Are GoFundMe donations tax deductible?
Only when the money goes to a qualified charity. A fundraiser for a person or a family, however deserving, is a gift to an individual and isn’t deductible.
The rule
You can’t deduct a gift to a specific person, and that stays true when it is collected through a website. Most crowdfunding pages raise money for someone: their medical bills, their rebuilding, their tuition. Those gifts are generous and not deductible.
The same sites also raise money for charities. When the money is paid to a qualified charity, the gift counts like any other gift to it. The page usually says who receives the money; check that it is the charity itself, and that the charity is in the IRS’s Tax Exempt Organization Search.
Giving to a charity for disaster relief counts, as long as you don’t earmark it for a particular person or family.
Two gifts of $100 at a 22% federal bracket: the one to a charity is $22 back; the one to a family isn’t deductible.
- Without itemizing
- Only to a charity
- If you itemize
- Only to a charity
- What to keep
- The receipt naming the charity that received the money.
- Watch for
- A gift paid through a platform still needs a record that names the charity, and its written acknowledgment if it is $250 or more.
Checked on October 2, 2026 against Publication 526, Charitable Contributions and Topic 506, Charitable contributions. An estimate for your records, not tax advice.
Federal tax only. States set their own rules for gifts.
Keep every gift with its receipt.
From 2026, up to $1,000 of cash gifts counts even without itemizing. Reimburse keeps each gift with the charity’s receipt, asks for the paper the IRS wants, and shows what it puts back.