From 1 visitor a day to raising $4m for charity, Give Forward’s feel good story
by Robbie Abed on Feb 17, 2011 • 3:45 pm View Comments

I had the great opportunity to speak with Ethan Austin, co-founder of GiveForward (http://www.giveforward.org). Give Forward is a Chicago based startup that helps people raise money for their medical expenses. Ethan speaks about how they once had only 1 visitor on new years day, to being able to get funding a year later. The excerpt of the interview is below:

In one or two sentences, explain what GiveForward does.
GiveForward is a crowdfunding platform for medical expenses. In a nutshell, we make it incredibly easy for friends and family raise money for things like chemotherepy treatments or organ transplants when their loved one gets sick.

How long has Give Forward been around?
We launched in 2008.

Was Give Forward bootstrapped or funded?
We bootstrapped for the first two-and-a-half years but recently got funding.

Explain what the first 0-6 months were like for Give Forward. How did you get it off the ground?
Wow! To say the first six months were rough would be a massive understatment. We launched the site in August of 2008 and on January 1st, 2009 we had one visitor on GiveForward that day — literally ONE visitor! For the most part, our attempts at gaining traction involved coercing our friends and family to start fundraising pages. I enlisted about 25 of my college buddies and their girlfriends to run 5 miles through Central Park for the cause of their choice in in an event we dubbed “run for a reason” . I think we helped raise about $13,000 from the event, which probably accounted for like half of the donations on the site the first six months. It was kind of ridiculous back then.

We really didn’t start to see any traction on the site until about nine months in when two Chicago sisters from Depaul used GiveForward to raise $30,000 for a kidney transplant. After that, we received some media coverage and things started to pick up a bit.

[Editors note:] Give Forward has already raised $3,527,462 for medical expenses and other important causes. Talk about a startup making an impact on the world![/Editors note:]

How did you acquire funding. Was a prototype built before funding?
Last summer, we got accepted into a Chicago startup accelerator called Excelerate Labs, which turned out to be a game changer for us. Through Excelerate, we were able to demo at the House of Blues in front of 500 investors from around the county. My partner, Desiree, gave a pretty awesome presentation which really opened the doors for us. From there, Tim Krauskopf, one of the mentors at Excelerate helped us round up some investors. We also used Angel List, which I highly recommend, to secure the final part of our round.

How big is the team?
We have a team of seven right now plus a few really awesome interns.

Being a Chicago startup, do you find it harder to succeed then if you were in silicon valley as an example
Not at all. I know it’s a cliche, but the Chicago startup community is really coming into its own right now. Groupon has obviously helped to bring a ton of attention to Chicago, but things like Excelerate Labs, MidVentures Tech Week, and Social Dev Camp are changing the landscape in Chicago and helping to build a strong community here. Granted, funding is always going to be an issue and there is no Sand Hill Road in Chicago, but with tools like Angel List democratizing the VC industry, the need to be in Silicon Valley isn’t nearly as great as it used to be.

What is your biggest challenge now?
Educating people and getting the word out. That’s always been the hardest part. When a loved one is going through a serious health issue like cancer, their friends and family usually feel pretty helpless and don’t know what they can do to help. Our goal is make sure they are aware of our service. Once people find out about GiveForward, they always love it. We just need to let more people know about it.

Thanks to Ethan for the interview. All the best to GiveForward. For more startup news, follow us on twitter @startupfoundry.

You can also follow the author on twitter @robbieab.

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If you are confused by the new changes to health insurance that happened last week, you aren’t alone.  Yes, it takes some energy gnawing through this red tape lingo, but it is well worth the energy and I’ve tried to simplify it.  Why?  Because it might save you money and even save your life.

It’s super important that we understand the new health care changes that went into effect on September 23, 2010 because they’re now your legal rights. If an insurance company is not complying with these regulations, you can and should hold them accountable so you get the maximum protection and coverage guaranteed to you by law.

I love the Campaign for Better Health Care and have used their guide, adapting it slightly for young adults and cancer patients. If you have additional questions, ask in the comment section below and I’ll bring an expert on board to make sure we get them answered.

