ShaperAid

Campaign Guide

Reference guidance for humanitarian campaigns.

Background reading for anyone running a campaign: what qualifies, how trust and funds work, and what accountability means in practice.

You do not need to complete this guide to start. It is reference material, not a prerequisite — the Workspace asks you only what your campaign actually needs.

Start in the Campaign WorkspaceHow ShaperAid works

What qualifies

Humanitarian need, clearly defined.

ShaperAid campaigns respond to a locally grounded humanitarian need where aid can be delivered by an accountable partner.

Within ShaperAid's humanitarian scope

  • Natural disasters and sudden-onset emergencies
  • Humanitarian relief linked to conflict or displacement
  • Acute food and water insecurity
  • Emergency shelter and essential household needs
  • Urgent medical or health relief
  • Time-bound early recovery directly linked to a humanitarian crisis

Outside ShaperAid's scope

  • Political campaigning or advocacy as the primary purpose
  • Support for military or armed actors
  • General organizational fundraising
  • Commercial projects
  • Personal or individual fundraising not tied to an accountable humanitarian response

A humanitarian need can be within scope and still not be ready to launch. Missing a trusted fund route, delivery partner, communications capacity or reporting plan is a readiness issue — use the guide to strengthen those pieces first.

One campaign. One clear objective. One trusted route for funds.

Trust guidance

Trust comes before reach.

Every ShaperAid campaign must be able to explain, publicly, where donations go and who delivers the aid.

Preferred route

Donations go directly to a legitimate, established NGO or humanitarian organization that meets these criteria:

  • Identifiable legal or organizational status
  • Relevant track record
  • Local, on-the-ground capacity
  • Transparent donation route
  • A named contact
  • Reporting capability

Exception: Trust & Funds Plan

Where that route is genuinely unavailable, the campaign team must document a Trust & Funds Plan covering:

  • Who receives and controls the funds
  • The transfer path
  • Procurement and distribution
  • Records kept
  • Local verification
  • Post-campaign evidence

If we cannot explain where the money goes, we do not launch the campaign.

Where the partner organization has no donation page of its own, a fundraising platform such as GoFundMe may be used. The platform is a payment route, not the trust model: the recipient, transfer path, delivery mechanism and reporting must still be explicit.

This guidance is public. Account-level and other sensitive operational details stay private between the campaign team and its partner.

Campaign readiness

A good cause is not yet a campaign.

Before launch, make sure you have both humanitarian fit and enough delivery capacity to keep the campaign moving.

Does it qualify?

  • Urgent humanitarian need
  • One clear relief objective
  • Need and context grounded in local knowledge or affected-community/partner input
  • Trustworthy fund and delivery route

Can it run?

  • A campaign lead plus a backup or remote co-lead
  • Someone liaising with the NGO or fund route
  • Capacity to create and publish content
  • A reporting owner
  • Reliable connectivity, or a remote support Hub
Run the readiness check

Reference

Readiness checks, if you want the long version.

You do not need to work through these to start. The Workspace raises each point at the moment it actually matters. This list exists for teams who prefer to see the whole picture at once.

A · Humanitarian fit

  • An urgent humanitarian need affecting civilians or vulnerable communities
  • One clear relief objective
  • The response reflects local and affected-community knowledge of what is needed, rather than outsiders deciding on their behalf
  • Local knowledge or a trusted local partner
  • Not primarily political advocacy, military support, general organizational fundraising or commercial work

B · Trust route

  • An established NGO or humanitarian organization (preferred)
  • If funds are involved: an identifiable recipient and donation mechanism
  • A named point of contact
  • If funds are involved: the ability to report on the use of funds
  • Where an NGO route is genuinely unavailable, a Trust & Funds Plan is required before launch

C · Delivery capacity

  • A named campaign lead
  • At least one backup or remote co-lead
  • Someone responsible for NGO and fund liaison
  • Someone able to adapt or create campaign posts and social assets
  • A reliable ability to publish and respond during the campaign, or a remote support Hub or co-lead who can do this
  • A reporting owner

D · Safety & dignity

  • Public claims are sourced and current
  • Identifiable stories and images are used with appropriate informed consent
  • Do not publish identities, precise locations or operational details that could put people at risk
  • Communications preserve dignity and do not reduce affected people to helpless fundraising imagery

Minimum ready to launch

  • One clear objective
  • Campaign lead plus backup or remote lead
  • An NGO, delivery or fund route
  • A working donation route, if funds are involved
  • Communications owner and capacity
  • Reporting owner
  • Verified public evidence
  • Safety and consent check
  • A written campaign brief

Mid-campaign audit questions

Trust

Can someone outside the team explain where funds go and who delivers the aid?

Is the recipient, transfer path and delivery mechanism written down?

Message

Is the need and its current evidence clear and sourced?

Does the messaging preserve dignity and avoid exposing people to risk?

Reach

Are Hubs coordinating around one campaign name, fund route and media kit?

Or is attention fragmenting across parallel posts and links?

Operations

Are owners clear for partner liaison, communications, updates and reporting?

Is remote support available if local capacity is constrained?

