Nonprofits: Peer-to-Peer Fundraising

What Is Peer-to-Peer Fundraising?

Let's start with a basic frame of reference. Bloomerang, a donor management system, offers this guidance.

Peer-to-peer fundraising is when volunteers/supporters take an active role to encourage friends and family to also support a favorite organization. Organizations recruit supporters to widen the reach by encouraging their network to participate in a fundraising activity or event. 

Crowdfunding campaigns are similar but different.

• Crowdfunding asks supporters to share the same brand campaign created by the nonprofit with their personal network.
• Peer-to-peer fundraising enables supporters to create their own personalized page for fundraising. These pages may be based in a template format but have aspects ready to add personal stories and content.

Types of Peer-to-Peer Campaigns
Per the same Bloomerang article:

• Rolling: no time limit and no set deadline
• Time-based: can last several days or weeks, often tied to an event
• Giving Days: 24-hour duration, associated with specific giving occasions (e.g Giving Tuesday, World Hunger Day)

Starting Your Peer-to-Peer Campaign

• Determine your goals
  • Types of goals: possibly raise funds, increase brand awareness, increase social media following
  • Break down the finances: If you're aiming for $20,000 for your project, how many volunteers will you need to realistically consider achieving a portion of that goal? (if you aim for at least $400 per person, you're going to need to enlist the assistance of 50 supporters to contact their network)
• Choose a fundraising platform: There are many out there.
  • Large full-management platforms: Bloomerang, Neon One, OneCause
  • Donation landing pages: GoFundMe, GiveButter, NEDDIE, and Chuffed as examples
  • Variety of fundraising platforms available and features to look for per Bloomerang and Kindful
• Recruit your volunteers and supporters: 
  • Be realistic: Each individual can generally only raise so many funds from friends and family. Set achievable goals for your nonprofit and your team of volunteers. Give everyone a chance to succeed on your behalf!
  • Individual contact: Personalize your request. It makes a difference in volunteer assistance.
• Support your team: Provide the tools to succeed. You'll want a selection of images for your team to personalize their message—maybe share a link to a Canva design they can personalize. Host a training session to answer questions, provide answers to questions their network may have, provide key words/phrases and an initial set of stories volunteers can draw from to inspire their personal stories. 
• Celebrate your achievements: Shout-out everyone you can for whatever reason you can come up with! Keep the enthusiasm high and encouraging. 
• Thank your team of supporters: Thanks are always appreciated, especially during and immediately after your event, but even long after your event. Share how their efforts continue to make a difference and your gratitude. Thank your team leaders and new donors.
• Track campaign data: Follow the numbers - keep an eye on what worked, what didn't, and ways to approach this project next time.

Campaign Styles
Peer-to-peer campaigns can take a variety of forms.

• Online: Heavily based on social media channels, virtual-a-thons
• A-thon style: Read-a-thon, Cook-a-thon, Walk-a-thon, and more
• Matching gift drive
• Wedding or birthday drives: Facebook has a great platform for this from a list of approved nonprofits. It's not hard to get your nonprofit added to the list. 
• Golf tournaments
• Variety of ideas from Bloomerang

Is It Worth It?
Many say yes. People give to people - friends support friends. There's an element of peer pressure to peer-to-peer campaigns that does fuel donations. According to Kindsight, this style of fundraising has continued to grow since 2023. 

This type of fundraising is currently appealing to the Millenials and Gen Z crowd which value flexibility and the ability to align with their identity and values. Mobile-first platforms, speedy downloads and website access, clear donation button options, and easy payment methods are key to success according to GoFundMe. 

GoFundMe tempers the excitement with news that dollar amounts are declining on Facebook and, while a-thons may draw a crowd, the amount raised is declining. GoFundMe also indicates peer-to-peer campaigns are evolving into more community fundraising where volunteers/donors take on campaign activities more actively. ·      

​Supporters want to help you reach your fundraising goals, but they’re not always sure what to do next, when to share, or how to succeed. Providing coaching and ongoing support is one of the most critical elements of a successful community fundraising strategy.

Get to the Point
Peer-to-peer and crowdfunding fundraising options are great tools for any nonprofit organization. However, they take time to plan and prepare for. 

• Decide on your goals.
• Decide the type of campaign or fundraiser you will create.
• Decide on your timing - when to start and how long to last.
• If your goal is a dollar amount, how many volunteers/sponsors/team captains will you need to raise how much in what time to achieve your goal? Depending on your faithful group, $500 may realistically be the most to hope any team attempts to raise as friends will likely give small amounts that build. 
• Decide on a donation platform and build it with your template or initial landing page. Make sure your platform offers the option for others to create their own donation page to personalize. 
• Create a training plan and materials your team can use in the campaign on your behalf.
• Find folks willing to support your campaign plan by sharing the news with their network. If you have a really big goal, you're going to need a lot of people to share the news. 
• Be prepared to be active and involved with your team throughout the campaign to inspire, thank, and cheer for each other. This is time consuming!
• Be ready with your end-of-campaign thank you's for your team and donors, welcoming newly discovered supporters to your organization.
• Make time and ensure you have a plan to review the data after the campaign to learn what went well and ways to improve next time.

Have You Tried Peer-to-Peer or Crowdfunding Campaigns?
How have they gone? Love to hear your successes and challenges so we can learn and grow together! Let's Chat or find me on LinkedIn!

---