief.
GoFundMe uses ‘dark patterns’ in preselected tips, class action claims
According to the class action lawsuit, GoFundMe uses so-called “dark patterns” to trick consumers into paying tips they may not want to.
The complaint describes the alleged practices as a form of negative option marketing, where a consumer’s failure to take affirmative action is treated as acceptance of an additional charge.
Donovan and Baker allege the donation amount selected by a user appears prominently near the top of the transaction screen, while the preselected tip is displayed in smaller, less noticeable text near the bottom. According to the GoFundMe class action lawsuit, this design makes the additional charge easy for donors to overlook.
Both plaintiffs claim they did not know the tips had been added or that they could remove them. They allege they would not have paid the tip had they known the charge was optional or understood that GoFundMe allegedly receives transaction fees from charitable organizations and fundraisers.
Meanwhile, fundraising platform Givebutter is also facing a class action lawsuit alleging it secretly adds hidden fees to online charitable donations without donors’ knowledge or consent.
What do you think about the allegations made against GoFundMe? Let us know in the comments.
The plaintiffs are represented by Amanda J. Rosenberg, Sophia Goren Gold and Jeffrey D. Kaliel of KalielGold PLLC.
The GoFundMe class action lawsuit is Donovan, et al. v. GoFundMe Inc., Case No. 1:26-cv-09423, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
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