Family, Friends and Strangers raise money for Baby Luca!
Crowdfunding Advisors, FundRazr Team
In May 2014 the lives of Laura Gennuso and her family were shattered when her 21 month old son Luca suffered a near drowning. Found and pulled out of the water within minutes was given CPR but had no vital signs. Luca was rushed to the local hospital where a team of doctors and nurses worked on his lifeless body and revived him after 27 minutes.
Luca has experienced major improvements since his time at Emily’s House, a centre that is for children that are at the end of their life. This incredible family has not stopped fighting for Luca since going home and are now seeking extensive therapies to get the most out of Luca’s recovery that are not covered by insurance.
Our FundRazr team was incredibly touched by Luca’s story and the generosity of so many, towards him and his family. We reached out to Laura to find out how they raised their goal of $50,000 within 48 hours and established an online community of support of almost 1000 people.
Why did you decide to turn to crowdfunding?
We turned to crowdfunding because the types of therapies we wanted to do were mostly not covered by any insurance and had to be personally funded. When we were seeing the results right before our eyes we could not stop, so we turned to the crowdfunding to raise money to continue with the intensive therapies for our son. We will be using the donations to pay for therapies and any special devices he may need to get him on the right track to recovery.
How did you initially promote your campaign and get so many people behind your cause?
When we set up the campaign we initially promoted through Facebook and we asked that all our friends share it to their friends and in no time at all it went viral and spread faster than I could ever imagine! We have been using all the exposure we can, including media and events to promote the FundRazr campaign. We seem to have quite a following of people waiting for updates on Luca and our fundraising efforts, so we send updates using the update feature every few days.
What has been the highlight of your crowdfunding experience so far?
Our highlight is when we reached our $50,000 goal within 48 hours, and even though we reached our goal we are still raising money through the fundraising campaign. This is like a dream come true. We now have the resources to do all the things we need to make our sons life whole again!
What advice do you have for others who want to crowdfund?
Write the story from day one so people could understand what you are going through. Keep the story updated as much as possible, people who will be helping out with funding love to see the improvements and the difference that their donation is making.
