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HOW DO I START A CAMPAIGN?

  1. Go to Undue Medical Debt’s Start a Medical Debt Relief Campaign page and choose the “regional campaign” when asked what type of campaign you would like to start.

  2. Choose “Organization” when prompted and fill out your hub’s information.

  3. We recommend a minimum of 4-6 months of lead time to prepare for your campaign. Undue Medical Debt currently has a $15,000 minimum fundraising requirement, and your hub needs ample time to prepare for this fundraising effort. The Shred the Debt team cannot financially support each individual campaign.  

  4. Under the “ANYTHING ELSE YOU’D LIKE TO MENTION?” section, you can provide more information as to how localized you would like your campaign to be. You can focus on specific counties (a minimum of 3 is required), but due to debt availability in the area, you may be told to expand your campaign’s footprint to encompass a larger area within your region to meet the minimum fundraising amount.

  5. Once submitted, a member from Undue Medical Debt will be in contact with you within 1-2 weeks to discuss your campaign.

  6. Please use the naming scheme “Shred the Debt: [Your Region]” as this will help us keep track of campaigns and provide visibility to your campaign! 

  7. Connect with the Shred the Debt team through our WhatsApp channel to be provided with support and tips and tricks from other hubs running their own campaigns!

  8. Document your progress and share your impact with the community, we regularly update our campaigns tab with active links and the impact your hub has made!

RESOURCES

FAQs

General Questions

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  • Undue Medical Debt has hospital partnerships and buys debt in the form of bundled portfolios. Undue buys the debt of those who earn at or less than 4x the federal poverty level and/or those whose debts are 5 percent or more of their annual income. Undue Medical Debt never collects on the debts they purchase, they only forgive it.

  • Shred the Debt campaigns eliminate debt for those who earn at or less than 4x the federal poverty level and/or those whose debts are 5 percent or more of their annual income. Due to HIPAA guidelines, we do not know exactly who benefits from the campaign’s efforts, just that they are benefiting people in our region. Once your campaign is completed, Undue Medical Debt will send you a Debt Fulfillment Report detailing the amount of medical debt abolished and for how many people.

  • If your hub does not reach its fundraising minimum, the funds are not guaranteed to be localized to your area and will be utilized to erase medical debt across the United States. Only reaching the minimum amount guarantees localized debt abolishment. For more information, please ask your representative at Undue Medical Debt.

  • We recommend a crowdfunding campaign as it requires no upfront cost from your hub. A local donation is a single donation transaction made by your hub (e.g. a check) to Undue and is split 80/20, with 80% going towards erasing medical debt and 20% going towards general operating expenses for Undue.

  • No, Undue Medical Debt hosts the campaign through their own fundraising platform similar to GoFundMe. When creating a campaign, be sure to create a crowdfunding campaign as opposed to local donation. Crowdfunding campaigns are not under the 80/20 donation split.

  • Unfortunately, we are not able to provide financial support to campaigns. All fundraising should be localized to your hub’s network and community. The Shred the Debt project team can support through amplification on social media and project support through our WhatsApp channel.

Pre-Campaign Phase

  • We recommend a minimum of 4-6 months to prepare a Shred the Debt campaign.

  • We recommend having a team with roles in communications, fundraising, logistics, and event coordination.

If you have any other specific questions related to Undue Medical Debt, please visit https://unduemedicaldebt.org/faq/ or ask the team at Undue directly when you are in contact with them during your campaign creation phase, as they will have the most up to date information. The information related to working with Undue Medical Debt has been provided from current hub’s interactions with Undue and is subject to change. When in doubt, defer to the Undue Medical Debt team!