When it comes to fundraising for a cause, the traditional approach has mostly been to rely on a few key sponsors or high-net-worth donors to contribute a significant sum. However, the trend of peer-to-peer fundraising has been gaining traction in recent years and opens up opportunities to fundraise more and get broader awareness of the charity’s cause. Peer-to-peer fundraising can be seen as a dynamic and effective tool for non-profit organisations to achieve fundraising targets, engage volunteers, and build communities.
Below we will discuss the benefits of peer-to-peer fundraising and provide tips to help you engage volunteers and create their own campaigns.
What is Peer-to-Peer Fundraising?
Peer-to-peer fundraising is a model that allows individuals to tap into their existing networks to raise funds for a charity or cause that they believe in. It can be done through various channels, including social media, email, and text messages, providing an opportunity for fundraisers to cast a wider net. Peer-to-peer fundraising, therefore, relies on the power of many small donations, which can accumulate and lead to significant contributions.
Benefits of Peer-to-Peer Fundraising
Peer-to-peer fundraising has several advantages for charity organisations that are looking to expand their pool of donors. Firstly, it is an efficient way to increase donations. Peer-to-peer fundraisers can reach out to different communities, and many can use their platform and resources to create incentives for donors, such as personalised thank-you messages. Secondly, it can help build stronger relationships between a charity and its supporters. Below is a list of additional benefits Peer to Peer fundraising has for your charity.
Leverages Personal Networks: Peer-to-peer fundraising taps into the social circles and personal connections of your supporters. Friends and family are more likely to donate when asked by someone they know and trust.
Expands Reach: Each participant in a peer-to-peer campaign becomes a fundraiser and advocate for your cause. This amplifies your reach and brings in new donors who may not have been aware of your organisation. Connections of a donor’s personal network are more likely to trust their recommendations, leading to an organic conversation about the charity’s cause.
Increases Fundraising Potential: With multiple individuals running their own campaigns, your charity can raise a significant amount of money in a relatively short time. This distributed approach can surpass what a single centralised fundraising effort can achieve.
Boosts Engagement: Involving volunteers in fundraising campaigns deepens their engagement with your organisation. They become more emotionally invested in your mission.
Cost-Effective: Peer-to-peer fundraising often has lower administrative costs compared to traditional fundraising methods, making it a cost-effective strategy.
Can have fundraising happening all year round: Given people can fundraise for EOFY, Christmas, birthdays, Fun Runs, In Memory of and more, there is the opportunity for you to fundraise all year round with very little effort on your behalf.
Tips to engage volunteers for peer-to-peer fundraising
To harness the power of peer-to-peer fundraising, charity organisations need to take several steps to engage volunteers and supporters. Firstly, make the fundraiser’s experience as simple as possible, such as creating a user-friendly fundraising platform. Secondly, inspire your volunteers to take ownership of their campaigns by providing them with resources, fundraising goals and collaborating with them in the planning process. Thirdly, consistently communicate with your volunteers to provide updates, resources and inspire them throughout the campaign. Below is a list of additional tips to engage volunteers for Peer to Peer fundraising for your charity.
Provide Clear Goals and Guidance:
Clearly communicate your fundraising goals and how the funds will be used.
Offer guidance and resources to help volunteers set up their campaigns, including templates, images, and sample messaging.
Build a “Fundraise for Us” Page on your website:
By having a page that has different Peer to Peer fundraising page options from Birthdays to Fun Runs your supporters can set up fundraising pages that you can control and monitor all year round. Host training sessions or webinars to educate volunteers on effective fundraising strategies, storytelling, and best practices for sharing their campaigns on social media.
Create User-Friendly Tools:
Use user-friendly platforms or tools for campaign setup and management. Platforms like SupporterHub offer dedicated peer-to-peer fundraising software to simplify the process and build engaging and personalise Peer to Peer pages. Importantly through SUpporterHub all the funds go directly to you and the supporters are automatically captured in the CRM.
Encourage Personalisation:
Encourage volunteers to personalise their campaigns with their stories and reasons for supporting your cause. Authenticity and passion are key drivers of success.
Recognise and Reward:
Acknowledge and celebrate the efforts of your peer-to-peer fundraisers. Consider creating leaderboards or giving out awards to top fundraisers to incentivize participation.
Offer Social Media Support:
Provide volunteers with pre-made social media content, graphics, and hashtags to make it easier for them to promote their campaigns on social platforms.
Engage in Regular Communication:
Stay in touch with volunteers throughout their campaigns. Provide updates, share success stories, and offer encouragement.
Highlight Impact:
Continuously communicate how the funds raised are making a difference. Sharing success stories and illustrating the impact of their efforts can motivate volunteers.
Set Up Milestones and Challenges:
Create fundraising milestones or challenges to keep the campaign exciting and participants engaged. For example, offer incentives for reaching specific fundraising levels.
Foster a Community:
Encourage peer-to-peer fundraisers to connect with one another. A sense of community and shared purpose can boost motivation.
Learn from Feedback:
Collect feedback from volunteers and participants after the campaign ends. Use this input to improve future peer-to-peer fundraising efforts.
Peer-to-peer fundraising can be a powerful tool for charity organisations to reach their targets and build stronger support within their communities. By creating a user-friendly platform, providing resources and working in tandem with volunteers, charities can inspire passionate individuals to become their most valuable advocate. The key is to keep providing support from the planning process to the end of the fundraiser, which should be done with a strong, persuasive voice that will keep pushing volunteers to meet and exceed goals. Peer-to-peer fundraising is a democratic way of reaching targets, and when done correctly, it can create significant gains for a charity or cause that believes in making a difference.
