# Creating a Campaign This guide walks through the full campaign creation process on PepFund. Before starting, make sure you have reviewed the prerequisites in [For Researchers](/getting-started/for-researchers.md). *** ## Overview Campaign creation is a five-step wizard. Each step auto-saves. You can exit and return at any time before submitting for review. | Step | Name | Description | | ---- | ------------------ | -------------------------------------------------- | | 1 | Research Overview | Title, abstract, category, team | | 2 | Funding Parameters | Goal, currency, deadline | | 3 | Milestones | Deliverables, evidence types, fund percentages | | 4 | Research Token | Token name, supply, allocation, IP terms | | 5 | Review and Submit | Final check before submitting for editorial review | *** ## Step 1: Research Overview ### Title Keep your title specific and descriptive. Backers scan titles quickly. Avoid acronyms in the title unless the acronym is more widely known than the full phrase. **Strong:** "CRISPR Correction of KCNQ2 Variants in Patient-Derived Neuronal Models" **Weak:** "KCNQ2 Research Phase 1" ### Abstract (Lay Summary) Write a 100 to 250 word plain-language summary. Assume your reader is an educated non-specialist. Explain the problem you are solving, why it matters, and what you plan to do. Avoid jargon. If you need to use a technical term, define it. ### Technical Abstract The full scientific abstract. Standard academic abstract format is acceptable. This is read by technically literate backers and by PepFund reviewers. Length: 200 to 500 words. ### Research Category Select the primary category. If your work spans multiple areas, select the most relevant one. Categories: * Biology * Neuroscience * Climate * Longevity * Materials * Pharmacology * Astronomy * Environment * Other ### Team Add all team members who will be conducting the research. For each member: * Full name * Role on the project * ORCID iD (required for the campaign creator; optional but recommended for co-investigators) * Brief bio (2 to 3 sentences) Only the campaign creator's wallet can submit milestones and receive fund releases. Co-investigators are listed for credibility and transparency but do not have onchain signing authority by default (multi-sig team campaigns are on the roadmap). *** ## Step 2: Funding Parameters ### Funding Goal Enter the total amount of USDC you need to conduct the research. Be honest about this number. Campaigns that request significantly more than the work requires tend to convert fewer backers. Consider including a short breakdown of how the funds will be used in your campaign description. This is not required but strongly recommended. ### Campaign Deadline Set the number of days backers have to reach the funding goal. Minimum: 7 days. Maximum: 90 days. Consider your timeline carefully. Campaigns that are too short may not gather sufficient visibility. Campaigns that are too long can lose momentum. For most research campaigns, 30 to 45 days is a reasonable range. ### All-or-Nothing Funding During beta, all campaigns use all-or-nothing funding: if the goal is not reached by the deadline, all backers receive full refunds and no funds are released to the researcher. This protects backers from under-resourced campaigns proceeding and failing to deliver. *** ## Step 3: Milestones Milestones are the most important part of your campaign setup. They define your accountability structure. ### Number of Milestones Minimum: 2. Recommended: 3 to 5. Campaigns with more than 7 milestones can feel fragmented and increase the administrative burden of the review process. ### For Each Milestone **Title:** A short deliverable label. Examples: * "IRB approval obtained" * "Preclinical data collection complete" * "Preprint submitted to bioRxiv" * "Dataset published on Arweave" **Description:** Describe specifically what constitutes completion. This text is shown to backers during the review window. Be precise. Vague descriptions lead to disputes. **Evidence type:** What you will submit as proof. Select all that apply: * Paper (PDF or DOI) * Dataset (uploaded to Arweave) * Protocol or lab notebook * Computational results or model weights * Regulatory or ethics document * Other **Fund release percentage:** The share of total raised USDC unlocked by this milestone. All percentages must sum to 100%. **Constraints:** * First milestone: maximum 40% of total funds * No single milestone: maximum 50% of total funds **Estimated completion date:** Your realistic expected delivery date for this milestone. This is visible to backers and is used to identify campaigns that fall significantly behind schedule. It is not a hard deadline, but treat it seriously. *** ## Step 4: Research Token ### Token Name and Symbol Choose a name and ticker symbol for your campaign token. These are permanent and visible onchain. Examples: * Name: "Alzheimer Neuroplasticity Token", Symbol: "ANT" * Name: "Kelp Carbon Sequestration", Symbol: "KCS" Symbols must be 2 to 6 uppercase characters. Names must be unique across active PepFund campaigns. ### Total Supply Set the total number of tokens to issue. There is no minimum or maximum, but 1,000,000 is a common starting point. The total supply affects how divisible backer allocations are. ### Backer Allocation The percentage of total supply distributed to backers. Minimum: 51%. Higher backer allocations signal researcher commitment to backer ownership. The remaining supply is split between your team allocation, the PepFund protocol allocation (fixed at 5%), and a reserve you configure. ### IP Terms Select the IP rights model for your campaign: | Option | Description | | ---------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Open Access | All research outputs are public. Token holders receive attribution credit only. | | Preferential Licensing | Token holders receive priority or discounted licensing terms for commercial use. | | Revenue Participation | Token holders receive a proportional share of any licensing income generated. | Choose the option that matches your existing institution agreements and your intentions for the research outputs. Changing this post-campaign is possible but requires a governance vote by token holders. ### Post-Campaign Transferability Choose whether tokens become transferable after the campaign concludes: * **Transferable:** Tokens can be bought and sold freely. * **Non-transferable (soulbound):** Tokens remain permanently in the original backer's wallet. * **DAO-gated:** Transfers require approval from existing token holders above a governance threshold. *** ## Step 5: Review and Submit Before submitting, review: * Campaign title and abstracts * Funding goal and deadline * Milestone descriptions, evidence types, and percentages (verify they sum to 100%) * Research token parameters * Team credentials Click **Submit for Review**. This creates the campaign onchain in `Draft` state, initialises the escrow PDA, and creates the token mint. You will pay a small Solana transaction fee at this step. After submission, the campaign enters `Under Review`. You will hear back within 24 to 72 hours. If revisions are needed, your campaign returns to `Draft` with specific feedback. *** ## After Your Campaign Goes Live Once approved and set to `Active`, your campaign is publicly visible on PepFund. Share it with your community, your institution's networks, and DeSci communities that align with your research area. Post onchain updates regularly, even if there is nothing major to report. Backers follow campaigns closely. Silence tends to reduce conversion. When you reach a milestone, refer to [Submitting Milestones](/guides/submitting-milestones.md). --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.pepfund.xyz/guides/creating-a-campaign.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.