India sees at least 39 million people falling deeper into debt and poverty every single year as they struggle to afford expensive healthcare procedures. Parents of impoverished households, especially in rural areas, are often forced to choose between paying for their children’s education or to pay for a medical treatment that will save their spouse’s life. With the strong belief that nobody should have to make such an unfair choice, many driven individuals set out to establish the medical crowdfunding India industry.

The crowdfunding industry works on the idea that a small contribution from a large population of supporters can help make any project a reality. The concept was initially introduced to India as a funding solution for nonprofits, who had trouble finding donors and offering them a secure donation platform previously. However, the healthcare crisis in India and in many other parts of the world proved to be a gold mind for the crowdfunding industry. Platforms like Impact Guru began expanding to include healthcare causes under their wing, and the trend caught on instantly. Indians are most likely to be moved by a medical cause and found medical crowdfunding platforms a more appealing choice, as opposed to the burden of acquiring a loan or sacrificing property and assets.

Many patients, both in the rural and urban communities have relatives and friends in other countries who are willing to contribute towards their recovery and medical crowdfunding became the most effective way to spur them into action. Previously, many underprivileged patients made the painful decision to educate their children and ignore their own ailments. Now, with the onset of crowdfunding, they can afford the medication and treatment they need without hampering their lives and routines. Some of the most commonly crowdfunded causes among patients are for organ transplants, cancer treatment procedures like chemotherapy and operations to remove tumors, dialysis and other major surgical operations like those of the heart.

Impact Guru and various other crowdfunding India platforms have seen hundreds of fundraisers that have raised lakhs of rupees in a matter of days for their major medical procedures. Puja, a liver cirrhosis patient raised over Rs 25 lakh in less than two months. Abhijeet, a young man who suffered a rare disorder that left him paralysed raised Rs 11 lakhs in 3 days. These patients were able to grow a web of supporters quickly by using several publicity hacks. Some of these include sharing across social media networks like Facebook, personally appealing through Whatsapp, Hike and other messaging apps, mass emails and calls.

Like every other industry, especially in funding, crowdfunding India has its challenges, mostly arising from fraud campaigns. One of the few challenges to the crowdfunding industry is proving the authenticity of a fundraiser. In a country like India where most people, even givers, are dubious about people who ask for money, providing evidence to your cause is a crucial task. Most patients are asked to upload medical documents signed by their doctors to convince their donors. Another practice that helps curb hesitation is a personal validation. When a donor shares a fundraiser across his social media, she can add a note vouching for the campaigner’s authenticity. To take validation to a higher level, a few select crowdfunding India websites like Impact Guru began offering a feature that lets people create a “support fundraiser”, where they can share a fundraiser as their own, to convince their friends and family to trust the campaigner’s cause.

Crowdfunding has been a crucial part of the funding process for various kinds of causes other than medical and nonprofit as well. Many artists, students, musicians and more turn to the industry to kick off their practices. If you’re looking to raise funds to empower yourself, turn to crowdfunding today.