Frequently Asked Questions

Petitions are open to everyone. Click "Start a Petition" in the header and follow the step-by-step wizard. Fundraising campaigns are operated by the Ardent Africa Foundation until public crowdfunding opens under Bank of Ghana licensing.

Petitions are open to everyone. Fundraising campaigns are operated by the Ardent Africa Foundation until public crowdfunding opens under Bank of Ghana licensing.

Foundation causes are official fundraising and hybrid campaigns operated by the Ardent Africa Foundation on ardent.africa. They are automatically verified, show Foundation trust badges, and accept donations with no platform fee deduction. Browse them on the Fundraising page or the Foundation causes showcase on the homepage.

See Foundation causes, our Donor Guarantee (Foundation section), and Platform Use Guidelines.

Most campaigns can be set up in 10-15 minutes. Our streamlined process and AI content assistant help you create compelling campaigns quickly. You can always edit and improve your campaign after it goes live.

Yes! Campaign creators can edit their campaigns at any time. You can update descriptions, goals, deadlines, and media. However, some changes (like campaign type) may require admin approval to ensure consistency.

In your campaign dashboard, navigate to the Team section. You can invite team members by email, assign roles (owner, admin, or member), and manage permissions. Team members can help manage the campaign, post updates, and coordinate efforts.

You can still withdraw funds even if you don't reach your goal. The goal is a target to motivate supporters, but all funds raised can be used for your cause. You can also extend your deadline or adjust your goal if needed.

Supporters can donate using Paystack, which accepts cards, mobile money, and bank transfers. Donations are processed securely and funds are held until you request withdrawal. You can track all donations in real-time through your campaign dashboard.

We currently support Paystack, which accepts major credit/debit cards, mobile money (MTN, Vodafone, AirtelTigo), and bank transfers. All payments are processed securely with encryption and fraud protection.

Supporters can choose to make monthly recurring donations. They'll be charged automatically each month until they cancel. You can see recurring supporters, monthly totals, and manage subscriptions in your dashboard. Supporters can cancel anytime from their profile.

Funds are available for withdrawal once donations are verified (usually within 24-48 hours). Campaign creators can request withdrawals through their dashboard. Ardent Africa Foundation causes use a zero platform fee path, so the full gift supports the cause. Withdrawal requests are processed within 3-5 business days.

Ardent Africa Foundation causes use a zero platform fee path with no fee breakdown on the cause page. While public fundraising for ordinary users is not open yet, the 7% model on our Fees page describes what will apply to standard user campaigns once that gate opens. Foundation donations always support the cause in full.

Read more on our Fees & Charges page and Donor Guarantee.

Foundation causes do not use the standard 7% crowdfunding fee model. When public fundraising opens for ordinary users, fees will be calculated as a percentage of each donation on standard campaigns only. See our Fees page for the model that will apply at that time.

Read more on our Fees & Charges page and Donor Guarantee.

Refund requests are handled on a case-by-case basis. Donors can request refunds through their profile, and campaign creators or admins can process refunds. Refunds are subject to our refund policy and may take 5-10 business days to process.

We use bank-level security with SSL encryption for all transactions. Payment processing is handled by Paystack, a PCI DSS compliant payment processor. We never store your full card details or payment credentials on our servers.

Yes. We take data privacy seriously and comply with data protection regulations. Your personal information is encrypted and stored securely. We never share your data with third parties without consent, except as required for payment processing.

Yes! When making a donation, you can choose to donate anonymously. Your name won't appear on public leaderboards, but campaign creators can still see donation amounts (without your name) for accounting purposes.

Ardent Africa Foundation causes are automatically verified and show Foundation trust badges on the Platform. User-led campaigns can apply for Verified Cause status by submitting verification documents through the dashboard. Our team reviews applications to ensure campaigns are legitimate. Verified campaigns display a verification badge to build trust with supporters.

Learn more in our Donor Guarantee and Platform Use Guidelines.

Our Donor Guarantee protects donors if a campaign is found to be fraudulent or misuses funds. We work to recover donations and provide refunds where appropriate. It covers Foundation causes and user-led campaigns, with a dedicated section explaining Foundation zero-fee protections and verification.

Read the full Donor Guarantee, including the Ardent Africa Foundation causes section.

Ardent Africa has three account types: Personal (individual donors and creators), NGO or charity (verified organisations with a public profile), and Corporate (business CSR and team campaigns). Open /signup to compare paths, or go directly to /signup/personal, /signup/ngo, or /signup/corporate. You will confirm your email; for some flows you may also verify a Ghana phone number via SMS OTP. At registration, consent is collected under Ghana's Data Protection Act 2012 (Act 843) where applicable.

