Soapbox Engage Blog

When it comes to peer-to-peer fundraising, success is usually defined by factors such as the number of participants, the average amount raised by each participant, the reach of your marketing strategy, and of course, the ability of the campaign to reach its overall fundraising goal.

What if you pivoted the focus of your peer-to-peer fundraising to building relationships with individual participants, rather than raising as many donations as possible?

Relationships are the foundation of peer-to-peer fundraising. Participants need to have a strong connection to your organization to go out on a limb and raise funds. Retaining P2P participants is the key to sustainable growth for your programming— rather than recruiting entirely new participants with each fundraiser, you can add a few additional participants to the already-engaged champions of your organization. The donations will still come in— but, you’ll also sustainably grow your audience and forge connections with supporters that will be impactful for years to come.

At GoodUnited, we work with nonprofits to level up their peer-to-peer fundraising on social media, specifically turning to Facebook’s fundraising tools. Through that work, we’ve found that success depends on much more than broadcasted posts, dashboards, and getting money. Instead, it’s about creating experiences and cultivating relationships with all P2P supporters to build intimacy at scale and sustainably grow your programming.

We’re going to walk through the following three strategies that you can use to raise your relationships with P2P supporters before, during, and after your next campaign:

• Give P2P participants the tools they need to succeed
• Create quick challenges to engage participants between larger campaigns
• Focus on raising your relationships with P2P participants

As a nonprofit fundraising professional, you’re well aware that it’s significantly more efficient to retain a supporter than to secure a new one. With these tips, your peer-to-peer fundraising will continue to grow over time as new and existing supporters pitch in.

Give P2P participants all of the tools they need to succeed.

You’re well aware of the ins and outs of peer-to-peer fundraising, from how these campaigns work to best practices to help participants reach their goals. This information is hard-earned during your years in the nonprofit sector. But, we’d guess that on your first day on the job, you weren’t as familiar.

Now, imagine all of your peer-to-peer participants are also stepping onto their “first day” with fundraising. They don’t have the years of experience that you do to fuel them to success, so it’s up to you to equip them with everything they need to reach their goals.

Just as you would create digital training materials for your staff members, create a primer on your peer-to-peer fundraiser to help participants reach their goals. This can include assets such as:

• Example messaging that participants can use when discussing why they’re raising funds.
• Suggested imagery that is both evocative and representative of what the donations will benefit.
• Educational resources that participants can use to explain the P2P process to their networks, such as how donations are processed and receipts received.
• An overview of the different ways a participant can engage with the P2P fundraiser, whether that’s viewing a live-streamed element, joining a Facebook group, or something else.

IParticipants aren’t professional fundraisers, but that shouldn’t hold them back from reaching their goals. Taking an active role in your participants’ success shows them that you’re not just invested in the fundraising dollars they raise— but also their experience as individual supporters. This shows them that they’re valued contributors to your organization and builds a stronger connection between them and your nonprofit.

Create quick challenges to engage participants between larger campaigns.

For many organizations, peer-to-peer fundraising is made up of one large, annual campaign in which the bulk of their event-based fundraising dollars are raised. This could mean one annual fundraising event per major region— for example, the Relay for Life events that happen across the country. But generally, these events are resource and planning-intensive and participants engage in one main P2P push for the nonprofit each year.

Consider incorporating quick peer-to-peer challenges in the periods between your major P2P fundraising events. These are shorter, less-intensive fundraisers with a low barrier to entry, through which participants can connect with one another and raise funds for your mission. These events allow participants to give back in meaningful ways and engage with your organization throughout the year.

Here’s what planning quick, one-off P2P challenges could look like in practice:

1. Choose an engaging, low barrier to entry challenge for participants to complete. This could be walking 10,000 steps per day, reading 10 books, or even running a certain number of miles over the course of a month. While completing the challenge, participants will raise P2P funds in support of their effort.
2. Advertise the opportunity to your organization’s supporters. For example, you could use Facebook Ads to spread the word about the opportunity to your nonprofit’s followers. The good thing about these fundraisers is that they’re not restricted by location, so you can connect with new participants who may not have engaged with your in-person P2P events.
3. Create an online community for participants to connect. Whether through Facebook groups or your preferred online membership software, empower participants to chat with one another, discuss their progress and the challenges of fundraising, and encourage one another to reach their goals. This guide to virtual peer-to-peer fundraising explores the power of community with P2P fundraising in more detail.
4. Engage with this community for the duration of the fundraiser. The beauty of these quick challenge fundraisers is that you don’t have to plan a large-scale event to wrap things up. Simply pop into your online community and check in, share encouragement and fundraising tips, and maybe even live stream via Facebook Live to add another dimension to the experience. Each of these ideas is powered by free nonprofit tools, so it won’t be a huge financial cost for your organization.

