The Ultimate Guide to Crowdfunding for Environmental Charities

At Chuffed.org, we want to see our awesome environmental protection and conservation campaigners – people like you – run the most successful crowdfunding campaigns that they can.

So we’ve put together this guide that will step you through creating a strong campaign page to strengthen the foundations of your campaign.

The Crowdfunding Campaign page

A crowdfunding campaign page is the page on Chuffed.org where you’ll direct supporters, donors, friends and family. It will include the details of who you are, what you are trying to achieve and how you plan to do so, and, it is the place supporters actually donate to your campaign.

Choosing the right options and including information in an easily digestible way is important and can be the difference between a good campaign and a great one.

A campaign page looks a bit like this example from Environment Tasmania. The title is at the top, followed by the name of your organisation. To the left of the screen under the title is the campaign banner or video; on the right is the campaign target and counter. Under this is a box containing your campaign’s ‘pitch’ and buttons supporters use to initiate their donations.

Beneath these is the main body text outlining your campaign’s story – the campaign description. The tabs can be switched to show comments from supporters, and names of supporters. On the right next to the main story are where perks are listed should you choose to have them.

Click here to see Environment Tasmania’s full campaign page.

Setting up your campaign page

All the components of a crowdfunding campaign page are stepped out below alongside examples from successful environmental protection campaigns we’ve hosted on Chuffed.org.

We’ve also created this handy Google Doc template that you can use to collaborate with your team. It contains some more examples from great campaigns.

To start setting up your crowdfunding campaign page, head to chuffed.org/start.

1. Campaign title

This is what your campaign is called. The title shows at the top of your campaign page and is shared with potential supporters when you share the campaign out via Facebook and Twitter – so the title (along with the banner image – more about that below) is the first thing people will see.

Good titles are less than 5 words long and are like the title of a book: memorable or catchy. You might include alliteration, a question, a play on words or unique spelling.

Some real examples from successful campaigns:

Where have all the Grasswrens gone?
Build Farmwalls with us!
Project Piggy Paradise
Save Sawtell Cinema
I came by boat
Two Good Lunch

2. Target

All campaigns on Chuffed.org need to set a campaign funding target. You’ll receive your funds even if you don’t hit your target, but it’s important to set your target at an achievable level to build credibility with your supporters.

You should set your target based on three factors:

Cost: What does it cost to deliver your project?
Audience size: How many people do you have already in your database or email list?
Available time: How much time do you have to prepare in the 4 weeks prior to the campaign and promote during your campaign?

As a rough rule of thumb, we find that the following is a reasonable way to set your target:

Email contacts are the most valuable, followed by Facebook friends and then Twitter or LinkedIn contacts.

3. Timeframe

On Chuffed.org, you can choose to either run your campaign for a fixed length of time (90 days or less) or ongoing with no end date in what we call Infinity Mode.

If it’s your first campaign, we generally find that you’ll raise the most when you run a 30-40 day campaign. The reason for this is that the time pressure forces your team to act, which drives momentum, which brings more people to your campaign. Campaigns that stretch on for a long period of time struggle to gain interest because supporters get distracted by other things in their lives.

4. Writing up your campaign

This is where you tell your supporters about your project: why your cause is important and what you are doing to make a difference.

Pitch

The pitch is short blurb to describe what you’re doing in 200 characters. It sits in a box just under you campaign target on the campaign page.

It is what potential supporters are likely to read first and helps them understand quickly what your project is about. Remember: they’re busy, and they’ll be skim reading, so the pitch is your chance to grab their attention and tell them why they should read your full campaign description. Be as succinct, specific and engaging as you can.

Here are some examples of good pitches used by real environmental protection campaigns on Chuffed.org:

Help us to share the Climate Choir message! Over 600 singers from community choirs across the country will join to urge action on climate change in the lead up to the UN Climate Conference in Bonn.

Every day the small team at Wildlife Queensland puts its heart and soul into correcting biodiversity loss in Queensland. YOU CAN give us the tools to keep up the good work for our wildlife in 2018!!!

We’re going out on a limb here – literally! Help us engineer an epic STEAM education opportunity for kids by using plastic waste to 3D print ROBOTIC PROSTHETICS for Australians in need. Let’s move!

And some not so great pitches:

We are a volunteer driven not-for-profit organisation that aims to empower communities across the region to address our climate challenges together. Help us support in this work.

An elephant is poached every 15 minutes for their ivory leaving behind many orphans. Help support us to save them and re-integrate them into the wild.

The idea is to start a recycling workshop and involve local and international artists to create art by reducing plastic waste.

Campaign description

This is the larger block of text on your campaign page and it’s where you can go into detail about what you’re doing. The best campaigns use about 300-500 words, combined with pictures, to tell a story about the change they want to make and how they plan to do it. You can even embed images or videos that you might have (in addition to the main campaign banner or video – described below).

As your campaign progresses, you can keep editing your campaign description. It’s a great place to put in progress updates- like Edgar’s Mission did in this award winning campaign – so that supporters who are checking your page regularly have fresh content to enjoy.

Below is a simple structure you can use for your campaign description. The example we’ve used is a summarised version of the excellent Foundation for National Parks and Wildlife campaign to save a colony of Little Penguins. We recommend you read the full campaign description.

EXAMPLE CAMPAIGN DESCRIPTION STRUCTURE

Section: Background

In this section:

Introduce your vision for change and/or the story of who you are.
Tell supporters briefly about the issue you’re addressing and why you want to do something about it.
Use first person stories over facts and numbers to paint a picture.

