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Are you here because you’ve never run a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign before? Or are you looking to improve your knowledge about something you are already diving into? No matter your depth of knowledge, we hope that with this blog post, you’ll learn something new about peer-to-peer fundraising.
Peer-to-peer fundraising (P2P) is our bread and butter, so if you have any questions about this post or about P2P in general, then a chat with us would be a great place to start! Reach out at hello@ezyraise.com and we’ll go from there.
What is peer-to-peer fundraising?
Peer-to-peer fundraising is when an individual collects donations from their friends, family, and other peers via their own campaign or challenge. By doing this, the individual is fundraising on behalf of an organisation.
P2P fundraising is a way for organisations to increase their reach beyond traditional direct fundraising (contacting their donors directly to ask for donations) as they access new networks of donors through committed fundraisers, usually through online fundraising.
How does a peer-to-peer fundraiser work?
Firstly, you’ll start by marketing your peer-to-peer campaign to your existing supporters and potential participants, and encourage them to sign up on your campaign website.
Once they’ve landed on your website, if you’re using our platform, participants will sign up in a few quick clicks to then receive their very own fundraiser page where they can customise their profile to make it unique to them.
Participants will then share their profile page and ask friends, family and colleagues to sponsor them.
What is the difference between peer-to-peer fundraising and other fundraising types?
Gift in will
A gift in Will, also known as a bequest, is when a donation is given to a beneficiary or organisation through a Will.
There are different types of gifts in this form of donation such as a set monetary amount, a percentage monetary amount or percentage of shares, or a whole estate including land or property.
Peer-to-peer fundraising differs from bequests in that P2P fundraising is indirect fundraising for an organisation, whereas bequests are a direct commitment to donate to the beneficiary. Gift in Wills also only proceed when a person passes away. Peer-to-peer fundraising is something that a person does during their lifetime.
Tax appeals and other fundraising appeals
Fundraising appeals are specific campaigns from an organisation to ask for donations. Tax appeals, end of financial year appeals, Christmas appeals, and crisis appeals are all types of fundraising appeals with a purpose.
Fundraising appeals require storytelling of the impact of your organisation in order to demonstrate why a donor should give to your cause. You can do this by inviting beneficiaries to come and tell their story of how they were supported by your organsation. This storytelling is delivered to potential donors via email, mail, digital advertising, and traditional advertising in the hope of raising money.
The Sir David Martin Foundation conducted a matched giving appeal on the Ezy Raise platform to work alongside their Christmas Appeal. For a period of time, every donation to their website was matched, doubling the impact of their donors during a time of year well-known for giving.
Matched giving can be part of a fundraising appeal, or it can be used within a P2P fundraising campaign.
Peer-to-peer fundraising differs from fundraising appeals by method of donation. P2P fundraising, again, is done by fundraisers on behalf of an organsation. Fundraising appeals are direct communication from an organisation to their donors to garner funds.
Direct mail fundraising
Direct mail fundraising is a personalised appeal from an organisation to its potential donors, with hard copies of communications printed and posted to ask for donations.
Direct mail fundraising is different from peer-to-peer fundraising in the same way as tax appeals; P2P fundraising is indirect fundraising, whereas direct mail is, well, direct fundraising.
Peer-to-peer fundraising is most commonly managed online through platforms such as Ezy Raise. However, elements of fundraising such as printing off posters or using offline donations via a pledge or sponsorship form are ways to take P2P fundraising efforts offline.
Can I do team fundraising on a peer-to-peer platform?
Absolutely! Well, on our platform you certainly can. We facilitate teams and workplace teams with options for communication journeys specifically for each. We can also create organisations for you, which include sub-teams for a bit of cross-company friendly competition.
Can I do workplace fundraising on a peer-to-peer platform?
As per the above, you can do workplace fundraising on our peer-to-peer platform. For a single team, simply create a team with the team type selected as ‘workplace’. For multiple teams and large organisations taking part, we can set up the team as an organisation. This allows one overarching organisation, with multiple sub-teams underneath. If you’d like to create teams for different locations of your organisation, we’ve got just the platform for it.
What are the benefits of peer-to-peer fundraising?
