LA County official criticizes GoFundMe for its fees on fire fundraisers: 'We are in a crisis'

• A Los Angeles County official criticized GoFundMe, citing a large fee for a donation she made.
• The official, however, was likely mistaken about the size of the fee.
• The moment illustrated the heightened emotions among those fighting the fires in Los Angeles County.

A Los Angeles County official publicly criticized GoFundMe on Saturday for charging people high transaction fees for fire-related fundraisers.

The official, however, was likely mistaken about the size of the fee.

It was an emotionally charged moment that brought home the stress — and financial pressure — facing many residents of Los Angeles County as the fires raged for the fifth consecutive day.

Thousands have lost their homes, and hundreds of thousands have been ordered to evacuate or warned they may need to at any moment.

During a press conference updating the public on the scale of the disaster and what emergency crews and officials were doing to help, Kathryn Barger, a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, singled out the crowdfunding platform.

"Let me go off-script for a minute," Barger said. Barger said she intended to donate $500 through GoFundMe to a friend who had "lost everything" in the fires.

"I was shocked to find out that to give $500, they were going to charge me $95," she said. "So, I'm going to be reaching out to the CEO of GoFundMe to find out if, at the very least, they can cut the cost in order to ensure that the money goes directly to the family."

Barger said she understood that GoFundMe is a company and "they deserve to be able to pay for their overhead, but at the same time, we are in a crisis."

"These families are suffering," she said.

Barger did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment, but she was likely mistaken about the size of the fee.

GoFundMe charges 2.9% plus $0.30 for each transaction, which "helps us pay our payment processors and safely deliver funds," the company said in a statement to Business Insider. There is also an option "tip" that users can leave that goes to the platform.

According to the above numbers, a $500 donation would incur less than $15 in required fees.

"The comments made at the press conference were inaccurate," the spokesperson said. "GoFundMe is primarily powered by voluntary tips and relies on these completely optional contributions from donors to maintain our quality customer service, trust and safety protections, and world-class fundraising technology."

GoFundMe has become the default fundraising platform for those suffering from disasters in the United States, as well as elsewhere in the world. When fires tore through Maui in 2023, users donated some $30 million to relief efforts, GoFundMe told Fox Business at the time.

Many of the residents who have lost their homes will be forced to scramble to find new ways to pay for housing and rebuild after insurance companies, since 2022, stopped writing new policies for fire coverage, pulled back coverage, or dropped residents altogether.

In March, State Farm, the state's largest home insurance provider, dropped 72,000 property policies in the state, including 69% of policies in Pacific Palisades. The recent fires hit Pacific Palisades hard, burning thousands of homes, including those of many celebrities.