4 Ways Moms and Families are Using Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding started out as a way for artists to fund their creative projects. It helped solve the funding gap for small-to-medium sized businesses.

As people saw the way crowdfunding worked in different fields, more started turning to it. Non-profits hopped on the bandwagon, followed by personal fundraisers for medical expenses, funeral costs, and more.

Today, crowdfunding can be seen in just about all aspects of our lives. I even recently wrote a post on the phenomenon of crowdfunding weddings.

Let me ask you a question. How do you feel about crowdfunding parenthood?

I’m about to share something that might shock you. Moms are beginning to use crowdfunding to help with costs surrounding fertility treatments, in-vitro fertilization, adoption and even maternity leave.

What platforms are best for these types of projects? How do you do it successfully? What will people think of you if you launch a project like this? Let’s learn from some of the example of others who have chosen to go down this path!

4 Different ways moms are using crowdfunding

1. Adoption. According to Adoptionhelp.org, “It generally costs from $0 to $1,000 to adopt a child from a County Foster/Adopt program. These children are often older, but sometimes infants are placed. A voluntary adoption of a newborn through a non-profit agency will generally cost between $10,000 and $25,000.” The cost of adopting a newborn can be a pretty high one for some, but when you can’t have children of your own or you feel a need to adopt the cost is just a small bump to overcome.

One couple on Generosity has currently raised over $26,000 for an adoption fund.

The campaign’s organizer has over 800 Facebook friends and it is one of the more successful family crowdfunding campaigns that I’ve come across. If you read their page you learn that the couple, who has suffered through several miscarriages, has organized the page so family and friends could follow their story and contribute financial if they want to.

2. Maternity Leave. As Buzzfeed has noted, “Just 12% of Americans, excluding those who work for the government, have access to paid time to spend with their newborns. Some of that 88% are now turning to crowd-funding to pay for the benefit.” Even though they noticed that there were many maternity related projects on GoFundMe, the success of these project seems mixed.

Success has a lot to do with what your network is like and how you come across on your fundraising page. I generally noticed that mothers who wanted to raise money for longer maternity leave didn’t always do as well. Mothers who gave more description about their situations or needed maternity leave for health reasons sometimes raise more.

One mother raised almost $4,000 on GoFundMe to pay the expenses during four weeks of maternity leave.

As an artist, she offered a few things like paintings and sculptures for donors who reached certain levels. This shows that even if you project is donation based, you can use any skills you have to give people more incentive to share your project. Just don’t spend a lot making rewards for people when the whole idea of the project is to raise money.

3. IVF. For mothers who have a hard time conceiving but still want to get pregnant themselves, IVF is one option. Unfortunately, “Between 28 and 35 per cent of women who try in vitro fertilization conceive.” Since the odds are pretty low and the cost for the procedure and medication is high (approximately $9,000 – $12,000 USD), this can be a tough option to pursue if you aren’t financially stable.

A search for “IVF” on YouCaring gives just over 200 campaigns, whereas GoFundMe has over a thousand search results.

One campaign on YouCaring for Sarah and Brett raised over $16,000 to help finance the cost of IVF.

The page reads, “Unfortunately, our insurance offers no coverage for this extreme measure and we are being forced to rely upon our own funds and the generosity of those who love us.”

Another campaign on DepositAGift for Jen and Dean raised over $9,000 for an IVF fund.

The page reads, “My husband Dean and I have officially been diagnosed as an infertile couple. This means that our only option of conceiving a child together is through In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)…We hope that by appealing to our friends, family members, acquaintances, and even strangers that we will be able to reach the next part of this journey.”

4. Baby and/or parent medical emergencies

Amazingly, crowdfunding is also being used to help with medical emergencies related to child birth. One campaign raised a little over $170,000 to help a chronically ill disabled little boy with a complex medical condition.

“After just a couple weeks, the Jersey Shore has really come together for the Zane family, and I’m not just talking about the $140,000 we’ve raised so far.

I’ve gotten messages from college students, business owners, teachers from other schools and even young kids – All with their own ideas to help the Zanes. I have heard about 20 fundraisers, from holiday photo sessions to laser tag games.”

It’s extremely touching to hear about a community rallying support behind a family like this. It makes me think of the movie, It’s a Wonderful Life and the quote “No man is a failure who has friends.”

What platforms are best for these types of projects?