Below are changes that apply to plans beginning or renewed after September 23, 2010. For many people this means the provisions actually take effect when they renew their plans in early 2011.

1.  COVERAGE FOR YOUNG ADULTS
If you’re a YA without health insurance, you can be covered under your parent’s insurance plan up until your 26th birthday. This includes YAs who are married and YAs who aren’t students.

FYI: Young adults that already have a health insurance offer through an employer may not be eligible.

2.  FREE PREVENTIVE CARE
Your insurance plan must cover preventive services and screenings, without co-pays or deductibles. Here are just a few of the preventive services and screenings on the list that I thought pertained to young adults and cancer patients. You can view the full list too.

- Depression screening
- BRCA counseling about genetic testing for women at higher risk
- Breast Cancer Chemoprevention counseling for high risk women
- Cervical Cancer screening for sexually active women
- Sexually Transmitted Infection prevention counseling
- STI screenings for syphilis, Chlamydia, Gonorrhea
- Immunizations for adults – including HPV, influenza, and pneumonia
- For pregnant women:  folic acid supplements, breast feeding support, screening for hepatitis b and anemia plus much more – see the list
– Alcohol misuse screening and counseling
- Obesity screening and counseling for all adults
- Tobacco Use screening and cessation interventions for tobacco users
- Diet counseling for adults at higher risk for chronic disease

FYI: Colorectal screenings were for age 50 and over; mammograms for age 40 and over. However, I suggest you challenge your insurance company to cover these if you are younger and medically in need of these tests. (See below for your right to appeal insurance company decisions.)

“Grandfathered” plans don’t have to comply with this rule. To learn more about what a grandfathered plan is visit FamiliesUSA and read the 4th item under ‘Big Picture.’

3.  NO MORE LIFETIME CAPS
Insurers are now not allowed to set limits on your lifetime benefits coverage, no exceptions. This means you will no longer have to worry about “capping out” on your coverage.

FYI: While there are no more lifetime limit caps, there are still annual benefits caps that have been raised to $750,000. These will be fully eliminated in 2014.

4.  NO MORE RESCISSIONS
Insurance companies are no longer able to cancel your coverage for unjust reasons, a practice known as rescission. Before, if an insurance company got hit with a big claim, they could find an unintentional error on your application (even from years ago) and use it as a basis to deny you coverage; not anymore. This applies to all insurance plans.

FYI: If you intentionally commit fraud or hide something on your application, your insurance company can still rescind your coverage.

Your insurance company must give you 30 days notice if they intend to rescind your coverage, in order to give you time to appeal.

5.  RIGHT TO APPEAL INSURANCE COMPANY DECISIONS
You’ll now have the right to appeal decisions your insurance company makes about your health care (such as refusing coverage) to an independent, third party reviewer. How this appeals process actually works will vary by state and by plan.

FYI: This doesn’t apply to grandfathered plans.

6.  NO MORE DENYING KIDS WITH PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS
This applies for children up to age 19. So if you’ve got kids, read this one carefully. Insurers are required to provide coverage to children with pre-existing conditions, such as asthma or hemophilia. This applies to families with group plans and non-grandfathered individual plans.

FYI: Grandfathered individual plans do not have to comply with this provision (though group plans DO), and some insurance companies will no longer offer child-only policies.

For more financial assistance resources and money saving tips, check out this free download of Ramenomics – the first chapter of Everything Changes: The Insider’s Guide to Cancer in Your 20s and 30s.  You can get it on Kairol’s  blog Everythingchangesbook.com.

Despite its newness on the scene, Wishadoo! has already had one successful fundraiser on our site, with Teeth for Rocky bringing in nearly $1,800. The ongoing Dental Services for MagickMuffin fundraiser also appears to be headed for success, and the Wishadoo! group page has already raised more then $2,200.

Wishadoo! founder Dena Patrick likes to call her site “a CraigsList of Compassion,” and we love that because we are totally enamored with anything and everything CraigsList these days. So far, Dena seems to be pretty enamored with GiveForward too, so everybody wins.

