Your health is your most valuable possession—but what happens when preserving it costs you a fortune? You wouldn’t be alone if you’re trying to figure out how to pay medical bills. Many have discovered that their family and friends are invested in their wellness and want to support their medical care. And crowdfunding is a quick and simple way to find emergency financial assistance for themselves or others.
If you aren’t sure how to raise money for medical expenses, this medical crowdfunding guide explains the best practices for creating a fundraiser that will maximize support and donations.
Fundraising – Overview
Fundraising is the practice of funding a project or enterprise by collecting small amounts of money from numerous people, typically via online platforms. In the past two decades the market of crowdfunding has been growing quickly; crowdfunding has become a new way to finance, for example, start-up companies, projects in the visual arts and music, technological innovation, scientific research, and community projects
What is Medical Fundraising?
In recent years, fundraising for medical expenses has gained popularity, especially in countries without universal health coverage. Nevertheless, universal coverage or health insurance does not imply covering all medical costs for everyone. In countries with universal coverage unmet health care needs typically emerge due to financial reasons: the inability to pay the patient co-payments, and additional and experimental therapies not financed by the health insurance fund.
Read Further: Medical Crowdfunding: All You Need to Know!
Fundraising for Medical Treatment
We find that several conditions frequently listed for fundraising campaigns overlap with the most disabling conditions: cancer, mental disorders, musculoskeletal disorders, and neurological disorders. Nevertheless, there is no strong association between the disease burden and the condition which prompted individuals to ask for donations.
Unmet needs are the highest for various therapies not financed by the health insurance fund; additional, complementary, and animal-assisted therapies are high on the wish list. Numerous people sought funds to cover the cost of scientifically poorly supported or unsupported therapies. In line with the social drift hypothesis, disability and bad health status being associated with poor socioeconomic status, affected individuals frequently collected donations and raised funds for their medical treatments.
7 Fundraising Ideas for Medical Expenses
If you’re new to Social For Action crowdfunding, you might not know how to set up a fundraiser for medical bills. While the below advice will help you create a compelling fundraiser, remember that the most important part is simply getting started.
Here are 7 fundraising tips for medical expenses:
1. Ask a trusted friend or family member to help write your fundraiser
Asking for help takes pressure off the patient, who should be focused on healing not raising money. You may find that someone else can often tell your story better than you. Having an outside perspective of what you’re going through can be beneficial when writing a fundraiser story.
2. Don’t be afraid to tell your story
While making yourself vulnerable can be scary, writing your fundraiser story honestly and thoroughly will help people connect to your cause. The more people can understand the reality of your medical situation, the more they’ll be willing to donate to your fundraiser. A unique fundraiser title can also help catch people’s attention right away and encourage them to read more about why you need financial help.
3. Tell your story through photos
When it comes to adding visual elements to your story, photos are powerful fundraising tools and can take your fundraiser to the next level. It can be difficult to post photos of yourself when going through such a difficult time, but photos can draw people into your world and allow them to empathize with your story.
Fundraisers that include multiple photos also raise significantly more than fundraisers that include only one. Including photos of medical bills may help people fully understand your plight, but you should cover or otherwise remove any sensitive information you don’t want shared.
4. Share your fundraiser on social media
Social media gives you the power to reach family, friends, and even strangers around the globe. The best way to get started is to ask your network of friends, family, neighbours, and co-workers to share your fundraiser on their social media accounts. Doing this can exponentially increase the number of people viewing your fundraiser.
When sharing with your own network, keep the social media post brief and always include a link to your fundraiser; this makes it easy for people to donate in just a few clicks.
5. Share beyond social media
While social media is an important part of fundraising success, fundraising without social media can extend your reach in different ways.
Personalized outreaches can make a huge difference when sharing your fundraiser. If you aren’t sure where to begin, start by emailing, texting, or calling a few close friends. Getting some initial support can encourage others to donate.
6. Keep everyone in the loop
As you begin to receive donations, your supporters will be curious about how you’re doing. Have their donations been helpful? Are the medical treatments going well? You can answer these questions through updates.
You can use updates as an opportunity to share progress, setbacks, or words of gratitude that will keep your supporters engaged with your cause.
7. Show your gratitude
It may seem trivial, but thanking your donors is one of the most important actions you can take when fundraising because it helps them feel appreciated. Thanking your donors can be as simple as posting a mass update to the fundraiser, or you can write individual donation thank-you letters for a personal touch that can have an even bigger impact.
The Science of Successful Crowdfunding
- Reciprocity: people who offered additional rewards to their donors tended to be more successful.
- Scarcity: showing that a condition or treatment is rare or unique drives people to donate.
- Social Proof: talking about what others have given with phrases like “has pledged” helps those who depend on others for social cues know how to act.
- Social Identity: helping people be part of a specific social group—such as those who’ve helped save a child—can make campaigns more successful.
- Liking: people are more likely to support people or products that appeal to them, plain and simple.
- Authority: providing authoritative, expert opinions on the health issues you present make people more comfortable with offering a donation.
Summary
In conclusion, fundraising for medical treatment and its importance cannot be overstated. In fact, the Indian government agrees with us too: in a recent draft released by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, the ministry proposed to bring in medical fundraising as a voluntary scheme for those suffering from rare diseases. Crowdfunding’s inherent snowball effect is what makes it this special; a small contribution from many, can together snowball into the large amount needed by the patient.
Medical Fundraising is Easy with Social For Action
Since the emergence of online crowdfunding platform like Social For Action, many medical campaigns have been started by people to fund their medical treatments. Sometimes, hospitals, clinics, NGOs, and universities have launched and promoted campaigns on Social For Action for patients to help them fund their treatment expenses.
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