Peer-to-peer fundraising is a lucrative strategy to raise money while empowering and educating individuals. This method of social fundraising encourages existing donors to continue supporting your nonprofit. When executed effectively, you can extend your donor base at a low cost.
What is peer-to-peer fundraising?
Peer-to-peer or social fundraising is the new-age technique of nonprofit brand awareness that encourages supporters to actively participate in your funding efforts. These volunteer supporters help promote your campaign to their online network.
Social fundraising is different from traditional campaigns in terms of structure. While the traditional method contacts donors and online audiences for donations directly, peer fundraising has an indirect approach. It allows organizers to reach larger audiences and gain visibility through organic traffic similar to the content you’d see on social media.
Whether you’re new to peer-to-peer fundraising or a skillful fundraising planner, this article will give you the best fundraising tips and new practices for your nonprofit organization.
How does peer-to-peer fundraising work?
Successful peer-to-peer fundraising programs take a lot of planning.
Since its highly flexible, you can customize your fundraising campaigns to meet your organization’s needs and donor base. For example, you may choose or marry virtual and in-person events to acquire funds from existing and potential supporters.
Thus, you need a team and fundraising software to automate the planning and execution process. Doing so will streamline the donation process and provide valuable campaign data for future ventures.
Philanthropic giving continues to grow. Corporations are willing to support organizations, but nonprofits find it challenging to adapt to new funding strategies.
Organizations like yours should prepare to take on these new emerging revenue opportunities. Therefore, planning your peer-to-peer fundraising strategy in the first quarter is essential to set yourself up for success.
By the end of this article, you’ll be motivated and well-equipped to plan a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign for your organization. So here are six simple steps in planning your hybrid fundraising strategy.
1. Set a fundraising goal
Your fundraising goal should revolve around your nonprofit mission and culture. And creating an outline plan can help you and your team reach your desired results.
Ask yourself these questions to iron out the details of your fundraising goal:
- How much do you want to raise?
- What’s your target budget?
- What type of event are you planning (In-person or virtual)?
- When is the event?
- Who is leading this event?
Planning your fundraising events at the beginning of the year lets you brainstorm other ideas to incorporate into your goals. In fact, thinking ahead enables you to resolve otherwise overlooked issues if you execute at the last minute.
2. Select a fundraising software.
Peer-to-peer fundraising software is essential for any nonprofit campaign. It allows you to set up fundraising pages and collect donations automatically.
While there are many platforms to choose from, being selective about your software can make or break your nonprofit fundraising goals. If you’re on a tight budget, Donorbox can support your drive with no contracts and startup fees.
In addition to being cost-efficient, this online giving tool gives your donors easy access to subscribe to your mailing list and fund your charity programs.
3. Design a fundraising campaign page.
A structured campaign page offers compelling insights about your fundraising mission. It should explain your vision, mission statement, campaign goals, and intended beneficiaries.
You want your donation pages to be as effortless as possible for donors to be on board. Be sure your website is mobile adaptive while donation buttons seamlessly integrate with your web page.
4. Build a fundraising team.
Finding a fundraising team is integral to your campaign strategy because you can’t do it alone. You need other talents to help you manage different aspects of your fundraiser. In doing so, it reduces fatigue and burnout.
While organizing it solo cuts back expenses. Your team can offer positive energy and might raise more funds than expected. In such cases, recruit those willing to volunteer and negotiate with the ones who need monetary compensation.
Once you have a goal-driven team, the next step is to assign roles and responsibilities. Discuss how their strengths can best serve your fundraising campaign goals. For example, you may need to appoint a member with the following duties:
- Public relations
- Social media marketing
- Photography and graphic design
- Events manager
- Writer
Empowering your team enables them to stay motivated, leading to better project execution.
5. Create a fundraising page for each team member.
Creating a fundraising page for each member maximizes your campaign goal. Give your team examples of key phrases and facts about where donor contributions go and how it impacts people’s lives. Take time to train your team on using your fundraising platform if necessary.
Your team’s donation pages allow devoted fundraisers to share your mission across their social circle. Therefore increases your reach and visibility to secure more online donations.
6. Promote your peer-to-peer fundraising campaign.
Fundraising campaigns are what sustains nonprofits to continue their charity efforts. Without it, they can’t build future programs. So promoting your peer-to-peer fundraising is vital to increasing a new audience of potential donors.
There are many ways to promote your charity campaign. Some involve grant writing, while others use the same marketing strategy as for-profit businesses; social media advertising.
71% of nonprofits worldwide find online platforms more effective than traditional fundraising strategies. Donor awareness is the most significant hurdle in fundraising, so leveraging social media boosts your chances of a successful campaign.
