If you’re raising funds on behalf of someone else, you will want to add them as the beneficiary of your fundraiser. Before adding a beneficiary, please make sure that you’ve read through our list of things to consider. Adding a beneficiary needs to be done during the initial withdrawal setup, so if you have already completed the withdrawal setup for your fundraiser using your own information, you won’t be able to add a beneficiary. In this case, please contact our team to find out how to best handle your situation.
Once you’ve confirmed that your beneficiary meets the requirements and is able to withdraw the funds, you can follow these steps to send them an invitation from your own GoFundMe account:
- Click the “Withdraw” button
- Select “Set up withdrawals”
- Choose “Someone else” *
- Enter your beneficiary's name and email address
- Click “Invite beneficiary”
How a beneficiary account works
After your beneficiary has accepted the invitation, a separate beneficiary account will be created for them that's connected to your fundraiser. They can sign into this separate account and set up their withdrawals, then funds will automatically be sent to their bank account. This means that you, as the organizer, will no longer have access to the withdrawal setup, as all bank information will be added through the new beneficiary account. The image below shows what the organizer’s account will look like if a beneficiary invitation has been sent.
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Sometimes, we see funds being sent to the organizer after they have sent a beneficiary invitation to someone else, while we’re waiting for the beneficiary to accept. If an organizer adds a beneficiary, but they have already set up and verified withdrawals on a previous fundraiser, funds may continue to be sent out to the organizer’s bank account until the beneficiary has set up their own withdrawals and is fully verified. If you think this might occur on your account, please get in touch with us here. Please also keep in mind that when you add a beneficiary, you are giving them control of funds for your GoFundMe account. If your beneficiary can no longer withdraw, and you want someone else to be added as the beneficiary, we require permission from the current beneficiary, which can be done by filling out this form. |
If you are having trouble sending a beneficiary invitation, you can read our troubleshooting tips in this article. If you are a beneficiary who is having trouble accepting the invitation, we have tips in this article.
*Customers in select European countries will not be able to send a beneficiary invitation through their account using the steps listed above. Please review step 2 in this article for more information if you do not see the “someone else” option.