JustGiving health & medical campaigns double funds raised year-on-year
Melanie May | 20 October 2017 | News
People in the UK are increasingly turning to JustGiving crowdfunding to raise money for personal medical costs and health expenses not available on the NHS, statistics from the online giving platform have shown.
The money raised by JustGiving Health & Medical appeals has doubled year-on-year, increasing from £10.5 million in September 2016 to £21 million in September 2017. Since 2015 over £40 million has been raised in this category in the UK across nearly 32,000 individual campaigns from more than 1.2 million donors, making it the largest category on the platform in the past year.
According to JustGiving, cancer is the most commonly crowdfunded illness with many patients raising money for treatments that are not available on the NHS. Increasingly, people are also crowdfunding for health treatments that are not accessible in the UK, while another common type of medical crowdfunding is for people who have been injured or fallen ill abroad and need money to pay for medical bills not covered by insurance.
Earlier this year. JustGiving reported that appeals to raise funds for cancer treatments had risen by 672% in 2016 compared to the previous year. It also announced that a JustGiving appeal to raise funds for British racing driver Billy Monger after having both legs amputated below the knee had become the fastest ever campaign on the platform. It raised half a million pounds in under 24 hours and has since raised £841,844.
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About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.