A crowdfunding page or a charity: the better way to help a family whose child has cancer

They do different jobs

If you want to help one specific family you know, quickly and directly, a crowdfunding page organized by someone the family trusts can do that well. If you want your gift to be tax-deductible, to pass through an organization that checks eligibility, or to reach families you will never meet, give through a registered charity. Many people end up doing both: a page for the family down the street, and steady support for a charity that helps the next family no one has heard of yet.

I help connect donors, businesses and volunteers with Leia's Kids, a national 501(c)(3) that supports children and families facing childhood cancer. I am not here to talk anyone out of crowdfunding. I have seen neighbors raise money for a family faster than any grant cycle could move. I have also seen pages go badly. This guide is meant to help you choose with your eyes open.

What a crowdfunding page does well

Its great strength is speed and closeness. A friend can set up a page in an evening, share it with a school, a church and a workplace, and have money moving within days. The family decides what the money is for, whether that is a mortgage payment, a hotel near a hospital in another state or a month of groceries. There are no eligibility rules, no monthly review and no limit set by someone else's budget.

A page also gives people who care a simple way to act. Friends who feel helpless can give, share and follow updates, and the family can see the size of the circle around them. That matters more than it sounds. Parents tell me that knowing so many people showed up carried them through weeks that were otherwise unbearable.

Some families also prefer it. A page lets them accept help from people who already know and love them, on their own terms, without filling out an application or explaining their finances to strangers. If the parents are comfortable being public and a trusted friend is willing to run it, that is a perfectly good choice, and nobody should make them feel otherwise.

Where pages go wrong

The Federal Trade Commission's guidance on crowdfunding lays out the risks plainly. The campaign organizer controls how the money is spent, and the organizer may not be closely connected to the cause. An organizer might take a fee or might not deliver the money to the person it was raised for. Scammers also copy real families' stories and photos, which is why the FTC suggests finding out who is behind a request and doing a reverse image search on campaign photos you are unsure about.

Even honest pages run into trouble. A page started without the parents' blessing can share medical details they wanted private. Two friends start two pages and split the giving. Nobody posts updates, and donors wonder where the money went. The platform's fees and payout timing surprise everyone. And when the first rush of attention fades, the page goes quiet just as treatment drags into its longest, most expensive stretch.

There is also a privacy cost that is easy to overlook. A page that names the hospital, posts the treatment schedule and shows the family's street in the background of a photo tells a lot of strangers a lot about a vulnerable household. Keep updates warm and honest, but leave out anything that tells people where the family is and when the house is empty.

• The organizer, not the family, controls the money
• Fees and payout timing vary by platform
• Stolen photos and copied stories are common in fake campaigns
• Gifts to individuals are not tax-deductible
• Attention fades long before treatment ends

What a charity can do that a page cannot

A registered charity brings structure that a page does not have. It publishes who it helps and how, it has a board and a tax ID, and it can be checked. At Leia's Kids, for example, the grant application page states that the child must have a childhood cancer diagnosis and be 15 or younger, that the family must live in the United States, that a parent, guardian or care team member can apply, and that grants help with costs such as travel for treatment, food insecurity and child care. Grants are reviewed and awarded monthly.

A charity also reaches families who have no network to crowdfund from: parents new to a city, families without a big church or employer behind them, families too private or too overwhelmed to ask publicly. And it offers help that money from a page cannot buy, such as Royal Deliveries to a child in treatment, Hope Library journals for a grieving sibling, or mental health retreats for patients ages 17 to 24 who need peers who understand. If you want to check a charity before giving, I put the steps in how to verify a childhood cancer charity is legitimate.

The tax difference most people miss

This is the part that surprises donors. The FTC states that donations to individuals are not tax-deductible, and IRS Publication 526 says you cannot deduct contributions to specific individuals, including contributions earmarked for the relief of a particular individual or family. That applies even when the person collecting the money plans to pass it along. A gift on a crowdfunding page for a family is a generous act, but it is not a charitable deduction.

The same rule shapes how charities work. Because a deductible gift cannot be earmarked for one particular family, a charity decides which eligible families receive grants. If deductibility matters to you, give to the charity and let it do that work. This is general information, not tax advice; a CPA can tell you how it applies to your own return, and I cover the gala side of the question in what is tax-deductible for a Texas donor.

Not sure which fits your situation?

If you are a friend, coworker or business owner trying to decide how to help a family facing childhood cancer, reach out and tell me what you have in mind. Sometimes the right answer is a page, sometimes it is a gift to a charity, and often it is a mix. I can also tell you what Leia's Kids offers families directly, so you can pass that along.

A few questions usually settle it. Do you know this family personally, or do you want to help families in general? Does a tax deduction matter to you or your business? Is someone close to the family willing to run a page well for months, not days? And do the parents want public attention, or would they rather keep this private? Your answers point to the right route faster than any rule I could give you.

If you do start a page, run it like this

Ask the parents first, and let them decide what is shared. Agree on one organizer and one page, so donors are not split across several. Be specific about what the money is for and roughly how much is needed, because a clear goal raises more than an open-ended plea. Check the platform's fees and how and when funds reach the family before you launch.

Then treat it as a commitment, not a post. Share honest updates on a schedule the family is comfortable with, thank donors, and say plainly when the goal is met or the page is closing. If you run a business, a page tied to a single event, such as a team lunch where proceeds go to the family, often does better than a link passed around in silence.

• Get the family's consent and agree on what is private
• One organizer, one page, one link
• A specific purpose and target
• Fees and payout timing checked before launch
• Regular, honest updates and a clear end date

The best answer is often both

A page helps the family now. A charity helps them, and others, over the long run. The two fit together well. While friends run the page, someone can make sure the parents know what organized help exists: grants for treatment-related costs, deliveries that lift a child's day, books and journals for siblings. I wrote a separate guide for parents on when to apply for childhood cancer financial help that you can share with a family you are supporting.

Months from now, when the page has gone quiet, the family will still be in treatment. That is when steady, organized support matters most, and it is a good time to set a calendar reminder to check in, bring dinner or ask whether anything has changed.

If you run a business, the same logic applies at a larger scale. You might match what your employees give to a coworker's family page, and separately sponsor a charity program that reaches families none of you know. One shows your people you take care of your own. The other shows them the company's giving reaches further than its own walls.

How I can help you decide

Whether you are organizing for a family in Dallas–Fort Worth or looking for a way to support children you will never meet, I am glad to talk it through. I can explain how Leia's Kids helps families, how a business can give in a way its team can see, and how to connect a family with the foundation's grant and delivery applications.

You do not need to have it all figured out before you reach out. Most of the people I talk with simply know they want to do something useful. Tell me who you want to help, and we will work out the best way to do it together.

Questions people ask me