CaringBridge

What CaringBridge does

CaringBridge is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1997 by Sona Mehring and headquartered in Bloomington, Minnesota. It operates a free, ad-free web and mobile platform that enables family caregivers and patients to create individual health journey pages where they can share updates, document their experience, coordinate practical help, and connect with a community of supporters. The platform supports over 1 million created pages, 240,000+ daily visitors, 81 million annual visits, and reaches families across all 50 US states and more than 240 countries.

The underlying technology consists of a self-serve web platform and mobile application with customizable privacy controls (private, public, or by-invitation-only), social sign-in via Facebook, Google, and Apple, and a 'Ways to Help' feature set that integrates third-party services including GoFundMe, Meal Train, DoorDash, Instacart, and InComm Payments gift cards. Content products include 'The Bridges Between Us' podcast, the Caregiver's Companion Journaling Guide, expert advice articles, and a resource library. Healthcare organization referral partnerships with Dana-Farber, Mayo Clinic Health System, and Akron Children's Hospital serve as a distribution channel.

The business model is donor-supported philanthropy: the platform is free to all users with no advertising and no personal data sales. Revenue derives from individual donations, corporate partnership contributions (including DoorDash and Walgreens match campaigns), and gift card transaction fees via InComm Payments. Go-to-market is product-led growth complemented by healthcare channel partners, with no traditional sales motion given the consumer/B2C2C model. The leadership team is led by CEO Stephanie Schmid (effective March 2026, after serving as interim CEO since October 2025 and previously as Chief Growth Officer), with a small executive bench including a CFO, CPO, fractional CSO, VP of Technology, and functional directors.

Name

CaringBridge

Legal name

CaringBridge Inc.

Website

https://caringbridge.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1997

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

CaringBridge is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit operating a free, ad-free web and mobile platform since 1997 that enables family caregivers and patients to share health journey updates, coordinate practical help, and connect with community support across all 50 US states and 240+ countries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Health Communications Platform

NAICS

Other Individual and Family Services (624190), Other Individual and Family Services (62419)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Family Caregiver Coaching, Education & Support (HSABAIAI)

akta.pro secondary industry

Caregiver Support, Coaching & Training (HLADALAG)

Keywords

• Caregiver support platform
• Health communications platform
• Nonprofit health platform
• Patient family engagement
• Online support community

Headquarters

HQ city

Bloomington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Individual Donations: CaringBridge is a donor-supported 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Individual donors contribute to support the mission of keeping the platform free for all users. The platform runs Giving Tuesday campaigns and ongoing donation appeals.
2. Corporate Partnerships and Donations: Corporate partners like DoorDash contribute matching donations and gift cards. Walgreens has conducted donation matches. These partnerships provide both financial support and practical resources for caregivers.
3. Gift Card Services: Partnership with InComm Payments enables gift card services allowing supporters to send meal deliveries, transportation services, and other practical help directly to caregivers through the platform.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

CaringBridge operates a free, donor-supported web and mobile platform where family caregivers create individual CaringBridge Pages to share health journey updates, coordinate practical help such as meals, rides, and financial assistance, and connect with a supportive community. The platform is ad-free, customizable for privacy (private, public, or invitation-only), and integrates with GoFundMe, Meal Train, Instacart, DoorDash, and InComm Payments for tangible support. It is offered alongside The Bridges Between Us podcast (May 2026) and the Caregiver's Companion Journaling Guide (2024) as supporting resources.

Product overview

CaringBridge is a nonprofit health communications platform consisting of a core web and mobile application where users create Individual Pages to share health journey updates, coordinate care, and build supportive communities. The platform offers Ways to Help features including meal coordination (via Meal Train), fundraising tools (via GoFundMe integration), and gift card services (via DoorDash, Instacart, and InComm Payments partnerships). Additional offerings include The Bridges Between Us podcast, the Caregiver's Companion Journaling Guide, and expert advice content. The platform is free to users and donor-supported, having served families since 1997.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• The Bridges Between Us: A podcast by CaringBridge exploring honest conversations about illness, recovery, resilience, and caregiving through personal stories of patients and family caregivers.

Products and services

• CaringBridge Platform A no-cost, ad-free, donor-supported web and mobile health communications platform for family caregivers and patients on a health journey. Users create Individual Pages to share updates, coordinate help, and connect with a community of supporters; the platform includes privacy controls and integrates with social sign-in providers (Facebook, Google, Apple).
• CaringBridge Individual Pages Personalized pages created on the CaringBridge Platform for individuals on a health journey, used to share health updates, capture journaling entries, coordinate help (meals, rides, financial assistance via Ways to Help integrations), and connect with a private community of supporters.
• The Bridges Between Us Podcast A podcast from CaringBridge exploring honest conversations about illness, recovery, resilience, and the people who show up, featuring real stories about caregiving, illness, recovery, and human connection. Hosted by cancer survivor Andy Thieman; new episodes every other Friday.
• Caregiver's Companion Journaling Guide A therapeutic writing guide offering journaling prompts for caregivers and patients on a health journey. Helps bring order to thoughts and fears, allows tracking of progress over time, and provides a way to share healing with others.