Creating one of these fundraisers can be as straightforward as making a Facebook group, using ads to spread the word, and having participants raise funds through individual Facebook fundraisers. You can also use a dedicated P2P fundraising software to host the fundraising portion of this event or, if you’re using a robust tool like Blackbaud’s TeamRaiser, you can have the best of both worlds by connecting the Facebook fundraisers that participants create directly to your P2P solution.

Focus on raising your relationships with P2P participants.

Giving participants the tools they need to succeed and engaging them with fun challenges throughout the year will go a long way to retain them for the long run. But, the effort that will truly grow your P2P audience and take your fundraising to the next level is cultivating one-on-one relationships with each individual participant.

Building relationships with individual participants can seem easier said than done, especially considering P2P fundraising is largely a supporter-led effort. In theory, a participant could sign up for your next P2P fundraiser and reach their goal without ever interacting with a representative of your nonprofit. Of course, this isn’t the ideal solution and would do little as far as growing a relationship with that participant.

However, we’ve found that the following tips can go a long way when it comes to raising your relationships with peer-to-peer participants:

Start with a “Thank You.”

Thank each and every peer-to-peer participant with a personalized note. This could be an emailed thank-you note or even a comment left on a Facebook fundraising page. In the note, express why that individual’s efforts are so beneficial for your nonprofit’s efforts.

Here’s an example to get you started:

“Hi, [Name of Participant]! Thank you so much for participating in [Name of Fundraiser]. The funds you’ve raised led to [Direct Impact of Funds]. We appreciate your efforts!”

Activate participants with additional opportunities.

Don’t allow your peer-to-peer fundraiser to be the last point of engagement for the participant. Offer additional ways to get involved. This could mean additional peer-to-peer fundraising ideas your team pursues (like future challenges!), volunteer opportunities, or even advocacy campaigns.

You can start this conversation with the thank-you note from the last section. Simply add on a line to the tune of:

“We’d love to continue connecting with you! To learn about additional opportunities, including our next peer-to-peer fundraiser, check out this page.”

Cultivate relationships with participants one-on-one.

We’ve found that conversational messaging— whether spoken conversations on the phone, text messages exchanged, or our preferred method, messages via Facebook Messenger— is the perfect strategy to build relationships with each individual supporter.

Rather than broadcasting information to your entire audience, take the time to understand what makes each supporter unique. Why are they supporting your mission? How do they prefer to engage in the future? What challenges are they encountering with P2P fundraising, and how can you help?

According to Double the Donation, nonprofit involvement and personal information are both invaluable when it comes to prospect research— both of which you can garner through conversational messaging. However, the benefits here go beyond the information you can collect.

Conversational messaging shows your participants that you value them as individuals and are eager to hear about their unique insight into your mission and organization. You can personalize these conversations to focus on topics of interest with each individual supporter and continue communicating long after the P2P fundraiser ends. This will keep your nonprofit front-of-mind throughout the year and allow you to build personalized connections with each participant.

Wrapping it Up

Peer-to-peer fundraising looks a bit different in 2021, with virtual and hybrid events reigning supreme. However, what’s not changing is the foundation of peer-to-peer fundraising— relationships with the participants and donors who support your nonprofit.

By equipping participants with all of the resources they need, creating challenges to activate them, and placing a concentrated focus on relationship-building, you’ll raise funds and raise your relationships with each participant. These tips will set you off to a great start.

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Guest Post by Maria Clark

Maria Clark is a nonprofit executive and technology evangelist with 30+ years of industry experience. Today she serves as Executive Vice President of Partnerships and Chief Evangelist for GoodUnited, the social fundraising solution. Maria is a champion of the new and has fearlessly led change management efforts throughout her career.

Previously, Maria spent 33 years at the American Cancer Society, a top #20 US nonprofit and the leading cancer research nonprofit with an annual $800+M budget, in roles spanning all aspects of nonprofit communication, operations and fundraising. Most recently, as Senior Vice President for Peer to Peer Development, Maria led strategy development, planning and implementation for name brand ACS events like Relay for Life, Making Strides Against Breast Cancer, a robust gala and golf portfolio and the Raise Your Way DIY platform, as well as championing new digital strategies that support community fundraising.

Maria lives with her husband Derek in Dallas, Texas, where she has a deep history with the nonprofit community. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Notre Dame School, a special needs Kindergarten through post high school in Dallas, and remains active in the Leadership Dallas Alumni Association. Maria is mom to two adult daughters, Devin and Corrie and her fur baby, Ozzy.