What are the benefits of peer-to-peer fundraising?
Effective peer-to-peer fundraising benefits both nonprofits and donors. If you’re unsure about social fundraising, here are some advantages to keep in mind:
1. Solidify donor relationships
Intensifying supporter relationships by creating an engaging charity campaign is one of the best ways to retain them. So, whether running a personal drive or representing a large organization, proper stewardship inspires donors to stay and promote your cause.
Let your donors feel their value to your organization by asking them to fundraise on your behalf. Then, not only do you deepen your relationship, but they can also support your cause without giving monetary donations.
2. Boosts new donors
Wondering how to get more donors is an age-old question for nonprofit organizations. To attract a wider audience of potential donors, allow your loyal supporters to become volunteer fundraisers. Since people are more likely to donate to their friends’ fundraisers than a random charity that pops up on their mail list.
Fundraising is difficult, so training your nonprofit team with the right resources allows everyone to reach their goals. For example, you can offer them training manuals and in-person lessons or provide user-friendly P2P software like GoFundMe.
3. Increases awareness and exposure
Social fundraising is a way for your organization to gain visibility organically.
For example, suppose you have a fundraiser who has been a loyal supporter who shares your cause to their social media feed. In that case, their followers become aware of your work. While it’s possible that you won’t instantly get donations from their supporters, at least now they know that your organization exists.
Make sure your fundraisers know how to deliver your message and mission accurately, and don’t forget to give them your correct contact information to avoid confusion.
Remember that not every call-to-action leads to donations but a dialogue for people to talk about your organization.
4. Raises funds effortlessly
A well-planned peer-to-peer fundraising strategy makes soliciting donations effortless. Thus, you can cut costs by running campaigns online and allowing supporters to promote your program actively.
When organizing a charity event, make sure you spend less than you earn. You don’t want to end up pulling out money from your wallet. But it’s happened before and is bound to happen again, so better to invest time formulating a foolproof fundraising strategy.
Creative ideas for peer-to-peer fundraising
With the rise of the virtual event landscape, the opportunities for social fundraising are endless. More and more nonprofits are creating share-worthy events on their social media accounts. What makes their efforts successful are their fundraising ideas with engaging twists.
Remember the ice bucket challenge that ravaged Facebook and Instagram back in 2014? That’s a great example of a successful peer-to-peer fundraiser. The challenge’s goal involved pouring a bucket of ice water over a person’s head to promote ALS awareness and raise funds. As a result of a triumphant fundraising campaign, the ALS Association raised over $220 million worldwide.
Now you know what peer to peer fundraising is and its benefits, get creative with these social fundraising ideas below.
1. Athletic events
People love to engage in athletic events, whether they’re an athlete or not. Hosting a family-friendly athletic fundraiser makes your event more accessible and raise awareness for your cause. An example event may be incorporating a family fun walk or a ten-pin bowling, which pushes more people to join, especially if it involves helping others.
While these athletic events are in-person, you can involve more people by making your competition in a virtual setting. Some apps like Strava can track and post participants running times with GPS. Digital marathons are a great way to cut costs without organizing an in-person event.
2. Weekend souk
Bake sales are a great way to raise funds, but go the extra mile and organize a weekend market.
A weekend market fundraising activity allows more diversity of people to attend your event. To execute this affair, ask your merchants to allot a percentage of their sales to fund your campaign. In addition to advertising their products, they can also be involved in charity work.
3. Social media challenges
Social media challenges allow your imagination to run wild. As mentioned above, it can be anything from growing beards to jumping in icy waters; you name it. Make your challenge unique enough that people on social media would want to share and retweet it on their accounts.
Here’s an example initiative: the #Run5Donate5Nominate5 started by nominating people to do a 5k, encouraging them to donate £5, then selecting (5) friends to make a trend. The creators behind this challenge mobilized 1.5 million participants and raised £ 7 million.
4. Art auctions
An art auction can be a hybrid event. You can collaborate with a venue and stream it live on your website and social media pages. Consider the type of art you want to sell while basing it on your attendees. Many organizers post the art online to show bidders the kind of auctioned works and the artists behind them. Advertising the pieces allows them to excite potential attendees for the coming event.
Grow your NPO with peer-to-peer fundraising
Peer-to-peer fundraising is an excellent way to engage existing donors to become potential volunteer fundraisers. However, preparing months in advance and pursuing diverse platforms to promote your fundraising campaign is imperative. To make it effective, determine which methods are adequate for your nonprofit.
It’s clear that donors want to continue their support, so make it easy for them to carry on the work.
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