Peer-to-peer fundraising is one of the best ways to grow your donor base. The tricky part is feeling like your fundraising success is in someone else’s hands. By equipping your peer-to-peer fundraisers through a few basic practices you can turn your supporters into fundraising superstars!
What is Peer-to-Peer fundraising?
Peer-to-Peer leverages your existing supporters to bring in new donors. Although your organization may host a peer-to-peer campaign the organization isn’t doing the bulk of the fundraising. Your supporters are!
Common examples include:
- Birthday fundraisers
- 5Ks
- Board challenges
- Walk-a-thons
- Campaign add-ons
- Giving events– think GivingTuesday
Types of Peer-to-Peer Campaigns
Peer-to-peer fundraising takes on different forms. Your supporters can host an individual fundraiser, participate as a team, or join an event with multiple teams made up of individual fundraisers. Regardless of the type of campaign, there is always a way to come alongside and help equip your peer-to-peer fundraisers for success.
Individual Fundraisers
An individual fundraiser is when an individual creates a fundraiser on behalf of an organization. The most common example is a birthday fundraiser when someone decides to raise funds for a nonprofit instead of receiving birthday gifts.
On Mightycause, an individual fundraiser page allows your supporters to set a donation goal, add a cover photo, and include a customized story. All donations made through the fundraiser page are disbursed to your organization and recorded in your donations report.
Team Campaigns
What’s better than fundraising independently? Fundraising as a team!
Team fundraising campaigns bring together individual fundraisers to work toward a common goal benefitting your organization.
Through Mightycause we provide each team member an individual fundraising page. These pages are linked to the team page showing the team’s goal and progress bar, as well as a leaderboard of all the team members. Just like the fundraiser page, the team page has a customizable story section and social sharing.
Event Campaigns
An event fundraising campaign can have any mixture of teams and fundraisers. It can be totally virtual or a hybrid of virtual and in-person activities. A great example of this is an in-person 5K with virtual fundraising leading up to the 5K event.
With Mightycause, an event page includes a leaderboard for friendly competition, an About section to share all the event info, a goal bar to show your progress in real-time, and the option to display offline donations.
The 3 “S”s to Fundraising Success
Part of equipping your peer-to-peer fundraisers for success requires conveying the three S’s to success:
A Compelling Story, Social Sharing, and Specific Asks
First: A Compelling Story
What motivates you to give to the nonprofits you support? Statistics? Just a mission statement? Or is it something more personal?
So often the needs in our communities are abstract thoughts to the masses. It’s someone else’s child, illness, or need. A compelling story conveying the impact of your organization’s mission and work connects the need with donors’ emotions. This connection then invites the donors to join your efforts to make an impact of their own.
Moreover, your fundraisers may have their own stories about your nonprofit to share. Hence the “story” section on every campaign page. Encourage your fundraisers to get personal. A great way fundraisers can enhance their storytelling is by including pictures and videos.
Second: Social Sharing
Sharing campaign pages on social media is the ultimate game changer in today’s fundraising landscape. Virtual fundraisers aren’t hindered by time zones or distances. They are literally available to the world.
It also means your organization and mission are getting out to the world. This two-fold success is why social sharing makes for a successful campaign and a superstar fundraiser.
And Mightycause makes this simple! Every campaign page has a “Share” button for fundraisers and donors alike to get the word out. What’s more, clicking on the post takes a donor directly to the campaign page. Can it get any easier??
Third: Specific Asks
Fundraisers who specifically ask people to donate and ask for specific amounts of money will raise more.
For example, my cousin is doing a 20-mile bike ride:
- If I happen to see his campaign on Facebook I might donate. Or I might intend to donate but then completely forget.
- However, if my cousin asks me to donate to his fundraiser, then I’m more likely to check out his fundraiser page and consider a gift amount based on what I read there.
- Even more, if my cousin asks me to donate $20 and shares a little bit about why he’s riding, now I’m more inclined to give at least $20, if not more.
Keep in mind that these asks don’t need to be for large sums; that said, they do need to be direct. Some of your fundraisers may need coaching in this area. We’ll get more into this in the next section.
Most importantly, fundraising success takes intentionality. And with the right help, your supporters can present compelling stories, share their campaigns on social media, and make those specific asks.
Equipping Your Peer-to-Peer Fundraisers for Stardom
Fundraising superstars are going to need some assistance when it comes to getting started. This may come in the form of a fundraiser tool kit, a fundraising kick-off email, or maybe a section on your website. Do what works best for your organization, but be sure you do the following three things.
Number 1: Make Fundraising Easy!
Peer-to-peer campaigns MUST be easy for supporters to create.
Use your website, social media, newsletters, and emails to remind supporters that fundraising for your nonprofit is available, simple, and fun. Be sure the necessary steps are easily accessible and visible throughout your online presence.
Don’t be shy. The reality is your supporters are already dedicated to supporting you. Advertising peer-to-peer fundraising is simply providing another avenue of support.
How to create a supporter-initiated fundraiser?
Dedicate a place on your website with instructions for creating a supporter-led fundraiser, like a birthday fundraiser. Include this link everywhere that you mention peer-to-peer fundraising, such as newsletters, social media, etc.
