5 Best Practices for Peer-to-Peer Fundraising

If you have worked within fundraising for any length of time, you know one thing — it’s hard! There’s always more to do, more people to meet and thank, but for as challenging as fundraising may be, it is equally rewarding.

One very cool and powerful tool to any organization — from charter school fundraising to Facebook nonprofit fundraising — is peer-to-peer fundraising (P2P fundraising). Here’s how to make the most of those efforts.

#1 Get inside the bouncy house

Stay creative! There are so many walk-a-thons, run-a-thons — even bird-a-thons — that creativity matters. If you want your ____-a-thon to raise a ton for your organization or school, then it should be an “event” and not just an obligation.

Put yourself in the shoes of the participant. Wouldn’t you want fantastic food, shirts, prizes, photo booths, bounce houses, and music? These additions change the experience and are the components of a great fundraising event.

#2 Is your mission tweetable?

Your mission is hugely important. Being able to quickly and succinctly state your mission is paramount to empowering your supporters to spread your message.

You’ve probably seen the acronym, “TLDR” (Too Long Didn’t Read). Your supporters, their friends and family (literally everyone) is busy. You can help your organization by boiling down the “why” of your mission into one word, hashtag, or 140 characters.

This strategy is true for your P2P fundraising event as well.

#3 The top 1%

Many organizations are driven by the top 1% of their participants and donors. Being able to pay closer attention to this group can increase giving 10, 20, 50% or more — especially when launching new peer-to-peer fundraising events.

Utilize technology, like Blue Sky Give, to give you alerts that help identify the top 1% earlier.

#4 All about mobile

For the first time in history, more web traffic is being done on mobile devices than desktops. This means donations, search, registration and administration must all be mobile friendly. Don’t skip this step!

#5 Seamless giving experience

You’ve spent a lot of effort building the event and recruiting the participants, the last thing you want is any hurdle to giving. Choosing a trusted partner (like Nelnet Payment Services), ensures that your donors have an easy, smooth, and fast giving experience. Plus, your organization has access to those funds quickly — which is equally important.