Vaccine related crowdfunding on a ‘Freedom Fundraising’ platform

Abstract

Introduction Donation-based crowdfunding was heavily used during the COVID-19 pandemic. While most of these campaigns were uncontroversial, others spread misinformation or undermined public health. In response, mainstream crowdfunding platforms like GoFundMe restricted what campaigns they would host. This led some campaigns to shift to lesser-known and less restrictive crowdfunding platforms. While research on health-related misinformation on mainstream crowdfunding platforms is increasing, less is known about crowdfunding on less restrictive platforms like GiveSendGo. The aim of this study is to review vaccine-related crowdfunding campaigns on the GiveSendGo platform to better understand: 1) how vaccines are portrayed on GiveSendGo; and 2) how successful these campaigns have been at attracting financial support. Methods We searched the GiveSendGo crowdfunding platform for campaigns including “vaccine” or “vaccination”. This process yielded 907 unique results which were then scraped for their campaign text and fundraising data. The authors reviewed these campaigns for fundraisers whose aims related to vaccines for humans and assigned campaigns as being for 1) Accessing vaccines; 2) creating Spaces for the unvaccinated; 3) helping Unvaccinated Individuals); 4) Advocacy about vaccines; 5) supporting Anti-Mandate actions; and 6) responding to Vaccine Injuries. Findings We identified 765 crowdfunding campaigns that raised $6,814,817 and requested $838,578,249. Anti-Mandate campaigns were most common, followed by Unvaccinated Individuals, Vaccine Injuries, Advocacy, Access, and Spaces. Only Access campaigns took a positive or neutral view toward vaccines. Themes of freedom and religion cut across campaign types with campaigns critical of vaccines invoking bodily autonomy and religious freedom as justifying their fundraisers. Discussion Very few of these fundraisers met their goals. With the exception of Access campaigns, they frequently contained highly polarizing language advocating against public health mandates, misinformation about vaccine safety, and language from bioethics and reproductive choice advocates. Restrictions on vaccine-related campaigns on the GoFundMe platform likely drove campaign creation on GiveSendGo.