Cancer-Related Crowdfunding Economy in the United States

Background: Crowdfunding campaigns are increasingly used by cancer survivors in the United States; however, fundraising goals and donation records have not been evaluated in detail at the campaign, state, and national levels. Methods: Cancer-related GoFundMe crowdfunding campaigns initiated between January 1, 2021, and February 28, 2023, with ≥90 days of follow-up for peer-to-peer donation records through May 31, 2023, were identified. Descriptive statistics of financial assistance amounts requested (ie, fundraising goals) and received (ie, money raised), and proportions of financial assistance received relative to requested were calculated. Separate bivariate and multivariate generalized linear regressions were conducted to examine associations between campaign-level characteristics and amounts of financial assistance received and requested, and whether the fundraising goal was achieved. Results: In total, 78,338 cancer-related crowdfunding campaigns with 4.45 million donation records were identified. Nationally, $506 million was raised ($233.7 million annually), accounting for 34.5% of total financial assistance requested ($1.47 billion). A total of 4.45 million donation records were retrieved. After adjusting for population size, $109,191 per 100,000 people was raised annually. Moreover, 75,813 (96.8%) campaigns listed fundraising goals (median requested, $10,000 [IQR, $5,000–$25,000]) and 77,989 (99.6%) received donations (median raised, $4,000 [IQR, $1,835–$8,485]). Only 11.5% of campaigns reached their fundraising goals during the 90-day follow-up period. Campaigns with fundraiser stories describing beneficiaries who were younger, male, married, living with dependent children, working or attending school, or diagnosed with metastatic disease were more successful in raising more money and achieving their fundraising goals. Conclusions: Cancer-related GoFundMe crowdfunding campaigns raised $506 million from January 2021 to May 2023 in the United States, which is approximately one-third of the total amount of financial assistance requested and a fraction of patients’ total out-of-pocket costs. Use of crowdfunding and shortages between financial assistance requested and received are substantial, underscoring unmet financial needs among cancer survivors in the United States.