SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – In a perfect world, everyone would have access to clean food and water, safe shelter, meaningful work … and free boob jobs.
Mankind hasn’t made progress on the first three goals, but the third is in sight. A website called MyFreeImplants.com offers women who consider themselves under-endowed to crowdfund surgical breast enhancement.
No, we’re not kidding. MyFreeImplants brings together cash-strapped women seeking boob jobs, contributors (likely male) who believe donating is the least they can do for the girl of their dreams and plastic surgeons who know an opportunithy when they see one.
Jay Moore is co-founder of the crowdfunding operation. YNOT.com asked him for the details.
YNOT: How does the program work?
Jay Moore: MyFreeImplants.com is a specialized social networking website that provides fundraising for women who have a strong desire to enhance their physical appearance through breast augmentation surgery, and donors who wish to make a difference in their lives.
Where did you get the idea?
We started in early 2005 when a bunch of friends were attending a bachelor party in Las Vegas. During the course of the party a conversation started up about how our hostess had the most perfect set of breasts. She told us how she had just recently “gotten them done.”
Her beautiful friend chimed in and mentioned that she wanted to get hers done, too, but could not afford the $6,000 price tag. One of us yelled out “I got $5 on it,” and then someone else offered $10 and then $20 and then $50. By the time we done, there was a verbal commitment amongst our friends to pay for 20-percent of her implants.
With that initial brainstorm and proof of concept, we set out to raise the rest of the money needed for a full procedure. We came up with the name MyFreeImplants.com and put together a quick website and started spreading the word online. It was an instant hit, and donations poured in from all over the world. Within four months the remainder of the money was raised, and a woman’s dream of bigger breasts was achieved.
From there, we took the concept to the next level and expanded the website from helping out just one lady to an entire community of women. In July of 2005, the community version of the site launched. Within the first couple of weeks, the traffic to the website quadrupled and people were creating accounts left and right, eventually forcing us to purchase more bandwidth and faster servers just to keep up with the demand.
Four months later the next success story emerged when a girl named Angel from Texas reached her goal and received a free breast augmentation — paid for by a group of people worldwide all chipping in a few bucks.
Who is eligible for funding?
Anyone who is medically fit for the procedure and of legal age in their county is eligible to fundraise.
What kinds of people put up the money? What do they get in exchange?
Donors from all over the world play an active role in helping the women reach their goals while developing connections that last a lifetime. Ninety-five percent of contributors are men, and the rest are women. The contributors range from complete strangers who meet and build a friendship, to friends and family members who want to chip in.
Donors get to interact virtually with any of the more than 4,000 women actively looking for assistance. They can contribute with direct donations of any amount and receive photos, videos, messages and everlasting gratitude in exchange.
What have the results been like so far?
The community has successfully funded more than 1,200 breast augmentations and dozens of other cosmetic procedures for our members. We average about one cosmetic procedure funded per day.
How does the site make money?
After credit card fees, the website makes about 10 percent of each donation. We also run advertisements for cosmetic surgeons and other partners wishing to gain our clients business.
Do you have any spinoffs planned?
We don’t have any spinoffs planned, but we’ve recently started a trial for “other” cosmetic surgeries in addition to breast augmentation. Women who have already successfully funded an augmentation may raise money for other procedures. In the near future we may open this option up to everyone, thus allowing all types of procedures to be crowdfunded.
