Watsi
 | |
| Founded | 2012 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Chase Adam, Jesse Cooke |
| Type | 501(c)3 |
| Focus | Humanitarianism, Health care |
| Location |
|
Area served | Developing countries |
| Services | Funding medical treatment |
| Method | Crowd funding |
Key people | Grace Garey, Jon Skaggs, Mary Everette Cann, Dr. Mitul Kapadia, Dinkar Jain, Paul Graham |
| Mission | Impact, Innovation, Efficiency, Transparency |
| Website |
watsi |
Watsi is a nonprofit healthcare crowdsourcing platform that enables individual donors to directly fund medical care for individuals in developing countries without access to affordable medical care.[1][2][3]
History
Watsi is the first nonprofit funded by seed accelerator Y Combinator.
Medical partners include Nyaya Health, Dr. Rick Hodes, Wuqu' Kawoq, Children's Surgical Centre, CURE International, African Mission Healthcare Foundation, Hope for West Africa, Project Muso, Lwala Community Alliance, Living Hope Haiti, Floating Doctors, Burma Border Projects, Partner for Surgery, International Care Ministries, The Kellermann Foundation, and World Altering Medicine.[4]
Process
The medical partner identifies a patient that needs low-cost, high-impact medical care and submits the profile to Watsi. If the profile meets the criteria, Watsi accepts it and guarantees the medical partner that they will cover the cost of providing care to that patient. Watsi posts the profile online, donors browse the profile and fund it, and the medical partner provides care to the patient once the patient reaches his or her funding goal.
After the treatment is provided, the medical partner sends Watsi an update about the outcome of the treatment. After receiving the update, Watsi sends it to the donors who supported that patient and transfer the funds via PayPal to the medical partner’s bank account to cover the cost of the treatment.[5]
Watsi changed its logo to a gray color in February 2014 after receiving legal threats from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.[6]
References
- ↑ "First Global Crowdfunding Website for Medical Treatments Opens to Public". Watsi. FundRaising Success. 23 August 2012. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
- ↑ Empson, Rip (30 August 2012). "Watsi Is Using Crowdfunding To Treat The 1B+ Worldwide Without Access To Medical Care". TechCrunch. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
- ↑ Devin Coldewey, Devin (27 August 2012). "Watsi: A Kickstarter for third-world medical care". NBCNews.com. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
- ↑ "Watsi Transparency Document". Watsi. Google Drive. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
- ↑ LaPorte, Nicole (13 April 2013). "Medical Care, Aided by the Crowd". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
- ↑ Kumparak, Greg (26 February 2014). "Watsi Watsi To Change Its Logo Following Legal Threats From "Multi-Billion Dollar Health Insurance Company"". Techcrunch. AOL. Retrieved 23 March 2014.