Crowdfunding a Life: How Relationships Shape Requests for Financial Assistance

How do relationships shape requests for financial assistance? I conducted a qualitative content analysis of 1666 US-based GoFundMe campaigns for patients with colorectal cancer. I identify three types of campaign organizers-self-funders, financially bonded campaigners and financially independent campaigners-who draw on different narratives of deservingness depending on their relationship to medical costs. I find that organizers use stories to create good matches, which vary depending on the organizer's financial relationship with the patient. Financially independent campaigners, who do not experience the burden of medical bills, tell stories that counter dominant cultural beliefs about dependency. Self-funders and financially bonded campaigners both told stories that managed the stigma of dependency, where the former connects self-sufficiency to employment and the latter argues that medical prices make it impossible to prepare. These findings provide novel insights into theories of relational work and how financial relationships shape narratives of debt, dependency and deservingness.