GoFundMe is actively blocking Palestinian aid fundraisers, withholding large sums of money or shutting down critical fundraising pages. Many critics have stated that GoFundMe disproportionately restricts Gaza-related pages rather than those for other causes, such as Ukraine or Israel.
The GoFundMe platform has a verification process reviewed by its compliance team, a review process that is long and intrusive. This process, which often results in Gaza fundraisers being shut down and money refunded to donors, or pages being indefinitely “paused,” prevents funds from being accessed by the account holders until the conclusion of the review.
The review process includes asking account holders for personal and sensitive information, such as bank statements, details about partner organisations, specifying locations, further explanations on how funds will be used, and more. After Palestinians (either as individuals directly raising funds for their loved ones, or as part of an organisation) provide detailed explanations and documentation while surviving under a genocide, GoFundMe still shuts down pages.
In the case of The Sameer Project, a mutual aid collective that works directly on the ground to supply emergency shelter, assistance, food, and water to displaced people in North and South Gaza, GoFundMe suspended, then rejected their page, refunding more than USD 250,000 of donations. The Sameer Project had raised more than USD 1 million through GoFundMe, with $44,000 of that amount being transaction fees paid to GoFundMe.
Hala Sabbah, from The Sameer Project, recounts: “We spent weeks fighting back, and they completely ignored us – even denying us access to our donor lists.”
GoFundMe profits from these fundraising pages, making vast amounts of money from payment processing fees, charging 30 cents per donation and taking a 2.9% cut of the total amount raised.
This imbalanced application of rules does not apply to other fundraisers related to Israel or Ukraine, which face significantly less scrutiny.
GoFundMe’s behaviour is aligned and consistent with other forms of digital censorship against Palestinians since operation Al-Aqsa Flood on 7 October 2023. As Amr Shabaik, at the Council on American–Islamic Relations, explains:
Algorithmic discrimination and targeting, looking for certain descriptors and categories – like Gaza or Palestine specifically in the last 18 months – means some pages are subjected to an unfair and high level of scrutiny that other fundraisers are not. All platforms have their rules and regulations, but they’re applying them disproportionately and unfairly towards Palestinians. There is a clear indication of a double standard. If you are actively preventing lifesaving aid – intentionally or unintentionally – from reaching Gaza, it’s tough to say you’re not supporting a genocide.
Due to forced starvation – a forced blockade of food, water, aid and other forms of lifesustaining activity – imposed by Israel and its Western-backed allies in Gaza, many Palestinians are relying on external fundraisers and donations as a form of survival. Prices for goods have soared in the past few months, if there is anything to buy. The main “aid” distribution point is through the heavily criticised U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which is deployed to torture and kill starving Palestinians at the “aid” collection site.
Gaza has entered stage 5 of famine. Crowdfunding websites and direct mutual aid have been among the most effective ways to support Palestinians in Gaza. As many fundraisers move to Chuffed, another crowdfunding platform, please continue to support and donate directly to mutual aid collectives like The Sameer Project, or directly to Palestinians in Gaza.
See: As Gaza starves, GoFundMe accused of blocking ‘millions of dollars’ raised at Al Jazeera.