14 Sep, 2026

Are GoFundMe Donations Tax Deductible? It Depends on Who Gets the Money

Quick answer: It depends on who receives the money. A donation to a GoFundMe charity fundraiser — where the beneficiary is a registered nonprofit — can be tax deductible, and a tax receipt arrives from PayPal Giving Fund or GoFundMe Pro. A donation to a personal fundraiser for an individual or family is not tax deductible, because the IRS does not allow deductions for gifts to specific individuals. Tips to GoFundMe are never deductible.

GoFundMe hosts two very different kinds of fundraisers on pages that look almost identical: campaigns that raise money for a person, and campaigns that raise money for a charity. For taxes, that difference is everything. One can reduce your tax bill; the other is a generous personal gift that the IRS does not let you deduct.

This guide explains how to tell them apart, what documentation to keep, and the situations — medical bills, funerals, disaster relief, tips — where donors most often get it wrong.

Personal Fundraisers vs. Charity Fundraisers

	Personal fundraiser	Charity fundraiser
Who the money helps	A specific person, family, or group	A registered nonprofit
Who receives your donation	The organizer or beneficiary	PayPal Giving Fund or GoFundMe Pro, which passes it along
Tax receipt	None	Yes, from PayPal Giving Fund or GoFundMe Pro
Tax deductible for you?	No	Can be, if you otherwise qualify
GoFundMe US transaction fee	2.9% + $0.30	2.2% + $0.30

Receipt and fee details from GoFundMe’s tax information for donors and pricing pages as of September 2026. Fees change; check GoFundMe before you give.

Why Personal GoFundMe Donations Aren’t Deductible

A charitable deduction requires a gift to a qualified organization — generally a 501(c)(3) charity, a church, or a government unit receiving the gift for public purposes. IRS Publication 526 is explicit about the other side of the line: “You can’t deduct contributions to specific individuals.”

That covers most of what GoFundMe is known for:

Medical bills for a friend, coworker, or relative
Funeral and memorial costs for a specific family
Help for a family that lost their home in a fire or storm
Tuition, rent, or living expenses for a named person

Two variations trip people up:

A personal fundraiser organized by a church, school, or employer is still personal. What matters is who the money is for, not who set up the page.
Earmarking doesn’t fix it. Pub 526 says a donation made through a qualified charity is still not deductible if you earmark it for a specific person. A gift to a charity’s general relief fund — where the charity decides who receives help — can be deductible.

None of this makes a personal fundraiser a bad idea. It just means the gift comes out of your after-tax money.

How GoFundMe Charity Fundraisers Work

When a fundraiser’s beneficiary is a US nonprofit, your donation goes to a 501(c)(3) intermediary rather than to an individual. According to GoFundMe’s donor tax page, that intermediary is either PayPal Giving Fund or, for nonprofits enrolled with it, GoFundMe Pro. Whichever one receives your money sends your tax receipt.

That has two practical consequences:

The receipt may not name the charity as the recipient. A PayPal Giving Fund receipt shows PayPal Giving Fund — itself a registered 501(c)(3) — as the organization that received your gift. That is normal documentation for a donation routed through an intermediary.
The receipt is your proof, not the GoFundMe page. Save the emailed receipt the day it arrives. For any single donation of $250 or more, you need a written acknowledgment in hand by the earlier of the date you file or your return’s due date (including extensions), so check that the receipt shows the amount and whether you received anything in return.

For how PayPal Giving Fund, Facebook Fundraisers, and donor-advised funds compare on fees and receipts, see our Giving Tuesday donation platforms comparison.

How to Tell Which Kind of GoFundMe You’re Looking At

Before you give — especially if the tax deduction matters to you — run through three checks:

Read the beneficiary line. A charity fundraiser names a nonprofit as the beneficiary. A page raising money “for” a person is a personal fundraiser.
Look up the nonprofit. Search the organization in the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search to confirm it is eligible to receive deductible contributions. Churches do not always appear there and can still qualify.
Watch for the receipt. After you donate to a charity fundraiser, a tax receipt should come from PayPal Giving Fund or GoFundMe Pro. If the only email you get is a thank-you for a personal fundraiser, treat the gift as non-deductible.

Tips and Fees: What Counts and What Doesn’t

GoFundMe invites donors to add an optional tip at checkout. That tip goes to GoFundMe, a for-profit company — not to the charity and not to the person you are helping — so it is not a charitable contribution. Leave it out of your deduction and record only the donation amount shown on your tax receipt.

