Tweaking Your Website for Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Success
The following is a guest post from Mark Becker, Founding Partner, and Laura L. Higgins, Strategic Consultant, at Cathexis Partners. Cathexis Partners is a leading nonprofit technology consulting firm specialized in software implementation, web design, database management, and online fundraising strategy.
It’s not unusual for nonprofits that have been running peer-to-peer campaigns and events for multiple years to fall into a routine of hitting copy and paste for the new peer-to-peer season. Even for organizations moving a physical event to a peer-to-peer virtual fundraising event, it can be tempting to simply duplicate the event website from years past.
Does that sound familiar? If so, you aren’t alone.
We work with nonprofit organizations at every stage of peer-to-peer fundraising (from newbies to veterans). One thing we’ve seen time after time is that it’s worthwhile to step back and review each new peer-to-peer fundraising campaign with fresh eyes. Even a few small adjustments and simple additions to your website and campaign site can make a big difference.
Here are a few simple, yet impactful ways to fine-tune your website for your next peer-to-peer fundraising campaign or event:
Make things easier.
Make sure it’s easy for people (participants and those donating to your participants’ campaigns) to find information on your campaign site. Start by imagining you know nothing about your campaign and go to the home page of your website. Step through the online process. Ask yourself these questions, take notes as you go, and work with your website manager to make improvements:
How easy is it to find:
- Information about the campaign or event?
- How to register as a participant?
- How to donate to participants or to teams?
- How easy is it to complete the registration process?
- To make it easier on participants, make sure to ask only the questions you really need to get them on board. You can always collect more information later.
- How easy is it for participants to start fundraising?
- Once they’re registered, will they know what to do next?
- Consider adding a “kickstart your fundraising with a self-donation” button as a first step to get participants going.
Add gamification.
Gamification is an effective way to add friendly competition and make the campaign more fun. For example, add progress meters to show participants how the overall campaign, their team, and they are tracking toward goals. Add digital badges for things like fundraising milestones, number of people recruited, self-donations, and miles completed in a physical challenge.
Give donations a boost.
Add some donation-lifting enhancements to your peer-to-peer fundraising campaign website. A few ideas:
- Add a virtual shopping cart to show donors real-life examples of how their donation can help your organization achieve its mission. For example, letting someone know their donation will feed a family of four is more powerful than simply asking for a specific amount of money.
- Include an option for donors to cover the cost of transaction fees. Adding this simple option to the donation form can give a significant boost to your overall funds raised.
- Use a matching gift solution, such as 360MatchPro by Double the Donation to make sure you don’t leave dollars on the table.
- Add a monthly giving pop-up box: When donors make an online donation, present them with the option to make it a recurring gift with the convenience of automated monthly payments. This approach encourages donors to give more over time.
These are just some examples of the many ways to tweak your online presence for your next peer-to-peer fundraising campaign or event. Just remember: Investing time to review and adjust your organization and campaign sites will help ensure your campaign is always improving.
Need more ideas or an extra set of hands for your peer-to-peer fundraising events or campaigns? Contact Cathexis Partners.