Accountability

Are totals, use of funds and changes being tracked?

Is a post-campaign update planned and scheduled?

Campaign action plan

A reference checklist for campaign teams.

Start with a one to two page campaign brief, then work through the stages below. This is reference material — the Campaign Workspace keeps your own plan, drafts and progress.

Campaign Brief: crisis & evidence · objective · local context/need · delivery partner · donation route · campaign lead · remote/backup lead · communications owner · dates/cadence · reporting owner.

Working through this for a real campaign? Open the Campaign Workspace — it tracks these steps for you, stage by stage, in your browser.

01

Before launch

  • Humanitarian need verified
  • Local / affected-community input reflected in the response
  • Safety, dignity and sensitive-information check completed
  • Campaign lead and team confirmed
  • NGO / delivery partner or Trust & Funds Plan confirmed
  • Donation route confirmed
  • One-sentence objective written
  • Campaign name and page ready
  • Public sources and evidence ready

02

Prepare comms

  • Media kit adapted
  • Consent and safety checked for identifiable stories/images
  • Participating Hubs identified
  • Collab-post partners agreed
  • Campaign duration and cadence agreed
  • Reporting owner agreed

03

Launch & run

  • Primary campaign post launched
  • Donation link consistent everywhere
  • Updates verified before publishing

04

Close

  • Total raised recorded
  • Recipient and use of funds documented
  • Delivery evidence or update published
  • Final accountability update scheduled

Communications

Collab first. Coordination beats duplication.

Coordinate around the same verified message, fund route and campaign assets so Hubs build reach together instead of fragmenting the campaign.

The message formula

  1. 01What happened?
  2. 02Who needs help?
  3. 03Who is delivering it?
  4. 04Where does my donation go?
  5. 05How can I help?

Avoid

  • Graphic or dignity-compromising imagery
  • Unverified numbers or claims
  • Political framing beyond the humanitarian need
  • Multiple competing donation links
  • Duplicate posts that split reach

Dignity & safety

  • Obtain appropriate informed consent for identifiable stories and images
  • Never publish precise locations, identities or operational details that may create security risk
  • Represent affected people as people with agency and dignity, not as props for fundraising
  • When evidence cannot be shared safely, omit sensitive detail rather than exposing people to prove a claim

Platform guidance

Where captions and visuals actually come from

You do not have to write these from scratch or design them. The Campaign Workspace drafts channel-native copy from your own brief, and once ShaperAid confirms support, the shared Distribution Studio generates reviewed captions and branded visuals in every format — plus one link supporting Hubs can use without an account.

Accuracy, dignity and coordination before reach.

Optional

A four-week sprint, if it helps.

Optional pacing for teams that want a ready-made rhythm. Campaigns can run shorter or longer.

Week 1

Launch

Announce the campaign, the verified need and the delivery partner.

Week 2

Trust

Show who receives funds and how the aid is delivered.

Week 3

Community

Bring in other Hubs, partners and supporters. Final call to give.

Week 4

Accountability

Publish what was raised, where funds went or are going, what has been verified, and what update will follow.

Minimum version: Launch → Trust update → Progress/final call → Impact update.

Accountability

What every campaign publishes at the end.

Accountability runs both ways: to people affected by the crisis and to the people who supported the campaign.
  • Total funds raised
  • Fundraising period
  • Recipient organization(s)
  • Intended and actual use of funds
  • Evidence of delivery where available
  • What could not be delivered or verified, if relevant
  • Treatment of any remaining funds
  • A final impact update

Honest status pattern

Campaign closed → implementation ongoing → final impact update to follow.

Delivery often continues after fundraising ends. Say so plainly rather than declaring impact before it exists.

Do not publish sensitive beneficiary data merely to demonstrate impact.

Report what happened, including what did not.

Evidence

Verify before you amplify.

Campaigns should substantiate humanitarian need and every public claim with authoritative, current sources and local verification.
  1. 01

    Your partner NGO or local delivery organization, with direct operational knowledge.

  2. 02

    Official humanitarian sources: UN OCHA, ReliefWeb, WHO, UNHCR, WFP, UNICEF, ICRC and IFRC, plus relevant local emergency authorities.

  3. 03

    Reputable independent reporting, for corroboration where useful.

Humanitarian practice references

These are good-practice references for dignity, accountability and humanitarian communications; listing them does not imply ShaperAid certification or formal compliance.

Every number in a campaign should have a source. If a claim cannot be verified, do not publish it.

These links are provided as guidance for verification. They are not an endorsement of any particular campaign.

Resources

Templates, assets and people.

Built into this guide

Core operating guidance is kept on this site so campaign teams can use it without opening separate documents.

Campaign assets & coordination

Original reference documents

The Campaign Guide above integrates the current operational guidance; these documents are retained as source/reference material.

FAQ

Common questions.

Facing a humanitarian crisis in your community?

Read what you need here, then do the actual work in the Workspace. Campaign material, captions and branded visuals are generated there — and, once ShaperAid confirms support, in the shared Campaign Manager.

Open the Campaign WorkspaceStart a campaign