Crowdfunding With a Twist: Donors Can Now Fund Third-World Heathcare

Chase Adam had six months left in his Peace Corps assignment in Costa Rica in December 2010 when a villager boarded a bus he was riding in the small town of Watsi, near the Panama border. The woman walked down the aisle of the bus handing passengers a file showing her son's medical records.

Within minutes, many passengers were opening their purses or wallets to give the woman money to help get her son the medical care he needed. Adam was surprised and touched by the willingness of the passengers to give. "She was passing the medical records on the bus, and they were reading it and asking her questions, and they were giving her donations. It seems like everyone on the bus was convinced of the need," remembers Adam, now 26. "I thought, why isn't there a website where I can contribute money to help provide medical care to people who need it? I thought a website like that must exist, I just hadn't heard of it."

With that experience, Watsi—named after that town where the idea first occurred to Adam—was born. Based in San Francisco, the nonprofit is based on the crowdfunding model made popular by sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo; Watsi matches people in developing nations who are in need of medical care but cannot afford it with donors who pay for that patient's care. All of the donors' funds go to the care of the patients.

The website seems to be the first to use this type of transparent matching system to improve access to healthcare for people in need. It took 18 months to launch Watsi, and only $3,000, mostly because Adam and a handful of others worked nights and weekends donating their time. When the company launched in August 2012, Adam, who'd majored in global socieconomics and politics, was worried about donors stepping up. "That was my greatest fear before launching Watsi," he says. "We had very modest expectations. We hoped to fund 10 patients in the firsts six months. We funded 10 in the first week and 240 or 250 in the first six weeks." The company now has three full-time employees and six more work part-time or volunteer their time.

Here's how the process works: A doctor at one of Watsi's partner organizations overseas identifies a patient in need of care who does not have the means to pay for it. The patient submits a profile to Watsi, which includes her personal story. The profile is posted to the website and remains there until a donor, or a group of them, steps up to cover the patient's care. In the meantime, however, the doctor can proceed with the treatment, assured by Watsi that funds will be forthcoming to cover the care.

"We operate like an insurance company," Adam says. "We limit the number of profiles we accept based on how much money that comes in. But we've grown so fast, we've never had to deny a profile as of yet. In every single instance we've raised funds before the treatment is provided." The organization also keeps enough money in reserve to cover all profiles.

Watsi also benefitted from a grant from the prestigious Y Combinator, a Mountain View, Calif., company that provides seed money and other support for companies in the early stages of development. "Even more important is that we got access to the mentorship and advice that Y Combinator offers," Adam says.

So far, Watsi is working with 13 organizations in developing nations around the world, including Zambia, Kenya, Guatemala, and Nepal. Almost all of the requests for medical care are less than $2,000, which may sound like a small amount, but goes a long way in a poor country. Watsi depends on the doctors' recommendations when it comes to which patient profiles they post. "We try to leave our criteria really broad," Adam says. "It's really important to us that the doctors with whom we partner are able to make the decisions about who is most likely to benefit. They're the ones on the ground and can see the value for a patient."

Eventually, the organization would like to expand, Adam says, maybe even to the United States. So far, the company is aiming for the biggest bang for the buck, however, which is to provide care in the developing world. Donors don't seem to care where the patient is—only that an individual needs help. "People do know there is a need out there," Adam says. "Donors like the personal connection. They like to know, who is this money helping?"

The organization also prides itself on being "100 percent transparent," Adam says. Visitors to the site can see where the money goes and even look at screen shots demonstrating the transfer of funds from the Watsi bank account to a hospital. "We are learning and evolving every day," Adam says. "The goal now is just to scale up. This model works. Now it's time to make it have a great impact."

What do you think about the Watsi crowdfunding model? Would you sponsor a patient in need in developing country?

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Shari Roan is an award-winning health writer based in Southern California. She is the author of three books on health and science subjects.