Donor trust was a core theme at our Donor Experience Summit this October. It's a fragile currency, and it begins before a donation is ever made. A donor’s first touchpoint with a nonprofit is often not a conversation or an event, it’s search.
They type the organization’s name into Google, click the top result, and assume the page they land on is the nonprofit’s chosen doorway into the relationship.
When that page was created without the nonprofit’s knowledge or consent, something subtle but significant changes: trust becomes conditional. The donor’s intent is sincere, but the context is uncertain. And uncertainty is the opposite of confidence.
This is what many leaders are now confronting as reports spread of “nonprofit pages” being automatically created without organizations’ awareness. Some of these pages appear official, others route donors through an experience the nonprofit did not design or control. The funds may still flow to the organization but the trust does not.
This is not about platform mechanics. It's about governance, consent, and clarity in the donor relationship. When a platform inserts itself before the organization, the nature of stewardship shifts. Assumed relationships erode confidence rather than build it.
The distinction that matters: ownership vs. listing
Nonprofits operate in a decentralized discovery environment. That part isn’t new but the expectation that platforms can “stand in” for a nonprofit without consent is. A donation experience is not a commodity; it is part of the organization’s brand promise. It signals who is stewarding the relationship.
This is why so many leaders I've heard from feel blindsided: they were not asked whether this representation of their brand and donor experience was one they approved of.
Trust is not created by technical routing. Trust is created by agency.
There is also an operational dimension to trust. When a nonprofit didn’t activate the giving pathway, it may not control receipting, data intake, or long-term stewardship. The funds might arrive but the relationship may not. And it is the relationship that sustains generosity.
Many nonprofits using GoFundMe or Classy are doing so intentionally and in good faith. These tools can be valuable when chosen. My concern is not which platform is used but who made the choice. When a relationship begins with consent, it is grounded in legitimacy. When it is assumed, trust weakens before it begins.
The nonprofit sector does not need louder technology
This is a governance issue, and a reminder that governance is not separate from generosity. It's foundational to it.
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