GoFundMe logo and brand assets

1. Scope and Purpose

These terms govern use of GoFundMe trademarks, service marks, logos, word marks, trade dress, and related brand assets (collectively, the “GoFundMe Marks”) in press, news, editorial, and journalistic materials produced by third parties. They authorize accurate, limited, nominative reference to GoFundMe in reporting, commentary, analysis, and similar editorial coverage. They do not authorize, and do not apply to, use of the GoFundMe Marks in advertising, marketing, sponsorship, partner identification, co-branding, merchandise, applications, software, or any other commercial use. Any such use requires a separate written license from GoFundMe.

These terms supplement and do not displace the GoFundMe Terms of Service. In the event of a conflict between these terms and the GoFundMe Terms of Service, the GoFundMe Terms of Service control.

2. Ownership and Notice

The GoFundMe Marks, including but not limited to the word mark GOFUNDME and the GOFUNDME stylized logo, are the proprietary trademarks and service marks of GoFundMe, Inc. and its affiliates. The GOFUNDME Marks are the subject of several U.S. federal and international trademark registrations. All goodwill arising from any use of the GoFundMe Marks inures exclusively to GoFundMe Inc. Nothing in these terms grants any ownership interest, license, or other right in the GoFundMe Marks except the limited, revocable permission expressly stated below.

3. Permitted Editorial Use

Subject to these terms, GoFundMe grants a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, royalty-free, and revocable permission to use the GoFundMe Marks solely for the following editorial purposes:

• Truthful, factual reference to GoFundMe, Inc. or the GoFundMe platform in news reporting, journalism, commentary, criticism, analysis, or scholarship.
• Identification of a fundraiser, beneficiary, or campaign as “hosted on GoFundMe,” provided the statement is accurate at the time of publication.
• Illustration of an editorial story about GoFundMe, its services, its industry, or its public conduct, including in print, online, broadcast, podcast, and video formats.
• Reproduction of GoFundMe screenshots, campaign pages, and platform interfaces solely to the extent reasonably necessary to report on or illustrate the editorial subject.

Use under this Section 3 is intended to fall within nominative fair use and the editorial exceptions recognized under U.S. trademark law. Nothing in these terms is intended to expand or contract any right that would exist under those doctrines in their absence, and these terms do not waive any defense or right of any party under those doctrines.

4. Use Not Covered by These Terms

These terms do not authorize, and the permission in Section 3 does not extend to, any of the following. Each of these requires a separate written license or written approval from GoFundMe:

• Use of the GoFundMe Marks in paid advertising, promotional materials, marketing campaigns, or sales collateral.
• Use of the GoFundMe Marks to identify a partner, sponsor, affiliate, certified vendor, or integration partner.
• Co-branded campaigns, events, signage, packaging, or programs.
• Merchandise, apparel, swag, templates, downloadable design assets, or any product bearing a GoFundMe Mark.
• Use of any GoFundMe Mark in a domain name, application name, account handle, username, channel name, or other persistent identifier.
• Use of any GoFundMe Mark in a company name, product name, service name, publication title, or recurring program or event title.
• Use of GoFundMe Marks in search engine keyword advertising, sponsored social placements, metatags, or paid search copy.

5. Editorial Use Restrictions

Even within permitted editorial use under Section 3, the following are prohibited without GoFundMe’s prior written consent:

• Altering, redrawing, animating, cropping into, distorting, rotating, recoloring, translating, abbreviating, or otherwise modifying any GoFundMe Mark.
• Combining any GoFundMe Mark with any other name, logo, slogan, design, domain name, social handle, or product name in a manner that creates a unitary or composite mark.
• Using any GoFundMe Mark in a manner that states or implies sponsorship, endorsement, affiliation, certification, approval, verification, or vetting where none exists.
• Displaying any GoFundMe Mark more prominently than the publisher’s own masthead or brand, or in a manner likely to create confusion as to source, affiliation, or responsibility for the publication.
• Using any GoFundMe Mark in connection with unlawful, deceptive, defamatory, infringing, obscene, harassing, or discriminatory content; this restriction is directed at content posing as GoFundMe’s own and is not intended to limit critical reporting, commentary, or opinion that is otherwise protected.
• Using outdated, unofficial, third-party-sourced, or fan-created logo files in place of current assets supplied or linked by GoFundMe.

6. Logo Use Standards (When a Logo Is Reproduced)

Where an editorial use reproduces the GoFundMe logo (as opposed to using the word mark in running text), the user must:

• Use only the current logo files supplied or linked by GoFundMe in this media kit.
• Preserve all design elements, proportions, spacing, color, and aspect ratio.
• Maintain sufficient clear space around the logo and ensure legibility at all sizes.
• Use the logo on backgrounds providing adequate contrast.
• Not place the logo inside headlines, sentences, hashtags, decorative graphic treatments, or stylized chyrons.
• Not use the logo as the dominant visual element of any page, segment, or asset in a manner that suggests the piece is a GoFundMe publication.

Legacy logo files, archived brand kits, and third-party asset repositories are not approved sources. If the media kit has been updated, the most recent version controls.

