Using Crowdfunding To Start A Company With A Cause

Two sisters, Kara Gorski and Kristin Gembala, have developed a bra designed to help breast cancer survivors who have had mastectomies and reconstructive surgery. So far, the sisters, who invested $25,000 from their savings, have designed and patented two styles and built a Web site. Currently, they are trying to raise money to begin manufacturing through a new crowdfunding platform.

For Ms. Gorski, a Ph.D. in economics with two children who works for a consulting firm in the Washington area, and Ms. Gembala, a stay-at-home mother with four children, the business — known as braGGs — is personal. Their mother died of breast cancer at age 39, when the sisters were just 7 and 12 years old. Twenty-eight years later, at age 35, Ms. Gorski discovered her own breast cancer. Soon, both sisters were found to carry the BRCA1 genetic mutation, which the National Institutes of Health says means an 87 percent chance of developing breast cancer and a 45 percent chance of developing ovarian cancer.