“I searched for over a year, looking for a good symbiotic partner of sorts for Wishadoo! community members to use when fundraising is needed,” Dena says. “GiveForward met all the criteria I was searching for, and the platform has worked beautifully thus far. I also appreciate [GiveForward’s] mission, as it’s very much in alignment with that of Wishadoo!, which is also a social entrepreneurial venture. Indeed, both are about providing tools in order to create and empower communities in a variety of ways [and] with integrity.”

If you are interested in applying, please send a resume and a short cover letter explaining why you want to work with us to jobs@giveforward.org.

Please include which position you are applying for in the subject line. We are currently hiring for the following positions:

This could be you...

Fundraising Coach Extraordinaire: Are you a fundraising king or queen? Do you enjoy helping people and coming up with creative ways to raise money for good causes? If so, you could be perfect for this position.

We need someone who is an excellent communicator both with emails and on the phone.

Responsibilities will include:

* Working closely with individuals and organizations to help them better understand the ins and outs of online fundraising  (don’t worry, if you don’t know the ins and outs, we’ll teach you)

* Reaching out to new users to help them do a better job of fundraising

* Serving as the “face” of GiveForward to the Giveforward community and the outside world

* Issuing checks and personalizing the letters we send to beneficiaries

* Ensuring that our users have the absolute best user experience possible

Social Media Maven: Do you have more friends on Facebook than anyone you know? Are you a YouTube junkie? Does TwitterAddict have nothing on you? Well, then you might be just the person we’re looking for.

3+ yrs experience with Mafia Wars, Farmville and Cafe World required

We need someone who is confident using a variety of social media tools and who understands the importance of building an online community.

Responsibilities include:

* Growing our Fan base on Facebook and interacting with our Fans

* Tweeting and interacting with our following on Twitter

* Helping us to develop and implement our social media marketing strategy

******************************************************************

About the internship…

Please note that all positions are unpaid. We offer course credit for those whose schools accept internship credits and bonus opportunities exist throughout the internship.

If you have any questions about these positions before you apply, please feel free to email ethan@GiveForward.org

A little bit more about our internship program

This isn’t your normal internship.  It is way awesomer! We assign real responsibilities to all of our team members and expect everyone to produce results.  We also believe work should be fun as well. We are a young company (no one here is older than 29) and we try not to take ourselves too seriously (we throw a drunken ugly sweater pub crawl each year). Bottom line, your internship will be a healthy mix of work and play and should provide you with a meaningful experience that we hope you will enjoy.

WORK: Some of the things GiveForward interns accomplished over the past year:

* Coached our users to help them raise over $1.6 million for medical fundraisers and other good causes
* Helped plan and promote a 175+ person charity benefit event as well as the “world famous” Ugly Sweater Pub Crawl
* Developed and maintained GiveForward’s Twitter and Facebook accounts
* Helped us maintain the highest standards for customer relations
* Wrote news stories, fundraising tips and feature articles for our blog
* Designed GiveForward T-shirts and marketing materials such as online ads and pamphlets
* Developed and implemented buzz marketing campaigns including creating a CityChase GiveForward Chase Point, the GiveForward Lemonade Stand, and a Christmas in July GiveForward Newsletter campaign

Cool staff? Check. Awesome Job? Check. Giveasauruses? Double Check.

PLAY: Here are a few of the intern activities that take place at GiveForward

* Participation in Chicago’s CityChase
* YELP + GiveForward Charity Scavenger Hunt
* Birthday Lunches
* Administered free hugs all around Chicago
* Participation in team t-shirt design contests
* Our “Beer Pong for Snuggies” Contest
* The “Interns Only” Summer BBQ
* Participation in GiveForward Lemonade Stand
* Our world-famous Ugly Sweater Charity Pub Crawl
* The Interns vs. Bosses 2 lb Chipotle Burrito eating contest
*…but even better, the First Ever Intern vs. Intern Burrito eating contest

In an effort to strengthen the weakest member of the team (me), GiveForward brought in a world-class competitive eating coach. Watch what happened, show it to all your friends and family, and (if you’re in the Chicago area) come out to see if it paid off tomorrow!

