Fundly Spotlight: Ailing Boy Helps Others Through Online Fundraising

While most 9-year-olds are enjoying their summer vacation by traveling with their families, running through sprinklers, and counting down the days until they have to return to school, young Jack Pullman is battling several rare interstitial lung diseases (chILD) and journeys to the UMass Pediatric Infusion Unit for treatments. On one of these many visits to the hospital, Jack realized that something had to be done to update the electronic games and movies there that were few and outdated for the patients to enjoy while they endured their long procedures. With determination and the help of social networking sites, Jack has created an online fundraising campaign using Fundly to garner funds for new PlayStation consoles, games, and movies and to travel to a conference in San Diego to meet other children who are in a similar battle with lung disease.

Jack’s mother Melissa thoughtfully created their page with the following in mind: “I included all about Jack and his condition. What he was trying to do and what our goals were. The most important part I thought were the pictures and how things are worded. You don’t want to say too much so that they won’t read it, but you want to include enough information to get them involved.”

They certainly were able to get people involved; so far Jack has increased his fundraising goal three times, from $5,000 to $10,000 to $15,000, and ultimately to $20,000. He has currently raised $16,623 of his $20,000 goal with 162 supporters following his progress and 168 donating to his cause. In May, he was at $7,757 with 69 supporters and 70 donors; what a difference two months has made!

What tips would Melissa give to other Fundly users?

• Clearly state your goal. “Fundly allowed us to be super successful; we changed our goal three times!!! People are more apt to donate if they are helping you reach your goal.”
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• Promote your Fundly page and ask others to help. Melissa credits her amazing results to her tenacity in getting the word out about her fundraising page. “I posted it on my own Facebook page. I asked many friends to post it on theirs. I emailed EVERYONE on my email list. I Facebook messaged every big organizations in our area including newspapers, etc. and anyone I could think of. I asked for it to be posted on a web site for where my husband works and where I did work. We work/worked for a police organization that has over 2000 employees. I then reached out to all the retired people.”