Example

The penguin colony: Amongst the hustle and bustle of Australia’s biggest city, a group of charming and unusual locals have set up home in the popular suburb of Manly.The Manly colony of Little Penguins in Sydney Harbour is the only mainland breeding colony left in New South Wales. This special and unique colony was listed as an endangered population in the 1990s.

But there’s a problem… During June, a fox discovered this colony and devastated the population of Little Penguins at Manly. In just over two weeks, 27 helpless Little Penguins were killed by the fox.

Section: What we’re doing

This is where you should:

Describe your project in practical detail. If you’re building something, show drawings or images of what it’s going to look like.

Example

In response to these gruesome discoveries, a special team of field officers, National Parks and Wildlife Service rangers, experts and volunteers are keeping watch on the nesting penguins day and night, to protect them from further attacks. At the same time an operation to trap the cunning creature continues.

Foxes are a huge threat to our native fauna and it is highly likely that other foxes in the future will attempt a similar attack. This is why we need your assistance, to help the volunteers and NPWS monitor and protect Manly’s Little Penguins from any future attacks and to help rebuild their endangered colony.

Section: What we’ll do with the funds

In this part you should:

Break down your target and talk about what exactly the money will be spent on.

Example

In order to outfox the fox, more specialised equipment is needed as well as additional nest boxes. Here are some of the items FNPW are fundraising for:

$10,000 for 20 motion sensing cameras to monitor the area
$5,000 for a thermal camera that can detect the heat given off by penguins and predators
$450 for 5 fox lights that are triggered by movement and give off bright, flashing lights to scare away foxes
$1,000 for 10 nesting boxes to help the penguins rebuild their population

Section: Who we are

People give to people. They want to supporter a person, not a faceless project. So:

Add a bio of yourself and your team.
Add quotes from well known people to build credibility.

Example

The Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife has a long history of supporting the endangered colony of penguins in Manly. Since 1999 the Foundation has been helping fund equipment for volunteer wardens, nest boxes, signage to warn people about the presence of these vulnerable birds, and much more.

FNPW working in partnership with the local NPWS rangers, Taronga Zoo, Manly Council, Manly Environment Centre and the Office of Environment & Heritage has helped keep the Little Penguins in Manly safe up until now.

Additional sections

You may also want to include sections in this main body text about:

Perks – Describe the perks that donors get back for donations at different donation levels. You can insert pictures that show them.
Media – Tell supporters about any media articles you get about your campaign. You can use the logos of the media outlets to build credibility.

Another great example comes from Farmwall, who raised over their $30,000 target to build aquaponic farming systems in Melbourne restaurants that will start to address the environmental impact of the way cities eat by reducing the distance between where food is grown and eaten. See their campaign page here. They take a different approach to the structure laid out above – presenting first their vision for the future, followed by how they intend to make it happen.

5. Banner image

The banner image is the main visual element of your campaign. It’s the first thing potential supporters see and it gets shared on Facebook and Twitter alongside the campaign’s title.

This one comes from 350.org Australia’s campaign to raise funds to oppose the Adani coal mine. View their campaign here.

You want your image to:

Make your supporters feel inspired, entertained or curious, not guilty or shocked.
Be formatted to 684 x 385 pixels for optimal compatibility on our site.
Be in a normal image format – JPG, PNG or BMP.

For clarity, Chuffed.org is a guilt-free site. We reject campaigns that use guilt-imagery like dehumanizing photos of starving children to get donations, or graphic, disturbing images of animals.

6. Video

The best crowdfunding campaigns include a campaign video. This is a specific 2-5 minute video created for the campaign. Don’t use a generic promotion video designed for something else.

Campaign videos don’t need to be expensive or have high production value. It’s far more important that the video tells a compelling story than looks pretty.

Here are some tips:

People love seeing faces. Make sure the video includes relevant people talking at the camera at some point.
Keep it short. People get bored easily, so unless you’ve got an incredible storyline, don’t have a video longer than 3 minutes.
Be ridiculously enthusiastic. Not only do viewers feed off your enthusiasm, video has a weird way of taking normal speech and making it look like you’re bored senseless. If you act ridiculously enthusiastic, it looks completely normal on video.
Use narrative storytelling over facts. People share stories, not facts. An easy way of doing this is to follow one person’s story – which could be your own or a beneficiary.
Later model phone cameras and DSLR cameras take excellent quality videos. If you can pair that with a free movie editing package like iMovie on Mac, you can create fairly professional looking video for free.
If you do end up paying a production company for your video, budget at least $2,500/£1,500 for a 2 minute video.

All videos on Chuffed.org need to be uploaded to Youtube or Vimeo first. You then enter the URL from either service into the relevant field in the campaign editor.

Examples: For some inspiration, take a look at these two campaign videos made by the Conservation Council of Western Australia (Video 1; Video 2) and this one from Environment Tasmania.

7. Creating perks

Perks are things that you offer supporters who donate above a specific amount.

We get asked a lot about perks, especially about how important they are for crowdfunding success? Do I really need to offer perks? Won’t it stop people being philanthropic?

Our answer? Perks help. A LOT.

The reason for this is that perks give people a way of participating in your campaign. They tap into selfish motivations as well as benevolent motivations. And they let you access your supporters’ spending purse, not just their philanthropic purse — you can guess which of these is bigger.

So what perks should you offer?

