Peer-to-Peer fundraising: Planning and Strategy

Online peer-to-peer fundraising is really about leveraging your relationships from real life. People are more likely to give to friends and support causes they are already engaged with. Finding your biggest supporters and setting them up to successfully fundraise on your behalf can help you raise more money. But more importantly, it builds the network of people who know and care about your cause. 

While peer-to-peer fundraising may look spontaneous and simple, running a successful peer-to-peer campaign for your nonprofit requires an up-front investment of time and resources. It’s all about planning and strategy. In this post, we’re sharing five steps to help you effectively cultivate your existing supporters and empower them to run successful peer-to-peer fundraisers.

1. focus on personal outreach

It’s critical to answer the question early on: who you will ask to participate in your peer-to-peer fundraiser?

As we mentioned in the beginning, peer-to-peer fundraising is rarely something that happens spontaneously. Leaving the “Who will fundraise?” part to chance is like sending out invites the same day of your birthday party and hoping people can make it.

A shortlist of potential peer fundraisers should include names and contact info for:

• Your board members
• Current and past volunteers
• Event attendees who are actively engaged with your organization
• Long-time and major donors
• Any other actively engaged community members

With your list of contacts ready to go, the months leading up to your campaign are the time to get personal with phone calls and emails.

Reach out to these individuals early (meaning months, not weeks, ahead of your campaign) and ask them to participate.  Of course, before reaching out to supporters and asking them to fundraise for your cause, you’ll want to define the purpose and goals of your fundraiser: decide what program or project you want to fund, how much money you will need to raise, and the dates for your campaign. As with all of your fundraising efforts, success is all about having a plan.

Pinning down these campaign details allows you to reach out to people and let them know:

“We’ll be running a peer-to-peer fundraiser starting on November 27th through December 31, 2018. We’re so grateful for your involvement with our organization and want to invite you to become a peer-to-peer fundraiser for our campaign to raise [$ campaign goal] to sponsor [specific program or project.]”

Sharing these campaign details is important for setting expectations and keeping everyone on the same page with a clear goal in mind.

Along with the campaign details you’ve already defined, you should emphasize your gratitude in specific terms for their past contributions. Let them know that you decided to ask them to participate because they’ve demonstrated an exceptional commitment to the cause and goals you share.

Depending on your capacity, it’s best to have the people closest to these individuals call or email them directly. Just as we’re more likely to donate to our friends, your supporters are more likely to respond to your invitation if it comes from a member of your nonprofit they already have a relationship with.

2. Get a concrete commitment: The r.s.v.p.

As you send your initial outreach emails and start having conversations with supporters, you’ll want to get a concrete commitment from those interested in peer fundraising. With the birthday party metaphor in mind, you can think of this as an R.S.V.P. and use the responses to create a list of participants.

At a minimum, you’ll want to send out a kickoff email to your list of everyone who has agreed to fundraise. Some organizations even hold a kickoff call or event to meet people in person and cultivate support. While it requires more upfront investment, connecting in real life is great because you can bring your biggest supporters together to build community, allowing them to get to know one another, share personal advice, and provide each other with support.

This is also the time to establish team leaders (if you plan on creating peer-to-peer fundraising teams) and have people set individual fundraising goals. Just like your nonprofit created a campaign goal, you should have your fundraisers set personal goals for the amount of money they plan to raise.

3. Share resources and provide support

These new fundraisers will have to plan their outreach just like you. Make it as easy as possible for them by providing customizable templates for their peer-to-peer fundraising pages, email outreach, and social media posts. To make it easier for you, we’ve created boilerplate that you can copy & paste or download, customize with your organization name, and share with your supporters:

Peer-to-Peer Page: “About” Section TEXT

I’m fundraising on behalf of [organization name] because [share reasons why you’re fundraising and your personal connection to the cause].

I’ve seen firsthand the positive impact of their work and have a personal goal of raising [$ amount]. The money we raise together will support [specific program/project].

Please join me!

Email Outreach Template

Subject line: I’d love your support to achieve [campaign goal].

Dear [name],

Thanks for taking a few minutes out of your busy day! I’m writing because I have committed to raising [personal fundraising goal $] on behalf of [organization name]. [Share your personal fundraising story here: why you’ve decided to support this work and your personal connection to the cause].

It would mean a lot to me if you could provide your support, and donating is easy. Simply follow the link to my campaign page: [link].

Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions.

Sincerely,

[Your name]

Sample Social Media Posts

I’m excited to support [organization name] by raising [$ amount]. The proceeds of my fundraiser will make [program/project impact] possible. Will you join me? [peer page link]

Generosity makes change possible. [Organization name] is relying on generous donations to achieve [program/project goal]. I’ve launched my own fundraiser to help make this possible and would love your support: [peer page link].

I’m halfway to my goal! Will you help me raise [$ amount more] to support [details about your cause]? [peer page link]

You’ll also want to provide your peer fundraisers with your logo, graphics, and images to share along with their campaign!

4. put the right technology in place

Planning for a peer fundraiser and setting people up for success is a lot of work. Make sure to choose a peer-to-peer fundraising platform that will make spreading the word easy. Features to look for include:

• Personalized peer fundraising pages
• Built-in social media sharing
• Custom-branding to your organization
• Automated thank-you letters and tax-receipts
• Integration with your existing donor database for easy donation tracking

A good peer-to-peer fundraising platform is essential to empowering your supporters to fundraise on your behalf.

5. Give thanks and be ready to cultivate new donors

Before your campaign is launched, you’ll also want to think about your new donor journey. Successful peer-to-peer fundraising expands the reach of your campaign to new audiences. Once they donate, you’ll want to have materials ready to thank donors for their support and help them get engaged with your cause. Our recent post on thanking your donors provides plenty of tips and even customizable thank-you letter template to get you started.

Additional resources:

If you’re considering running your first online peer-to-peer campaign, there are a ton of great resources out there, including posts on this blog like Unique Peer-to-Peer Ideas, Peer-to-Peer 101, and Peer-to-Peer Crowdfunding Myths.

Are you engaging your supporters in peer-to-peer fundraising? Do you have questions about your strategy? We’d love to hear from you in the comments.