Know-How Exchange : Research/Metrics

You can run an Adwords campaign that will get 1,000+ people to the gofundme.com site, but it might cost you as much as you raise. No way to be sure, of course, until you try it.

There is no cost unless/until someone clicks. (Not sure if Google has any policy on ads for crowd-funding pages.)

Depends on how compelling the ad is, which keywords you target, use of Display Network, and how generous the audience is when they get to the page. You can also try Facebook paid advertising.

The best "free" options are probably social media (digital word-of-mouth) - Facebook, Twitter, etc. Additionally, having a sincere, emotional video would help. Even though the amount of text is short, some people skip over funding campaigns if they don't see a video to watch. And provide constant updates - often times people who give to such causes want to know how things are going, good or bad; they want to feel informed and involved.

Focus on who specifically is likely to donate. Where are they located? What gender? Age? Income level? Health background? Then appeal to that group of people. Maybe they are members of a club, a non-profit, a church, a local for-profit business, cancer survivor's group, etc. Approach that group - reaching out through friends and family that may know someone who knows someone. Help those people with a clearly written message that they can email and/or paste into social media and/or read on a phone call. Try a little bit, adjust, and repeat. Good luck.