Charity and nonprofit causes
Raise money for an orphanage, a shelter or a community outreach, and let every shilling show on a public ledger. Donors see exactly where their gift lands.
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About Charity & Nonprofit Causes fundraising in Africa
Giving in our communities has always been quiet and constant. People drop notes into a basket after a service, send mobile money to a children's home, or pool funds for a food drive when a neighbourhood is struggling. The harder part has never been the willingness to give. It has been the trust. Donors hear stories about money that went somewhere it should not have, and many start asking a fair question before they contribute: how do I know where this actually goes?
SenteMe was built around that question. A coordinator, whether a registered NGO, a community-based organisation, a church group or an individual running an informal cause, creates one campaign with a single shareable link. Contributors send mobile money straight to it. Every contribution and every withdrawal appears on a public running ledger that anyone can open. There is no private back office where money disappears. If a shelter raises funds for mattresses and blankets, supporters can watch the total climb and see when the organisers withdraw to buy them.
This matters most for the causes people are wariest about. Orphanages and children's homes, night shelters, food distributions, and faith-based outreach all depend on small gifts from many people. Transparency is the thing that turns a hesitant donor into a repeat one. A campaign that shows its ledger openly is making a promise it can keep, and that promise is often worth more than any glossy appeal.
SenteMe is free to start. There are no listing fees and no charge to contributors. The platform takes a flat 7.5 percent fee on each contribution, deducted only when the coordinator withdraws. So a campaign that raises 200,000 shillings keeps 185,000 after the fee, and nobody pays anything on top of their donation. For registered groups in Kenya, working with the NGO Coordination Board and keeping clean records sits naturally alongside a public ledger, because both point at the same goal of accountable giving.
We are honest that online giving is still young in much of the region, and a charity campaign lives or dies on how well the coordinator shares the link and tells the story. SenteMe handles the plumbing: the link, the mobile-money rails, the ledger, the receipts. The trust you build with your supporters is yours. If you run a cause that ordinary people would want to back, this is a clean and simple way to collect and to prove that their money did what you said it would.
How to raise money for charity & nonprofit causes
01
Create the campaign for free
Set up your cause in a few minutes. Give it a clear name, a short honest description of what the money is for, and a realistic target. Whether you are a registered NGO or an informal neighbourhood group, you get one shareable link and a public ledger from the start.
02
Say exactly where the money goes
Donors give more when the ask is specific. Instead of asking for support in general, write that you need 60 blankets for a shelter or three months of meals for a children's home. Concrete goals are easier to share and easier to trust.
03
Share the link where your supporters already are
Post it in WhatsApp groups, on Facebook, at the end of a service, and in any community newsletter. The link opens the same page for everyone, and contributors send mobile money directly. No app download is needed to give.
04
Let the public ledger do the convincing
Every contribution and withdrawal shows on the page automatically. Point new donors to it so they can see real activity and real totals. An open ledger answers the where does it go question before anyone has to ask it.
05
Withdraw to mobile money and report back
When you withdraw to buy supplies or fund the programme, the flat 7.5 percent fee is taken only then, and the withdrawal is recorded on the ledger. Afterwards, share photos or a short update so contributors see the outcome of what they funded.
How to support charity & nonprofit causes causes
Open the ledger before you give
Click the campaign link and read the public ledger. You can see how much has come in, how much has been withdrawn, and how active the cause is. If those numbers make sense to you, you can give with confidence.
Contribute with the mobile money you already use
Send any amount straight from your phone. Contributors pay nothing extra on top of their gift, and your contribution appears on the public ledger so the total reflects every person who chipped in.
Share it with people who would care
Most charity campaigns grow through one person forwarding the link to another. If a cause moved you, send it to your family group or post it once with a line about why it matters to you.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know my donation actually reaches the orphanage or shelter?
Every SenteMe campaign has a public running ledger that records each contribution and each withdrawal. You can open it before and after you give to see the money come in and see when the coordinator withdraws it. This is the core reason the platform exists, to close the trust gap that keeps people from giving online.
Can a registered NGO or CBO use SenteMe to fundraise?
Yes. Registered NGOs, community-based organisations, churches and informal groups can all create campaigns. The public ledger sits naturally alongside the records a registered group already keeps for the NGO Coordination Board in Kenya, and it gives your donors a simple way to verify activity without contacting your office.
