Revision as of 13:38, 19 March 2021

GoFundMe

GoFundMe Logo

GoFundMe is a crowdfunding platform that allows people all over the world to fundraise for personal, business, and charitable causes ^[1]. GoFundMe leverages the internet’s reach to provide a space for individuals, teams, organizations, and nonprofits to raise the money they need to meet their goals ^[1].

Background

GoFundMe was officially launched in 2010 by Brad Damphousse and Andrew Ballester, however, the platform originally started out as "CreateAFund' in 2008 ^[1][2]. Damphousse and Ballester upgraded their CreateAFund to GoFundMe and were valued at $600 million at the time of their sale to Accel Partners and Technology Crossover in 2015^[2]. GoFundMe has grown to become the "world's largest social fundraising platform" and has raised over $9 billion since then^[1].

Business Model

GoFundMe states they are the "world's largest social fundraising platform"^[1]. The platform allows users to create their unique pages from which to post their causes. To start a fundraiser the user first sets their fundraiser goal, tells their story, and adds a picture or video ^[3]. After this step the platform links itself with social media accounts to share the fundraiser^[3]. GoFundMe currently supports posting on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, LinkedIn, and Pinterest^[4]. For users who do not have social media, GoFundMe generates an email template or textable link for circulation^[3]. People are then invited to donate to the fundraiser with a debit or credit card. After donations are received GoFundMe assists with thanking donors and the fundraiser can withdraw their funds. GoFundMe does not collect any platform fee for fundraiser organizers and charges a 2.9% transaction fee with an additional $0.30 per donation^[5].

Notable GoFundMe Campaigns

Over the 11 years since its founding, GoFundMe campaigns have receieved over 150 million donations^[6]. Due to the mass amount of fundraising campaigns generated over their decade of operation, several GoFundMe campaigns have recieved the public's attention.

Record Holding Campaigns

These campaigns are record-holding as indicated by The GoFundMe 2020 Giving Report^[6].

America's Food Fund

The America's Food Fund GoFundMe was organized by Leonardio Diaprio and Laurene Powell Jobs at GoFundMe's request^[7]. The fund sought to address the issue of food insecurity across the United States^[7]. The fund partnered with World Central Kitchen, Feeding America, Save the Children, No Kid Hungry, and Urban School Food Alliance during the COVID-19 pandemic to help feed vulnerable populations^[7]. As of March 2021, the America's Food Fund has not yet reached their going of $45 million. In spite of this, the fund holds the record for highest grossing campaign with $45,989,000 raised^[6].

Official George Floyd Memorial Fund

The George Floyd Memorial Fund was created by his brother Philonise Floyd in response to the killing of George Floyd on May 25th, 2020^[8][9]. During the campaign the fund raised $14,722,400 which was used to cover funeral and burial expenses, as well as counselling for family members while they sought justice for George Floyd^[9]. On June 2nd the campaign made GoFundMe history as over 500,000 people donated to help the Floyd family in their time of need^[6][10].

GoFundMe Medical Fundraiser

Medical Crowdfunding

GoFundMe lists medical fundraising as one of its most prominent fundraisers ^[1]. GoFundMe states they are the leader in online medical fundraising with $650 million raised with over 250,000 medical campaigns per year^[11].

Ethical Implications

Medical crowdfunding has many benefits, however, researchers raise concerns about the unfair advantages it affords some individuals over others. Among the concerns raised by critics is the loss of patient privacy, widened health inequities, and the commodification of health care^[12][13].

Commodification

The competitiveness of medical crowdfunding facilitates funding as a commodity ^[14]. Rather than healthcare professionals determine the urgency of medical care, donators fuel market forces that determine which conditions and stories receive funding ^[14][15][12]. Resources are allocated by determinations such as social networks, stories, digital marketing skills, emotional appeals, and digital literacy.

Fraud

GoFundMe campaigns are commonly started by a caregiver, friend, family member, or individual in need of treatment. When creating their campaign there is no requirement for their health care professional to validate the information^[14]. This leaves room for embellishment and exaggeration of claims to create more financial incentives to donate. Despite GoFundMe's terms of service agreements, multiple fraudulent GoFundMe medical campaigns have turned to criminal cases. A website named GoFraudMe.com holds a record of all fraudulent campaigns. In 2017, Jennifer Flynn Cataldo solicited funds for medical bills^[12]. Cataldo collected more than $38,000 for cancer treatments she was not receiving before she was convicted of fraud ^[12]. Current policy does not account properly for the other instances of fraud that exist. Fraudulent claims should not be limited to cases that expose entire health fabrications. According to a study on medical crowdfunding fraud it can be identified in four key categories: faking/exaggerating personal illness, faking/exaggerating someone else's illness, impersonation, and misapplication of funds^[16].

Perpetuating Inequalities

Since there is a saturation of medical campaigns, taking up one-third of all GoFundMe campaigns, reaching donation goals can become competitive^[11]. GoFundMe provides support on how to create a great GoFundMe story by encouraging personal anecdotes, gratitude, and style choices for emphasis or urgency ^[17]. A study on the unique literacies required to successfully fundraise showed that digital literacy and large pre-existing social circles were required to demonstrate deservingness and worth^[18]. The pressure of producing a worthy illness encourages the embellishment and exaggerating of symptoms to gather sympathy, even in terminal illness cases^[18]. Another study analyzing the rhetoric used in successful GoFundMe medical campaigns found that great depth of need was important to be presented^[15]. To meet this, tactics include providing graphic details such as ‘So far Celine has been in the OR [operating room] for surgery 3 times, each time having more and more of her leg tissue removed, making the wound larger and more severe'^[15]. Stressing the impact of one's condition on dependents such as children or the elderly was also effective in examples like,‘Mommy Daddy save me' ^[15]. The study also concluded that these rhetorical patterns indicated donations were dependent on the quality and urgency of storytelling rather than medical need^[15].

