Nonprofit arts organizations urged to join GoFundMe class action lawsuit • Oregon ArtsWatch

Nonprofit organizations across the country are being urged to join a federal class action lawsuit against GoFundMe for allegedly using artificial intelligence to create and profit from a reported 1.4 million unauthorized online fundraising accounts last year.

Potential victims include nonprofit arts, culture, and humanities organizations in Oregon.

The lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court in Eugene accuses the online company of making money by creating unauthorized fundraising web pages for legitimate organizations and charging fees for donations mistakenly made to them. Although the pages looked legitimate, in many cases they included outdated or false information, and interfered with the organization’s genuine fundraising efforts.

“This is a class action brought by nonprofit charitable organizations whose names, identities, trademarks and logos, reputation, and goodwill were used by Defendant GoFundMe Inc. to solicit charitable donations, and collect gratuities and donation fees for itself, all without the knowledge, input, or authorization of the charities for which donations were being solicited and collected,” the lawsuit alleges in part.

The lawsuit was filed by two law firms. The Lusby Law Firm is based in Eugene. The Watts Law Firm is based in Austin, Texas.

The three nonprofits currently leading the suit are Commute Options for Central Oregon, McKenzie Valley Long Term Recovery of Lane County, and Outdoor Education Adventures of McMinnville. Last October, Oregon ArtsWatch reported that the Portland Art Museum, Portland Center Stage, and Oregon ArtWatch were also victimized. Oregon ArtsWatch is currently consulting with legal counsel about joining the suit.

U.S. District Court Judge Amy Potter has ordered the parties to finish discovery by July 10 and tell her whether they were able to come to a dispute resolution agreement by Aug. 10.

“We encourage any organization who was victimized or even suspects they were victimized to contact us and join the class of victims if they qualify,” attorney Gregory Lusby told Oregon ArtsWatch.

“We anticipate amending the Complaint in the coming weeks to add the additional non-profits that are wanting to join the litigation,” said Lusby, adding that the damages being sought will be determined after the discovery is completed.

For more information about the lawsuit and how to join, go to wattstrialfirm.com/gofundme-lawsuit or email info@gofundmelawsuit.com.

“Watts Law Firm, working with Lusby Law Firm, has filed a class action lawsuit against GoFundMe on behalf of nonprofits that allege their names, logos, and identities were used on fundraising pages without their knowledge or consent. The lawsuit alleges those pages misled donors, diverted charitable giving, and allowed GoFundMe to profit from fees and tips while harming nonprofits’ fundraising efforts and public trust,” Watts Law Firm says on its GoFundMe lawsuit page.

Watts Law Firm announced a $125 million settlement ending a lawsuit filed by Oregon vineyards against utility company PacifiCorp over damage from 2020’s Labor Day wildfires last October.

The filing of the GoFundMe lawsuit was first reported by KOIN 6 News on March 17. In response to a request for comment, a GoFundMe spokesman said in an email, “Nonprofit Pages were created using publicly available information to help people support nonprofit organizations, with donations going to the intended nonprofit.”

“After hearing feedback from nonprofit leaders in October, we acted quickly to make Nonprofit Pages fully opt-in, removed and de-indexed unclaimed pages, and turned off search engine optimization by default.”

Oregon and other states criticize scheme

That excuse, which GoFundMe had previously offered, did not prevent Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield and 21 other Attorneys General from accusing GoFundMe of plagiarizing the identities of 1.4 million charities.

“As has been publicly reported, in October of 2025, GoFundMe created its own donation web pages for 1.4 million charities located in the United States, without first asking those charities for permission. Based on public reports, we understand that GoFundMe generated these pages without the prior knowledge or consent of the referenced charities, and these charities, upon discovering the GoFundMe pages, were deeply troubled that the pages were set up in their names without their knowledge. The charities whose identities were taken by GoFundMe were unable to control their fundraising and brand. The unauthorized pages also created donor confusion, deception, distrust, and conflicting messaging,” the state leaders said in a letter to GoFundMe that demanded proof that all of the unauthorized webpages had been taken down.

One state has gone further. On March 10, Alaska Attorney General Stephen Cox sued GoFundMe and six other crowdsourcing platforms for violating the state’s Charitable Solicitations Act by creating unauthorized fundraising webpages. The other platforms are Pay Pal Inc, Charity Navigator, Just Giving, Pledgeto, and Network for Good.

“Giving to charity—whether it’s time, treasure, or talent—can be one of the most noble things a person does. Alaskans are generous people. But generosity depends on trust. GoFundMe and similar platforms used nonprofits’ good names to solicit donations without coordinating with the organizations actually doing the charitable work,” Cox said in a statement announcing the civil suit filed in Alaska Superior Court.

A previous Oregon ArtsWatch story on the GoFundMe scheme can be found here.