HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Casey White's mother, Connie Moore, created a GoFundMe fundraiser to collect money for her son’s legal fees. Upon creation, the fundraiser only refers to Casey White as being “accused of escaping from the Lauderdale County Jail in Alabama.”
There also was no mention of his upcoming trial for the murder of Connie Ridgeway in 2015. The trial is scheduled for later this month.
Although Connie was just trying to raise money to help her son, GoFundMe took her fundraiser down, which led us to ask the question, and research to find the answer.
Question:
What are GoFundMe's guidelines for raising money for a friend, family member, or a complete stranger?
Our Sources:
The answer:
Yes, GoFundMe did take down Connie Moore's fundraiser because her son, Casey White, is charged with an alleged violent crime.
What we found:
GoFundMe does prohibit the raising of money for the legal defense of a person allegedly charged with a violent crime.
If someone is acquitted of those charges, a fundraiser started subsequently for their legal defense and other expenses would not violate this policy.
From the experts:
A fundraiser to pay lawyers, cover legal expenses or to help with ongoing living expenses for a person acquitted of those charges could remain active as long as we determine it is not in violation of any of our other terms and, for example, the purpose is clearly stated and the correct beneficiary is added to the fundraiser.
We are an open platform with a clear mission to help people help each other. People on all sides of various issues can use the platform to raise funds for many different things. We don’t always share the beliefs of every user, which is why our decisions are guided by Terms of Service and compliance with the law.
We constantly evaluate and evolve our Terms of Service and consider new factors that keep emerging in today’s world. We care deeply about human rights and have written terms to address this — we do not allow fundraisers that support hate, violence, harassment, bullying, discrimination; or involves weaponry.