Perks tend to fall into three categories:

Pre-release products or services: ‘Selling’ products and services via crowdfunding is probably the most common type of perk. Whether it’s a weekend away, tickets to your event, memberships, CDs, bee-hives or even crepes, forward selling products and services is a great way to get people involved in your project.
Unique experiences: Most environmental protection organisations don’t realise it, but they are nearly always an amazing repository of wonderfully special, unique experiences. It could be a personalised guided tour, workshops on a farm, tickets to an opening party, or even a chance to swim with whales.
Special recognition: A non-profit classic. Getting their name on or sponsoring a part of a project is still popular among many crowds. The key here is being creative on what can be sponsored. Edgar’s Mission had barns, rocks, rakes, posts, shelters and even a mountain. Making a documentary film? Offer sneak previews of the script or a donor’s name in the credits.

So, how do you come up with perks?

This might sound obvious, but the easiest way to come up with perks is to co-design them with potential donors. Edgar’s Mission ran a workshop with some of its key volunteers prior to its campaign to come up with their perks. Spacecubed – a co-working space in Perth – did the same with their members. It’s best to have a hypothesis on your perks as a starting point, as well as the levels you need perks at (normally $25, $50, $100, $250, $1000, $2500, $5000).

Some other considerations:

Have perks that are directly connected to your campaign These let people participate in your campaign or project and are far better than unconnected perks, e.g. Amazon gift cards.
Have an early bird offer on your perks This is a great way to build momentum. Spacecubed released a very limited number of highly discounted memberships in the first 24 hours of their campaign.
Some perks (drugs, anything illegal, raffles) are not allowed Make sure you check our terms to stay on the right side of the rules.

8. Payment options

When you’re setting up your campaign, you’ll have to choose what payment options you give to your donors. Your two options are:

Credit/debit cards: Donors can use any domestic or international Visa, Mastercard or American Express card to pay directly on our site (recommended). To use this payment option, you’ll need to create an account with Stripe for the funds to be transferred to. If you’re running an Australian campaign then you’ll just need to give us your bank details so we can transfer credit/debit card donations to you there.
PayPal: Donors can pay using their PayPal accounts.

Tip: Donors find the credit/debit card payment system much easier to use than PayPal. The donation process happens entirely on the Chuffed.org site – they just enter their card details and it works. PayPal unfortunately is confusing for a lot of donors and regularly rejects valid cards and accounts. They may also unexpectedly restrict your PayPal account if your campaign is very successful. We recommend only using PayPal as a secondary option with the credit/debit card system.

The way that you receive the funds from the two systems depends on which country you choose for your campaign – this should be a country where you have a bank account:

(1) During the campaign creation process, you will need to create an account with our payment processing provider, Stripe.com. This is a very simple, one form process, which will take less than 5 minutes.

(2) To accept PayPal payments, you will need to create a Premier or Business PayPal account at www.paypal.com, prior to launching your campaign. The campaign will need to be confirmed and connected to a bank account. This can take up to 3 months.

9. Additional options

On Chuffed.org, there are a number of optional customisations for your campaign page, including:

Collecting addresses from your donors: we’ll add an address collection form on the payment page if you select this. We only recommend collecting addresses when you absolutely need to, like if you need to post out a perk, as people feel weird giving about you their address.
Custom Thanks Message: you can customize the message that donors see immediately following their donation.
Impact Levels: instead of giving out perks, you can choose to show donors what impact different levels of donations make – think the classic £50 buys a goat for a farmer in Africa. It’s a bit old-school, but still works.
Custom URL Link: your can change the default URL link assigned to your campaign.
Custom default donation amounts: you can customize the default donation amounts that are shown on the donation box on your campaign page.
Offline donations: when supporters send you donations in cash or via cheque/check, you can add these to your campaign total by using our ‘offline donations’ function. You should limit the amount of offline donations to 50% of your total donations.
Tax-deductible receipting: Available for campaigns in Australia, Canada and the US where your organisation is eligible (e.g. Deductible Gift Recipient for Australian organisations). Every donor will be sent a receipt to meet requirements for them to claim a tax deduction.
Gift Aid (UK only): Chuffed.org can collect Gift Aid Declarations on behalf of recognized charities or registered community amateur sports clubs (CASC) which you can then submit to HMRC to claim your Gift Aid

Submitting for approval

All campaigns on Chuffed.org have to be submitted to us for approval before they can go live. We check that they satisfy our eligibility requirements and that they have a decent chance of reaching their target.

The approval process usually takes less than 24 hours. You will get an email from us that either approves your campaign for launch, asks you to modify your campaign and resubmit, or rejects your campaign outright.

About 60% of campaigns are approved on first submission. Once you’ve had one successfully funded campaign on Chuffed.org, we auto-approve all future campaigns.

For more inspiring environmental protection campaigns check out…

The Top 5 Environment Crowdfunding Campaigns
Search ‘Environment’ on the Chuffed Discover page or browse through the subcategories on our movements page

For more information and tips on how to crowdfunding…

If you’d like to read more about how to crowdfund, view our full guide here.

Or if you’re ready to draft your campaign, just head here.

April 5, 2018April 6, 2018

The Top 10 Animal Welfare Crowdfunding Campaigns

At Chuffed.org, we are privileged to see amazing campaigns launch every day. Our favourite thing is when campaigns take off to raise bucket loads for their cause or blitz through their fundraising targets.

Here are the Top 10 Animal Welfare Crowdfunding Campaigns – the ones that have raised the most money for their awesome projects and initiatives.

