Have you ever wondered how some organizations manage to connect with large networks and collect huge amounts of funds for their causes? Well, as technology advances, many new methods emerge that can help NGOs raise donations and increase donor bases with the help of supporters and long-lasting donors. Peer-to-peer fundraising is a trending and modern way that allows you to generate funds from inside your existing donor’s community or social network besides their own donation.
In this method, you have to reach out to your supporters and motivate them to raise donations through their social networks. This effective fundraising technique widens the donor base and contributes to the long-term financial requirements of your social organizations. Whether you are a fundraiser, a social worker, or simply an NGO employee, raising funds is the most important task for funding your social work. In this blog, we will shed light on Peer-to-peer fundraising, what it is, and how it works to amplify donations and donors.
What is peer-to-peer fundraising?
Peer to peer fundraising is a modern fundraising method in which the organization’s supporters host personalized campaigns to raise donations from their friends, family, colleagues and peers. The organization provides resources and software to organize fundraising campaigns on their behalf and raise money individually through different types of activities. These peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns amplify the organization’s social purpose, reach a wider audience, and bring in new donors to support the cause. At present, peer-to-peer fundraising is the most effective and widely adopted method for organizations to raise funds. Some popular examples of peer-to-peer fundraising include:
- Athletic Events
- Bank Sale
- Friendly Competitions
- Holiday Parties
- 5K race
- Virtual challenge
- T-shirt sale
- Game night
How Does Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Work?
To harness the full potential of peer-to-peer fundraising, it’s important to know how exactly it works. Have a look at the steps to launch fundraising campaigns and raise donations to support your cause.
Determine your Campaign Goals
The first and most important step in raising money through fundraising is determining the goals of the campaign. Determining the goal can help you build a campaign that aligns with the goals of your organization and has measurable key indicators when determining the outcome and success of campaigns. Make sure to set SMART goals for your campaign. The fundraising goals look like:
- Raising funds of $5000 in one month.
- Adding 100 new donors to the donor base.
- Earning 80 donations from new donors.
Choose the peer-to-peer fundraising platform
Once you determine your goals, you need to choose a reputable and easy-to-use fundraising platform to launch peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns. The fundraising platform allows you to create campaign pages, tell your story through campaigns, drive donations, and track results. Look for a platform that offers customization, gamification tools, progress tracking, interactive features and elements, etc., to create engaging and impactful campaigns. Make sure to choose a platform that has a quick and easy donation process. Some of the best peer to peer fundraising software are:
- Classy
- JustGiving
- GoFundMe
- DonorBox
- Funraise
- Onecause
Design a peer-to-peer campaign main page
Before hiring fundraisers or volunteers, make sure to create a base campaign page with a clear CTA, donation form, donation amounts, personal stories, and compelling graphics. Start by adding your campaign details to the main fundraising page, including the goals, purpose, and other basics of the campaign. Set up the goals, timelines, and structure and provide content like images, videos, achievements, and other information about the cause.
Recruit Fundraisers
Here comes the main part of peer-to-peer fundraising – recruiting fundraisers or volunteers. They are like the organization’s employees who promote the campaign to their friends, family, colleagues and social media platforms to raise donations. Create a list of fundraisers and existing donors and tell them about your campaign. Explain the scope and goal of your cause, as well as how your campaign will allow them to contribute to a social cause. You can directly send emails to your long-lasting donors, regular volunteers and college students with good social media presence. Besides that, you can create a separate page for recruitment and accept applications from there.
Support your Fundraisers in Running Campaigns
Once you on-board the required number of fundraisers, coach and support them in launching separate campaign pages and reaching a wider audience. Ask them to showcase their own images related to the cause and organization from the time they volunteered. Motivate them to tell their personal story in an engaging and inspirational manner to encourage people to donate. Give them the required tools and resources like images, logos, email templates, canned graphics, brand guidelines, brand achievements, fundraising tips, etc., to create engaging content.
Monitoring and Support Campaigns
It’s important to monitor the progress and success of the campaigns to ensure that you are in the right direction to achieving the desired goal. Use peer-to-peer fundraising software to monitor progress in an easy and understandable manner. Along with tracking progress, don’t forget to celebrate milestones with your fundraisers and appreciate them for their efforts. Share effective tips with the fundraisers to help them enhance the content and impact of the campaigns to encourage further donations.
Keep In Touch
It’s equally important to keep in touch with your supporters as they may get busy with other stuff and forget about the fundraising campaign. Therefore, keep discussing with them the progress, donations, new donors, reach of the campaign, etc., to avoid losing touch and keep them on board. You can send a weekly email to the fundraisers telling them about the progress of the campaigns and how it can be improved. At the end of the campaign, make sure to show gratitude and appreciation for the volunteers who helped you achieve your purpose.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we can state that peer-to-peer fundraising is a great way to raise donations for charities and social causes. Whether you are an NGO or a social worker, you can recruit some of your donors or volunteers to manage the donation campaigns and raise money. They will use their social media accounts, personal connections and marketing knowledge to spread awareness about your cause and bring in more donors. Apart from all that, it’s crucial to use reputable peer-to-peer software to manage and track campaigns and payments effectively.
