In a powerful new documentary from Broadly, the data on maternity leave in America is impossible to ignore: The USA is only one of two countries that does not guarantee its new mothers maternity leave. You have 12 weeks (about three months) of unpaid maternity leave and your job will still be there for you when you get back. Government employees are guaranteed six weeks of paid leave, but then it's back to work. If you can afford to take time off and care for your newborn, that's great. But hey, you just had a new baby, and babies are expensive. Can you give up 12 weeks —or more — of your salary?
Up until now, many parents felt they didn't have an option. But BuzzFeed reports women have recently started turning to crowdfunding sites like GoFundMe to raise money to cover costs incurred during unpaid maternity leave. "A search for “maternity leave” on [GoFundMe] yielded more than 1,200 results," reporter Cora Lewis writes. So no, crowdfunding isn't just for getting people to invest in your app idea, or innovative winter jacket design.
Personal crowd-funders sometimes ask for help covering the cost of child care during an emergency, transportation to see a medical specialist, or to replace property lost during a disaster insurance won’t cover. Sites like GoFundMe, GiveForward, YouCaring, and “Generosity” (formerly IndieGogo Life) supply platforms for these campaigns, charging modest percentages for facilitating.
Friends of a woman named Nashalla set up a page to help her spend a month away from running her own business to take care of her newborn. The goal was $3,700; the campaign has raised $2,046 so far. A woman named Anna Pepper from Lincoln Nebraska raised $960, only $40 away from her goal.
I am horrible at knowing what to say or how to ask for help. I know that I can't thank you enough for your donation, big or little, every thing helps. It has been a frustrating time for me, as the few things I had to depend on during this time off have all but fell through. I have since applied for every kind of help I could apply for, but don't seem to qualify for anything. If I could just get through these last couple of weeks and come up with enough to pay my rent so I don't lose my home, I will be back to work and back on track. I can not thank enough for any donation.
Unfortunately, a quick click through to the "maternity leave" search results on GoFundMe show that the majority of these women haven't raised much money, if any; a far cry from crowdsourcing campaigns for games, clothing, and new technology that go viral and yield tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of dollars seemingly overnight. Even some of the women who've raised a few hundred dollars of generous donations know that there's only so far those bills will stretch with a new baby.
You can watch Broadly's documentary here.