1. Help Us to Help Them: Bring White Rhino to Altina – $197,503

In 2016, the staff at Altina Wildlife Park in the New South Wales Riverina (in Australia) took their passion for animal conservation one step further, deciding to import three Southern White Rhinos – Mtoto, Mango and Tatu – as part of a global breeding initiative.

They raised a substantial amount of cash – $197,503 – to move, feed and house the animals in the biggest animal campaign yet on Chuffed.org.

Check out the campaign page here.

2. Duke’s Place Called Home – £90,360

Duke the Bullock, who was born a dwarf and sustained debilitating pelvic injuries while young, was rescued by a UK family and taken into their North Yorkshire home, along with countless other farm animals that were no longer seen as valuable by their former owners. Soon their kind-hearted endeavours became CALF Sanctuary and the family and animals all required a new home – one more suitable for Duke and his friends.

When they asked, the community rallied and contributed a huge £90,360 for the purchase of a suitable property and the relocation of all the animals to their new home.

Check out the campaign here

3. Raising the Roof – $162,458

Edgar’s Mission Farm Sanctuary houses rescued farm animals on 153 peaceful acres in Victoria, in southeastern Australia.

Named after founder Pam Ahern’s first rescued pig – Edgar Alan Pig – the sanctuary’s first Chuffed.org campaign went bananas, raising $162,458 to build bigger and better lodgings for all its animals. This included goat mountains and jungle gyms, a purpose built duck pond complete with waterfall and a chicken barn called the ‘Barn Mahal’.

Check out the campaign here

4. Create a Vegan – £82,096

What is Veganuary? The UK-based charity encourages people to try out a vegan diet in January (and at other times of the year too!) to reduce the number of animals in the farming system, our impact on the planet and improve our health all at the same time. They find a huge 67% of people who participate in January, stay vegan throughout the year.

Their #CreateAVegan campaign raised £82,096 to spread the word about Veganuary via advertisements on public transport in four cities across three countries: London, Manchester, Boston and Sydney.

Check out the campaign here

5. Project Piggy Paradise – $132,031

Another awesome campaign from our friends at Edgar’s Mission Farm Sanctuary – this time to build a swanky new home for the sanctuary’s rescued pigs. One that not only provided shelter, shade, warmth, showers, veterinary treatment areas and the like, but could also inspire change in the way pigs are viewed in our wider society.

Edgar’s raised $132,031 for the new facility which will allow the public – who can book in to visit – to see the unique and endearing personalities of pigs shine through, and come to a better understanding of these quirky creatures as much more than the before of a ham sandwich.

Check out the campaign here

6. $120,000 Kindness Challenge! – $128,172

Edgar’s Mission Farm Sanctuary were at it again! They asked supporters to help them raise $120,000 – which they outdid in a $128,172 raise.

The appeal saw them able to buy essential to get through the winter including over 1 tonne of fruit and veg, 100 new tools, 50 fruit trees, over 500 bales of hay, 5 new shelters, solar panels and a 4WD Utility Vehicle.

Check out the campaign here

7. You Can Save The Lives Of Homeless Dogs! – $83,495

Stray and mistreated dogs are a sad reality on the streets of Thailand’s cities and in other parts of Southeast Asia and the US-based charity Soi Dog Foundation has been doing something about it since 2003.

In 2015, the Foundation raised $82,495 towards the cost of building an animal hospital at their shelter in Phuket.

Check out the campaign here

8. Raise the Roof – £40,395

After the move to a property suitable to housing Duke the Bullock and his mates, Sharon and her family at CALF Sanctuary returned to Chuffed.org in 2016. They raised £40,395 to build a new barn to house the (increasingly social) Duke and: 5 cows, 5 pigs, 4 goats, 30+ sheep and lambs and a smattering of turkeys and chickens.

Check out the campaign here

9. Build a New Home for Mountain Lions – $53,655

The Center for Animal Research and Education (CARE) in Texas provides a safe forever home to big cats and other exotic animals no matter what their history or needs. The CARE property is currently home to 50 animals including mountain lions, African lions, tigers, black and spotted leopards, bobcats, ring-tail lemurs, llamas, and a coati.

When asked by the Dallas Zoo to take in two new mountain lions they stepped up and raised $53,655 to build them a proper home.

Check out the campaign here

10. Help PetRescue Fix the Pound – $63,347

PetRescue partner with over 750 animal rescue groups and shelters all over Australia – helping them to re-home hundreds of thousands of unwanted, lost or abandoned pets each year. This campaign – which raised $63,347 – helped them to reach out and partner with more Council-run pounds, only 1% of whom were using PetRescue’s free rehoming services at the time, and where, sadly, the majority of unwanted animals are still put down.

Check out the campaign here

But wait, there’s more!

If you’d like to check out all of the Animal campaigns we’ve hosted on Chuffed.org, you can search them all at our Discover page.

*Campaigns on Chuffed.org raise money in their local currency. This list is ordered by campaign size in Australian dollars.

March 29, 2018April 6, 2018

The Top 5 Environment Crowdfunding Campaigns

Here are the Top 5 Environment Crowdfunding Campaigns – the ones that have raised the most money for their awesome projects and initiatives.

1. Save Australia’s Heritage from Industrial Pollution – $86,300

In late 2017, the Conservation Council of Western Australia (CCWA) raised a massive $86,300 to protect the world’s largest collection of rock art on the Burrup Peninsula in the Murujuja National Park.

