The ABCs of Peer-to-Peer Fundraising

Your organization’s inspiring work attracts a following of amazing people that want to share in your successes and help you further support your mission.  Peer-to-Peer fundraising allows your organization’s supporters to fundraise on your behalf by creating “mini-campaigns” that champion for your cause.

Each peer-to-peer fundraiser has their own dedicated fundraising page tied to your campaign, event, or Giving Day profile. They are given the tools to set fundraising goals, manage their page, and share their unique stories about why they support your organization. With peer-to-peer fundraising, your best supporters can be your best fundraisers too!

Let’s break Peer-to-Peer fundraising into its most elemental parts, giving you the ABCs of the best P2P Fundraising practices and strategies for success!

Anyone can be a Peer-to-Peer Fundraiser –

By sharing their connection to your cause with their network, your supporters can help your organization cast a wider net and optimize your fundraising goals. Your Peer-to-Peer fundraisers can range from employees, volunteers, board members, large donors, and more! As long as someone is ready and willing to champion for your organization, you can welcome their support with open arms.

Broaden Your Organization’s Reach – 

After reaching out to those supporters you already have, your supporters can, in turn, recruit people from their social networks to fundraise on behalf of your organization. This helps ensure that your campaign is being seen by as many community members as possible and receiving the additional support that you might not have otherwise.

Celebrate Your Supporters – 

Remember that fundraising is about celebrating what makes your organization and its supporters wonderful! What better way to do this than by hosting a fundraising champion party to kick-off your Peer-to-Peer fundraising campaign. Showing gratitude early on in your campaign will keep fundraisers excited and engaged.

Donate First –

Encourage your fundraising champions to be the first ones to make donations on their individual pages. It is a great way to get started on their fundraising goals and shows to their peers that they are dedicated to the cause!

Expand your Donor Base –

We’ve found that on an average GiveGab Campaign or Giving Day, each Peer-to-Peer fundraiser brings in 4 new donors per organization! These are new donors that you have the opportunity to cultivate year-round and potentially become a future fundraiser for our next campaign!

Fundraising Pioneers –

If you are using Peer-to-Peer fundraising for the first time, start small. Think of 3-5 of your biggest supporters to ask to fundraise. This will allow your organization to get comfortable with this new fundraising trend so that you can instantly see results and impact!

Gratitude –

Your fundraisers already care deeply about your organization, make sure they know you feel the same way! When you use stewardship to make your donors and supporters feel loved and appreciated, they will be much more likely to lend a hand in the future with whatever endeavor you embark upon next!

Happier Nonprofits –

Peer-to-Peer Fundraising increases donor stewardship, volunteer engagement, and helps to alleviate some of the daily stresses for nonprofit leaders–all things that help make nonprofits a little happier and excited to fulfill their mission.

Increase Donations –

Peer-to-Peer fundraising can increase the average number of donations you receive AND it’s a great way to engage with your supporters beyond asking them to donate. According to data from our Giving Day partners, on average nonprofits using P2P fundraisers during Giving Days raise 300% more!

Joy –

Peer-to-Peer Fundraising allows more people to experience the joy of fundraising. Your supporters will be proud of the money they are able to raise for your organization and the donors will be happy they could support their friend with a cause important to them. P2P fundraising helps to increase the overall amount of Joy that nonprofits can spread – to their donors, their communities, and each other!

Kindness –

Having your supporters help take on some of the Fundraising responsibility through Peer-to-Peer fundraising allows you to see the kindness and generosity that exists to keep your organization running–and that your organization, in turn, can put back into your community!

Launch your Nonprofit Fundraising Efforts –

With GiveGab’s Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Suite you can take your digital fundraising and engagement efforts to the next level! Our year-round fundraising platform includes templated and customizable campaigns and events – all with built-in peer-to-peer (p2p) and team fundraising, analytics, and automated thank you messaging. 