Who: GiveForward interns vs. Imerman Angels interns
What: First Annual Burrito Battle Royale
When: 1:00 p.m. on July 28, 2010
Where: Chipotle (6 W Grand Ave, Chicago, IL)

Those in the Chicago area are strongly encouraged to come cheer us on. Those who just want to help a good cause, regardless of geographic location, can make a donation here and get one of our team jerseys (aka a Giveasaurus T-shirt) in return. All of the money raised will be donated to Imerman Angels, a non-profit cancer support organization that cannot beat us in an eating competition but has proven to be amazing at helping people beat cancer.

C3 is a great organization that helps a lot people, and we are very proud to have the opportunity to help them help others. Just today, they posted a blog about how the “uninsured with rectal cancer are more likely to die,” and we are really hoping we can change that by helping all those uninsured patients raise the money they need to get proper treatment. For more information on how you can help this cause, check out their website at http://www.fightcolorectalcancer.org.

As foolish as they may be for letting me loose like this, lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about how smart Desiree and Ethan are for starting GiveForward. And I’m not just saying that because I work for them. Actually, if I may get real for a second, I’m an unpaid intern, so if anything, I should be disparaging them for not paying me to do such amazing work. I mean have y’all seen the way I made all the interns wear fake mustaches?

I do these types of things for free because I love it here, and I think the idea behind GiveForward is a great one. So great, in fact, that it inspired me to try brainstorming ideas for an ingenious website of my own. A site that could change the way things are done in the world and make an impact in people’s lives. A site that could land me in an incubator program next summer. A site that could eventually be sold for millions of dollars, thus enabling me to pursue comedy in Chicago whilst avoiding the need to get a “real job” AND continuing to live indoors/eat occasionally.

Here’s the deal: I will never be the creator of such a site. I racked my brain for a week, came up with nothing remotely promising, and realized that this is just not the type of idea that I am capable of generating. I previously joked that the guy who runs RetireAt21.com should partner up with me in starting LonelyAt22.com, and I honestly think that’s a better idea than all the ones I had when sincerely brainstorming. The week wasn’t a total waste, though. Some of my ideas were so comically flawed that they led me to write this, the inaugural “GiveForward Blog Presents: Glib Snore-Words, Dawg” post. So, in no particular order, I present to you three of my worst ideas for a website:

Site Name: TeraBiteToofCare
Concept: Users with a high-speed internet connection and a web cam can receive dental consultations and step-by-step walkthroughs of how to handle any problems they may have, all from the comfort of their own home (or internet café).
Why Not: What do you mean why not? Your web cam would get all wet, first of all. Secondly, no dentists would ever agree to this; the whole joy of their job is physically inflicting pain on each patient, so this would do nothing for them. Third, we’ve all seen Cast Away and we know better than to even think about treating our own cavities.

Site Name: ThoughtDumpster
Concept: Sometimes, your mind is racing and you feel like you need to just unload your thoughts somewhere, no matter how uninteresting they are. Well, this is a place where you can dump all of your ideas that don’t matter and no one will actually care.
Why Not: Twitter and blogs already exist.

Site Name: WheresMyBlank
Concept: A search engine that tells the messy, the forgetful, the drunk, and all the rest exactly where they left whatever it is that they can’t find. Cell phone, keys, small child, dignity, you name it — WheresMyBlank locates it all.
Why Not: For the sake of not sounding like a conspiracy theorist who gripes about what Big Brother is up to, I’m gonna operate under the assumption that we don’t have this type of technology just yet. If we did though, this idea would be a gold mine. (Please note that I’m also operating under the assumption that the site’s users could find their computers).

In order to make this happen, I conquered my fear of talking to women and chatted up each of the ladies surrounding me in the trenches. And when I say I chatted them up, I mean I e-mailed them all a questionnaire and then used/butchered their responses to shape the following bios.