The money raised will be used to independently monitor the effects of nearby natural gas, iron ore and ammonium fertiliser and explosives industries on the ancient art and put hard evidence behind protection lobbying efforts.

Check out the campaign page here.

2. Help EDO Qld fight for a safer climate – $74,489

The Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) in the northeastern Australian state of Queensland has run almost a dozen giving campaigns on Chuffed.org and has achieved some amazing wins with 5 of them reaching our list of top grossing environmental campaigns! The second highest grossing of them, this appeal raised $74,489.

The EDO’s campaigns help them continue their important work helping ordinary folk stand up for the natural environment, advocating for stronger laws to protect nature and running legal challenges in Australia’s court system to hold industry and government to account.

Check out the campaign here

3. Help EDO Qld fight climate change in court – right now! – $70,827

Another of the Queensland Environmental Defenders Office‘s regular campaigns to protect the state’s natural assets – this one saw $70,827 raised to support their climate change litigation.

Check out the campaign here

4. Together we can reshape Queensland’s environmental laws – $70,248

The fourth in their set of campaigns on Chuffed.org, this Environmental Defenders Office campaign raised $70,248 for stronger legal protection of iconic places like the Great Barrier Reef and the Cape York Peninsula.

Check out the campaign here

5. Save the Mapleton Acadian Forest Trail from Clearcutting – $48,546

Not far from Montreal in Canada there is a forest of hemlocks, spruce, birch and beech that Quebec’s Elgin Eco Association raised $48,546 to protect in 2016.

Thanks to their work, the 65 hectare Mapleton Acadian Forest Trail Nature Preserve is now protected in perpetuity in partnership with the Nature Trust of New Brunswick and contains a 3 km nature trail with interpretive signs, footbridges, an observation platform, and a traditional sugar shack for nature lovers to enjoy.

Check out the campaign here

But wait, there’s more!

Environmental protection campaigns on Chuffed.org consistently raise large sums of money. Here are the next five top earning environmental campaigns:

6. 350.org Australia raised $44,366 with their campaign: EthicalJobs.com.au wants to match your donation to #StopAdani

7. The Conservation Council of Western Australia raised $43,705 with their campaign: Supreme Court Action to stop Yeelirrie uranium mine

8. The Environmental Defenders Office Queensland raised $42,834 with their campaign: Help EDO Qld keep fighting for your future

9. Climate for Change raised $41,754 with their campaign: Climate for Change Crowdfunder

10. Environment Tasmania raised $41,635 with their campaign: Help keep Tasmania Truly, Deeply Wild

If you’d like to check out all of the Environment campaigns we’ve hosted on Chuffed.org, you can search them all at our Discover page.

*Campaigns on Chuffed.org raise money in their local currency. This list is ordered by campaign size in Australian dollars.

February 13, 2018March 28, 2018

London’s First Crowdfunding Accelerator for Social Causes

An 8 Week Crowdfunding Bootcamp for charities, social entrepreneurs and individuals looking to raise their impact by running a successful crowdfunding campaign.

Apply Now

Are you looking to build and launch a crowdfunding campaign to raise funds for your social cause and build a community who are emotionally and financially invested in its success?

We have partnered with the award-winning consultants at Crowdfund 360 to run a practical and highly interactive crowdfunding training program in London, for anyone interested in building and launching a crowdfunding campaign to raise funds for their social cause and activate the benefits of this powerful marketing machine.

During the 8 Week Crowdfunding Accelerator Training, we will take you step by step through our crowdfunding success system, helping you make sense of the experience. We will help you bring your campaign to life by launching it with you at the end of the training and remaining by your side for the duration of your campaign (an additional 5 weeks tailored support).

The training will take place every Thursday morning at Impact Hub Brixton for 8 weeks, starting April 19th. Through a combination of masterclasses and one on one sessions, each week participants will receive guidance from our experts to get everything setup for their campaign.

This training includes, but is not limited to the following:

There are also two weeks reserved for peer feedback and expert 1:1 advice. By the end of this Accelerator, participants will be ready to launch their campaign on Chuffed.org. Throughout the duration of the participant’s crowdfunding campaign, the experts at Chuffed.org and Crowdfund 360 will provide ongoing tailored support.

When does the 8-Week Crowdfunding Accelerator commence?

Thursday April 19th, 9:30am – 1230pm (to continue every Thursday for 8 weeks)

When will my crowdfunding campaign go live?

Tuesday 12th June (to run for a period of 5 weeks with support from Crowdfund 360 and Chuffed.org)

What are the fees to take part?

Projects aiming to raise less than £5,000 will be charged a flat rate of £330
Projects aiming to raise between £5-10k will be charged £440
Projects aiming to raise between £10k-£20k will be charged £500
Projects aiming to raise over £20k will be charged £660
*Apply by 2nd March and receive 20% discount!
*10% discounts for SSE fellows and Impact Hub members
**Payment plans available by request – email accelerator@chuffed.org to work out a plan that will work best for you

What is the qualifying criteria to take part?

We are looking for individuals with a social cause, charities, social enterprises or startups and other organisations who want to raise over £2,000 through crowdfunding and already have a project or idea in mind. Applicants need to be aware that raising funds is a time consuming process and must be willing to put in the time and work required. Candidates need to be available to attend the session held one morning a week (Thursdays) at Impact Hub Brixton, and will have the option to hot desk in the office space there for the remainder of the day.

When is the deadline for applications?

Spaces are limited, so we recommend applying as soon as possible. Deadline for applications is midnight on 27th March.