There are many donation-based crowdfunding platforms that will let you raise money for family and other personal causes. You can check out our summary of the top platforms like GoFundMe, YouCaring, and GiveForward here.

To choose the right platform for you, consider: what platforms have the lowest fees, good customer service reviews, and are familiar to your social networks. Another way to see if a platform is a good for your project is to search for other ones like it and try to learn from their failures and successes.

For example, when I was researching this post I searched for “maternity leave” campaigns on different platforms. Generosity gave me very few results, mostly campaigns focused on the word “leave”. Searching for “mat leave” lead me to a campaign to raise money for a new yoga mat. GoFundMe, on the other hand, had thousands of results for “maternity leave”.

How to do it successfully

Keep in mind that even though thousands of young mothers, friends of struggling families and hopefully couples are launching fundraisers for parenting expenses, many of them don’t raise much. In one sense that’s okay, crowdfunding is a low risk option so you won’t lose anything by trying!

The best way to fight against an unsuccessful campaign is to learn what works and make an effort to promote your campaign while its live. Since we’re here to help you succeed at CrowdCrux, here are some tips to make sure your campaign goes well:

1. Use pictures and multimedia

These pictures should be your own, preferably of you and your family. Video is best. I know that can be a little uncomfortable, but keep in mind that for the most part, your friends on Facebook will be the ones who are seeing it. It can help reassure people you know that the campaign is legitimate and for the person they think it’s for. Videos can also help add personality you’re comfortable posting one, but they aren’t always necessary.

I hate to make this appear scientific, but from a marketing perspective, if you want to incite a particular emotion in a viewer or reader who comes to the campaign, you need to give them the right emotional kindling.

You need to communicate the emotions you’re feeling around this issue and personalize it for the visitor. What’s more, you need to make the visitor feel appreciated and like an amazing person for helping out.

2. Tell a story

Many project descriptions for family fundraising campaigns are actually quite moving and sentimental. In the family category a lot of them also bring up the creators’ faith. These kinds of descriptions can be very persuasive when it comes to asking friends and family to contribute to such sensitive causes. New additions to the family are supposed to bring you joy, and everyone wants to get involved even if they only contribute a little.

Research shows that our brain doesn’t notice much a difference when we imagine something happening to us as opposed to it actually happening. Stories are a great way to help someone see the world through your eyes and walk in your shoes. They are great for communicating emotion.

3. Leverage your network

The truth is that some campaigns go viral and get donations from strangers, but most don’t. Having a lot of Facebook friends counts, and so does sharing your campaign in the right way. Share it often, but try to share different updates and always have text and/or pictures. Not just a link posted constantly.

Ask friends and family to share your campaign for you, and give them little messages to post along with a link to help optimize your message. Having a strong network, or having some influencers who can share your project with their friends can get you far.

We did a great free webinar with the DepositAGift crowdfunding platform that shares more techniques for getting donors on board. You can watch it for free here on YouTube.

4. Be grateful

Don’t forget to thank your donors! When it comes to things like adoption, conception, or raising money to spend the first few weeks with your newborn, many project organizers are sharing their journey with their donors. Acknowledging their donation and how much their support means to you is important.

5. Explain why you need the help

Tell friends and family about your situation and where the money will go. Keep your goals modest, they should seem realistic in relation to what it is you’re fundraising for. You don’t need to give them every detail of your life, but people are more likely to give if it doesn’t seem like you’re asking for a free ride without any explanation.

What will people think?

One of the big questions that comes up with personal crowdfunding is, “What will people think?” At first, people weren’t too sure if others would find it socially acceptable or not. As we saw in our crowdfunding weddings post, there are some limits as to what is considered proper.

Lucky for you, when it comes to parenthood-related fundraisers there seems to be less negativity! Friends and family love to see your family expanding and want to help in any way they can.

Starting a family can come with some unexpected trials. Unpaid maternity leave, trouble conceiving, and high cost alternatives are just a few things that you might be dealing with.

Crowdfunding is an easy way to deal with the financial aspects of starting a family, without taking out loans and getting yourself in debt (or more of it). It takes time and work to promote a personal crowdfunding campaign, it isn’t as simple as just posting it and accepting people’s money. Still, many families who used it to raise money during transitions in life have found it humbling and worthwhile.

Feel free to leave any questions or comments below!