You got a text asking you to donate to a school fundraiser. Here's what to know before you tap the link.
A personal link from someone you actually know is different from a random online ask — but it's still fair to want to know where the money goes and what happens to your information before you give.
A niece, a grandchild, a neighbor's kid texts you a link asking for support toward a team goal. It's a reasonable moment to pause for thirty seconds and ask what you're actually agreeing to before you tap it — not because it's suspicious, but because that's a fair question for any payment link, personal or not.
Do you need to create an account?
No. Giving on FundDriveGo takes an email address, for your receipt, and a card or Apple Pay/Google Pay — no account, no password, nothing to remember for next time. If a link asks you to register before you can give at all, that's worth a second look; it's not how this platform works.
Will you know exactly what you're being charged?
Yes, itemized, before you confirm anything. A processing fee and a platform fee are both shown separately, and you're asked whether you'd like to cover them so the full gift reaches the organization, or have them come out of your gift instead — your choice, every time, not a default buried in a settings page somewhere.
| What you'll see before confirming a $50 gift | |
|---|---|
| If you cover the fee | You're charged $53.25 — the full $50.00 reaches the school |
| If you don't | You're charged $50.00 — the school receives $46.75 after fees |
| Either way | The exact split is shown before you tap confirm, not after |
Can you give without your name being shown?
Yes — there's an anonymous option at checkout. When you use it, your name isn't shown on the public campaign page, and it isn't shared with the organizer beyond what's legally required to process the payment itself.
Will you get something for tax purposes?
A receipt is emailed automatically as soon as your gift succeeds — you don't have to request it or wait for the organizer to send one manually. Keep it the way you would any donation receipt; whether it's tax-deductible depends on the organization's own status, which is worth asking the organizer directly if that matters to you.
- The page should name a specific person or team, not just a generic organization — that specificity is a normal, expected part of how this kind of campaign works.
- You can always ask the person who sent you the link which school or program it supports if it isn't obvious — a real organizer will know immediately.
- If a link asks for anything beyond a card and an email — a password, a social security number, a separate "processing fee" paid outside the checkout itself — that's not how a legitimate campaign works here, and it's fair to be skeptical.
A specific ask, from someone you know, for an amount that's shown to you plainly before you confirm it — that's the whole trust model.
What a legitimate peer-to-peer ask actually looks like