Also, to liven things up a bit, we’ve decided to play a little game with you all that some of you may be familiar with: “Two Truths and a Lie.” Essentially, each of us will give three one-sentence-long statements about ourselves or our lives. Two of these statements will be completely true, and one will be at least partially false. The first person to correctly pick out the lie from each intern by July 12 will get a FREE Giveasaurus t-shirt! To compete, you may submit your guesses as a comment on this blog, via e-mail at dshar@giveforward.org, or on our Facebook page.

In the event that nobody spots all of the lies, the T-shirt will go to the earliest submission with the highest number of correct picks. At the completion of this contest, we will provide you all with brief explanations or stories behind the ridiculous truths contained herein because wow, they are necessary.

Rachel Blau
Fundraising Coach Extraordinaire

*Rachel missed our photoshoot, so Olivia used Photoshop.

Rachel is a Columbia College Chicago alumna by way of Wauconda/Lake Zurich, IL. She may have a B.A. in Fiction Writing, but she doesn’t seem to be fabricating anything when she says she enjoys dancing and cooking (presumably at separate times). Rachel loves Chicago and prefers it to the northwest suburbs she came from because in the city, “there is such varying opportunity for culture and excitement, no matter what neighborhood.” Rachel says she has had “quite an eclectic past of music,” but lists some of her current favorites as Erykah Badu, Al Green, Marvin Gaye, Common, Alkaline Trio, Rodrigo y Gabriella, Sean Paul, James Brown, Shakira, and RX Bandits.

When prompted for two truths and a lie, Rachel gave me the following:

1) I’ve consumed an entire can of tomato juice in one day on more than one occasion.

2) I have an extreme allergic reaction to bananas.

3) I took a class and have knowledge in the field of holography.

Courtney Goldman
Fundraising Coach Extraordinaire

Courtney hails from Buffalo Grove, IL and is heading into her junior year at Vanderbilt University. There, she is pursuing a dual degree in Human and Organizational Development, which she says is “jibberish for business,” and Spanish, which she says is “code for Chipotle appreciation.” Courtney thinks Chicago is “a big upgrade from the suburbs,” and she fancies herself “a professional spectator for the White Sox, Bears, and Hawks.” Courtney’s favorite musicians, which she lazily copy-pasted from her Facebook page, are The Beatles, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, Kings Of Leon, Diplo, Lupe Fiasco, MGMT, Drake, Kid Cudi, deadmau5, Major Lazer, Miike Snow, Steve Aoki, Passion Pit, The Fully Sick Rapper, Florence and the Machine, The Killers, Chairlift, and Fleet Foxes.

When prompted for two truths and a lie, Courtney gave me the following:

1) Judge Judy is my grandpa’s second cousin.

2) I’ve seen the Catwoman in real life (if you are brave, do a Google image search for Jocelyn Wildenstein).

3) I’ve kissed a giraffe (and I likeeeed itttt; thank you Katy Perry).

Olivia Murphy
Fundraising Coach Extraordinaire

Olivia is about to be a senior at the University of North Carolina, where she is double majoring in English and Religious Studies, minoring in Physics, and has the nerve to write “No questions about that, please.” Olivia is originally from Monroe, NC, “where the question of population is answered with ‘of cows or people?’”

Now I want to warn you all that this bio is about to get way longer than the others, but I am not apologizing for this because when I asked Olivia to expand on whether she prefers Chicago or her hometown, she went on the following rant that is simply too good not to include in its entirety:

“The first thing that comes to mind is that in Monroe directions are simple. If you ask someone where a place is, you get something real specific like ‘Oh you wanna go to the Dairy-O? Oh that’s real simple – just go up here to the stop sign and make a right; at the end of the next fence you’ll see a big barn with [what time is it? 4:15? yeah, so the cows will still be outside] with some cows in front. You’ll take a left. Then you take that dirt road till it ends, about 1/4 mile, take a right on Buford and she should be right there on your right-hand side. And tell Bill I said hello while you’re there.’ And if you get lost, chances are Jim Bob will still be sitting outside that same convenience store and you can just try again. Everybody tends to know quite a few other people, and most are often some kind of related. It’s cozy, very home-y; and I NEVER get lost in Monroe.

