Impact of Medical Conditions and Area Deprivation on Fundraising Success in Online Crowdfunding: Cross-Sectional...

Web-based crowdfunding is commonly used to defray medical expenses, but it is not fully known which factors determine fundraising success. Previous studies have usually focused on a single disease category at a time or a small number of mutually exclusive diseases, even though a given campaign may seek funding for multiple conditions. In addition, differences in fundraising exist according to socioeconomic status, but whether this association applies across different diseases is unclear. Thus, questions remain about how certain medical conditions and the socioeconomic context of a campaign's location interact to influence fundraising success.

This study aimed to determine the impact of specific medical conditions on crowdfunding success and to evaluate if the socioeconomic environment of a campaign's location has a distinct effect on earnings. Last, we sought to understand the effect of these features on donation behavior in terms of number of donations and donation amount.

Web scraping was used to collect medical crowdfunding campaigns on GoFundMe that were based in the United States and created between 2010 and 2020. Using a previously validated disease identification algorithm based on natural language processing, we identified the presence or absence of 11 broad disease categories in each campaign description. An Area Deprivation Index was calculated to represent a composite view of the socioeconomic status of each campaign's county of origin. Generalized linear models were constructed to estimate the impact of mentioning specific disease categories and the campaign's area deprivation on the amount of money raised.

This study analyzed 89,645 crowdfunding campaigns. We identified at least one medical condition in 82.6% (n=74,016) of campaigns. A quarter of campaigns (n=25,026, 27.9%) mentioned more than one disease category. Neoplasms were the most common condition among medical crowdfunding campaigns by a large margin (n=38,221, 43.7% of campaigns), followed by injuries and external causes (n=18,087, 20.7% of campaigns). In multivariable analysis, mentioning neoplasms, injuries and external causes, respiratory system diseases, nervous system diseases, or infections in the campaign was associated with higher total fundraising amounts. On the other hand, mentioning genitourinary, mental health, or endocrine diseases was associated with lower total fundraising amounts. Campaigns originating from less-deprived counties raised more money than those from more-deprived counties, and this effect was independent of the diseases mentioned in the campaign. The success of campaigns for higher-earning conditions and from less-deprived areas was typically due to a larger number of donations, rather than a higher donation amount.

The medical conditions mentioned in crowdfunding campaigns matter for the fundraising success of the campaign. Importantly, certain diseases tended to receive lower total fundraising amounts. Regardless of the specific diseases mentioned in the campaign, the socioeconomic backdrop of a campaign's location had a significant impact on fundraising.