The Foraker Group

Today, Alaska Attorney General Stephen Cox announced lawsuits against six crowdfunding platforms for creating donation pages for charities without their knowledge or consent. The lawsuits allege that these companies used publicly available data to generate fundraising pages for over a million 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofits—including charities in Alaska—and then solicited donations through those pages without first obtaining permission from the charities themselves.

Of the 5,700 nonprofits in Alaska, approximately 4,500 are 501(c)(3) charitable organizations.

The crowdfunding platforms that are subjects in the lawsuits include GoFundMe, Pay Pal Inc, Charity Navigator, Just Giving, Pledge to and Network for Good.

Foraker has been working closely with the Attorney General’s office to ensure that Alaska nonprofits are protected. President/CEO Laurie Wolf noted in a press release announcing the lawsuits:

“GoFundMe’s unauthorized donation page and those like it on other platforms negatively impact the nonprofit sector. Philanthropy relies on the ability to honor donor intent and donor trust. This all requires nonprofit consent, transparency, and accountability, none of which is offered in these transactions.”

Foraker alerted Alaska nonprofits late last year of the deceptive practices of these fundraising platforms and ways to protect against them.

“Alaska has strong laws protecting consumers and nonprofit philanthropy,” Wolf emphasized. “We are committed to working with the Attorney General’s office until all nonprofits and donors are protected and we can ensure that nonprofits and donors have consent and knowledge of their choices.

The Attorney General’s office is asking any nonprofit or donor who has been knowingly harmed to contact Joshua Smith or Mark Cucci at 907-269-5200.

Read the press release.