GiveForward: Crowdfunding Kidneys, Cures and Cancer Treatment

It seems simple enough: You get sick, you go to a hospital. But then the bills come, and even when there is a health insurance company paying, it doesn't help with lost wages or the cornucopia of other expenses that come with an extended illness.

That's why GiveForward was started in Chicago in 2008. The crowdfunding website is a platform for small-time fundraisers to find donors without starting a full nonprofit organization.

Similar to Kickstarter, GiveForward gives small-scale donors an opportunity to focus their donations on individuals and have a bigger say in where their money goes.

Most projects focus on raising money for medical expenses and those extra expenses that come with it, ranging from chemotherapy treatment to to helping a kidney donor take time off to recover to remaking a 1991 Ford Bronco.