You can say something like this:
It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3
- Visit our organization page (include a link to your profile page).
- Select the “Fundraise” button.
- Click “Get Started.”
You might want to consider including screenshots of each step to further help your supporters.
What if your nonprofit is hosting an event?
Your event page should act as the information hub for your event. You want everyone going to your event page for all their event needs. On the event page, share instructions for building teams and/or fundraisers. Mightycause event pages allow you to create multiple information tabs. This means you can display fundraising instructions and all other helpful information in one place through organized tabs. Lastly, include your event page url all over your promotional pieces so that supporters can easily navigate to the site and access information.
Number 2: Provide Fundraising Templates & Scripts.
No matter your type of work, templates make things easier. And the same is true when equipping your peer-to-peer fundraisers for superstardom. You’ll want to provide the following:
Fundraiser template
To start, a fundraiser template helps fill in the gaps for the fundraiser who doesn’t know where to begin. It also allows your organization to include information you want everyone to know. And the beauty of the Mightycause fundraiser template is that you can create the template and your fundraisers can still customize their pages.
Social media posts
As was mentioned earlier – social media is a game changer. Therefore, provide your supporters with post suggestions, everything from graphics and logos to text. You’ll find your fundraisers want to post, they just don’t always know what to say, what’s allowed to be said, or how to create eye-catching graphics.
Email content
In addition to social posts, provide your supporters with email templates they can use throughout the campaign. Don’t be daunted, keep your emails simple!
Helpful email templates to provide:
- Save the date email to donors
- Day-of email to donors
- Call to Action email to donors
Most importantly, provide your supporters with a donor thank you email. When a fundraiser personally thanks donors, those donors are more likely to give to that fundraiser again in the future. This is an easy step toward fundraising stardom.
For that matter, a timely follow-up from the organization is just as important. Fortunately, Mighycause makes this easy with the downloadable donations report.
Conversation scripts
Provide a few basic scripts to be used on phone calls and in-person conversations. Provide supporters with two easy sentences that will help break down your cause, where funds will go, and what impact they will make.
For newer fundraisers, it’s also helpful to provide a list of call-to-action words and examples of how to start a conversation with a new donor.
Keep in mind that templates and scripts are only prompts to help your fundraisers get moving in the right direction. Be sure to build opportunities for your fundraisers to tell their stories and make it personal to them!
Need some help here? Check out our Fundraising Toolkit.
Number 3: Engage Your Fundraising Supporters!
Peer-to-peer fundraising doesn’t happen without fundraisers, so be sure to start thanking and encouraging your fundraisers as soon as they create their pages. In the end, they’ll perform better with your support and knowing they’re valued.
This includes the fundraisers that are nowhere near reaching their goals. We don’t know why they didn’t do well and it doesn’t matter. The fact is, they were willing to raise money on your behalf. And for what it’s worth, sometimes fundraisers need to work out a few kinks before becoming successful the next go-around.
Appreciation goes a long way in bringing fundraisers back to fundraise again. This is super important. One-hit wonders are good, but longevity creates a superstar.
Know your fundraisers
How can you begin equipping your fundraisers if you don’t know who they are? When someone creates a campaign on Mightycause for your nonprofit, the admins for your organization receive a notification email. In addition, your Mightycause profile, event, and team pages also provide downloadable campaign reports with all the important information you need for tracking past and current campaigns.
Reach out to your fundraisers.
Email, call, or private message your fundraisers on social media to say welcome and thank you. Take this opportunity to provide a fundraising toolkit including templates, scripts, and other timely information, ask if they have questions, and make it clear your aim is their success. You can also include our Tips for Fundraising Success. Your overarching goal is to make sure your fundraisers feel empowered, supported, and excited.
Promote your fundraisers.
If the peer-to-peer campaign is initiated or hosted by your organization, spotlight your fundraisers within your event promotions. And don’t forget to give extra props to supporters who have fundraised for your event year after year. Not only will this encourage your current fundraisers, but it will spur others to step up.
Highlight individual fundraisers that support your nonprofit outside of an organization-sponsored campaign. It can be a thoughtful shoutout on social media or dedicating a section of your newsletter or website.
Thank your fundraisers.
As part of your organization’s overall fundraising strategy be prepared to thank and celebrate your fundraisers.
Again, set apart a portion of your newsletter or website. Pick a day once a month on social media to post about how much you love your fundraisers and the impact they are making. These are also great times and places to make a plug for new fundraisers.
Next, you will want to personally thank fundraisers with a written card, personalized email, or even a thank-you gift. Get creative here and keep a stash of nonprofit gear to send as thank-you gifts. Items such as t-shirts, hats, and travel mugs are useful as well as promotional.
The sky’s the limit when it comes to engaging your fundraisers. The key is being thoughtfully prepared.
Fundraising Superstars in a Nutshell
Equipping your peer-to-peer fundraisers is well worth the effort! Whether it’s through an individual fundraiser, a team, or an event campaign your supporters can engage their friends and family on your behalf.
Utilizing a compelling story, social sharing, and making specific asks will move any fundraiser toward stardom. Your responsibility is to champion your fundraisers with easy-to-follow instructions, templates, scripts, and boatloads of encouragement.
Finally, get your sunglasses out. Superstars are headed your way!