Apply Now

Questions? Email us at accelerator@chuffed.org

January 17, 2018January 22, 2018

Join the Crowd

Click here to join the Chuffed Crowd. Don’t forget to say hello!

Our mission at Chuffed is to do everything we can to help people make a difference in the world. There’s a lot more to making a difference than just raising funds. While we’ll always be there to help with that, we want to do more.

We’ve created a community of Changemakers, just like you. Here’s 5 reason’s why you should join:

Learn from the best

Many of our campaigners have gone on to build amazing organisations. Like Rob from TwoGood and Kyle from Edgars Mission. You can talk to experts right now and not just about running your campaign, our experts know how to help you achieve the greatest impact with the funds you raise.

Surround yourself with people who believe in change

Sometimes it can feel like you’re the only one who sees how important it is to just do something. This is a great way to meet others who believe in making a difference.

Meet people just like you

We have an international crowd with campaigners making a difference on almost every continent even Antarctica. We work with people involved in every cause imaginable, from building schools to saving animals, and everything in between.

Build connections to help you find more donors

We are surrounded by incredible people who are willing to donate to make a difference. Build connections with those who have run campaigns in the past and get their help to link you up with the donors that helped them.

Help others make a difference.

Running a successful campaign is an art form, and it takes great skill to use the funds raised wisely and effectively. The more support we can give each other, the bigger the changes we can make in the world.

We need your help to make our community grow. Whether you’re brand new to this world, or a seasoned veteran we’d like your help to create a movement around making a difference.

Click here to join today!

Above: Members of our community from the Hummingbird Project. They raised 15,000 to help people in Calais. Click the link to find out more.

November 27, 2017November 28, 2017

We Just Raised $20 Million

I remember when #GivingTuesday first launched in Australia. It was 2013, I had just hired our first employee, and together, we had just launched the new rebranded “Chuffed.org”.

This is what it looked like (the internet ages quick!):

About as many people knew what #GivingTuesday was as knew what crowdfunding was – and even fewer knew about us. As a concept, crowdfunding was so foreign that we had to slip it into presentations about “online fundraising” so that people knew what we were talking about.

It wouldn’t be until the next #GivingTuesday in 2014 that we’d announce hitting our first $1 Million milestone through Chuffed.org.

Now, three years later, we have an incredibly special announcement. You, our amazing community, have now donated $20 Million to campaigns on Chuffed.org.

We can’t thank you enough for believing in us, and more importantly believing in our campaigners. Everyday, they put up their hand to make our community and the world at large better for everyone.

When we hit $10 Million in donations, we celebrated by letting you in on some of our more interesting data in this post.

Today, we’re reflecting on the big trends in 2017 and what that means for the future.

Trend 1: Seniors are getting online – fast

The growth of 65+ year old donors outstripped the growth rate of any other demographic bucket. Their share of donations grew at 20%, mostly taking market share from 18-24 year olds. To put that in perspective, 65 year olds now account for nearly twice as many donations on Chuffed.org as 18-24 year olds.

Trend 2: Mobile donating is taking over desktop

It’s been coming for a long time, but now it’s official. We’re at 50/50 for mobile -tablet donating vs desktop donations. Despite those tiny keys, punching in your card details on your phone or tablet is now just as popular as doing it on a computer. Looking at the trend, mobile donating is set to become the norm very soon.

Trend 3: Campaigns are getting bigger

This year we focused a lot of effort on bringing more education to our campaigners: we built the Chuffed.org Academy, we trained 100s of campaigners through our in-person workshops, and we focused on building tools in Chuffed.org that we know make people more successful – like our new Chuffed Team Tools.

The result: campaigns now raise 28% more on average.

Oh, and not only are they raising more, their doing it even quicker – 15% quicker to be exact.

Stayed tuned in 2018 for some great tools we’ll be adding that are going to help you raise even more.

Trend 4: People aren’t stopping for dinner

Last year, people used to take the 7pm hour off from donating to – we assume – stop and have dinner. In 2017, it looks like we’re now on our phones, donating straight through dinner – the dip has disappeared. I’m not really sure how I feel about this one!

Want to know what didn’t change?

Trend 5: Women are still much more likely than men to donate

Women continue to lead the revolution. Donors are still twice as likely to be women than men and women outshine men in every single age demographic.

To celebrate #GivingTuesday2017, we’re giving you a sneak peak into Movements – a brand new way of finding campaigns you care about on Chuffed.org. Just click through here, find something that you’re passionate about and I’m sure you’ll find a campaign that’ll inspire you.

Prashan Paramanathan, CEO, Chuffed.org

October 6, 2017November 23, 2017

Welcome to Chuffed.org Teams

What do you think makes the most difference to your chances of success on a crowdfunding campaign? The Video? The Perks? The Target?

Turns out it’s none of those.

We analysed over 5,000 campaigns on Chuffed.org and found that the standout factor that determined whether you were likely to be successful or not was whether you had a team member.

So, we decided to make working with teams much simpler.

Here are the three ways you can now do it on Chuffed.org:

1. The Advocate Team

In lots of situations, one person gets the responsibility to make sure their crowdfunding page looks perfect and their main job is to put all the content up and then give the rest of the team a link to the campaign page. Everyone else needs to be acknowledged on the page, but they don’t need to edit it.

We’ve made it super simple to add team members names and profile photos directly in the campaign editor and then like magic, they’ll appear on your page.

2. The Collaborative Team

What about if more than one person needs to edit the campaign? Then it becomes a collaborative effort.

