The Impact of Information Provision on the Success of Medical Crowdfunding Projects

A growing number of individuals are turning to medical crowdfunding to raise funds for medical treatments. However, the success rate of medical crowdfunding projects is low, and identifying factors that affect funders' intention to contribute is critical. This paper focuses on how information provision can influence the success of medical crowdfunding projects. Using 1774 medical crowdfunding projects on Tencent Gongyi and employing random forest and logistic regression techniques, we rank the elements of project information based on their importance. We find that the success rate is higher for projects with shorter fundraising durations, and mentioning the patient's age and location in the project's body text can improve the success rate. The findings of this paper not only enrich the medical crowdfunding literature but also provide guidance to medical crowdfunding fundraisers, enabling them to elevate the success rate of their crowdfunding projects.