If you decide that you no longer need the funds that you’ve raised and you haven’t withdrawn them yet, you will be able to refund your donors. Just note that this action is irreversible, so once you decide to issue refunds, you won't be able to undo it. Your donors will receive their funds back in an average of 3-7 business days (weekends and holidays aren't included).
How to issue refunds
You may be able to refund all donors to your fundraiser without contacting our team if you have a personal fundraiser based in the US or Canada, have raised less than $1,000 (within the last 6 months), have not added a beneficiary, and have not withdrawn funds. To get started, just follow these steps:
- Click this link to go to our contact form
- Fill out the contact form with the following:
-
- "Running a fundraiser"
- "Managing funds"
- "Issuing refunds”
3. Enter the email address connected to your GoFundMe account
4. Click the green button “Refund all donations”
Note: If you do not meet the above criteria to fully refund your fundraiser yourself, you have trouble with the above steps, or you wish to refund only some donors, please click here to submit your refund request.
Stripe refunds
Accounts based in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, and Switzerland, along with a few of our Australian customers, have Stripe accounts. These customers can issue a refund on their end without contacting GoFundMe.
If you click "Withdraw" from within your GoFundMe account and see a mention of your “Stripe email”, you can use that email to sign into Stripe and then follow these steps to issue refunds:
- On the left-hand side, click "Payments"
- Click the three dots beside the payment you would like to refund and click "Refund Payment"
- You’ll be prompted to select a reason for your refund before confirming. Once you confirm, your refund will be successfully completed
- You’ll then see "Refunded" next to the donation, within your Stripe dashboard, and the donations will be returned to donors in an average of 5-10 business days
Issuing Refunds on a charity fundraiser
Charity donations are typically non-refundable. This is because donations are typically irrevocable and undesignated contributions, and there may be tax implications for the charity and/or donor as a result of refunds. Donations made to charity fundraisers are subject to the terms found here.