GoFundMe Allows Venmo Payments to Speed Maui Wildfire Relief

GoFundMe says it has added Venmo as a payment method to speed fundraiser donations.

“Sixty-one percent of donors are most likely to hear about causes through word of mouth from their friends and family, and Venmo’s community of nearly 90 million active customers is social by nature,” the company wrote on its blog Thursday (Aug. 24).

“With Venmo as a payment method, people can quickly, simply and securely donate to the individuals, community members, causes and organizations that matter to them via a trusted payment platform they likely have at the ready on a mobile device.”

According to the blog entry, offering Venmo as a payment option has helped GoFundMe deliver even more help to people impacted by the horrific wildfires on the Hawaiian island of Maui. Donors can quickly navigate to GoFundMe’s hub of verified Maui wildfire relief fundraisers and donate with their Venmo balance — if available — or with other linked payment methods.

The announcement comes as instant disbursements grow in popularity as consumers ask for faster payments.

But not every consumer. Research by PYMNTS finds that there is a share of people who have access to instant disbursements but still refrained from utilizing them.

Among these consumers, 36% said they were hesitant to share their debit or credit card information, while 33% attributed their decision to a wish to use methods that do not require them to share bank account details.

Meanwhile, another 34% of consumers expressed fears that the payer might accidentally deposit funds into the wrong account, while a respective 26% and 21% of consumers, worry about the security of their funds or do not trust instant payments from some providers.

“Security-related reservations are not the only reasons consumers are put off by instant payments,” PYMNTS wrote. “Having to pay a fee is why about 30% of consumers shun instant disbursements, to the extent that a significant share of instant-friendly consumers ultimately choose alternative methods to save money.”

In other Venmo related news, savings app Shopmium announced Thursday it had integrated the PayPal-owned service into its cash-back redemption offering.

As PYMNTS wrote, this means its Shopmium users can now connect and use their Venmo accounts to get cash-back deposits. Before this, shoppers had been limited to getting cash back through Shopmium via PayPal.