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 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:
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.
Add some donation-lifting enhancements to your peer-to-peer fundraising campaign website. A few ideas:
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.