Emergency Fundraisers
After a fire, a crash, or a storm
An emergency fundraiser can help cover the costs that come when life turns upside down, costs that don't wait for an insurance check: somewhere to sleep, clothes, a car, a hospital bill, and the rest of what it takes to put a household back together. Emergencies are common reasons people raise funds on GiveSendGo. The page you create is a fundraiser, the person who sets it up is the fundraiser creator, and whoever's bank account receives the money is the recipient. Those last two don't have to be the same person. So if the family it happened to can't face any of this yet, you can set the fundraiser up and name them as the recipient, and the money goes straight to their account.
How to ask for donations after a house fire
Say what happened and name what the money covers this week, plainly and in your own words, then ask directly. Our help desk names these key elements: a realistic goal, a specific breakdown of the costs, your own story with a direct ask, photos or a short video, updates as things change, and sharing it more than once instead of posting once.
- Sign up with your legal name, your email, a password, and a phone number to verify.
- Pick the recipient's country first, because it's locked once the fundraiser is created and the only fix is starting over with a new one.
- Set a goal and choose the Emergency category, then write your title and the story.
- Add a photo of what you're describing, and publish.
- Add the recipient's details so the money can move: a bank account in the fundraiser's country, a valid tax ID, a government-issued photo ID with date of birth, a phone number, and a residential address that isn't a PO box.
What people give is a gift
There's nothing to repay, no interest, and no application to qualify for. Nothing in signing up or in adding a recipient asks about your credit, and you don't need a nonprofit or an EIN either. Anyone can start a fundraiser.
What it costs
GiveSendGo doesn't take a cut. There's no platform fee. What's deducted is the payment processor's fee: 2.7% + 30¢ per gift for US fundraisers, 3.5% + 30¢ outside the US. On a $100 gift to a US fundraiser, $97 reaches you. On a $25 gift, $24.03 reaches you. Outside the US, that $100 gift lands at $96.20, and non-USD fundraisers can also pick up currency exchange fees set by the processor.
GiveSendGo runs on the optional tip at checkout. Every giver sees a suggested amount they can set to anything, including $0, and it covers our operating costs and mission outreach. So no percentage of what you raise after an emergency comes to us.
Before you publish, check your optional giving settings. If you set a percentage to GiveSendGo while creating the fundraiser, that amount is added on top of each gift and shown to the people giving at checkout, and some of them read it as a platform fee. You can edit it anytime from your fundraiser's Settings.
When the money reaches you, and what has to be in place first
Your first gift becomes available 5 days after it's received. Every gift after that becomes available on a rolling 3-day basis. Once you request a transfer, it typically lands in your bank within 2 to 3 business days. Non-USD transfers can take longer.
Request a transfer yourself from the Transfers tab whenever funds are available, or set them to go out weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly. A manual transfer sends your whole available balance, and you wait 24 hours after one is approved before requesting another. In the US, use a checking account, because transfers are sent as checking transactions and a savings account may be rejected by the bank.
- The recipient gets verified before any money moves. They need to be 18 or older, live in the fundraiser's country, and provide a bank account there, a valid tax ID, a government-issued photo ID with date of birth, a phone number, and a residential address that isn't a PO box.
- Review starts once that ID is uploaded and the fundraiser has received its first gift, and it usually finishes 1 to 2 business days after that.
- Nobody is exempt, because identity verification through the payment partner is a standard financial-industry requirement.
- The transfer status tells you where things stand. Processing means it was accepted and is moving. Paused means something needs review, and it resumes once that's resolved. Transferred means it's with your bank, which posts it on its own schedule.
If you came here to help a family
Plenty of people come to a category like this one to give rather than to raise, and the fundraisers listed above are the real ones. A fundraiser only appears in a category listing after it has been published 5 days and raised $100 or more in online gifts, so nothing here went up an hour ago.
You can leave a comment with your gift, and it stays on the page beside it. Card details run through a PCI Level 1 certified processor, the top tier in the payments industry, and are never stored on GiveSendGo's own servers. Your name and email are never sold or passed to anyone else.
Common questions
How do I ask for donations after a house fire?
Say what happened and what the money covers this week, plainly, and then ask directly. Our help desk's short list is a realistic goal, a specific breakdown of the costs, the story in your own words with a direct ask, photos or a short video, updates as things change, and sharing it more than once instead of posting once. To start it, log in, go to My Fundraisers, click Start a GiveSendGo, pick the recipient's country, set a goal, choose a category, write your title and story, add a photo, and publish.
Can I start a fundraiser for someone else after an accident?
Yes. Anyone can start a fundraiser, including on someone else's behalf. The recipient is whoever's bank account receives the money, and that doesn't have to be the creator. They must be 18 or older, live in the fundraiser's country, and have a bank account there, and they complete identity verification before any transfer. Pick the country carefully, because it can't be changed after the fundraiser is created.
Is this a loan? Do I pay it back?
No, what people give is a gift. There's nothing to repay and no interest, and nothing in setting up a fundraiser asks about your credit. You don't need a nonprofit or an EIN either.
What does GiveSendGo charge?
Nothing at all. GiveSendGo charges $0 in platform fees, and what's deducted is the payment processor's fee: 2.7% + 30¢ per gift for US fundraisers, 3.5% + 30¢ outside the US. On a $100 gift to a US fundraiser, $97 reaches you.
When does the money reach me?
Your first gift becomes available 5 days after it's received. Every gift after that becomes available on a rolling 3-day basis. Once you request a transfer, it typically lands in your bank within 2 to 3 business days. Non-USD transfers can take longer.
Do I need a bank account?
Yes, the recipient needs a bank account in the fundraiser's own country, along with a valid tax ID, a government-issued photo ID with date of birth, a phone number, and a residential address that isn't a PO box. In the US, use a checking account. Transfers are sent as checking transactions and a savings account may be rejected by the bank.
Can I raise for more than one thing at once?
One account can run more than one fundraiser. Each fundraiser has its own recipient, and each recipient completes their own identity verification.
Do I owe taxes on money I raise?
In most cases, no. Funds raised are treated as personal gifts rather than taxable income, as long as nothing is given in exchange, and GiveSendGo doesn't issue 1099s or report gifts to the IRS. If a business, a political cause, or rewards for givers are involved, the IRS may treat it differently, and that's a question for a tax professional.
Is a gift to an emergency fundraiser tax-deductible?
Nothing given on GiveSendGo is tax-deductible unless it goes through GiveSendGo Charities, the 501(c)(3). That includes the Giver Army, which is Charities' recurring giving program. The one exception is a recipient that is itself a verified 501(c)(3). GiveSendGo itself is not a 501(c)(3), does not verify any recipient's tax status, and does not issue tax receipts for a personal fundraiser. When the recipient is a nonprofit, the receipt comes from them, not from us.
Can I keep the fundraiser out of search?
You can set your fundraiser to private: it stays out of GiveSendGo search results and category listings, so only people you send the link to will find it. Your name still shows to anyone who opens it. A newly published public fundraiser can take up to 48 hours to appear in search.
