8 Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Tips for a Successful Campaign

Peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns have proven to be quite successful for nonprofit organizations. If you are new to peer-to-peer fundraising, the process can be overwhelming. As with anything new, peer-to-peer fundraising gets easier and more productive the more you do it.

Peer-to-peer fundraising works because it allows you to tap into the power of people who believe deeply in your cause. The challenge is in finding those people, getting them involved, and helping them overcome their hesitations over participating in fundraising.

To help you have a successful peer-to-peer fundraising event and kick-starter campaign, we’ve got 8 valuable peer-to-peer fundraising tips for a successful campaign.

Understanding Participants

While people may be deeply invested in a cause, not everyone is great at raising funds for it. Not being great at something causes people to shy away from it. There are ways to help people get great at fundraising, and it all starts with understanding them.

Technology can give your fundraising campaigns a considerable boost, yet the people who need to use the technology are often unfamiliar with it. With a bit of friendly guidance, they can learn to master fundraising software solutions and perhaps, even grow to like them.

Beyond understanding your participants’ technological skills, it’s also essential to understand who they are and their connection level to your nonprofit. Knowing their relationship to your organization’s cause will tell you whether they are new to the organization and whether they are someone you can prime for a leadership position in fundraising or elsewhere within the organization.

Getting to know the people willing to get involved in your net profit will also increase your empathy for their needs, challenges, and motivations. This valuable information will come in handy as you seek to greater engage them in your work.

The following 8 peer-to-peer fundraising tips will help you understand the process and your people.

8 Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Tips

Even if you have done peer-to-peer fundraising, there is always something new to learn. The following peer-to-peer fundraising tips will help you improve your campaign even better.

1. Leverage the power of an event. For example, your nonprofit might set up a 5K run/walk event where donors pledge a certain amount of money per kilometer. This approach lends itself to more significant donations than asking for a flat amount. As an added benefit, participants may be able to tie their personal goals into an activity. For example, they might tie their personal fitness goals into their fundraising goals for a 5K walk/run. Tying the two together will create a deeper relationship between participants and donors and encourage larger donations.
2. Make participants feel welcome. To begin with, use welcome messaging in your registration process. Make note that they will become part of a mission-minded organization, and you consider their contributions valuable. Inform participants about your nonprofit and peer-to-peer fundraising campaign, and listen to them to help build meaningful relationships and increase their loyalty to your nonprofit. Introduce new participants to other participants to help them connect and become active members of the community. One way to do this is to put them on a fundraising team with other excited individuals. If getting together isn’t possible, you might consider kicking off your campaign with a live stream event.
3. Encourage participants to talk about their stories. Everyone has a story, yet supporters may be shy about telling them. They may even be timid about asking people to donate. A participant’s story tells donors why they are involved with your nonprofit and why it is important to them. Their “why” will surely resonate with their family and friends, and your campaign will help amplify their story. Inspiring stories will also motivate other participants to share their stories as well.
4. Encourage participants to donate on their own behalf. Obviously, their donations contribute to the cause, but donating on their own behalf also shows donators how invested they are in the cause, even if the amount is minimal. Participants might even use their donations to show how a certain amount translates to helping people. Such as, “My donation of $100 will provide 1,000 meals for a hungry person.”
5. Ask participants to set goals and milestones. Establishing mini goals will help participants reach longer milestones. It’s helpful to offer small rewards for mini-goals and larger rewards for reaching milestones. Another idea is for participants to increase their personal donations when they reach specific goals or milestones. There is a lot of room for fundraising creativity here!
6. Gamify the event. To have a successful campaign, you’ll need to invest funds in it, and gamification software is an excellent place to put your money. Everyone likes a little competition, and gamification is a great way to build camaraderie. Many fundraising software programs allow you to create teams and a leaderboard to track everyone’s progress. The programs collect and report individual, team, and overall fundraising activity.
7. Maximize the power of social media platforms. Individual fundraising pages can sync with Facebook Fundraisers or other social media platforms to spread awareness of your peer-to-peer fundraising campaign. You can also set up a connected streaming experience via YouTube or Twitch. Prefilled posts participants can share on their social media platforms will make things easy for them. Supply participants with the suggested language they can use on their profile pages, in emails, and in social appeals. By giving participants some ready tools, you are removing some barriers preventing them from requesting donations.
8. Acknowledge top performers. While your participants take pride in meeting their goals, it’s always nice to be acknowledged. Be sure to feature your top performers on your website and in your newsletters. Top performers aren’t necessarily the people who bring in the most donations. Sometimes, they are the most inspiring participants. Either way, you can acknowledge them by showcasing their accomplishments. This is a viable way to give meaning to your progress.

To summarize, don’t forget to have fun with peer-to-peer fundraising events. We naturally have a lot of fun when we’re with our peers. A peer-to-peer fundraising campaign should be a positive experience for fundraising planners, organizers, and participants. Use an informal voice in your communications, and keep them mission-centered. Once you have your first peer-to-peer fundraising campaign on the books, the next one will be easier.Peer-to-peer fundraising works because it allows you to tap into the power of people who believe deeply in your cause.