What does SenteMe cost a charity campaign?
Creating a campaign is free and there are no listing fees. The platform takes a flat 7.5 percent fee on each contribution, deducted only when you withdraw. Contributors never pay anything on top of their donation, so the amount they see is the amount that counts toward your total.
Do donors need to download an app to contribute?
No. The campaign link opens a normal web page that anyone can use. Contributors send mobile money directly from their phone, with no account creation and no app install required. This keeps giving simple for older supporters and for anyone on a basic connection.
Can I run a food drive or one-off relief collection?
Yes. Many coordinators use SenteMe for time-limited drives such as food distributions, school-fee pushes, or emergency relief after a fire or flood. Set a clear target, share the link widely, then withdraw and report back once you have bought the supplies.
How quickly can I withdraw the money I have raised?
You can withdraw to mobile money when you are ready to spend, rather than waiting for the campaign to end. The flat 7.5 percent fee is applied at that point, and the withdrawal is logged on the public ledger so supporters always see the current balance.
Is online charity fundraising really effective in our region?
It works best when the coordinator already has a community and shares the link actively in places like WhatsApp and at gatherings. Online giving is still growing here, so the link does not raise money on its own. What SenteMe adds is the ledger and the receipts that turn a one-time giver into someone who trusts you enough to give again.
What stops a coordinator from misusing the funds?
Because every withdrawal is public, misuse is visible to everyone watching the ledger. A coordinator who withdraws without explaining or showing results will quickly lose donor confidence. The transparency does not replace your own honesty, but it makes good behaviour easy to prove and bad behaviour hard to hide.
Can supporters outside the country contribute to my cause?
SenteMe runs on mobile money across the countries it serves, so anyone with a supported mobile-money account in those countries can contribute to your link. Diaspora supporters often give through family at home or through a supported account, and their contribution shows on the same public ledger as everyone else's.
How is a charity campaign different from a personal fundraiser?
A charity campaign usually serves an ongoing cause like a children's home or a shelter, while a personal fundraiser covers one person's need such as medical bills. On SenteMe both use the same link and ledger, but charity coordinators lean harder on the public ledger because they are asking many strangers, not just friends and family, to trust them.
Example scenarios
What charity & nonprofit causes fundraising looks like
Hypothetical, composite examples. No real person is named.
A children's home in Eldoret restocking for the term
Picture a small children's home that needs mattresses, blankets and a term of food for the new intake. The director creates a campaign with a target of 350,000 shillings, lists exactly what each portion buys, and shares the link in church and on WhatsApp. As donations arrive on the public ledger, regular supporters see the total climb and feel safe forwarding it on. This example is composite and not a real named home.
A youth group in Nakuru running a flood relief drive
Imagine a youth group raising funds after flooding displaces families nearby. They set a two-week campaign for food parcels and basic supplies, post the link with photos of the affected area, and withdraw in batches as they buy and distribute. Each withdrawal on the ledger lines up with a distribution update, so contributors can match their gift to real deliveries. This is a hypothetical illustration, not a specific group.
Resources for charity & nonprofit causes
- NGO Coordination Board Kenya
Kenyan government body that registers and regulates NGOs. Useful if your cause should be formally registered before fundraising at scale.
- Uganda Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development
Government ministry overseeing social protection and community programmes in Uganda, including frameworks that charities and CBOs work within.
- Kenya Community Development Foundation
Public charitable foundation supporting community-driven development and grants across Kenya. Good reference for grassroots organisers seeking structure.
- GiveDirectly
Nonprofit delivering cash transfers directly to people in extreme poverty across Africa. A model of transparent, recipient-led giving.
- charity: water
Clean-water nonprofit known for publishing where donations go. A strong example of the transparency that builds donor trust.
- Save the Children International
Global child-protection organisation working across many African countries. Helpful background for anyone running a children's cause.
- ActionAid International
International federation fighting poverty and injustice with strong community-rooted programmes across the continent.
- UN World Food Programme
UN agency providing food assistance worldwide. A useful reference if your cause is a food drive or relief distribution.
- GiveWell
Independent charity-evaluation nonprofit. A good place to understand how rigorous donors judge where money is best spent.
- Caritas Internationalis
Global Catholic humanitarian network active in faith-based outreach and relief across Africa, useful for church-led causes.