Keeping your campaign fresh and engaging is key to reaching your goals. This guide will help you manage and edit your BackaBuddy campaign by updating your story, adding team members, and posting updates to stay connected with supporters.
Steps to Edit Your Campaign:
Log in to your profile and select “My Campaigns.”
Choose the campaign you wish to edit.
Update details, images, or add team members as needed.
Share updates on any milestones or news related to your campaign—it helps donors feel involved in your journey!
Sharing is crucial for any successful crowdfunding campaign! This guide helps you connect with your network and expand your reach to attract more donations for your cause.
Steps to Share Your Campaign:
Share with friends and family via WhatsApp, email, or Messenger.
Build initial support to establish credibility.
Once you have some contributions, expand your outreach.
Encourage supporters to share your campaign—it broadens your reach and may attract donations from unexpected places.
Ready to launch your campaign on BackaBuddy? This guide covers everything you need to know to set up, write a compelling story, and activate your Donate button. Learn how to make your campaign stand out and reach your funding goals effectively.
Steps to Start Your Campaign:
Log into your BackaBuddy profile and click on “Start Campaign.”
Enter essential details like your campaign name, target amount, and images.
Write an engaging story to inspire potential donors.
Preview your campaign and click “Launch.”
Make sure your campaign title is simple and powerful—it’s the first thing potential donors will see. A clear, compelling title can increase the chances of donations!
Starting a crowdfunding campaign on BackaBuddy begins with creating your profile! This guide walks you through setting up your BackaBuddy account so you can begin your fundraising journey. Once your profile is registered and verified, you’re all set to launch your first campaign and join our supportive community.
Confirm your profile by clicking the verification link sent to your email.
For a smoother experience, double-check your email address and ensure you click the verification link promptly to avoid delays in setting up your account.
Watch Our Step-by-Step Guide on YouTube
Contact Us
For any questions, reach out to your campaign manager for personalised assistance, alternatively contact us, HERE.
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Crafting an engaging campaign story, creating attention-grabbing social media posts, and reaching out to potential donors effectively via WhatsApp or email are key to the success of your BackaBuddy crowdfunding campaign. If you’re new to using ChatGPT, don’t worry—this powerful tool can help you generate the content you need, provided you guide it with the right information.
ChatGPT is a versatile assistant that can help you write compelling campaign messages, craft social media posts, and even offer advice on promoting your campaign.
Here’s how to get started:
Visit the Platform: Head over to https://chat.openai.com to access ChatGPT. You can also download it from app stores on mobile devices.
Create an Account: If you don’t have an account yet, sign up for free. If you already have one, just log in.
Pick Your Plan ChatGPT offers a free version, but if you need advanced features or more power (like using GPT-4), you can upgrade to ChatGPT Plus
Start a Conversation: Click on the “Message ChatGPT” bar and type in your request or question. Here are a few examples of what you can ask:
“Write a clear and persuasive campaign message.”
“Create engaging social media posts to promote my campaign.”
“Give me advice or strategies for reaching more donors.”
You can use ChatGPT as your brainstorming partner, idea generator, and content helper to maximize your campaign’s success on BackaBuddy.
What is a Prompt?
A prompt is the message or question you give to ChatGPT to help it understand what you need. The clearer and more specific your prompt, the better the response will be. Think of ChatGPT as a friendly assistant—it needs you to explain what you want, and it will generate the text based on your request.
How Does ChatGPT Work?
ChatGPT works by generating responses based on the information you provide. Think of it as having a conversation with a helpful assistant that offers suggestions based on your requests. If the initial response doesn’t fit your needs, you can ask ChatGPT to regenerate a new response or refine it further by asking follow-up questions.
A helpful tip: talk to ChatGPT as you would to an assistant. Be clear and direct about what you need, and it will respond with useful ideas. The more specific you are, the more tailored and accurate the responses will be!
How to Prompt ChatGPT to Write Your Crowdfunding Story
Your campaign story is essential for inspiring people to support your cause. Here’s how you can prompt ChatGPT to write a great story for your BackaBuddy campaign.
Step 1: Gather Your Key Details
Before you start prompting ChatGPT, make sure you have the following details ready:
What are you raising funds for? (e.g., medical expenses, education, sports, community projects)
How much money do you need? (Be specific about the amount and how it will be used)
Who is the beneficiary? (Name, age, and why they need the funds)
Why does this person/cause need help? (Explain the situation that led to the crowdfunding)
What impact will donations have? (How will it change the beneficiary’s life?)
