Alaska's Charity-Tech Lawsuit Becomes Industry Warning Shot as PayPal Faces Same Allegations It Settled in 2020
Alaska's lawsuit against PayPal Giving Fund and five other donation platforms is now being called the industry warning shot — and PayPal has been sued for the same conduct before.
Alaska's Charity-Tech Lawsuit Becomes Industry Warning Shot as PayPal Faces Same Allegations It Settled in 2020 Alaska's lawsuit against PayPal Giving Fund and five other donation platforms is now being called the industry warning shot — and PayPal has been sued for the same conduct before. Aaron Rafferty April 30, 2026 Key Takeaways: The Chronicle of Philanthropy reported on April 29, 2026 that Alaska Attorney General Stephen Cox's seven-week-old lawsuit against PayPal Giving Fund, GoFundMe, Charity Navigator, JustGiving, Pledgeling Technologies, and Network for Good is being treated by the philanthropy bar as the industry test case for whether tech vendors can build donation pages on charity names without consent. PayPal Giving Fund, one of the six defendants, settled an effectively identical case in 2020 with then-New York Attorney General Letitia James and 22 other state AGs over creating donation pages that told donors funds would reach specific charities and then routed money to different ones. GoFundMe and Charity Navigator have now responded on the record. GoFundMe said the changes it made last fall already address the concerns. Charity Navigator said it operates in compliance with the law and is committed to working through the legal process. The Alaska lawsuit against six donation platforms turned seven weeks old this week, and the Chronicle of Philanthropy framed it as the industry's warning shot. The defendants are the same six Alaska Attorney General Stephen Cox named on March 10: PayPal Giving Fund, GoFundMe, Charity Navigator, JustGiving, Pledgeling Technologies (doing business as Pledge), and Network for Good (doing business as ForGood). The state alleges all six created donation pages for thousands of Alaska nonprofits without consent, i