Quantifiable outcome

• CaringBridge users experience 3x greater feelings of connection to family and friends than the national average
• +7 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration8 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

18 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• DoorDashcoreGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 December 2025DoorDash serves as a gift card partner for CaringBridge's Giving Tuesday campaign, matching donations dollar-for-dollar up to $50,000. The partnership allows loved ones to send DoorDash gift cards directly to caregivers through the CaringBridge platform to provide practical support such as meal deliveries. DoorDash also supports community efforts and charitable initiatives across its operational regions.
• DoorDashcoreGTM or Marketing Partner · 5 June 2025Partnership for a two-day fundraising match campaign to support family caregivers, where DoorDash helped amplify donation impact during a special campaign.
• WalgreensminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 18 December 2024Two-day donation match campaign where Walgreens matched donations on CaringBridge up to $50,000 to support family caregivers.
• InstacartcoreTechnology or Integration · 10 December 2024Partnership to allow easier community-led support for groceries, household essentials, and meals through Instacart's delivery capabilities integrated with CaringBridge.
• RedLadderminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 25 November 2024RedLadder achieved a milestone donation to CaringBridge through their innovative 'Trade Ladder' charitable fundraising model, just six months after their official launch.
• InComm PaymentscoreTechnology or Integration · 14 November 2024Launched gift card service enabling easier community-led support for meal deliveries, transportation services, and other practical help. Gift cards can be sent directly to caregivers through the platform.
• GoFundMecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGoFundMe is integrated as a Ways to Help feature allowing families to raise funds for financial needs. Approximately $10 million was raised for families' financial needs through the GoFundMe and InComm Payments gift cards partnership in 2025.
• Mayo Clinic Health SystemcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorMayo Clinic Health System is a referral partner that shares CaringBridge resources with patients and families. They highlight that CaringBridge is a nonprofit that started over 27 years ago and is free for patients to socially connect with loved ones and free for hospitals to use.
• Dana-Farber Cancer InstitutecoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorDana-Farber provides links on their website for cancer patients to start a CaringBridge page, calling it 'a wonderful resource for cancer patients.'
• Akron Children's HospitalminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorAkron Children's Hospital is a referral partner that appreciates the support CaringBridge provides to their patients and families.
• HealthWell FoundationminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerA nationally recognized, independent non-profit organization that provides financial assistance to underinsured patients facing medical hardship, serving as a safety net for over 1.3 million patients.
• ARCH (National Respite Network)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerProvides the National Respite Locator, National Respite Coalition, and Lifespan Respite Technical Assistance and Resource Center to help caregivers find respite services.
• Courageous Parents NetworkminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEmpowers parents and guardians caring for children with serious illness through video, shared community, professional guidance, and palliative care.
• St. Croix HospiceminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerProvides compassionate hospice care 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, with branches across the Midwest and round-the-clock availability.
• Triage CancerminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerOffers free educational webinars and materials on legal and practical issues for family caregivers and cancer patients.
• AARPminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerProvides support for food, housing, health, and employment through their Caregiver Resource Center with various resources for caregivers and families.
• American Cancer SocietyminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerOffers free lodging, transportation to treatment, breast cancer support, online communities, and free family caregiver and patient programs.
• Susan G. KomenminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerProvides free and personalized support for families, caregivers, and patients including educational resources and financial assistance for treatment.

Scale indicators18 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• HelpHOPELive: HelpHOPELive is a nonprofit that helps patients and families raise funds for uncovered medical and care expenses through verified fundraising campaigns. Like CaringBridge, it is a 501(c)(3) health-support nonprofit that blends emotional support with practical fundraising tied to a health journey.
• ARCHANGELS: ARCHANGELS is a nonprofit focused on caregiver recognition and support, including research referenced by CaringBridge (e.g., the 2020–2021 ARCHANGELS National Caregiver Survey used in their impact claims). They share the same caregiver-wellbeing target population and outcomes measurement frame.
• MyLifeLine.org (Cancer Support Community): MyLifeLine is a digital platform originally built by the Cancer Support Community for cancer patients and caregivers to share updates and request support. It is a direct functional peer to CaringBridge in the 'health journey communication' category, though narrower in disease scope.
• Lotsa Helping Hands: Lotsa Helping Hands is a free care coordination community platform that organizes volunteers for meals, rides, errands, and well-wishes around a member's health event. It overlaps directly with CaringBridge's coordination, communication, and support network features for family caregivers.
• Meal Train: Meal Train is a free care coordination platform that lets communities schedule and deliver meals to people during life events such as illness, recovery, and postpartum. It is integrated as a Ways to Help feature within CaringBridge pages, and both compete for the same family caregiver / patient use case on the meal-coordination workflow.

Emerging players

• PostHope Cards: PostHope is a smaller player providing greeting card and message services tailored to people facing health challenges, overlapping with CaringBridge's community encouragement and emotional support use case but in a narrower delivery format.

Broad incumbents

• AARP Caregiver Resource Center: AARP's caregiver resources portfolio includes educational content, financial tools, and community features for family caregivers. Listed as a CaringBridge partner, it competes for caregiver attention at a wider footprint but lacks CaringBridge's per-patient health-journey page experience.
• Care.com: Care.com is a broad marketplace and resource hub for caregivers, seniors, and families with paid marketplace care services plus editorial content. As a much larger incumbent serving overlapping caregiver needs, it competes for caregiver mindshare though its transactional care model differs from CaringBridge's free health-journey communication focus.

Others

• CancerCare: CancerCare is a national 501(c)(3) providing free professional support services and financial assistance to anyone affected by cancer, including family caregivers. It overlaps heavily in caregiver support and references CaringBridge as a resource — adjacent rather than directly competing for the communication platform use case.
• GoFundMe: GoFundMe is the dominant personal fundraising platform and is integrated with CaringBridge as a Ways to Help feature; together they have raised approximately $10M for families. They are not a direct competitor but an enabling ecosystem partner in the caregiver financial support flow.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/caringbridge
• Facebookfacebook.com/caringbridge
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/caringbridge
• Instagraminstagram.com/caringbridgeofficial

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about CaringBridge