All you need to do in this case, is to add the person’s name and email and invite them to become an Editor. They’ll then get sent an email invitation with login details to edit the campaign.

This is great for the situation when you’re co-founders or a campaign team or someone has the bank account details and you need to share the campaign with them.

3. The Fundraiser Team

The deepest level of team is when people agree to fundraise for you. They need their own Individual page that’s connected to the main campaign.

All you need to do is to add in the person’s name and then switch on their individual fundraiser page. If they need to edit the page too, just invite them to edit it. Note that they’ll only be able to edit their individual fundraiser page unless you give them “Editor” access to the main page.

This is great for: when you’ve got team members with their own networks; or if you’re running a fundraising challenge event; or if you want to create a bit of competition amongst the team.

Where to from here?
Whether you’re an Individual, or representing an organisation, it’s easy to build a team!

Here are the first steps:

Head to chuffed.org/start and begin your campaigning (for free!)
Navigate to the Team section
Create Team Members (all you need is their name)
Choose their Role in the Campaign!
Optimize Editors & Fundraisers

August 30, 2017August 31, 2017

How to Recover From a Slow Start to Your Campaign

You started your crowdfunding campaign with so much excitement.

But maybe your launch week didn’t go as planned and you didn’t have the time available to send out emails to your core audience.

But then a week went by. And then now weeks. And you’re still far away from your target.

What are you supposed to do?

Is there a special power-up that will transform the campaign into a success, or is it just time to give up?

Thankfully, we’ve seen a lot of campaigns and know what works. We’ve seen crowdfunding efforts that gained momentum weeks after starting and exceeded their goals despite the odds.

And remember, you’re not alone. Hundreds of other campaigns have struggled. There are strategies to bring things back up.

The truth is that few campaigns take off with wild success at the beginning.

If you’ve raised 50% or more in the first few weeks, don’t lose hope. Many campaigns raise the final 30-50% in the final week. Celebrate your progress and get ready for the final countdown.

Most successful campaigns get 30% of their funding in the first week. But if you haven’t hit that number, there are ways to turn things around.

In our years of crowdfunding, we know what strategies will make your campaign a success.

Here’s how to get started.

What to do if you haven’t raised anything yet

If you haven’t raised anything in the first week or so, it’s going to be almost impossible to get the campaign off the ground.

We recommend cancelling your campaign and starting over again.

In the interim time, prepare as best as you can. Read up on how to prepare for your campaign in our crowdfunding guide.

Rally your supporters, and get friends to commit to donating once you start again.

When you have the support you need, relaunch the campaign. You’ll be amazed how much easier it is to run your campaign with the proper support and preparation.

Keep up the confidence, even if you haven’t raised enough yet

Your donors want to contribute to a campaign that’s going places. Even if you’re unsure, don’t sound discouraged with the campaign, and don’t communicate that it will probably fail.

Be confident!

Use the renewed sense of urgency to compel your supporters to contribute even more. Show how your campaign needs their funds now more than ever. Don’t act desperate and beg for finances, but honestly ask others to help with your cause.

A great way to do this is to thank supporters. Show appreciate for their contributions in your updates, and include a link to your campaign. This is a great way to show appreciate while not being another ask.

Oftentimes, the secret sauce to campaigns that work is donor communication. Reach out frequently to your supporters and show them what’s happening behind the scenes.

Emphasize the content you’re creating and the work you’re putting in. Focus on sharing exciting stories with them instead of constantly asking for money.

If you’re raising money to build a shelter, for example, share stories and pictures of how you’ve begun talking with construction companies. Don’t complain about how the project might not happen since there isn’t enough support!

Leverage existing donors

You already have backers that are ready to give you the push you need. Here’s how to encourage them to help you even more.

First, (politely) ask donors to share! Remember, you never know who will be your next big donor. It could be a Facebook friend of an existing backer. Encourage them to spread the word.

Second, thank your donors profusely. We’ve seen campaigns do well with personalized, public thank-yous. Write a thank-you note for each donor, and share it on social media.

Libby Williams and Caroline Fleay made sure to personally thank every single donor in their campaign to build a free legal clinic to help those seeking asylum in Australia.

They even asked some donors for permission to thank them publically, which helped spread the word of the campaign. As a result, Libby and Caroline raised $91,400 in just 60 days!

Finally, encourage your existing backers to increase their support. The best way we’ve seen to make this happen is through new perks.

Adding an original experience or form of recognition are great free perks. These new rewards can easily double the average support each donor gives you.

Get new backers

Perhaps the most explosive way to skyrocket the success of your campaign is by attracting new donors.

Work to find new people interested in donating or sharing the campaign with their network. We’ve seen three particularly successful strategies.

First, contact non-donors you reached out to earlier but who chose not to donate. Reach out in a friendly way and don’t pressure them for money. Ask why they didn’t donate, and encourage them to share even if they don’t contribute.

Second, reach out to influencers. These are people with a larger reach than you have. These may be celebrities, bloggers, or even corporate partners.

When you reach out to these individuals, look for a personal story to tell them about the cause. Share any successes you’ve already had, and explain how this would interest their audience.

We’ve found that quality is more important than quantity almost every time, so craft a special message for each influencer.

Next, you need to decide which channel will work best to reach him or her. Email is generally a good tool, but you may also want to follow up with a Facebook message, SMS, or even a phone call.

When you make contact, share how their support will help the cause and give them a specific action to take (like posting on their Facebook page).

