Lansing, Michigan – After reports that GoFundMe created donation pages for charities without their permission, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has joined a group of attorneys general and charitable regulators from 21 other states, including California, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, in asking the company for answers.
The group wrote a letter to the fundraising platform explaining their severe concerns that over 1.4 million charities had web pages made in their names without their knowledge or permission. The letter said that some of those pages had wrong information about the groups and might have led contributors to believe that their money would go to the wrong place.
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Nessel said the situation was very distressing and that charities should not be utilized to make money; they should be there to help their communities.
“Charities serve their communities and should not be used as vehicles for financial gain. GoFundMe must prove that it has fully rectified these issues and clearly explain what it’s changing to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” said Attorney General Nessel.
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The group has told GoFundMe that company has 14 days to show that all donation pages that weren’t allowed have been taken down. The letter also says that the corporation must make sure that potential donors know important things, like that a designated charity may not directly get the money raised on some pages.
The attorneys general also want to know how GoFundMe will make sure that its web pages don’t show up higher than official charity websites in search results.
GoFundMe, a for-profit company based in California that is registered as a nonprofit fundraising platform, has told the media that it has already taken down all of the pages that were not approved. The coalition, on the other hand, wants official confirmation and information regarding the steps that will be taken to fix the problem.
The letter suggests that GoFundMe’s conduct may break a number of state laws that protect consumers and regulate charitable solicitations. Along with Michigan, authorities from California, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and other states are also involved in the endeavor.
The Department of Attorney General is not currently looking for complaints about pages that have already been taken down, but Nessel is asking Michigan charities to come out if they think an unauthorized campaign is still using their name.