In Chicago if I ask for directions and am lucky enough to not get ignored or run away from, I get something like ‘go two blocks East then head North until you see the 7-11, you should see it from there…’ and I never know which way is East or where to turn and, though those 7-11’s can be VERY convenient sometimes, sheer quantity makes them both impractical as landmarks for directions, and apparently a favorite for business-persons or street-walkers who have a passion for providing what always seem to be the most ambiguous directions or ‘help’ they can muster.”

After completing her navigation-based venting, Olivia did clarify that she is otherwise in love with Chicago because of its ability to constantly entertain her. In her words, “There are days where the El has more excitement than my entire hometown would in a month.” When she’s not getting lost, Olivia is usually exercising, cooking, or watching sports. Also, she likes to lash out at me for asking who her favorite musical artists are. Apparently, when the time comes for her to get her groove on, she relies on a mix of personalized Pandora stations. “Except for Bruce Springsteen (who I happen to be in love with), I NEED the excitement and randomness of ‘shuffle’ in my life.”

When prompted for two truths and a lie, Olivia gave me the following:

1) I am on the UNC boxing team.

2) I’ve never had any food delivered to me.

3) I’ve never seen Forrest Gump all the way through.

Sarah Seely
Fundraising Coach Extraordinaire

Sarah comes to us all the way from a little town outside of Boston, MA and just graduated from DePaul University with a “lucrative” Sociology degree. Sarah says Chicago is a lot cooler than her hometown, and she especially enjoys how much the people here appreciate summer. She lists some of her hobbies as riding her bike, sitting in parks, reading books, and eating food. Good news Sarah: aside from the food and the books, those are all things you’ll probably be able to enjoy with your lucrative degree. Sarah cites her favorite musical acts as Stevie Wonder, Andrew Bird, Florence + the Machine, and Otis Redding. Perhaps more than those artists however, Sarah loves her bosses, telling me, “GiveForward is the bomb. Truthfully and honestly, if it wasn’t for Ethan and Desiree, I’d probably be back at home, living in my parents basement.” Amen, sister. Amen.

When prompted for two truths and a lie, Sarah gave me the following:

1) I once drank out of Snoop Dogg’s pimp chalice when I was 14.

2) Pretzels are the only food I refuse to eat.

3) I’m a natural blonde.

Daniel Shar
Blogger, Social Media Attempter

I’ve already introduced myself in this blog, but I do want to say that I am truly a big fan of all the people I’m working with here. Honestly, this surprised me, as I anticipated a great deal of animosity between myself and the others due to the fact that everyone else self-identifies as a Giveasaurus and I fancy myself more of a Velocidonor. Thankfully, this has proven to be inconsequential, and I now feel as if I am in for one of the better summers of my life. For the sake of fitting in with the other intern bios, I am originally from Winston-Salem, NC. No offense to my peeps back there, but I wholeheartedly prefer being in Chicago, and I hope to live here for a very long time. I have a Magazine Journalism degree from the University of Missouri (Mizzou), and a strong desire to leave that world behind for the just-as-financially-unstable life of comedy. I spend an unhealthy percentage of my free time at The Second City and iO, and my favorite music comes from Chicago rapper Lupe Fiasco.

When prompted for two truths and a lie, I gave myself the following:

1) As a child, I enrolled in a karate class, but cried and quit after being frightened by my instructor’s demonstration.

2) Since the day I turned 16 and got my drivers license, I have eaten the overwhelming majority of my meals at or from a restaurant because I don’t really know how to prepare any kind of food for myself.

3) I once rap battled a published novelist.

Again, to win a FREE Giveasaurus t-shirt, submit your guesses as to which statement from each intern is at least partially false as either a comment on this blog, via e-mail at dshar@giveforward.org, or on our Facebook page by JULY 12.