When someone you love has cancer,you want to show up for them.
S
Sarah M.
Just now
8Well-wish
One private page for the people who love them. You build it, their people fill it, and they open it when they're ready.
Why this exists
Everyone wants to help. Nobody knows where to put it.
The week after a diagnosis, the phone doesn't stop. Then it does. The tools we reach for were made for other things.
The group chat goes quiet
Someone starts a thread the day of the news. For a week it's all casseroles and prayer hands. Then kids get sick and work gets busy, and the thread goes quiet right when the treatment gets hard.
Facebook isn't built for this
A post is buried by lunchtime. Updates end up in five places. And nobody wants to tell the whole internet about their mom's biopsy.
A donation page isn't company
GoFundMe is good at collecting money. But people who've been through this rarely say they wish more people had given. They say they wish more people had called.
“The money helped. The people helped more.”
What it is
One page, for one person
A campaign is a private page for someone with cancer. The people who love them write there, post photos there, and, if they want to, chip in there. Nobody else can find it.
Only the people you send it to
It isn't listed anywhere and search engines can't see it. People get in with the link you send them, and that's the only way in.
Notes, photos, and the things they'd want to keep
Friends write what they'd say in person and post the photo from 2009. Later, all of it can become a short film they get to keep.
Money is optional
There's a place to give by card if someone wants to. Most of what ends up on the page is words, and that's the point.
How it works
You do the first two parts. They do the last one.
Here's the whole thing, start to finish.
Step 1: You build the page.
Their name, a photo, a few sentences about what's going on. Add a fundraising goal or don't. It takes about ten minutes.
Step 2: You send the link to their people.
Their sister, the book club, the guys from work. They show up and start writing. If someone wants to chip in, they can. Nobody else can find the page.
Step 3: They open it when they're ready.
They walk into a page that's already full. Then they decide: keep it going, keep it with a change or two, or make it quiet. It's theirs.
Sealed until they open it
Until the person it's for opens it, the page behaves like a sealed envelope.
- The invite page says they're going through a hard time. It never says the diagnosis.
- Supporters can see that 12 people gave. They can't see how much.
- Nothing can be withdrawn. If they'd rather this didn't exist, every gift goes back to the person who sent it.
From the founder
Why this exists
When my mother was diagnosed, the people who loved her ended up in ten group chats, and not one of them reached her hospital bed. I built this so the next family would have one place.
— Bob
Read the whole storyHow money moves
Where the money goes
Giving is optional. If someone does give, this is the whole trip from their card to the person they love.
Step 1: Someone gives by card
It goes through Stripe. We never see the card number.
Step 2: An optional tip covers the card fee
Stripe charges about 2.9% plus 30¢. We don't take a percentage. If the giver adds a tip, it covers that fee and the gift arrives whole. If not, the fee comes out of the gift.
Step 3: Whoever receives it proves who they are
Stripe checks their identity and bank account. Nothing moves until the person the page is for has opened it.
Step 4: Then it goes to their bank
$10 or more at a time. The first payout waits 72 hours, and after that it's a few business days.
We're not a charity, so gifts aren't tax-deductible. They're personal gifts, from one person to another.
Card payments are handled by Stripe. See the full fee breakdown
Compared to what you'd use instead
How this is different from GoFundMe or Facebook
Both of those can do pieces of this. Here's where we're different, and where we're honestly the same.
| Feature | HOA | GoFundMe | |
|---|---|---|---|
Made only for cancer, start to finish | Yes | No | No |
Only reachable with a link someone sends you Facebook has private groups, but the fundraiser itself is public. | Yes | No | Partly |
The person it's for opens it and decides what happens Until then the diagnosis isn't shown, amounts are hidden, and no money moves. | Yes | No | No |
Notes and photos are the point. Money is optional. Both have comments. Neither turns them into something the person can keep. | Yes | Partly | Partly |
No percentage taken from gifts GoFundMe also takes no platform fee and asks for a tip. Facebook charges only card processing. The card fee is real on all three. | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Made only for cancer, start to finish
- HOA
- YesYes
- GoFundMe
- NoNo
- NoNo
Only reachable with a link someone sends you
Facebook has private groups, but the fundraiser itself is public.
- HOA
- YesYes
- GoFundMe
- NoNo
- PartlyPartly
The person it's for opens it and decides what happens
Until then the diagnosis isn't shown, amounts are hidden, and no money moves.
- HOA
- YesYes
- GoFundMe
- NoNo
- NoNo
Notes and photos are the point. Money is optional.
Both have comments. Neither turns them into something the person can keep.
- HOA
- YesYes
- GoFundMe
- PartlyPartly
- PartlyPartly
No percentage taken from gifts
GoFundMe also takes no platform fee and asks for a tip. Facebook charges only card processing. The card fee is real on all three.
- HOA
- YesYes
- GoFundMe
- YesYes
- YesYes
We take no percentage. An optional tip covers the card fee. See fees & payouts
Someone you love just got the news.
You can't fix it. You can make sure they're not alone in it. Starting the page takes about ten minutes, and they won't see it until you're ready.