Monday, May 27, 2013

Crowdfunding a baby?


The message below was included in a daily digest of news alerts I get about infertility.  This one was particularly interesting to me as it was something I've actually secretly fantasized about but never thought could be a reality: crowdsourcing your family.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Google Alerts <googlealerts-noreply@google.com>Date: Thu, May 2, 2013 at 1:42 PM
Subject: Google Alert - infertility
To: gile.jm@gmail.com

News1 new results for infertility
KrowdKidz Launches Crowdfunding Community for Infertility, Surrogacy and ...
IT News Online
TEMPE, Ariz., May 2, 2013 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- Today KrowdKidz announced it has launched its crowdfunding portal designed to help families challenged with infertility to find donors willing to help defray the costs of infertility treatments ...
See all stories on this topic »

This once a day Google Alert is brought to you by Google.

On May 2nd, KrowdKidz announced it launched a crowdfunding portal designed to help families challenged with infertility to find donors willing to help defray the costs of infertility treatments, surrogacy and adoption. The portal launched with three initial families seeking help. Donors have the ability to contribute as little as $10 to a family.

IndieGoGo, and Kickstarter, are other crowdfunding sites that have has seen some wild campaigns this since 2011, including a family asking for help funding IVF to start their family.  It was successful and the woman got pregnant.

A quick search in the IndieGoGo site of "IVF" produced six infertility campaigns.  One of the more successful ones featured a video I'd like to share here:



Pretty powerful stuff.

I've talked to B about the idea of doing something like this.  He isn't super comfortable with the idea, he says it would feel like begging.  He said his family could never know about it if we did it.  He admits it is pride that stops him from being on board.  That is frustrating to me, since it is only money that prevents us from being parents and having the family we are ready to have.  

So I guess I could fairly argue that pride and money are the causes of the hell I am living in.  Or at least they are keeping me from my happiness.

What do you think, would you ever crowd-source IVF?  Would it be too embarrassing?  Would you be ashamed?  Would you ever donate to it for another couple?  What if it helped you attain your dreams?  What if you helped a family to grow?

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