A huge benefit of peer-to-peer fundraising is that your biggest supporters are your volunteers. They take their experience with your organisation and your cause, and share that with their friends, family, and other networks to raise funds for your organisation. Their success is your success.
Another benefit of P2P is that it is a great community builder and a great engagement tool. You have the opportunity to thank your fundraisers for their work to help your organisation carry out your mission.
A third benefit of peer-to-peer fundraising is the extra reach you get which you otherwise wouldn’t. Some of your biggest supporters are sharing their experience with their networks to fundraise for your organisation. You wouldn’t have warm access to these potential donors if it weren’t for your fundraisers sharing their efforts. This audience, if you happened upon them, would likely be cold and have no prior connection to the organisation.
Peer to peer fundraising can be managed completely as an online fundraising campaign. If digital fundraising is the way you’d like to take it then it can certainly be done.
Marketing for your peer-to-peer fundraising campaign
Just because your fundraisers go out and get the donations for you, doesn’t mean you can get away with not marketing your campaign. In fact, it’s still just as important as ever, because you need to find your fundraisers. Once you have your fundraisers, you can guide them in their fundraising journey by providing the platform, the resources, and the messaging for their networks to help them communicate their fundraising efforts.
Acquisition
Combine communications with your existing database (those who have given permission) and seek out new fundraisers through acquisition campaigns. Lookalikes can be created in many digital marketing campaigns to find people similar to your existing supporters and who would therefore be more likely to be compatible with your cause.
Examples of acquisition methods for your P2P fundraising campaign:
- PR
- Digital marketing (Meta, TikTok, and more)
- Out of home (bus stops, ads in shopping centres, etc)
Activation
Now you’ve got your fundraisers through the door, you need to get them raising money. Some fundraisers will be returning year after year and have already figured out their own way to communicate their donation ask, while others are new and not so comfortable. It’s up to your organisation to provide them with fundraising resources so they can feel equipped to go out there and make the most out of their commitment.
It’s not just about providing resources, it’s also about sharing reasons and motivations for them to fundraise, thanking them for their efforts, and providing them with updates on their progress throughout the campaign.
Examples of activation methods for your P2P fundraising campaign:
- Social media marketing
- Phone calls
- SMS
- Digital resources for fundraisers
How to choose the best peer-to-peer fundraising platform?
When looking for a peer-to-peer fundraising platform, there are plenty of questions you can ask to help you make your decision. We’ve put together some examples to give you an idea of where to start.
What support do they offer?
- Is it set and forget?
- Do you feel like you’d have support if something came up?
What features do they have?
- Not all features are relevant to your campaign
- Do you plan to have a donor matching day? If so, a donor matching feature will help make this easier and more successful.
Consider your budget
- What are you hoping to raise?
- What budget do you have to put into the campaign?
- What are you looking to get for that budget?
- Are all features included in the price? Some platforms are free but many features come with an added cost. ALL features on the Ezy Raise platform are standard for everyone. It’s your choice whether you use them or not, but they’re always available for your organisation.
How much experience do they have?
- Have they been around for long?
- Do they have fundraising experience?
- Are they leading an experienced team?
- Ezy Raise began was born from the learnings of
Peer-to-peer fundraising ideas
We know a thing or two about peer-to-peer fundraising. It’s kind of our thing. So here are 5 peer-to-peer fundraising examples to help inspire you for your next campaign.
- Give up alcohol for a month
- Run or walk a set distance each day
- Pick up litter every day for a set period of time
- Read ___ books in a month
- Wear a loud shirt for the day
It’s also great to brainstorm your own cause connections and how a challenge/campaign could directly relate to what you do.
If you’d like more ideas we’ve put together another post on this exact topic. 20 ways to make more money for your non profit.
TL;DR
Peer-to-peer fundraising is a great way for organisations to increase their impact and it gets their most active fundraisers involved to fundraise on behalf of an organisation. It can be a great community builder, and it puts the power in the fundraisers hands to raise money in a way that connects with them.
How a P2P fundraising event happens:
1. Start by marketing your campaign to acquire your fundraisers
2. Fundraisers will then sign up on your campaign website
3. Fundraisers will ask their networks to sponsor their efforts