Support Campaigns for Crowdfunding

What Are Support Campaigns And How Do They Work?

Support campaigns are, put simply, a campaign that helps raise money for another existing campaign.

But if there is a campaign already raising funds, why does it need support?

An excellent question! However, once you understand the purpose and flexibility you can achieve with support campaigns, you’ll wonder why they haven’t always existed! Support campaigns have all the benefits of a traditional crowdfunding campaign, however, they are bound to a master campaign. The master campaign will automatically collect all the funds from a support campaign, but has no involvement in the management, marketing or appearance of the support campaign.

Here are a few examples where support campaigns work really well:

Team events:

If you have a competitive fundraising event where you have teams raising funds for a specific cause, you are able to have your Master Campaign displaying the total of the funds that have been raised, but also a tab where you can view what each team has raised through their own campaign. This not only adds to the competitiveness of the event, but means each team can individualise their campaign page. So, if one team wants to have a sponsored head shave, but another team wants to enter a marathon, they are able to create their own campaign, rewards, targets and team members so that they can maximise the appeal of their campaign.

Phased fundraising:

If you have a campaign running but have other needs, you can create support campaigns. A great example is if you are raising funds for an animal shelter. You might want to break the campaign down into construction, materials, food, running costs, veterinary costs and so on. This allows donors to choose what element of the campaign they wish to donate to. Giving donors a choice of whether to donate generally to the campaign, or to a specific element of the campaign is incredibly rewarding for them.

Call for help fundraising:

If you have a fundraising campaign, you may just need some extra help. There are many campaigns where this could be applicable. For example following the recent refugee crisis, we had many fundraising campaigns on our site, but also many people contacting us asking how they can volunteer or donate or help. By allowing others to create their own support campaigns, they have the freedom to raise funds in the best way they know how – and with their own crowd – without worrying about how to get the funds where they are needed. This leaves you to continue focusing on your main campaign. Perhaps you could even offer rewards for the support campaign that raises the most money for your cause!

Here is an excellent example of how support campaigns work:

The campaign below was created by a division of Vodaphone based in Luxembourg. Their aim was to raise as much funds as possible to Help Luca Walk Again. They divided their work-base in to 5 groups and asked them to raise funds for Luca.

As you can see this was an amazing success, with each of the five teams fully participating in the campaign. You can just imagine how competitive things became! Take a look below and see that each support campaign has a clickable link taking you directly to their page (to see this for yourself, click the campaign link, here and visit the support campaign tab).

Feedback from the organiser clearly indicated that the creation of teams was highly motivating and encouraged everyone to raise funds, whilst having competitive fun in doing so.

Here are some frequently asked questions about support campaigns:

As a campaign owner, how do I enable the option to create support campaigns for my campaign?

If you would like to enable support campaigns for your main campaign all you need to do is click on the ‘enable support campaigns’ from your dashboard.

Just how easy is it to create a support campaign?

In three quick steps, a support campaign can be created with in minutes. All you need to do is click on the words create support campaign, next to the heart on the main campaign page (if the campaign owner has enabled the option) and follow the instructions provided.

Where do the funds go?

Now this is the amazing part! If you create a support campaign you do not need to worry about funds or bank accounts or any tax implications. Your support campaign is linked directly to the Master Campaign and all funds you raise go directly to them. As a campaign owner, this will be fantastic news!

How will I know who has donated?

Both the support fundraiser and the main fundraiser will be able to access the donor information at any time they wish, making any accounting, auditing or issuing rewards to donors as effortless as possible.

Are there any fees for creating a support campaign?

Support campaigns are an extension of the main campaign. All standard fees apply, but as they are taken at the time of the donation – which is processed through the main campaign donation method, the support campaign owner does not face any fees whatsoever.

What if the main campaign owner hasn’t enabled this option on their campaign?

If you want to raise funds for a particular campaign, but cannot see the support campaign heart on their campaign page, let our customer support team know. They would be very happy to approach the campaign owner on your behalf and remind them about this fundraising feature. We’re sure they will want to enable it for you!

Any final words for campaign owners?

If you’re thinking of creating a campaign for a cause close to your heart, remember there may be someone out there who wants to do more than just donate (even though we know how amazing that is for your campaign). Why not give them the option to raise funds for you, too?