YouCaring

YouCaring was a crowdfunding website for personal, medical, and charitable causes. The company was a Certified B corporation based in San Francisco, California. YouCaring did not take a percentage of funds raised on its site, or charge those raising funds a fee (any fees associated with third-party credit card processors such as PayPal are paid by donors). The company relied on voluntary donations from donors to fund operations. YouCaring was acquired by GoFundMe in 2018.
History.
YouCaring was founded in 2011 by Brock Ketcher, Naomi Ketcher, and Luke Miner. After returning from two years of international mission trips, the three friends wanted to continue to give back. They created a free crowdfunding website so people could raise money to overcome hardship. To date, YouCaring has raised over $800 million from more than 8 million donors. In March 2017, YouCaring acquired GiveForward. In May 2016, YouCaring became a Certified B Corporation. Each year, YouCaring releases internal fundraising data to show which cities in America are (by their own estimation) the most compassionate.
Business model.
YouCaring users create crowdfunding campaigns to raise money for personal, medical, and charitable causes. Nearly 50% of the money raised on YouCaring is for medical expenses. Users write an explanation of their needs, set the amount they need to raise, upload supporting photos and video, and share their fundraisers through social channels and email. Donations can be made using credit card processors PayPal, WePay, or Stripe. YouCaring trademarked the name Compassionate Crowdfunding to describe its service. YouCaring doesn't charge a fee to those raising funds, but a third-party credit card processing fee exists. Operating costs (including salaries for YouCaring employees) are funded by voluntary donations.
Fee structure.
YouCaring does not charge the fundraiser a fee, but YouCaring does ask that the donor provide a "Tip" to YouCaring. The credit card processing fee for each donation is 2.9% plus $0.30 per donation, which is paid by the donor. All crowdfunding platforms charge money either through the tipping fee structure that YouCaring charges or through a straight percentage which the fundraiser pays on the total amount raised.
Controversy.
Many journalists have pointed to crowdfunding for medical expenses as evidence for the failings of for-profit healthcare in the US and elsewhere. Some of that criticism has also been extended to crowdfunding sites.