Homeless man will get his full $400,000, GoFundMe announces
PHILADELPHIA — Johnny Bobbitt Jr. will get his $400,000.
GoFundMe and Cozen O’Connor, the Philadelphia law firm representing the homeless man, announced Thursday evening in a joint statement that Bobbitt will receive an amount equal to the balance of the funds he did not get from the online fundraiser set up for him in November. The campaign was established to help the man whose story of helping a stranded motorist inspired thousands of people to contribute.
What happened to the actual donations is now under a criminal investigation made public in dramatic fashion Thursday when police executed a search warrant at the New Jersey home of Kate McClure and Mark D’Amico, the couple who launched the online plea for Bobbitt, a 35-year-old North Carolina native living under an I-95 ramp who spent his last $20 to help McClure when she ran out of gas in Kensington late one night last fall.
“Johnny will be made whole and we’re committing that he’ll get the balance of the funds that he has not yet received or benefited from. GoFundMe’s goal has always been to ensure Johnny gets support he deserves,” said the statement, which was emailed to reporters by Bobby Whithorne, director of North America Communications for GoFundMe.
“We’ll continue to assist with the ongoing law enforcement investigation,” the statement continued.
Earlier in the day, GoFundMe announced it was taking steps to make it easier for donors to the Bobbitt campaign to get their money back.
Whithorne said the crowdfunding platform, which has reported raising more than $5 billion from roughly 50 million donors since it was founded in 2010, was waiving part of its refund policy that could have prevented Bobbitt’s donors from requesting reimbursements.
GoFundMe refunds individual contributions up to $1,000 if it determines that donations were misused, according to the company’s guarantee policy.
But there are exemptions in this policy and requirements that donors must meet to get paid back. Typically, donors must submit claims within 30 days of donating.
The campaign benefiting Bobbitt — which raised more than $400,000 from roughly 14,000 people — began accepting donations in November, nearly 10 months ago.
Whithorne said the 30-day policy will not apply to Bobbitt’s donors.
“This is an extremely rare situation and we are working with law enforcement officials to get Johnny the money raised on his behalf, which means the 30-day policy does not apply in this case,” Whitehorne said in a statement issued earlier Thursday.
The 30-day window to file a claim is restrictive, said Daniel Borochoff, president of the watchdog group CharityWatch. “Typically, you wouldn’t even know the money was misspent because there wouldn’t be all of this reporting,” he said.
To Borochoff, the Bobbitt case is an example of why donors are better off contributing to nonprofits that are subject to regulations and financial reporting requirements.
“GoFundMe is a business,” Borochoff said. “Their biggest concern is not overseeing the legitimacy of all of these campaigns they’re conducting, so there’s very little in the way of regulations. It’s easy pickings for a scammer.”
There are other limitations in GoFundMe’s guarantee policy. Rather than offer refunds, GoFundMe may redirect donations to the intended beneficiary, or provide refunds in the form of credits redeemable for donations to other campaigns, according to the policy.
A minimum donation may apply to qualify for benefits, and donors are typically required to reach out to campaign organizers and wait 72 hours for a response before submitting a claim. The policy also exempts claims over a “disagreement with how a campaign organizer or beneficiary uses funds raised in excess of the stated campaign goal at the time of your donation.” The campaign for Bobbitt exceeded its fundraising goal of $10,000.