A few years ago, Chase Adam was serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Democratic Republic of the Congo when a woman boarded the bus and began asking for donations for her child’s medical treatment. Because panhandling is so prevalent in that area of the world, Adam was shocked to see all of the natives give the women money for her child. He realized the natives believed this woman because she had the child’s information and had established a sense of trust with them. Inspired, Adam returned to the United States with the goal of starting a non-profit to provide healthcare around the world.
However, when Adam returned home, he realized that many non-profits weren’t very efficient and were underfunded. Adam decided to start a company that was built with an emphasis on impact, efficiency, and transparency. Watsi, launched in August 2012, is a “global crowdfunding platform for healthcare” – basically a Kickstarter for medical treatments. People can donate any amount of money to fund medical treatment and care around the world. Once a patient’s funding goal is met, the patient receives the treatment. Watsi then updates all of the donors with the patient’s treatment outcome.
Watsi is different from most non-profits because 100% of the money donated goes directly to people in need. All of Watsi’s operating expenses are paid for by optional tips or other philanthropists. Watsi prides itself on being “radically transparent”. In fact, all of their financial information in public knowledge and can be seen on their Transparency Document on their website (check if out here!). That way, you can see exactly where your money is going.
After a slow start, Watsi was the first nonprofit to received funding from Y Combinator, a tech company incubator program. Watsi took off and, within 2 years, raised more than $2 million, all of which went to patients in need. In 2014, Adam was listed on Forbes list of 30 Under 30: Social Entrepreneurs. Inspired by the woman on the bus, Adam was able to take an idea he was passionate about and use it to help thousands of people about the world.