Third, repeat what has worked. Look carefully over your list of supporters.

(The easiest way to do this is by looking at your list of donor data on Chuffed.)

Are they mostly work friends? Volunteers in your local community?

Find patterns, then reach out to more people like this. Talk to more work friends, or encourage community organizations to spread the word.

If you must, extend the deadline

We don’t recommend extending your campaign deadline. It can kill the urgency of the team and actually discourage donors from contributing.

But if the end is drawing closer and you won’t be able to make enough progress in that time, consider pushing the deadline back by a small amount.

Even if you eventually decide to run an infinity campaign, it works best to set a deadline to count down to. We recommend 4-6 weeks for a typical campaign length.

But be sure to maintain the sense of urgency!

Don’t give up hope

Remember that you can’t predict how your campaign will end.

Until the campaign is over, keep promoting and staying positive. We’ve seen campaigns turn around in what appeared like the final hour.

You can do the same. You started your campaign to help a cause, and that cause still needs your support.

Don’t give up!

August 9, 2017

Quick tip: How to create a compelling campaign video in under 90 minutes

It’s a fact:

The most effective crowdfunding campaigns use video.

There’s just something about video that grabs our attention and makes us interested. That’s why people watch five billion YouTube videos each day, and the film and movie industry is worth tens of billions of dollars a year.

In this quick tip, you’ll learn the step-by-step process for adding a little cinematic magic to your campaign in just 90 minutes.

Step 1: Write the script (20 minutes)

We’ve found that videos work best if they’re short—around two minutes or so.

Here’s a template you can use:

0:00-0:30 — Tell your story and explain why you care about the problem
0:30-1:30 — Explain what your solution is, and how it will solve the problem
1:30-1:45 — Provide a general budget, and explain what you’ll do with extra funds
1:45-2:00 — Ask! Encourage people to join your mission, and explain any perks

Step 2: Film the video (30 minutes)

The equipment doesn’t matter as much as your personality! A smartphone or even webcam will work fine.

When filming, do this:

Look into the camera, and imagine just talking to one friend.
Show your excitement and passion for your cause—your enthusiasm is infectious!
Smile and look confident! Don’t be afraid to ask people to help.

Step 3: Edit the video (30 minutes)

Before you show the video to the world, you’ll probably want to polish it a bit.

If you have Windows Movie Maker (PC) or iMovie (Mac), you can use this software. For an even faster option, consider a free mobile app like YouTube Director or PowerDirector.

There’s no need to be fancy.

Trim out major misspeaks, and add a picture or title if you like.

Don’t worry about background music, a logo, or even transitions. These take time to get right and can be distracting for your viewers.

Remember—people want to support you, so don’t hide behind special effects!

Step 4: Upload the video (5 minutes)

Once you’ve finished editing the video, the rest is easy.

Go to a site like YouTube or Vimeo and upload your creation. Since the video is short, it shouldn’t take too long.

Be sure to give it a title—don’t leave the default image name:

Step 5: Upload to Chuffed (5 minutes)

Once you’ve uploaded the video, watch it once to make sure everything’s working properly.

If so, grab the link and place it on your Chuffed campaign page. Double-check to make sure it works correctly.

Congrats! You’ve just created your first campaign video! If you have more time, consider spending more time on each section to develop your work further.

August 9, 2017

Quick tip: The most popular perks in the history of Chuffed.org

What makes for a great donor reward?

In our previous research on the best crowdfunding perks, we’ve found three categories that work well. Today, we’re going to look at some of the most popular perks of all time to get your creative juices flowing.

Pre-release products or services

Care packages – 304 sold. For $64, supports got two care packages—one for themselves, and one donated to a domestic violence shelter on Mother’s Day.
Get Pointy – 280 sold. For $25, supporters received an early release of a the children’s book Pointy Pembleton, with proceeds going to support greyhound rescue.
Early edition of Australian Vegans – 226 sold. Supporters got an early print edition of the magazine for $15, which told the story of veganism and ethical leadership in Australia.

Unique experiences

Swimming with the whales – 429 sold. For $50, donors could be entered into the running to join a documentary team swimming with minke whales with the Great Barrier Reef Legacy campaign. The concept was so successful, the campaign raised over $20,000 with this perk alone! (If you choose to run a raffle, be sure to get a license from your locality.)
Special screening of Oddball– sold out at 200! For $30, supporters got to attend a private screening of the movie and guest speaker presentation, along with popcorn and a drink. The funds went toward Vets for Change. Seats were limited to 200, and sold out!

Special recognition

- The $10 Challenge – 438 sold. For $10, individuals purchased the rights to get their name placed on a plaque at the Edgar’s Mission Farm Sanctuary. Edgar’s Mission Farm Sanctuary also had two other high-performing perks—a $25 and $50 perk with “digital kisses” from the animals, plus the name of the supporter on the recognition wall.
- No Place Like Home – 409 sold. For just £5, supporters could get their name on a plaque at the new shelter for disabled bullock Duke. Campaigner Sharon Lawlor raised over £90,000 for the shelter!

Get your location on the map – 248 sold. Supporters could be placed on a map of supporters for the African Data Initiative for just £1, helping to produce and teach statistics software to native Kenyans.

No matter what your cause, you can create a perk that pulls at the heartstrings of your biggest supporters.

Show your donors they’re part of something bigger, and provide them with rewards they can’t find anywhere else.

By creating unique perks specific to your campaign, you can grow a cause like never before.

What will you try?