Holistic Influence of Multimodal Medical Crowdfunding Affordances on Charitable Crowdfunding Outcome: Systematic Multimodel Analysis Study.

Background: Medical crowdfunding has emerged as a critical tool to alleviate the financial burden of health care costs, particularly in regions where economic disparities limit access to medical treatment. Despite its potential, the success rates of medical crowdfunding projects remain low, with only 9% achieving their fundraising goals in China. Previous research has examined isolated factors influencing success, but a holistic understanding of how multimodal affordances-narrativity, visibility, and progress-collectively impact donor behavior and project outcomes is lacking.

Objective: This study aims to investigate how medical crowdfunding affordances, as an integrated system, influence the success of charitable crowdfunding projects. Specifically, it explores the roles of narrativity (textual elements), visibility (visual elements), and progress (dynamic updates) affordances, and how these interact with patient demographics to shape donor engagement and fundraising outcomes.

Methods: A multimodal analysis was conducted using 1261 medical crowdfunding projects from the Shuidichou platform in China. Machine learning techniques (eg, sentiment analysis via SnowNLP) and regression models were used to examine textual content, visual elements, and progress updates. Control variables included patient age, gender, and beneficiary type. Hypotheses were tested using both continuous (success ratio) and binary (success indicator) measures of project success. In total, 6 models were constructed to examine the influences of affordances.

Results: The study found that narrativity affordances-longer titles (model 1a: P=.04; model 3a: P=.03) and detailed surplus fund descriptions (P=.03)-boosted success, while overly lengthy surplus fund explanations had diminishing returns (P=.005). Disease mentions in titles increased donations (model 1a: P=.01; model 3a: P=.003). A neutral tone in the project plan also improved success (P<.001). For visibility affordances, a moderate number of progress photos maximized project success, while excessive visuals reduced impact (P<.001). Progress affordances followed a similar pattern, with a moderate number of updates enhancing success (P<.001). Critically, when all affordances were considered, only progress update frequency retained a strong inverted U-shaped effect on success (P<.001). Demographics, particularly age, also influenced donations: patients at both ends of the age spectrum received greater support , while middle-aged individuals received less (model 1b: P=.02; model 2b: P=.005; model 3b: P=.02).

Conclusions: This study advances medical crowdfunding affordance theory by demonstrating the interconnected effects of narrativity, visibility, and progress affordances on project success. Practically, results highlight the importance of strategically crafted titles, targeted demographic disclosures, and balanced progress updates-with moderate update frequency being crucial when controlling all affordances-to enhance donor engagement. Platform designers and project organizers can apply these insights to optimize fundraising outcomes and effectively address health care inequalities. Future research should further investigate visual content analysis and donor psychology to refine engagement strategies.