Former President Donald Trump’s campaign is using GoFundMe to mobilize its network of wealthy supporters and regular people around the survivors of his July assassination attempt and Hurricane Helene’s devastation, defying more usual methods of emergency aid.
The two high-profile fundraisers, arranged by the Republican nominee’s national finance director, have raised more than $14 million. Legal experts say they don’t break campaign funding regulations. The campaign is also not allowed to keep any money for its own political purposes; a GoFundMe spokesman told The Associated Press that the majority of the Butler, Pennsylvania monies have already been disbursed.
However, the usage of a crowdsourcing platform represents an unusual approach to political campaign crises. Never before has a major party’s presidential candidate gone to a for-profit organization, which typically contains desperate calls for assistance with tuition or medical bills, to mobilize their supporters for outside charitable causes.
“It’s pretty unusual and actually quite odd,” said Brett Kappel, a longtime campaign finance attorney at Harmon Curran who has represented both Republicans and Democrats.
Candidates are more likely to donate campaign funds to IRS-approved NGOs amid natural catastrophes, according to Kappel. He cited Federal Election Commission reports that reveal U.S. Sen. Tim Scott’s 2022 campaign donated to the American Red Cross after Hurricane Ian devastated South Carolina.
According to Trump campaign director Brian Hughes, the impetus stemmed from “the president wanting to help find a way for his supporters to give as much direct support as they can.”
According to Hughes, the financial team was brought in solely for their “great expertise in working with large accounts,” and “not one penny of this funding is going anywhere but to those impacted.” Hughes said that more than $6.5 million of the $7.7 million raised for Hurricane Helene relief groups had been delivered as of October 11.
“The president has an amazing movement of supporters,” Hughes told the Associated Press. “With the experience in Butler generating millions of dollars of support, he saw the same opportunity to be a direct conduit for a philanthropic effort from his supporters.”
Longtime Trump supporters, conservative celebrities, and right-wing organizations donated tens of thousands of dollars. Bill Ackman, CEO of the Pershing Square investment firm, who backed Trump quickly after the murder attempt, contributed $100,000 to storm assistance. UFC President Dana White also contributed $100,000. Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Scott said on X that he has donated $50,000 from his congressional salary to the Butler, Pennsylvania victims. The Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank behind Project 2025, also made a contribution.
GoFundMe charges a 2.9% transaction fee plus 30 cents for each gift to cover credit and debit card fees. According to a corporate representative, its worldwide Trust & Safety team has been in regular communication with organizer Meredith O’Rourke to guarantee that donations from the Butler, Pennsylvania, page are distributed safely. According to a GoFundMe spokeswoman, O’Rourke also submitted a validated distribution plan, which the website often needs when organizers withdraw funds on behalf of other recipients.
According to Andrew Herman, a Washington lawyer who specializes in campaign finance, campaign finance professionals should not host crowdfunding pages “at the same time they were writing your money for your camp.” Because online crowdfunding is less regulated, he believes it would have been “more palatable” to send supporters to a recognized nonprofit.
“But people get into trouble when they try to ascribe rationality or any degree of what we would generally consider best financial practices to campaigns,” Herman told me.
“There’s no black letter law that says they can’t do this,” according to him. “Should they? “Obviously not.”
The majority of the Pennsylvania installments were made earlier this month, and Hughes expects additional reimbursements to come while the page is open. The “vast majority” has gone to the relatives of the three persons shot, he stated. Some monies were also used to pay a local crane rental firm, whose owner said he lost revenue due to the accompanying police inquiry, which prevented him from retrieving equipment he had supplied for the protest.
Funds raised for Hurricane Helene victims have been distributed to four NGOs. Gabrielle Bouquet, a representative for Samaritan’s Purse, said the Christian humanitarian relief group appreciates Trump’s “steadfast support of the work we do in Jesus’ name.” Bouquet declined to disclose the exact amount of the donation.
Water Mission, a Christian engineering NGO that creates safe drinking water solutions in disaster zones, verified that the Charleston-based ministry had also received funding. Gregg Dinino, public relations director, did not specify the total.
Mtn2Sea Ministries, which provides generators and supplies in the immediate aftermath of weather events, announced on Facebook that it had received $25,000 on Monday. The disaster relief group stated that the money were utilized to purchase gift cards for South Georgia companies because “the best way to help those in need is to get resources directly into their hands.”
According to Benjamin Soskis of the Urban Institute’s Center for Nonprofits and Philanthropy, Trump’s team’s preference for crowdfunding is understandable. Campaigning “has often been premised on a suspicion of institutions,” he added. Additionally, GoFundMe “drew some of its attraction by serving as an alternative to institutional charitable giving.”
However, according to Soskis, crowdsourcing reduces accountability. Crowdfunding pages do not have the same transparency obligations as public charities, which must disclose their financial information in annual tax filings.
Soskis believes Trump’s dubious humanitarian undertakings have increased scrutiny. In 2019, a judge fined Trump $2 million for exploiting his now-defunct nonprofit foundation to advance his interests.
“It is a combustible dynamic when you combine campaigning and charitable giving,” Soskis told reporters. “The extra dynamics of crowdfunding and Trump’s own history with philanthropy itself adds more fuel to that fire.”