Case Study: VUSA 24-Hour Cycle Chyallenge
How VUSA Turned a 24-Hour Cyclethon into an R821,000+ Fundraising Engine
Most charity events rely on a single central donation button, hoping attendees and their immediate circles will contribute.
The VUSA Rugby & Learning Academy, which has successfully raised a combined total of R4,446,813.91 through BackaBuddy between 2019 and 2025, took a different approach for their #VUSA24 Cycle Challenge. By leveraging BackaBuddy’s peer-to-peer and leaderboard features, they raised an additional R821,313.
The Challenge: Scaling Grassroots Support
VUSA Rugby & Learning Academy, based in Langa, Cape Town, provides daily early learning, academic, rugby, and psychosocial programs for children aged 4 to 13. To fund these critical initiatives, they needed an event that didn't just ask for passive donations, but actively engaged the community and reached donors far beyond the local Cape Town area.
The Solution: A Decentralised, Gamified Event
Instead of hosting a standard gala or basic fundraiser, VUSA created a hybrid endurance festival: a 24-hour non-stop cycle relay on the Piley Rees Field at Bishops Diocesan College featuring 60 static cycling stations.
But the real engine of the event was how they collected the funds. They partnered with BackaBuddy to build an Event Campaign, which decentralised the fundraising effort.
Peer-to-Peer Team Campaigns
Rather than VUSA asking for donations directly from a central page, they empowered their supporters to ask on their behalf. They created 63 individual sub-campaigns linked to their main BackaBuddy event page.
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- Teams with names like Pedal Ninjas, Mini Mavericks, Cycle Paths, and Pinkpedals were formed.
- Each team had its own dedicated BackaBuddy page, allowing participants to share a specific, personalised link with their friends, family, and colleagues.
People give to people. When a donor sees their nephew or best friend riding a static bike at 3 AM, they are far more likely to donate than if they just see a general corporate charity appeal.
The Leaderboard Effect
BackaBuddy’s Leaderboard feature became a hook that increased donations.
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- Teams could see exactly where they ranked against other groups in real-time.
- This gamified the giving process. If the Beast Bikers saw they were R500 behind the Mini Mavericks, they immediately pushed their WhatsApp networks for a top-up donation to close the gap.
- Because of this competitive urgency, several sub-campaigns pushed well past their initial goals—Pinkpedals hit 114% funding, and 3Wheelers reached 113%.
Frictionless Social Sharing and Global Reach
Because BackaBuddy integrates seamlessly with WhatsApp and social platforms, the geographic limits of a local Cape Town event disappeared.
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- The real-time donor feed showed international support pouring in, with personalised messages attached to donations from places as far as Cyprus and Pittsburgh.
- Supporters weren't just transferring money; they were leaving public messages of encouragement on the campaign feeds ("Go Ethan and the pedal ninjas!!", "Pedal strong!"), building a digital community around the physical event.
The Results
By combining a physical endurance event with BackaBuddy’s digital peer-to-peer architecture, the VUSA Cycle Challenge achieved incredible metrics:
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- Total Funds Raised: R 821,313
- Active Campaigns: 63 unique team fundraising pages are driving traffic simultaneously.
- Engagement: Hundreds of individual donors driven by direct peer networks rather than expensive centralized marketing.
How Your Charity Can Replicate This
If you are planning an event—whether it's a cyclethon, a 5K run, or a read-a-thon—here is how BackaBuddy can turn it into a high-converting machine:
- Don't use a single donation link.
Create an Umbrella Campaign and recruit Champions (teams or individuals) to set up sub-campaigns. Let them tap into their own warm networks. - Activate the Leaderboard.
Competition drives urgency. Make the fundraising totals public and ranked. Offer a prize not just for the physical winner of the event, but for the top fundraising team. - Build a hybrid experience.
VUSA built a physical festival with food vendors, live rugby screenings, and a potjie competition. The physical event creates the content and the atmosphere; the BackaBuddy platform captures the capital.
Maximise Your Event Fundraising Revenue with BackaBuddy
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