Can crowdfunding help this mother find a new kidney?

Razia Santoe has only 2% kidney function. She is on a waiting list for a transplant, and has tried desperately to find a suitable donor in her family and through Facebook. With no success. This summer she was put in touch with an ad agency, who developed a new kind of crowdfunding campaign for her cause.

Less than fifty people per year donate a kidney to people outside their family. ‘To reach one, you need an audience of millions,’ says Camiel Bulder of KesselsKramer: ‘At the same time there are more than enough people who want to help Razia, but -understandably- will not or cannot donate a kidney. That is how DonorOrDonate.com originated, a web site that offers the possibilities to donate a kidney, as well as money.’

Dozens of candidates needed for just one match

The campaign reached its first investment goal after Razia appeared in national newspapers and late night talk shows. Over thirty people have already left messages through the site indicating that they are prepared to donate one of their kidneys. But many more may be necessary for a realistic chance of a match.

Donations that pour in through the site every day are invested in advertising space. This helps build the audience for Razia’s video message and increases the chance of that one special person who can change her life seeing it.

Beauty Pageant

Critics have raised the question of whether it is fair to focus so much attention on one patient. Will this turn organ donation into a beauty pageant? Razia explains why this is not the case: ‘Chances for other kidney patients waiting for a donor do not diminish because of my campaign. On the contrary: people who get in touch through DonorOrDonate.com indicate that they are prepared to donate anonymously to someone else if they do not share a physical match with me. That is exactly the reason why have not disclosed my blood type. I hope this will change the lives of more families than my own.’

About DonorOrDonate.com

DonorOrDonate.com is a not-for-profit campaign developed by a collective of Dutch communication agencies. KesselsKramer (creative lead), JUST (digital), Vizeum (media-buying) and ExPRtease (press).

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