Do personal donation websites make money?

To make money, the personal donation websites GoFundMe, Fundly and GiveForward deduct a nominal fee from every donation. YouCaring does not charge fees for donations but relies instead on donations to the service itself to keep it running.

Although the actual data on the revenue earned by personal donation websites remains unavailable, rumors and estimates about their earnings do sometimes emerge. When venture capitalists bought out GoFundMe in June 2015, experts pegged the company's value at $600 million. By deducting a five-percent fee from every donation, the company reportedly made $60 million in the five years since it first opened to the public under the leadership of its two founders.