I. Schulte4, H. Garrigan3, S. Romo3, P. H. Chang1,2 1University Of Cincinnati,Surgery,Cincinnati, OH, USA 2Shriners Hospitals For Children-Cincinnati,Cincinnati, OH, USA 3Shriners Hospitals For Children-Boston,Boston, MA, USA 4Northeastern University,Boston, MA, USA
Introduction:
Due to the high cost of pediatric oncology care, many people have turned to online fundraising campaign websites, such as GoFundMe.com, to raise additional funds. These websites can be utilized to share the child’s story and recruit donors. Our group had performed a previous analysis of burn patients on GoFundMe.org and had found several variables that were correlated with increased fundraising using GoFundMe.org. This study aims to analyze the characteristics assoicated with increased fundraising for pediatric oncology patients on GoFundMe.org.
Methods:
Fifty profiles featuring pediatric oncology patients were accessed via GoFundMe.com. These profiles requested funds for a variety of medical expenses, such as for travel and the cost of dietary supplements for infants. Campaign characteristics such as age, diagnosis, date the fundraiser was posted online, amount of money raised, fundraising goal, and number of donators, Facebook shares, and updates were collected. Simple descriptive statistics were performed.
Results:
Across the 50 profiles, 27 (54%) featured males and 23 featured females (46%). The children featured ranged from ages 3 months to 18 years and were from either the United States or Canada. On average, profiles raised 42% of their goal (range 1.02-115.51%). The fundraising goals ranged from $1,000-100,000, and the average amount raised per day was $13.61 (+$16.05). The average amount raised per Facebook share was $16.21 (+$22.05) and the average Facebook shares per donor recruited was 12.76 (+$11.87) shares.
Conclusion:
Given the increasing popularity of crowdfunding over the past few years, families of pediatric oncology patients have begun to use crowdsource funding websites to effectively pay for the expenses surrounding pediatric cancer treatment. While some profiles are created by family members, there were some instances where friends or coworkers of the parent started the GoFundMe profile. As seen in this study, these profiles have the potential to raise thousands of dollars by hundreds of independent donors. Understanding factors that lead to successful crowdfunding profiles can help guide future pediatric cancer patients in designing and distributing online campaigns.