Peer-to-Peer Fundraising: How to Connect with Supporters at Scale
First, what is peer-to-peer fundraising?
Peer-to-peer fundraising is a method of fundraising that asks your supporters to fundraise on your behalf. Peer-to-peer campaigns have the power to reach a larger audience because you are leveraging the network of your supporters. The main purpose of peer-to-peer campaigns is to call on supporters to appeal to their network(s) for donations with a collective goal in mind.
Why do it? It’s an additional online revenue source, and can significantly amplify your reach by engaging with your supporters’ networks. It can also strengthen the relationships you have with your current supporters.
It’s also a massively untapped opportunity for many nonprofits. Only 33% of nonprofit organizations worldwide leverage peer-to-peer, and 87% of millennials and Gen Xers say they are willing to fundraise for nonprofits via peer-to-peer.
Ready to start building your peer-to-peer fundraising strategy? Watch our webinar to learn more.
Building a Foundation
The first step to a successful peer-to-peer fundraising strategy is to make sure you have your technology ecosystem in place. Think about the tools in your toolbelt – a fundraising platform, CRM, email platform, donor database, the list goes on. Make sure these tools are properly integrated and communicating with each other to avoid siloed data.
Once you have your tools in place, it’s time to think about your goals, and how you will interact with your supporters and fundraisers at each stage of their journey. What are your organizational goals at each of these stages, and how can you best communicate these to your supporters?
With your goals and fundraiser journey mapped out, it’s time to plan and create your content. There are two main types of content goals:
- Converting your current supporters into fundraisers; and
- Converting their network into donors
Here are some useful content guidelines and a checklist to help you get started:
Need some guidance on content creation? Watch the full webinar.
Supporter Onboarding & Nurturing
While there are many strategies and tactics for inspiring and empowering supporters to fundraise, it’s important to have an approach centered around your audience and their needs:
- Understand your audience and make use of segmentation in order to communicate effectively.
- Craft an email welcome series specific to peer-to-peer fundraising.
- Empower your supporters to become better fundraisers by providing toolkits and resources.
- Motivate your supporters to fundraise with perks and rewards.
- Celebrate progress and milestones, communicating collective and individual progress to goals.
- Keep the momentum going on social media leading up to the campaign deadline or event date.
Need more on how to segment your audience or craft an effective welcome series? Check out the webinar!
Following Up
At the conclusion of your campaign or event, following up with supporters and thanking them is extremely important. Make your thank you messages personal and authentic. Celebrate the impact you created together for the larger goal, and communicate why it wouldn’t be possible without your supporters and fundraisers. They’ve helped you work towards these goals, and it’s important to give them their time to shine. Make sure to also share advice on how to thank their donors.
In addition to a thank you, ask for feedback! Connect with your fundraisers to learn what techniques they used to achieve their success. Their feedback can give you great insight into what’s working and what isn’t, and is important for continued engagement.
Here are some things to consider about when creating a survey:
- Think about your supporters, how engaged they are, and what they’re willing to fill out. Typically, the longer the survey, the lower the response rate.
- Be deliberate about the the questions you’re asking. Think about how you’ll be able to leverage each data point collected.
Ready to take your peer-to-peer fundraising to the next level? Get in touch.