Yes! You can enable a public profile in your account settings. This creates a shareable profile page showing your total impact (signatures, donations), supported campaigns, and achievements. You can customize your username and profile visibility.

Achievements are badges you earn for various actions on the platform, like "First Signature", "First Donation", "Campaign Creator", or "Champion Supporter". You can view all your achievements on the Achievements page, track your progress, and see which achievements you haven't unlocked yet. When you earn a new achievement, you'll see a celebration notification!

Start at /signup/ngo (or open /signup and choose the NGO path). You will complete organisation details, upload required documents, and accept compliance steps including Act 843 consent where applicable. After submission, your profile is reviewed for verification; timelines vary. When verified, you can appear in the NGO directory and have a public page at /ngo/[your-slug]. You can also continue from the dashboard or "Register NGO" in the menu if you already have an account.

Use /signup/corporate (or the Corporate option on /signup). You will provide company details, authorised contacts, and required documents; Act 843 consent is collected for organisations. After review, use /dashboard/corporate for CSR campaigns and organisation settings. Verification timing depends on document review — watch your email for updates.

User interests help us personalize your experience by recommending campaigns that match your passions. When you sign up, you'll be prompted to select categories you care about (like Education, Healthcare, Clean Water, etc.). Based on your interests and location, we'll show you personalized campaign recommendations on the homepage and throughout the platform. You can update your interests anytime in your settings.

Go to your Profile page from the account menu. You can update your name, bio, location, interests, and profile picture. Changes are saved immediately and reflected across the platform.

Yes, you can delete your account from your profile settings. This will remove your personal information, but campaign data and donation records may be retained for legal and accounting purposes as required by law.

You can message other users by visiting their profile and clicking the "Message" button, or by going to the Messages section in your dashboard menu. Start a conversation and send real-time messages to connect with campaign creators or supporters.

Yes! You can message campaign creators directly through the messaging system. This is a great way to ask questions, provide feedback, or coordinate support for their campaigns.

All your conversations are accessible from the Messages page in your dashboard. You can see all active conversations, view message history, and mark messages as read. The interface shows unread message counts and timestamps.

Yes, all messages are private and only visible to the participants in the conversation. We use secure encryption to protect your communications, and messages are not shared with third parties.

You can react to forum posts by clicking the reaction buttons below each post. Choose from different reaction types like like, heart, or laugh to express your feelings. Each user can add one reaction per post.

When creating or replying to a forum post, type "@" followed by a username to mention another user. An autocomplete menu will appear to help you find the right user. Mentioned users will receive notifications about your post.

Yes! Our forum includes a rich text editor that allows you to format your posts with bold, italic, lists, links, and more. This helps you create more engaging and readable content for the community.

You can search for discussions using the search bar in the discussion groups list. Filter by keywords, categories, or browse by group. The search helps you find relevant conversations quickly.

Yes! Ardent Africa is a Progressive Web App (PWA) that works offline. Once you've visited pages, they're cached and available offline. You can browse previously viewed content, though some features like new donations require an internet connection.

On mobile devices, you'll see an install prompt when visiting the site. You can also install it manually: on iOS, tap the Share button and select "Add to Home Screen"; on Android, use the browser menu and select "Install App" or "Add to Home Screen".

Yes! When submitting impact reports or creating campaign updates on mobile devices, you can use the "Take Photo" button to access your device camera directly. This makes it easy to capture and share impact photos on the go.

The app works partially offline. You can view cached pages and previously loaded content, but features like making donations, sending messages, or viewing new content require an active internet connection.

Quick actions are shortcut cards in your dashboard that let you quickly access common tasks like creating a new campaign, viewing your campaigns, checking analytics, or managing withdrawals. They help you navigate faster and be more productive.

Your dashboard displays visual goal progress tracking for all active campaigns. You can see progress bars, percentage completion, and remaining amounts. The dashboard also provides personalized insights and recommendations to help you reach your goals.

The dashboard provides personalized insights based on your campaign performance, including recommendations for improvement, success tips, best practices, and performance comparisons. These insights help you optimize your campaigns for better results.

The marketplace connects causes and people with skilled providers (design, video, printing, legal, training, marketing, IT, and more) and with cause-related goods. Ardent helps both sides find and vet each other, but we do not process or hold marketplace payments. Buyers and providers arrange and settle payment directly between themselves, off-platform. Ardent charges no marketplace fee. After a service, both sides confirm what happened and leave a review, building a public trust record.

Sign in and open /marketplace, then go to your provider dashboard. Create a listing with a title, description, categories, packages or price ranges, portfolio images, location, and languages. Verified personal, NGO, and corporate accounts can list. Listings are moderated before they go live. Payment for any work is arranged directly with the client off-platform; Ardent does not process it or take a cut.

