Your constituents want to help. It’s time to put them to work for you. Let’s look at how you can harness the power of your supporters to increase awareness and raise more funds for your mission.
In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know to get started executing peer-to-peer fundraising.
What is peer-to-peer fundraising?
Almost every single nonprofit wishes they had a larger team to help reach more donors to raise more and meet fundraising goals. When you leverage your supporters, your entire constituency becomes a full-scale fundraising team. Supporters may create in-person fundraiser events where they sell tickets to attend, participate in a sporting event, or utilize fundraising webpages to generate awareness and accept donations.
Philanthropy News Digest explains, “Also known as P2P fundraising, social fundraising, and team fundraising, peer-to-peer fundraising is used by nonprofits to recruit their most loyal and committed supporters to fundraise on their behalf. It’s a great opportunity to increase supporter engagement while furthering your cause and bolstering your bottom line.”
Benefits of peer-to-peer fundraising
There are many benefits of peer-to-peer fundraising. For one, this type of fundraising can occur in person and online. Our recommendation is to do a combination of the two.
- Garner new supporters: When your supporters raise money on your behalf, they reach out to their networks. This outreach occurs via many channels of communication. Social media, for example, is an easy and common way for your supporters to fundraise on your behalf. Their ability to share their own story of why your NPO is important to them can be a great way to spread the word.
- Easy to run: You may think that there’s a lot of behind-the-scenes work for your staff. But peer-to-peer fundraising efforts are actually a huge time save with the opportunity to raise a significant amount of funds. The key to this is having the right software to support your staff and your fundraisers. More on that is below.
- Deepen relationships: And even better, peer-to-peer fundraising programs can help your supporters feel a stronger sense of commitment to your organization.
Ideas for types of fundraising:
- Selling tickets to events like BBQs and picnics
- Corporate fundraising events
- Bowling teams where each team raises funds to compete in a bowling tournament
- Walk teams
- School fundraising competitions
- Webpages that share personal connections to a nonprofit’s mission
- Birthday fundraisers
Many nonprofits have found that making fundraising a game, with a prize to the highest raiser, works very well.
What to look for in your peer-to-peer fundraising platform
Peer-to-peer fundraising software can be a huge asset in the creation of campaigns. Peer-to-peer fundraising software allows your constituents to raise money with the same security and convenience as your in-house team.
According to Philanthropy News Digest, “Selecting the right peer-to-peer fundraising software is a huge decision for a nonprofit, as it requires a solution that fits all your needs as well as your budget.
With its marketing and donation features, your peer-to-peer fundraising platform can make or break your whole campaign, so selecting the right provider shouldn’t be an afterthought. Look closely at your organization and its fundraising needs and compile a features “wish list” so you know exactly what to look for.”
The best peer-to-peer fundraising platforms can meet all of the things on your wishlist. These might include:
- Personalized campaigns for your constituents to share that are secure, branded, easily identifiable affiliated with your organization
- Able to provide tax receipts to all donors. Bonus points if those tax receipts are automatically issued, with all contact information from donors automatically added to the donor database.
- Easy to clone and reuse for future events or campaigns, with helpful templates that make campaign building a snap.
The good news is that this nonprofit management platform already exists, and it’s a part of Giveffect’s 10-in-one software for nonprofits.
Example of a real peer-to-peer fundraising page created on Giveffect
Are you ready to leverage the fundraising power of your supporters? Schedule your demo or activate your free trial!