Is there a deadline? (Any time-sensitive events or dates, such as surgeries or school enrolments)
Step 2: Create Your Prompt for ChatGPT
Once you have your details, use them to create a clear and specific prompt. Here’s an example:
Example Prompt:
“Help me write a crowdfunding story to raise R50,000 for Sarah, a 6-year-old girl who needs heart surgery. Her family can’t afford the surgery, and the funds will cover her medical expenses and recovery. Make the tone emotional and heartfelt, and include a call to action asking people to donate and share the campaign.”
Step 3: Review, Regenerate, and Refine
Once ChatGPT provides a draft, read it over and see if it matches your needs. If you don’t like the response, you can ask ChatGPT to regenerate the response to get another version. This is a handy way to explore different writing styles or tones.
You can also ask ChatGPT to make specific changes by typing follow-up prompts, such as:
Next, you’ll need social media posts to promote your campaign. ChatGPT can help with that too—just prompt it with the details and format you need.
Step 1: Gather the Details
Make sure you have the following info ready for social media posts:
What’s the campaign for? (Medical bills, education, community project)
Who is it for? (Brief description of the beneficiary)
Fundraising goal (The amount you’re trying to raise)
(Encourage people to donate or share the post)
Step 2: Create a Prompt for ChatGPT
Here’s how to structure your prompt for different platforms:
– Facebook Prompt:
“Write a heartfelt Facebook post for a crowdfunding campaign to raise R30,000 for a local football team’s trip to a national tournament. Include a call to action asking people to donate and share.”
– Twitter Prompt:
“Write a short and engaging Twitter post asking people to donate R20,000 for Jake’s school fees. Include a call to action and a campaign link.”
Step 3: Review, Regenerate, and Adjust
If ChatGPT’s first response doesn’t feel quite right, ask it to regenerate the response to get a fresh take. You can also provide feedback to adjust the tone or format, like:
How to Prompt ChatGPT to Write WhatsApp and Email Messages
WhatsApp and email are great ways to ask for support directly from friends and family. Here’s how you can prompt ChatGPT to help you write these messages.
Step 1: Gather Your Key Details
Just like for the story and social media posts, you’ll need:
Reason for fundraising (Medical bills, education, etc.)
Fundraising target (The total amount you need)
How donations will help (What the funds will be used for)
Link to your campaign (Your BackaBuddy campaign link)
Step 2: Create a Prompt for ChatGPT
Use this example to prompt ChatGPT for WhatsApp or email messages:
Example Prompt:
“Help me write a WhatsApp message to ask my friends and family to donate to my BackaBuddy campaign to raise R40,000 for Sarah’s heart surgery. Include a call to action asking for donations and shares, and mention how their support will make a difference.”
Step 3: Review, Regenerate, and Customise
After ChatGPT provides the message, you can regenerate it or tweak it by asking ChatGPT to make it shorter, more direct, or more personal. You could say:
“Make this message shorter and more direct.”
“Can you make the call to action stronger?”
“Can you make the message more personal?”
Need Advice? Ask ChatGPT for Campaign Promotion Ideas, Strategies, and More
Aside from helping you write campaign messages and posts, ChatGPT can also give you advice and strategies to promote your crowdfunding campaign more effectively. You can ask ChatGPT a wide range of questions to support you through your campaign journey. Here are some examples of how you can use it:
Example Prompts for Campaign Advice:
“What are some creative ways to promote my crowdfunding campaign on social media?”
“Give me a strategy for reaching more donors for my medical crowdfunding campaign.”
“Can you suggest ideas for engaging videos to promote my crowdfunding campaign?”
“What are the best practices for writing an email to potential donors?”
ChatGPT can generate suggestions for social media strategies, video ideas, donor engagement, or even tips on how to improve your campaign’s visibility. You can ask for ideas, regenerate responses if you want more options, or follow up with additional questions to dive deeper.
Final Tips for Prompts:
Be Specific: Always include details like the fundraising goal, the reason for the campaign, and who the beneficiary is when creating your prompt.
Ask for Tone: If you want a specific tone (e.g., emotional, urgent, professional), be sure to mention that when prompting ChatGPT.
Regenerate Responses: If you don’t like the first response, you can regenerate it for a new version, or ask for specific tweaks to get exactly what you need.
By guiding ChatGPT with clear, detailed prompts, you can create strong crowdfunding stories, social media posts, direct outreach messages, and even get helpful advice and strategies to maximise your campaign’s success. Remember, you can always regenerate responses, refine them, and keep adjusting until you’re happy. Happy fundraising.