Browse /marketplace, open a listing, and send a booking enquiry (pick a package and add a message). The provider can accept, decline, or propose changes, and you coordinate in the in-app thread. Contact details are shared once the provider accepts. Agree and settle payment directly with the provider. When the job is done, both sides report the outcome and leave a review.

No. Ardent charges no marketplace fee. The marketplace is a discovery and trust layer, not a payment processor. Buyers and providers agree a price and settle payment directly between themselves, off-platform.

Yes. NGOs, campaigns, and the Foundation can list cause-related goods and impact products (crafts, branded merchandise, impact bundles) that support a cause or campaign. Like services, settlement is arranged off-platform. Ardent provides listing, discovery, and trust tools, not payment processing.

You can discover and host campaign events, community gatherings, and general public events, online or in person. Events can be free, RSVP-only, or paid-ticketed, with agenda, speakers, sponsors, and a gallery. Paid events support multiple ticket tiers, promo codes, QR-coded tickets, and check-in.

Sign in and open /events, then use the organizer dashboard. Add title, description, type, date and time (with timezone), location or online link, cover image, agenda, and speakers. Choose free/RSVP or paid ticketing, then publish. Verified accounts can organize events.

In the organizer dashboard, connect your own Paystack or Hubtel account under payment keys. Add ticket tiers (for example early bird, regular, VIP) with prices and quantities. Pay the one-time flat GHS 699 platform fee, which unlocks publishing a paid event. When attendees buy tickets, the money is processed through your payment account and settles directly to you, not to Ardent. Free and RSVP events have no fee.

Free and RSVP events are free. Paid ticketed events have a one-time flat GHS 699 platform fee per event, paid by the organizer. That is Ardent's only charge for events. Ticket sales run through the organizer's own Paystack or Hubtel account, so ticket revenue settles directly to the organizer. Attendees pay only the ticket price the organizer sets.

Open the event page from /events. For a free or RSVP event, fill in the RSVP form. For a paid event, choose your ticket tier and quantity (enter a promo code if you have one) and pay. Checkout runs on the organizer's payment account. After a successful purchase you get a confirmation email with a QR-coded ticket and PDF, and you can view it from your tickets.

Paid tickets come with a unique QR code, emailed to you (and attached as a PDF) and viewable from your tickets. At the event, the organizer scans the QR code or enters the code to check you in. One ticket admits the quantity you bought.

Peer-to-peer (P2P) fundraising allows supporters to create their own personal fundraising pages for your campaign. They can set individual goals, share their personal story, and track their progress. All funds raised through P2P pages count toward the main campaign total.

Use the share buttons on your campaign page to share on social media, via email, or copy a link. We also provide advocacy tools to generate email templates and social media posts optimized for each platform.

Discussion groups are community forums attached to campaigns. Campaign creators can create groups for supporters to discuss the cause, share ideas, and build community. Posts support threaded replies, rich text formatting, reactions, and user mentions for organized conversations. You can access discussions from the "Discussions" tab on any campaign page or visit the Community page to browse all discussions.

Campaign challenges are friendly competitions between campaigns. Campaign creators can create challenges (like fundraising goals or signature targets) and invite other campaigns to participate. Participants compete on leaderboards, and winners are recognized. Challenges help build engagement and create friendly competition to drive impact.

No. Ardent never custodies third-party money. Marketplace payments are settled directly between buyer and provider, off-platform, and Ardent takes no cut. Paid event tickets are processed through the organizer's own Paystack or Hubtel account, so ticket money goes straight to the organizer. The only money Ardent collects for events is the flat GHS 699 platform fee per paid event.

Visit the Volunteer page to browse available volunteer opportunities. You can filter by campaign, skills required, location, and time commitment. When you find an opportunity that interests you, click "Apply" to submit your application. Campaign creators can also create volunteer opportunities for their campaigns to find skilled volunteers.

Impact reports show the real-world results of campaigns. Campaign creators can submit impact reports with photos, metrics, and descriptions of how funds were used and what impact was achieved. Verified impact reports appear on campaign pages and in the Impact Reports showcase. This transparency helps build trust and shows donors the difference their support makes.

Campaign creators and admins can export signatures and donation data as CSV or PDF files. Use the "Export Signatures" button on your campaign page. Exports include names, emails, locations, comments, and dates (subject to privacy settings).

You can contact our support team through the Contact Us page, email us directly, or check our Help Center. We typically respond within 24-48 hours. For urgent issues, please use the contact form and mark it as urgent.

Ardent Africa is available across Africa, though payment methods may vary by country. We support Paystack in countries where it's available. We're continuously expanding our payment options and country coverage.