On Sunday, The New York Post posted an article about some of the donation sites collecting money for the victims of the California wildfires. When you donate to anything, be sure to read the fine print.
The article reports:
California Gov. Gavin Newsom sparked fierce outrage for soliciting donations to victims of the deadly Los Angeles wildfires via his super PAC, which pushed users to add their personal information to a Democratic fundraising site.
Newsom, 57, posted a link on X to californiafirefacts.com, a website set up by his campaign committee, in response to what he claimed was misinformation on the wildfires.
But the site urges users to give money to the California Fire Foundation and links them to a module from ActBlue, the Democratic Party’s fundraising platform. The ActBlue donation box says the money is being raised by Campaign for Democracy, Newsom’s super PAC.
…The California Fire Foundation, which helps firefighters, their families and victims, allows users to donate directly without relying on a service like ActBlue to make those transactions.
Users who donate via Newsom’s fundraising appeal are also automatically signing up for text messages from his super PAC, if they provide their phone numbers.
ActBlue isn’t doing this for nothing:
Observers online also quickly pointed out that ActBlue takes a portion of all donations as a processing fee. ActBlue claims to “charge a flat rate of 3.95% on each donation” to “cover the processing cost.” The Post has contacted ActBlue for comment.
The article notes:
“Both Gavin Newsom and Elizabeth Warren were exposed for using the California fires to push Democrat fundraising efforts. It doesn’t get much worse than this. Americans, remember these receipts when you head to the polls,” X user Jack wrote.
“Getting a great preview of how a President Newsom would handle a national emergency—hop on a left wing podcast, have the hosts use Act Blue for relief donations (where $ will ultimately get funneled to Dem causes), and then retain the donor lists for future Dem fundraising,” user Vanessa wrote on X, referencing Newsom’s appearance on the liberal “Pod Save America” podcast.
“Newsom….never let a fundraising opportunity go to waste,” user Andrew Laing wrote on X.
Donations directly to The California Fire Foundation, Operation Blessing, Samaritan’s Purse of the Salvation Army might be more effective.