Safety.net? Care, Charity, and Medical Crowdfunding in Canada

In a country that prides itself on a universal public health insurance system, why are a growing number of people turning to GoFundMe and similar crowdfunding platforms for health-related expenses in Canada, as beneficiaries and contributors?

This dissertation argues that while assisting loved ones monetarily in times of need is not a new phenomenon, the increasing use and visibility of personal crowdfunding as a response to illness and injury signals a shift in the ways we think about, and engage in, giving and care relations. This research project offers a critical look at personal medical crowdfunding in Canada through a lens of feminist political economy complemented by multiple approaches to critical discourse analysis. It reveals personal medical crowdfunding as a space and practice that reflects and further cultivates neo-liberal ideals of privatization, individualism, and entrepreneurialism in relation to health-related financial struggles. Discourses and behaviours within the confines of crowdfunding platforms are found to be shaped – and at times, constrained – by the unique dynamics of personal medical crowdfunding as a practice, including “unspoken rules” around personal fundraising etiquette. This dissertation begins by situating the practice of personal medical crowdfunding within a context of neo-liberal re-structuring of Canadian health and social welfare policies which increasingly downloads responsibility for citizen well-being onto individual households and registered charities. Drawing on three sources of data – GoFundMe’s promotional materials, GoFundMe medical campaigns, and in-depth interviews with people who have participated in personal medical crowdfunding as a campaign creator, beneficiary, or contributor – I examine the ways in which crowdfunding discourses produce, reproduce, or challenge “common-sense” ideas about deservingness, responsibility for individual well-being, and health. Despite conflicted feelings amongst interview participants, GoFundMe decisively frames medical crowdfunding as a form of charity. An analysis of medical crowdfunding campaigns further illustrates that campaigns contain discourses of deservingness that characterize the beneficiary as hardworking, generous, and typically, as someone who would “never ask for help” for themself. By touting self-reliance as an honourable trait, crowdfunding discourses reinforce the stigma that many beneficiaries experience when seeking financial assistance for oft dire medical reasons.