CharitMeThe fundraising guide
Everything we have learned about what makes a campaign work — written as the six steps you actually take, in the order you take them.
Six steps to a funded campaign
In order. Most campaigns that stall have skipped step three or step four.
Set a goal you can explain
Work out what you actually need and add the processing fee on top. A goal you can break down line by line — “$2,400 covers eight weeks of treatment” — raises more than a round number, because donors can see what their gift does.
Write the story only you can tell
Open with the person, not the problem. Say who this is for, what happened, and what changes if it is funded. Two hundred honest words beat a thousand polished ones. The AI Copilot can turn rough notes into a first draft you then make yours.
Add proof before you share
Connect Stripe to verify your identity, and upload whatever evidence you have — receipts, letters, photos. Every signal you add raises your trust score, and campaigns with a visible trust score convert markedly better than ones without.
Share with your closest circle first
Do not start with a public post. Message twenty people directly and ask them personally. Early donations make a campaign look alive, and a page with momentum is far easier to share than an empty one.
Post updates while it is running
An update every few days keeps a campaign in people’s feeds and gives past donors a reason to share it again. Say what has changed, what the money has covered, and what is still needed.
Close the loop when it ends
Thank every donor and show them the outcome. This is the step most people skip, and it is the one that decides whether those donors give again next time.
What goes wrong most often
None of these are about writing ability. They are all about follow-through.
A goal with no breakdown
A bare number reads as a guess. Show the arithmetic.
No cover photo
A real photo of the person or project outperforms stock imagery every time.
Sharing once and stopping
Most campaigns fail from silence, not rejection. Keep posting.
Waiting to be perfect
A live campaign you improve beats a draft you never publish.
What it costs
CharitMe charges no mandatory platform fee. Donors are offered an optional tip, which is always reducible to zero, and payment processing is charged at cost.
Platform fee
0%. There is no percentage cut of your donations, and no monthly charge to run a campaign.
Processing
Card payments are 2.9% + $0.30, charged by the payment processor. Other methods differ — the exact rate is shown to donors before they pay.
Payouts
Standard payouts arrive on a two-business-day schedule once your Stripe account is connected and verified.
Full detail on the pricing page and fee breakdown.
Ready to start?
It takes about five minutes to publish, and you can keep editing after it goes live.