What Makes a Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Campaign Successful?

As the world becomes more and more reliant on technology, nonprofits are finally receiving their due. New, innovative solutions that are specifically made for charities and nonprofit fundraisers are designed to make it easy to engage new donors and increase donations. One of the tactics to come out of tech-backed fundraising is peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns, otherwise known as social fundraising.

This social-focused approach combines elements of social networking, online donations, engaging events, and sometimes team competitions to drive new donations from donors’ networks. In this article, we’ll look at a few reasons this innovative approach to fundraising is so successful.

It’s easy for people to get involved.

Whether you’re planning a fun-run, a competitive 5K, an individual giving event (such as a memorial, tribute, or personal donation event) or a corporate contest to see who can raise the most money for a charity, peer-to-peer fundraising is all about networking. With a good peer-to-peer solution, existing donors and audience members can easily send relevant campaign information to their networks, automatically multiplying your donor list exponentially. All it takes is a handful of donors to share a campaign update with their networks and social channels, who then share with their networks, and so on, and a charity’s mission is amplified many times over.

In peer-to-peer fundraising, most events represent a fun, exciting, and active way to get involved with a charity organization or a great cause. Peer-to-peer and social fundraising campaigns are designed to leverage technology and social media platforms to acquire new names and engage donors. Even if the general public isn’t familiar with a particular charity, anyone and everyone can participate in a 5K or personal donation page (e.g., ice bucket challenge).

Most people love a challenge, which makes gamification elements in many peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns such a great bet. Donors — both new and returning — gain rewarding, memorable experiences that connect them personally to your cause and that they then pass on to their networks, continuing the positive cycle.

Supporters are motivated to donate.

Because peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns are socially motivated and prioritizes transparency as an engagement tool, donors are motivated to become involved and stay involved. Donors also gain visibility into how other donors are doing, which motivates them even further to join in the fun. Fundraising opportunities include:

  • Social donations
  • Traditional online donations
  • Sponsorships
  • Peer-to-Peer events
  • Do-It-Yourself fundraising
  • Annual Campaigns

Peer-to-peer fundraising also prioritizes competition to drive donations. Social polls, leaderboards, and scorecards are all part of the peer-to-peer fundraising process. Another tip to consider is to create ‘tiers’ of donors so individuals or even groups are motivated to increase donations to stay ahead of the pack. Nonprofits can recognize and applaud the donors in the top tier as another method of encouragement.    

There are plenty of opportunities for growth.

The best part of peer-to-peer fundraising is how infinitely scalable it is – with the right technology and resources in place of course. Donors are able to engage with peer-to-peer campaigns in the way that they prefer, whether that’s via social, online, or even in-person at events.

Nonprofit-specific technology platforms also help push peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns to the next level. These platforms monitor social feeds for campaign mentions, automate posts on certain channels, alert donors about donation leaders, and even provide real-time goal or fundraiser updates. Nonprofit fundraising teams have access to recent and historical data to see which campaigns performed well and which ones need tweaking in the future. This enables your nonprofit to run successful campaigns continuously year-round, while new, improved campaigns can be steadily introduced to growing audiences. Messaging and social updates built into the peer-to-peer platform keeps donors in the loop about new opportunities for donations and opens new, exciting avenues to grow revenue.

The OneCause Peer-to-Peer platform is redefining peer-to-peer fundraising, making it as simple (and engaging) as possible. The social fundraising software delivers robust, easy-to-use solutions directly to nonprofit across many types of charities and organizations. This new product is designed for security, scalability, and growth. Increase revenue, engage new contacts, and create lifelong donors.

Additional Resources

If you’re interested in learning more about peer-to-peer fundraising, check-out these additional resources:

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