7. Word Mark Use in Running Text

GOFUNDME is a registered service mark and must be used as a proper adjective modifying a generic noun, not as a standalone noun or as a verb. This requirement is not a stylistic preference. Use of a mark as a noun or verb for the underlying service is the principal way registered marks slide into genericness and lose protection. The rules below are how the media kit protects against that outcome. When referring to GoFundMe in text:

• Capitalization. Use the form “GoFundMe” with a capital G, capital F, and capital M. Do not render as “Gofundme,” “gofundme,” “Go Fund Me,” or “go-fund-me.” Use the all-caps form “GOFUNDME” only when reproducing the registered mark itself (for example, in a legal notice or trademark schedule).
• Use as a proper adjective, not a noun. Use GoFundMe to modify an appropriate generic noun: the GoFundMe platform, a GoFundMe fundraiser, a GoFundMe campaign, a GoFundMe page, a GoFundMe donation. Do not use “GoFundMe” standing alone as the name of the campaign or the donation (incorrect: “she started a GoFundMe”; “donations to the GoFundMe”; correct: “she started a GoFundMe fundraiser”; “donations to the GoFundMe campaign”).
• No plural form of the mark. Pluralize the generic noun, not the mark (incorrect: “GoFundMes”; correct: “GoFundMe campaigns,” “GoFundMe fundraisers”).
• No verb form. The mark is not a verb (incorrect: “to GoFundMe a project,” “she GoFundMe’d her surgery,” “GoFundMe-ing”; correct: “to launch a GoFundMe campaign,” “she raised funds through a GoFundMe campaign”).
• Possessive form. Use the possessive of the generic noun where possible (“the GoFundMe campaign’s donors” rather than “the GoFundMe’s donors”). Use “GoFundMe’s” only to refer to the possessive of the company or platform itself (“GoFundMe’s Trust & Safety team”).
• Platform references. “On GoFundMe,” “hosted on GoFundMe,” “through GoFundMe,” and similar phrases are acceptable because they refer to the GoFundMe platform as a proper-noun source identifier, not to the campaign or donation itself.
• First use. On the first prominent use in a long-form piece, include the appropriate trademark symbol where doing so is consistent with the publication’s house style.
• Attribution. Where space and house style permit, include the attribution notice in Section 15.

8. No Implied Endorsement or Verification

Use of any GoFundMe Mark must not state or imply that GoFundMe created, reviewed, approved, sponsored, endorsed, vetted, verified, guaranteed, or is otherwise responsible for any third-party fundraiser, beneficiary, organization, cause, product, statement, or content, unless GoFundMe has expressly stated so in writing. This restriction is especially important in fundraising, charity, and disaster-response coverage, where brand reference can readily be read as platform validation. The GoFundMe Terms of Service expressly state that GoFundMe does not control or endorse users, fundraisers, or causes and does not guarantee fundraiser success.

9. References to Specific Fundraisers and Campaigns

A publisher may report that a specific campaign is “hosted on GoFundMe,” or “raised funds through GoFundMe” only where that statement is accurate at the time of publication. A publisher should not state or imply that GoFundMe sponsors, organizes, supervises, audits, or guarantees a particular campaign, beneficiary, or cause except where GoFundMe has publicly said so. Quoted dollar totals, donor counts, and beneficiary statements should be tied to a publication date or “as of” date, because campaign data changes over time and a stale figure attributed to GoFundMe may be read as the platform’s current representation.

10. Reservation of Rights; Review; Modification; Termination; No Waiver; No Implied License

GoFundMe reserves all rights in and to the GoFundMe Marks and all related intellectual property. GoFundMe may review any use under these terms at any time and may, in its reasonable judgment, require modification, correction, removal, or discontinuation of any use that violates these terms.

Permission to use the GoFundMe Marks under these terms terminates automatically upon any material violation of these terms. Upon written notice from GoFundMe, the user will promptly cease further use of the affected GoFundMe Marks and, with respect to live digital assets, will correct or remove the non-compliant use within a commercially reasonable time. Archived editions, broadcasts, and published materials need not be recalled or destroyed; corrections may be reflected in subsequent editions or through standard publication-correction practices. This section is not intended to require the destruction of journalistic records or working files.

Failure by GoFundMe to object to a particular use does not waive its right to object to that use or any other use later, and does not create a course of dealing, implied license, estoppel, or consent for any other use. No oral statement by any GoFundMe employee or representative modifies these terms. Any modification or waiver must be in a writing signed by an authorized representative of GoFundMe.

11. Suggested Attribution Notice

Where space and house style permit, include the following notice with editorial use of the GoFundMe Marks:

GOFUNDME and the GoFundMe logo(s) are trademarks of GoFundMe Inc. and/or its affiliates and are used for nominative editorial reference only. Their use does not indicate sponsorship, endorsement, or affiliation with GoFundMe Inc.

12. Contact for Approvals and Questions

Requests for written approvals contemplated by these terms, requests for current logo files, and questions about editorial use should be directed to the GoFundMe Communications team at [INSERT]. Approvals are valid only when issued in writing by an authorized GoFundMe representative. Verbal, social-media, or chatbot responses are not approvals.