En los últimos dos años, en las redes sociales, he visto cada vez más iniciativas de crowdfunding y recaudación de fondos personales. Sitios de crowdfunding como GoFundMe y Kickstarter eliminan al intermediario de la recaudación de fondos, permitiendo a la persona u organización necesitada apelar directamente al público en general.

In many cases, crowdfunding takes place when a family member or friend has a medical emergency and needs help with paying the bills. Unfortunately, many do not take into account other contributing factors or benefits some people may already be receiving. For example, if a crowdfunding site is established for a person with special needs who is receiving disability or medical benefits, negative repercussions can be seen.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) does not have a fixed policy regarding Social Security Income benefits and crowdfunding sites; however, its treatment of other resources can project the problem of crowdfunding accounts.

Let’s imagine a crowdfunding account that’s created for a young man, Aiden, who is currently receiving Social Security Income and Medicaid. If Aiden created the account for himself, that means he has direct access to the funds in the account. Regardless of whether the crowdfunding page outlines what he can use the money for, it is likely that the funds are going to be counted as a countable resource for Medicaid and Social Security Income (SSI) purposes. Once a donation is made, regardless of whether the intentions are to use the money for medical bills, the beneficiary, in this case, Aiden, can really use the money on whatever he chooses. For that reason, the SSA will most certainly count funds in a crowdsourcing account established by an SSI beneficiary as the beneficiary’s money, as will most state Medicaid agencies.

Cuando se trata de cuentas creadas en nombre de otra persona, las cosas pueden complicarse un poco. Tomemos a John, por ejemplo. John resultó gravemente herido en un accidente de moto. El mejor amigo de John, Peter, decidió crear una cuenta de crowdfunding para ayudar a pagar las facturas del hospital de John. En una situación como ésta, se puede argumentar que la cuenta no es un recurso del beneficiario, siempre que el beneficiario de Medicaid o SSI no tenga acceso directo a los fondos. Sin embargo, dado que la SSA no tiene normas específicas relativas a estas cuentas, es imposible saber si el dinero de una cuenta de crowdfunding contará para un beneficiario aunque no pueda acceder él mismo a los fondos.

Instead of creating a crowdfunding account in situations such as the ones outlined above, a better option would be to create a special needs trust to hold the funds to care for a beneficiary. Although creating a special needs trust might require additional work, they are unquestionably exempt from SSI and Medicaid resource restrictions. In some cases, some donors who want to use the convenience of a crowdfunding account with the benefits of a trust have set up a special needs trust first, then make it the beneficiary of the crowdfunding account.

Before setting up an account for a person with disabilities, it is imperative to discuss the matter with a special needs planner.