Best Practices
10 Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Tips for Your Non-Profit
Become an awesome peer-to-peer fundraiser
Rahul Razdan
April 2018
What is Peer-to-peer Fundraising?
Peer-to-Peer fundraising (or p2p fundraising, crowd fundraising, friends and family fundraising, etc.), is a decentralized fundraising methodology used by non-profits.
Patrons raise funds for a worthy cause from their friends, family members, colleagues, and others within their personal and professional networks.
Peer-to-peer fundraising is a crucial driver for the success of any non-profit program.
An effective peer-to-peer fundraising program drives greater awareness about the cause, better engagement/retention among the patrons, successful onboarding of new donors, and more funds. The importance of a good peer-to-peer fundraising channel can be understood by a single statistic – 72% of all donations made in the US are from individual donors, compared to 7% that comes from corporate giving.
52%
Did you know that in-person races cost approximately 52 cents for each dollar they fundraise? Virtual races in comparison only cost around 15 cents on a dollar raised.
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Challenges Faced by Non-profits While Fundraising
Fundraising is the lifeblood of your organization as it enables you to achieve your mission and fund essential programs.
However, it's easier said than done! Fundraising for non-profits comes with many challenges, from finding the correct target market, clear messaging, and story-telling to finding new donors, retaining them, and what not!
Whether you are raising funds for the first time or you are an experienced fundraiser, you can find yourself struggling when trying to raise more funds than before.
Let's understand how to raise money for a non-profit.
Best Tips for Effective P2P Fundraising
We at Charity Footprints have analyzed hundreds of NPO partners and thousands of fundraisers. We’d like to share with you the best peer-to-peer fundraising tips for more structured and effective fundraising for both individuals and teams.
1. Set up your fundraising page
Ignoring to set up your fundraising page is the biggest cardinal sin in the land. A successful fundraising page includes the fundraiser's pictures, video, and a personal message explaining the importance of the cause and associated fundraising. Highlight the end goal such as "The $500 I'm fundraising would help feed a family of 4 for one month".
2. Kickstart with a seed contribution
Most participants hesitate to go first, so it's a good idea for you to be the first donor on your fundraising page. Once you have made your contribution seek support from your closest friends to collect their contributions. People are more likely to donate in the same range that others before them have donated. So, the higher the seed better should be the fundraising outcomes.
3. Send personalized email appeals
Your friends, family members, and colleagues will connect more with the fundraiser once they learn why it is important to you. Ensure that you express why you connect with the cause well in your email. It is also important to personalize your emails and send them out individually instead of a bcc'ed email.
4. Reach out to your colleagues
Invite your colleagues to support your fundraiser if the human resources policy of your organization permits that. You can also check if your organization has a gift-matching program that you can utilize to maximize your fundraising impact.
5. Follow up texts and calls
So you've created a stunning fundraising page, made your donation, and reached out to friends, family, and colleagues. Now it's time to follow up individually via text messages and phone calls. As everyone has limited attention spans, drive your donors' actions through regular follow-ups. This will decide the overall performance of your fundraiser.
6. Post on social media to maintain momentum
Social media is a powerful tool, leverage it to create and maintain momentum. Thank people for their contributions, post pictures/videos of your activities (such as runs, bike rides, etc.), and ask friends to share your posts to seek more donations.
7. Send timely thank you notes
Thank donors promptly instead of waiting for the campaign to end. A good thank-you note is personal, shares fundraiser highlights and status, and talks about the sender's connection with the non-profit cause. This step is essential to ensure that the donor will give again when you fundraise the next time.
8. Send regular updates
Keep everyone updated with your campaign progress through emails and social media, especially when you hit certain milestones such as 50% funds raised or 90% fitness challenge complete etc. Communicate to seek donation pledges that will get you to your next milestone.
9. Close the campaign strong
Send out reminders about the fundraising campaign's end date. Subject lines with "last 48 hrs to make your donations" or "1 more day to make an impact" are effective reminders for those who are willing, but are yet to make the donation.
10. Wrap it up
Once the campaign ends, send a final thank you email to all the donors sharing final fundraising stats. This step is essential to retain your donors for future fundraisers you might organize.
We understand that each organization and cause is unique and hope you find these tips practical and helpful in propelling your fundraising drives. As a leading peer-to-peer fundraising platform, we at Charity Footprints can help you set up a successful fundraiser.
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