Motivating your Fundraisers –

Keep your supporters excited about their fundraiser throughout the entire campaign by inciting some friendly competition with a contest, awards, or by using GiveGab’s built-in motivation tools like the Fundraiser Leaderboard. Give your supporters the extra push they need to stay on top of their fundraisers and meet their fundraising goals.

Natural Story Tellers –

There are many reasons why someone might want to fundraise for your organization, let them share theirs. Peer-to-Peer Fundraising allows your supporters to tell stories of your organization’s impact that will resonate with their social following. Having your fundraisers share their personal stories and connections helps guide more people to your organization and its mission. 

Download our recently updated Nonprofit Story Telling Template for new ideas on how to share your story and help your fundraisers do the same!

Online Fundraising Strategy –

Meet your donors, where they are, online! A worldwide study for the year 2017 revealed that 33% of NGOs use an online Peer-to-Peer fundraising service. NGOs that have invested the resources necessary to experiment with Peer-to-Peer fundraising will continue to reap the financial rewards for years to come. Online fundraising has continued to grow in popularity because it makes it easy for donors to give and allows your organization to keep fundraising costs low.

Preparation – 

Although we make it easy for a Peer-to-Peer fundraiser to get started at any time during your campaign, we encourage you to start recruiting early on. This gives your fundraisers ample time to get their page looking good and ready to share out with their networks. Create clear instructions for what is expected of your fundraisers and provide them the tools to be successful in their endeavors.

Quality Relationships –

As a fundraising professional, you know just how important relationship building is. Be sure you are taking time before and after your campaign to connect with your supporters. Asking them how their fundraising went provides insight, builds quality relationships, and makes them feel heard. Plus, you might get some fresh ideas from it!

Recruitment –

Asking someone to fundraise on your behalf can sound like a daunting task. But in reality, supporters will be over the moon that you thought of them as your ideal Peer-to-Peer cheerleaders for your organization. 

Social Network –

When your supporters share their Peer-to-Peer fundraiser online, your organization gets exposure to their close social circles. Although these people are strangers to your organization now, they are given the opportunity to learn more about your work and help their peer reach their fundraising goal. This allows you to expand your organization’s own social network and social media engagement as new audiences connect with your organization.

Toolkits and Trainings – 

On GiveGab, your supporters can use their Peer-to-Peer fundraiser toolkit to manage and customize their fundraising page, tell their individual story, set a fundraising goal, share their page on social media, upload their email contacts and even send stewardship emails after the campaign ends. They also have direct access to GG Chat to help them every step of the way!

Update your Supporters –

If you are running a Peer-to-Peer fundraising campaign, it is important to keep the hype up by checking in with current and potential supporters to show them how you’re doing. Share exciting news with them throughout the campaign and encourage them to do the same. Show them how their fundraiser is making a direct impact on the success of your campaign.

Vocalize your Support –

Your Peer-to-Peer fundraisers are one of your most powerful and valuable tools! You should motivate them to vocalize their support for your organization as much as possible to encourage their friends, family, and colleagues to do the same. Create templated emails or social media posts for your fundraisers to use. This will make it as easy as possible for them to spread the word about your campaign and not miss out on any of the important details.

Walk the Walk –

Lead by example! If you are a nonprofit professional hosting a Peer-to-Peer fundraiser for your organization, consider also becoming a Peer-to-Peer fundraising champion either for your own organization or, better yet, a different organization in your community that you support! This will not only show you are living your organization’s mission but get others excited about joining in on the fun.

Generation X, Y, and Z donors –

Trends show that these three generational donor groups are much more likely to donate online and through crowd-funding systems such as Peer-to-Peer fundraising campaigns than by other means. In fact, according to Nonprofit Source, 46% of Millenials donate to crowdfunding campaigns. Peer-to-Peer fundraising has proven to be highly effective in gaining the support of millennial donors through Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. This is excellent news considering that millennial donors are also much more likely to contribute monthly donations to organizations after initial participation in a crowd-funded or Peer-to-Peer campaign.

Use Peer-to-Peer fundraising for your next campaign or event!