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GoFundMe .org

Branding and a slick new website for the non-profit arm of the world’s most popular fundraising platform.

/ Branding / Content Strategy / Custom WordPress Development / Website Design
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Intro

GoFundMe.org is GoFundMe’s sister organization — an independent 501(c)(3) public charity that offers tax-deductible donation opportunities for important causes and urgent events. We worked with their team to establish a new brand identity, then built a slick, streamlined website to give the non-profit the authority it deserves.

GoFundMe.org was established in 2017, but was operating with zero branding and such a barebones web presence that folks who came across their site often assumed it was a scam. Our job was to give the non-profit a look and feel that was both cohesive with — and could stand independent from — their sister org, plus develop a website strategy that quickly identified what GoFundMe.org is, how it works, and its relationship with GoFundMe.com.

The Goal

Design a brand and website that builds trust across all audiences

The logo: simple is best

When we kicked off, the GoFundMe team was in debate about just how separate the visual identity should be for their dot org nonprofit — which included a unique logo mark that diverged from GoFundMe.com’s recognizable sun rays. We explored several directions and presented multiple concepts that ranged from closely aligned with the parent brand to entirely independent.

After several rounds of discussion and design refinement, we ultimately returned to our original recommendation: a simple, word-only logo. By using a two-tone color treatment, the mark clearly signals that GoFundMe.org is closely related to GoFundMe, while still standing apart as its own entity. This approach also helps bring clarity to a broader challenge GoFundMe faces: while many major brands have nonprofit arms, few must distinguish between a hugely popular public charitable platform and a separate charitable organization. The final logo keeps that distinction clear while reinforcing the trusted GoFundMe name.

Messaging to educate and inspire

As part of the rebrand and website redesign, we developed a messaging framework designed to quickly answer the most important questions for any audience: who GoFundMe.org is, why it exists, what it does, and how it works. The messaging needed to serve a few key groups at once: inspiring major donors to contribute to large-scale charitable efforts,  while also educating newcomers and potential partner organizations who may have never encountered the nonprofit side of GoFundMe before. Clear, direct language helped establish credibility while guiding visitors toward meaningful ways to get involved.

We paired that messaging with a content strategy that made the organization’s impact easy to understand and explore. The site integrates directly with GoFundMe’s donation platform, allowing users to browse and support urgent causes through a filterable view of active GoFundMe.org fundraisers. We also clearly articulated how GoFundMe.org operates and its relationship to the GoFundMe organization, removing confusion that previously caused skepticism among visitors. To reinforce trust and momentum, we also introduced an at-a-glance news feed highlighting milestone accomplishments and recent initiatives, giving supporters a quick way to see the organization’s impact in action.

A design system that can adapt and scale

We built a flexible design system to ensure GoFundMe.org could evolve alongside the broader GoFundMe brand. Over time, both organizations have refined their visual language — introducing new type and colors, and developing more nuanced approaches for different audience segments. By grounding the identity in a simple logo and a thoughtful set of scalable design principles, the foundation we created has proven durable over time. The visual system continues to hold up as the brand grows and adapts, allowing GoFundMe.org to evolve confidently while maintaining a strong and recognizable connection to GoFundMe.