N/T - Need advice on fundraising for friend's medical needs

[jklcpa]

Here's the situation. A friend of mine was very recently diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer, was very ill going through ER, took days to stabilize and have surgery, has been in ICU for over a week, and she has no insurance. She's couldn't afford the premiums and couldn't afford the colonoscopy.  It's a case of "if only we'd known sooner", and you know, I'd have paid for her test but I didn't know about it.  I'm a wreck over this because my friend is only 45 years old. 

Anyway, a group of us have raised money so far and bought her a tablet to occupy her while she has chemo and recuperates, but we want to set up a larger fundraising effort that can be opened up to a much larger group of friends and others that know her from her work and social activities.

Does anyone have advice on using those sites like gofundme.com, youcaring.com, or any others?  We want to make sure that our friend receives as much of the money raised as possible, not going toward processing or site fees, or losing some of it because of not meeting a goal. I have no experience with any of these, but others are looking to me for help getting it set up.

[kcjenkins]

Having no experience on this, best I can offer is a few sites to look at.

http://www.crowdcrux.com/youcaring-vs-gofundme/

http://www.socialbrite.org/2013/03/04/how-to-fundraise-for-causes/

http://preparemymission.com/the-best-online-fundraising-site-to-use-for-your-mission-trip/

http://crowdfundingwebsites.net/gofundme-reviews/

https://crowdfundingpr.wordpress.com/category/top-crowdfunding-sites/youcaring-com/

http://marketingmoxie.biz/the-big-list-of-crowdfunding-sites/

 

[Abby Normal]

Sorry to hear about your friend. That really sucks. This is why we need universal health care. We all end up paying for it anyway.

I have no experience with funding sites or campaigns. Good luck!

[Jack from Ohio]

Do your research to see how much "overhead" those professional fundraising sites charge. 

Nothing is stopping you from posting all over social media to ask for donations as long as you don't present yourself as a charitable group and people understand there will be no tax deductibility for gifts given.  Establish a bank account and maybe a PayPal account and have people make donations that way.

[Eric]

Jack raises a good point about the transaction fees.  Even reputable grassroots funding sites have to pay the bills somehow.

Firstgiving.com for example has a 15% transaction fee.  Gofundme.com is 7.9%.  Compare that to a payment processor alone, such as PayPal or Stripe.com, which is more like 30 cents plus 3-4%.

Take a close look at the transaction fees and compare that to the tools the sites offer.  Spreading the word is only part of the benefit.  Some of those sites also offer tools for tracking donations, getting the word out to a wider audience, and probably most importantly, letting people massage their egos by posting their donations on the site and on social media with a fancy badge.

That's not to say that people donate for the wrong reasons, but I have no doubt that it pushes some to donate rather than not, or to increase the size of their donation.

Edited May 28, 2015 by Eric

[jklcpa]

Yes, Eric and Jack make good points, and going with PP directly is an idea we hadn't considered.  My concern with setting up only through PP and not one of these pro sites is that some might be less inclined to donation if they saw only the PP setup. I don't know though, I've never been involved in helping to this extent.

[Catherine]

We had two similar situations in the past decade.  In both cases, a local bank opened a "foundation" account where people could donate.  That might work in conjunction with PayPal (for example).

In both cases, various groups (social, church, other) associated with the families involved (AND their extended families and friends) held various fundraisers etc. and there was an account for the funds to go to.  Both were very successful in covering costs.  

My best wishes and prayers for your friend.  

 

I will refrain from turning this into a political post except to suggest that jmdavis (or anyone else interested) search at market-ticker.org on health, health care, medicare, and Oklahoma, and read some articles.  Silence implies assent; in good conscience I can't do that.

[jklcpa]

Yes, please, if we could leave the politics out of it, I'd appreciate that. I purposely didn't post her state of residence hoping we wouldn't go down that path because it won't change anything for my friend. I only posted about the lack of insurance so that you'd know how this youngish person ended up stage 4 and how bad off she is financially.

She is no longer local to me, she has no family support (won't help physically, financially, certainly not offer emotional support either), and she is totally alone except for her employer/friend, so whatever is set up needs to be simple for her to manage.

[Lion EA]

I friend used GoFundMe to raise money to remain in Indonesia where she's working with agencies educating children, etc.  But, I don't know anything other than I gave her some money through that.

I've seen people use Facebook and other social media to spread the word and get people to a page set up to tell about the person, their need, etc.  Likes help keep the message out there and Shares really help.  I'm guessing the link was a PayPal link when giving on the recipient's special home page.  Twitter can drive traffic to a FB page.

[Catherine]

Try church groups, too.  Her (former) church when she was local to you, a church in her current location, *your* church... wherever you or she might have connections.  

And once (whatever) is set up, please let us, here, know?  I don't know your friend - but I do know YOU - so that makes it my concern, too.

[jklcpa]

Thank you, Catherine. That is very sweet and caring of you. I've seen the battle a cancer patient goes through first-hand with lots of help and support, and I'm so very worried for my friend that will not have any of that, and it's hit me extra hard this week. She lives too far away to help her in person, so I'll do what I can from afar.

[kcjenkins]

Thank goodness my cancer was not so advanced, and surgery took it out.  But I sure know how scary that diagnosis is, and especially how important emotional support is at such a time.  My family helped a lot, but the support I felt from my friends here was VERY important to me. I agree with Catherine, I would help her just because YOU asked.  And let her know that your friends are keeping her in their prayers, too.  Believe me, it matters.

[Richcpaman]

Judy:

Sorry to hear about your friend, I hope your efforts succeed at raising some support for her.

Rich

[Richcpaman]

Judy:

Also, depending on state, she can sign up for insurance under Obamacare, and/or Medicaid, if she can't work.

That will help with the medical bills.

I had a client in the same sitch, no insurance, but an illness and $400k later...

Rich 

[Margaret CPA in OH]

I tried to submit this just after Catherine's first post but somehow didn't get it in.  Now I see that Catherine and I were on the same wavelength.

If, by chance, she is affiliated with a faith group, that group may serve as a facilitator although it must be made clear that the contributions are not tax deductible as they benefit a specific person if so designated.  It is possible for contributions to be made without designation but leaving to the 'church's' discretion as to whom the benefits would go.  This has taken place at my church - both ways.

[jklcpa]

Judy:

Also, depending on state, she can sign up for insurance under Obamacare, and/or Medicaid, if she can't work.

That will help with the medical bills.

I had a client in the same sitch, no insurance, but an illness and $400k later...

Rich 

​Rich, thanks for that. I'd already started to look into this.

FL didn't expand Medicaid and I don't think her earnings were much, but too much to qualify for Medicaid, and not enough to actually purchase insurance. What I discovered is that a change in income would allow her to purchase a policy now even though open enrollment has ended, that is, if she now isn't qualified for Medicaid. I don't know about that yet.

I was thinking that some of the money from a fundraiser might be well spent by purchasing insurance if she doesn't qualify for Medicaid at this point.  Am I on the right track with this?  Do the social workers in the hospitals counsel on this aspect?