GoFundMe Policies

GoFundMe has begun taking considerable actions to protect the fundraisers and donators on their platform. GoFundMe's policy thusfar is "It is not permitted to lie or intentionally deceive donors on GoFundMe for financial or personal gain"^[19]. This statement leaves place for open interpretation and omitting of truths. Rather than listing common mistakes made in campaigns that would be considered fraudulent, the cite lists exceptions. GoFundMe allows multiple campaigns to be set up for one purpose or beneficiary, images and names being used without permission of the family, and custody or familial disputes to be backed on their site ^[19].

GoFundMe Terms of Service

Like many of the Terms of Service in other platforms, GoFundMe habitually amends their Terms of Service, and it has the right to modify or change any part of the Terms of Service at any time. If by any means a user does not agree to the updated Terms of Service, the user can discontinue their use of GoFundMe unless they otherwise agree to the updated version ^[20].

References

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5} About gofundme. (2021, February 23). Retrieved March 12, 2021, from https://www.gofundme.com/c/about-us
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Mac, R., & Author, M. (2020, April 08). 20 things you didn't know About gofundme. Retrieved March 12, 2021, from https://moneyinc.com/gofundme/
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} How gofundme works. (2021, February 23). Retrieved March 12, 2021, from https://www.gofundme.com/c/how-it-works
4. ↑ Don't have facebook? Here are other ways to share your gofundme. (n.d.). Retrieved March 12, 2021, from https://support.gofundme.com/hc/en-us/articles/115011721327-Don-t-have-Facebook-Here-Are-Other-Ways-to-Share-Your-GoFundMe
5. ↑ Pricing and fees. (n.d.). Retrieved March 12, 2021, from https://www.gofundme.com/pricing
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3} The GoFundMe 2020 Giving report. (n.d.). Retrieved March 12, 2021, from https://www.gofundme.com/2020
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2} America's food Fund, organized By Americas Food fund led by Leonardo DiCaprio AND Laurene Powell Jobs. (n.d.). Retrieved March 12, 2021, from https://www.gofundme.com/f/AmericasFoodFund
8. ↑ Hill, E., Tiefenthäler, A., Triebert, C., Jordan, D., Willis, H., & Stein, R. (2020, June 01). How George Floyd was killed in police custody. Retrieved March 12, 2021, from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/31/us/george-floyd-investigation.html
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1} Official George Floyd Memorial Fund, organized by Philonise Floyd. (n.d.). Retrieved March 12, 2021, from https://www.gofundme.com/f/georgefloyd?utm_source=giving-report&utm_medium=george-floyd-link&utm_content=fundraiser&utm_campaign=giving-report-2020
10. ↑ Morgan Smith December 08, & Smith, M. (2020, December 08). More than 500k people helped Gofundme Set SINGLE-DAY Giving record After George Floyd's Death. Retrieved March 12, 2021, from https://people.com/human-interest/more-than-500000-people-donated-to-gofundme-campaigns-on-june-2-setting-single-day-record/
11. ↑ ^{11.0 11.1} All categories. (n.d.). Retrieved March 12, 2021, from https://www.gofundme.com/start/medical-fundraising
12. ↑ ^{12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3} Shneor, R., & Torjesen, S. (2020). Ethical considerations in crowdfunding. Advances in Crowdfunding, 161-182. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-46309-0_8,
13. ↑ Cross, J. (2006). MEDLINE, pubmed, PubMed Central, and the NLM. Editors' Bulletin, 2(1), 1-5. doi:10.1080/17521740701702115
14. ↑ ^{14.0 14.1 14.2} Kubheka, B. Z. (2020). Bioethics and the use of social media for medical crowdfunding. BMC Medical Ethics, 21(1). doi:10.1186/s12910-020-00521-2
15. ↑ ^{15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4} Snyder, J., Crooks, V. A., Mathers, A., & Chow-White, P. (2017). Appealing to the CROWD: Ethical justifications in Canadian medical crowdfunding campaigns. Journal of Medical Ethics, 43(6), 364-367. doi:10.1136/medethics-2016-103933
16. ↑ Zenone, M., & Snyder, J. (2018). Fraud in medical crowdfunding: A typology of publicized cases and policy recommendations. Policy & Internet, 11(2), 215-234. doi:10.1002/poi3.188
17. ↑ How to write a gofundme story in 5 easy steps. (n.d.). Retrieved March 12, 2021, from https://support.gofundme.com/hc/en-us/articles/115011597367-How-to-Write-a-GoFundMe-Story-in-5-Easy-Steps
18. ↑ ^{18.0 18.1} Berliner, L. S., & Kenworthy, N. J. (2017). Producing a worthy illness: Personal crowdfunding amidst financial crisis. Social Science & Medicine, 187, 233-242. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.02.008
19. ↑ ^{19.0 19.1} How gofundme protects donors from fraudulent campaigns. (2019, December 13). Retrieved March 12, 2021, from https://www.gofundme.com/c/safety/fraudulent-campaigns
20. ↑ GoFundMe Terms of Service. (2020, July 29). Retrieved March 18, 2021, from https://www.gofundme.com/terms.