Are personal donations to GoFundMe accounts tax deductible on my return?

So I've been seeing a ton of GoFundMe campaigns lately for various causes - medical bills, disaster relief, someone's house burned down, etc. I've donated to several of them over the past few months (probably around $600 total). Now I'm starting to organize stuff for my taxes and I'm wondering if these donations are tax deductible in any way? I know charitable contributions to official 501(c)(3) organizations are deductible, but what about GoFundMe? I was chatting with my neighbor who said that if I wanted the tax deduction, I should have just donated to a church and had the church contribute to the GoFundMe instead. Is that really how it works? Seems like an unnecessary extra step, but if that's what the IRS requires... I just want to make sure I'm doing this right before tax season.

0 coins

18 comments

Jeremiah Brown

•8M

You've hit on an important distinction in tax law. Generally, donations to individuals via GoFundMe are considered personal gifts, not charitable contributions, so they're not tax deductible. There are some exceptions though! If the GoFundMe is set up by or for a qualified 501(c)(3) charitable organization, then yes, those donations would be tax deductible. GoFundMe even has a program called "GoFundMe Charity" where verified nonprofits can fundraise. Your neighbor's suggestion about donating through a church is partially correct. If you donate to a church (a qualified 501(c)(3)) and they decide to help someone in need, that's their decision as an organization. Your donation to the church would be tax deductible because you gave to a qualified charity, not because of what the church ultimately does with the money.

0 coins

Jeremiah Brown

•8M

If the GoFundMe explicitly states it's for a 501(c)(3), you'll want to make sure you get proper documentation. The GoFundMe confirmation email generally isn't sufficient for IRS purposes. You should receive an acknowledgment directly from the charity that includes their name, the date, and amount of your contribution. For your second question, it does matter who's collecting the funds. If a random person collects money and then donates it to charity, technically you gave money to an individual, not directly to the charity. The individual would get the tax deduction when they donate the collected funds to the charity. The safer route is to donate directly to GoFundMe campaigns officially run by the charities themselves.

0 coins

Amelia Cartwright

•8M

I went through this exact situation last year when I was donating to multiple GoFundMe campaigns. I was getting so frustrated trying to figure out the tax implications that I started using taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) to analyze my donation receipts and it actually cleared things up. The tool explained that most personal GoFundMe donations aren't tax deductible, but it helped me identify which of my donations actually went to qualified organizations. It also showed me how to properly document everything for my tax return. Literally saved me hours of research and potentially making mistakes that could have triggered an audit.

0 coins

Amelia Cartwright

•8M

Yes, it works with pretty much any platform where you might make donations - Venmo, PayPal, direct website donations, etc. It helps categorize everything properly and explains which ones qualify as tax deductions. Really helpful if you make lots of different types of donations throughout the year. It's not just about seeing if it's for a charity. Many GoFundMe campaigns can be ambiguous or misleading. The software actually helps analyze the language and details to determine tax status, plus it handles documentation requirements for different donation amounts. Some donations require different levels of proof depending on the amount, and the tool explains exactly what you need for each case.

0 coins

Chris King

•8M

Just wanted to update about my experience with taxr.ai from my question above. I uploaded my PayPal and Venmo donation receipts and it immediately categorized which ones were tax deductible! Even found a $350 donation to my local animal shelter that I made through a Facebook fundraiser that I completely forgot about. The report it generated explained exactly why each donation qualified or didn't qualify for tax purposes. Turns out several of my "charitable" donations were actually to individuals or political organizations, which don't count as tax deductions. Definitely using this for 2025 taxes!

0 coins

Zachary Hughes

•8M

If you're trying to get in touch with the IRS to clarify donation deductions, good luck with that! I spent WEEKS trying to get through on their phone lines with no luck. Then I found Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) and they got me connected to an actual IRS agent in about 15 minutes. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I was able to ask specifically about my GoFundMe donations situation and got official guidance directly from the IRS. The agent explained exactly which documentation I needed for qualified charitable donations versus personal gifts. Totally worth it instead of guessing or relying on random internet advice!

0 coins

Zachary Hughes

•8M

They use an automated system that navigates the IRS phone tree and waits on hold for you. When a real agent comes on the line, you get a call connecting you directly to that agent. No secret backdoor - they're just handling the waiting part so you don't have to sit on hold for hours. I was super skeptical too before I tried it. But after waiting on hold myself for 3+ hours multiple times with no success, I gave it a shot. It worked exactly as advertised - I got a call back when an actual agent was on the line. The IRS system is definitely still backed up, but this service handles the hold time for you instead of wasting your day.

0 coins

Rachel Clark

•8M

Ok I need to eat some crow here. After my skeptical comments above, I decided to try Claimyr because I was desperate to resolve my tax donation questions before filing. I'm honestly shocked - it actually worked! Got connected to an IRS agent in about 20 minutes. The agent confirmed what others here have said - most GoFundMe donations aren't deductible unless they're specifically for a 501(c)(3). She also explained that I need to keep receipts for ALL charitable donations, and donations over $250 require a specific written acknowledgment from the charity with particular language. Would never have known this without talking to her directly.

0 coins

Carter Holmes

•8M

Something nobody's mentioned yet - if you itemize deductions and plan to claim charitable contributions, make sure you're actually going to exceed the standard deduction threshold. For 2025, that's $13,850 for single filers and $27,700 for married filing jointly. Many people go through all the trouble of tracking donations only to find out they're still better off taking the standard deduction anyway. Unless your total itemized deductions (including mortgage interest, state/local taxes up to $10k, and charitable donations) exceed those amounts, all this tracking won't actually benefit you tax-wise.

0 coins

Carter Holmes

•8M

Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. Many taxpayers track every donation meticulously only to discover it doesn't affect their taxes because they're better off with the standard deduction. For a quick calculation, add up your mortgage interest (from your mortgage statements), state and local taxes (income and property, capped at $10,000), and your charitable donations. If that total is less than your standard deduction amount, then you won't benefit from itemizing. Most middle-income folks without large mortgages or in low-tax states end up taking the standard deduction since the limits were raised in 2018.

0 coins