by Sarah Barker
WHAT’S HAPPENING
- Artists seek funding through crowdsourced Kickstarter and small businesses via Kiva: Now patients can seek donations to cover medical expenses through GiveForward.
- Between stratospheric medical costs and ever less sure insurance, patients are seeking private donations to help pay for chronic conditions and medical emergencies.
- A patient, friend or family member creates a limited-time donation page on GiveForward detailing the patient’s predicament and fundraising goals, then promotes the site through social media, email and personal contact.
- GiveForward can raise funds for aid not covered by insurance, like an iPad for an autistic child.
WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS
- Where insurance stops and creativity starts, patients find GiveForward. It empowers them to take control of their situation through collaborative, people-to-people, nonconformist methods.
- Power to the people may be the rallying cry of the 2010s. We’ve seen highly motivated consumers of every stripe bypassing traditional avenues and corporate channels and going directly to their audience.
RESOURCES
- GiveForward gets 7% of the amount raised.