GoFundMe’s published US transaction fees are 2.2% + $0.30 for charity fundraisers and 2.9% + $0.30 for personal fundraisers. For your own records, the number that matters is the donation amount on your receipt.

If you received something in return for a charity donation — a T-shirt, an event ticket, or another perk — Pub 526 limits your deduction to the amount you gave above the value of what you received.

How Much a Deductible GoFundMe Gift Actually Saves in 2026

A deductible donation only lowers your taxes if you can use the deduction:

If you itemize on Schedule A, cash gifts to qualified charities count — but starting in 2026, your charitable deduction is reduced by 0.5% of your AGI.
If you take the standard deduction, 2026 introduces a separate cash charitable deduction of up to $1,000 (single) or $2,000 (married filing jointly). The rules on which recipients qualify are specific, so check the details before counting on it.

We keep the tax-law detail in one place: see our guide to making Giving Tuesday donations tax-deductible, the IRS summary in Topic 506, and our itemize vs. standard deduction calculator.

If You’re the One Raising Money

Organizers and beneficiaries face a different question: whether the money they receive is taxable income. In fact sheet FS-2024-28, the IRS explains that crowdfunding money given out of generosity, with nothing expected in return, may be a nontaxable gift — but that it is not automatically one, and that receiving a Form 1099-K does not by itself make it taxable. Read the IRS guidance on crowdfunding contributions and distributions or ask a tax professional about your situation.

Keep Every Receipt in One Place

Donors who give through GoFundMe, Facebook, PayPal, a church app, and a charity’s own website end up with receipts scattered across several inboxes — and a mix of deductible and non-deductible gifts that is hard to sort out at tax time.

DeductAble keeps them together. Log each gift the day you make it, attach a photo or screenshot of the receipt, and note which organization actually received the money. Our charitable donation receipt requirements guide explains what a valid receipt needs. At year-end, export a PDF or CSV for your tax preparer; the free plan covers up to 5 donations, and Premium ($19.99/year) adds unlimited donations and TXF export for TurboTax Desktop. If you used to do this in Intuit’s discontinued ItsDeductible, see our ItsDeductible alternative guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are GoFundMe donations tax deductible?

Only some are. A donation to a GoFundMe charity fundraiser — one whose beneficiary is a registered nonprofit — can be tax deductible, because the money goes to a 501(c)(3) intermediary that passes it to the charity and sends you a tax receipt. A donation to a personal fundraiser for an individual or family (medical bills, a funeral, rent after a job loss) is not deductible, because IRS Publication 526 says you can’t deduct contributions to specific individuals.

Does GoFundMe send a tax receipt?

Only for charity fundraisers. For US nonprofit fundraisers, your donation is collected by PayPal Giving Fund or, for nonprofits enrolled with it, GoFundMe Pro — and whichever one receives the money issues your tax receipt. Personal fundraisers do not generate a tax receipt. If all you have is a thank-you email for a personal fundraiser, that is a sign the gift is not deductible.

Can I deduct a donation to someone’s medical or funeral GoFundMe?

No. Money given to help a specific person or family is a personal gift, not a charitable contribution, no matter how serious the need. The same rule applies if you give through a charity but earmark the gift for a named individual. A gift to a qualified charity’s general relief fund, where the charity decides who gets help, can be deductible.

Are tips to GoFundMe tax deductible?

No. A tip goes to GoFundMe, a for-profit company, not to the charity or the person you are helping, so it is not a charitable contribution. When you record a deductible donation, use the donation amount shown on your tax receipt and leave the tip out.

How can I tell if a GoFundMe is a charity fundraiser?

Check who the beneficiary is. A charity fundraiser names a nonprofit as the beneficiary, and a tax receipt from PayPal Giving Fund or GoFundMe Pro follows your donation. You can also look the nonprofit up in the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search. If the page raises money for a person, it is a personal fundraiser, even if a church or employer organized it.

What receipt do I need for a GoFundMe charity donation?

For a cash donation under $250, a bank or credit-card record or the written receipt is enough. For any single donation of $250 or more, you need a written acknowledgment that states the amount and whether you received anything in return, and you must have it by the earlier of the date you file or your return’s due date (including extensions). Check that the receipt from PayPal Giving Fund or GoFundMe Pro includes those details, and save it.