Crowdfunding is growing rapidly in South Africa, giving non-profit organizations an opportunity to raise more money by tapping into the power of the crowd.
Although over R550 million has been raised on BackaBuddy for various causes, our most successful charities, will tell you that crowdfunding is not easy.
To make things a little easier for our charities, our expert team has put together this article on how to diversify your income stream and explore different ways to raise additional funds by using some of the most famous local events.
Once you have registered your charity to raise funds on BackaBuddy, the next step is to find champions and put together a fundraising team.
Where can you find champions?
TIP 1: The best place to find champions to raise funds for your organisation is to reach out to past fundraisers who have supported your organisation.
TIP 2: If you have volunteers at your organisation, ask them if they would be interested in putting together a campaign to highlight a need you might have or help to promote your new champions that sign-up.
TIP 3: Reach out to friends, family, colleagues and social groups to see if the keen chamipons among you would like to raise funds for your organisation.
TIP 4: Create a post on Social Media to see if any of your followers are taking part in the event. If anyone on your social network is entering the challenge message them privately to see if they will champion your cause! You can also share this post on various groups and forums to reach potential donors.
TIP 5: Following the official social media hashtags for the event could also introduce you to potential champions. Simply click on the following resource to explore hashtags you can use: Ugenie
TIP 6: Send out a call to action to your email list or database to see if any of your donors will be participating in the event and would like to raise funds for you.
Here is a template you could use:
Dear (name)
I hope you are well and staying safe.
We are reaching out to you, as you have been a valued supporter of our organization and the work we do.
This Month, we are putting together a fundraising team of champions for the _______________, which will take place from _______________. We are hoping to raise funds at the event to create awareness for our organisation and raise much-needed funds for _______________.
If you are passionate about our organisation and the work we do to _________, please consider entering the _______________ to raise funds on our behalf.
How to enter:
Register for the _______________ here (website). Create your fundraising campaign on BackaBuddy by letting the team know who you are, how much you would like to raise, and why you are passionate about your organisation here.
If you have any questions please contact Lakiwe your dedicated BackaBuddy Head of Charities via email:[email protected] to arrange a meeting.
The Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon
How can you support your champions?
You need to support your champions as much as possible to empower them to raise funds for you.
Show your champions who you are
If you have an organisational video and some emotive and inspiring images that show the valuable work you do, share them with your champions. This will motivate and inspire your champions on their crowdfunding journey and give them beautiful content to share across social media
Give your champions the latest statistics relating to your organisation and tell them about your success stories, so they can tell their networks about you and encourage donations.
Tell your champions what you need.
Crowdfunding with a tangible need, always speaks better to the public. Give your champions an idea of how funds raised will be used to benefit your organisation. This will help them determine their fundraising target and encourage potential donors to donate funds in those increments.
(For example)
“R100 will allow us to purchase 1 pair of shoes that will benefit disadvantaged children living in Edenvale, Johannesburg”
“Raising R10 000 will cover allow us to cover the data costs for 100 students struggling with online learning in their matric year”
“If we raise R100 000 with our crowdfunding campaign, we will be able to refurbish two classrooms”
If your runner has a personal connection with your charity and would like to fundraising for a particular need that resonates with them, this will make an emotive crowdfunding appeal!
Highlight your donors and help them spread the word
During your champion’s crowdfunding journey they will also need your encouragement and support to achieve their fundraising goal.
Create a post on social media to introduce your champion to your social media following, post updates about their campaign and congratulate them when they reach certain milestones. Encourage your champions to also share their connection with your organisation on their social media platforms when sharing their crowdfunding campaign link.
Examples of social media posts you could create:
Stefani from Cape Town is halfway towards reaching her fundraising target of R100 000 on BackaBuddy! With the support she has received thus far, we can cover the registration cost of 10 learners at UCT!
Communicate with your champions
Create a WhatsApp group to keep in touch with your champions, and see how their campaigns are doing and where their successes or struggles lie. Host regular Zoom meetings with your champions to motivate them, say thank you and offer them some encouragement. If you would like a BackaBuddy team member present in your workshops, let us know and we will be happy to share our expertise!
Encourage more donations
If your organisation is Section 18A certified, let your champions know to share this information with their potential donors as this is a great incentive to encourage donations in larger amounts. If you are Section 18A certified, let us know and we can add it to your campaign page for all potential donors to see!
We hope you found value in our advice, if your organisations have any questions, please reach out to us. The BackaBuddy team is here to help.
We wish your organisation and all your champions at the event all the best on their journey!
