Soapbox Engage Blog

Peer-to-Peer (P2P) fundraising is a powerhouse fundraising strategy for nonprofits. It combines the influence of social media with access to personal networks, easy online giving strategies, and sometimes a bit of friendly competition sprinkled on top. This strategy started with people going door-to-door collecting spare change and contributions, but today's digital tools and communication platforms make this one of the most popular fundraising strategies of the 21st century.

One of the secrets to the long-term success of P2P fundraising is that nonprofits who use this strategy are empowering their supporters to become advocates and partners. Not only does it help you reach your financial goals, but it can also expand your donor base and open up new networks. Peer-to-peer fundraising can also help boost donor retention rates.

The Soapbox Engage team loves Peer-to-peer fundraising, and we're here to help you add some P2P campaigns to your fundraising calendar.

Table of Contents

1. Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Basics
2. 4 Effective Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Campaigns
3. How to Start a Peer-to-Peer Campaign with Soapbox Engage

Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Basics

You're probably pretty familiar with what P2P fundraising is, but let's get a quick refresher on some of the basics.

What is P2P fundraising, and why is it effective?

Peer-to-peer fundraising is a strategy that allows your current followers and supporters to fundraise on your behalf. It's similar to word-of-mouth advertising and relies on the same truth: humans respond best to people we know and trust. At its core, P2P fundraising is the process of inspiring your supporters to become your advocates.

People tend to be more willing to support initiatives when they have a personal connection–even if that connection is an individual. That's why you probably didn't think twice about buying that overpriced wrapping paper from your nephew's school fundraiser or contributing to your friend's birthday fundraiser.

P2P fundraising requires a two-way relationship: more traditional fundraising strategies tend to be "one-sided. The organization makes a request, and individuals either decide to give or not.

On the other hand, peer-to-peer fundraising tends to be based on existing relationships between your supporter and their network (friends, family, coworkers, etc.). The P2P campaign empowers your supporters to educate and ask people they already know personally to join with them in accomplishing a fundraising goal.

Peer-to-peer fundraising tends to be more personal and authentic: People say yes to fundraising on your behalf because they are very passionate about the cause and your organization. You can harness that passion and equip them with the tools and training to make authentic asks. One of the biggest reasons P2P fundraising is so effective is that your partners share why they care about the mission! For them, it's personal.

Opinions and "social norms" are motivating: Whether we like it or not, we're all influenced by the opinions and actions of people we respect. We want to feel that we belong and fit in. Peer-to-peer fundraising helps establish a "social norm" of giving. People see their friends, family, and extended network rally around a good cause, and they want to do the same.

Peer-to-peer fundraising has an excellent return on investment

Compared with more traditional fundraising strategies, P2P fundraising requires less money, and recent studies found that the median amount raised by peer-to-peer events is typically 4.5 times greater than ticketed events!

It makes sense financially, and P2P fundraising also expands your network of potential donors. Supporters who raise money on your behalf introduce your nonprofit to their network. You can follow up with all those individuals and invite them to become direct supporters after the P2P campaign is completed.

Two types of P2P fundraising campaigns

There are two general categories of peer-to-peer campaigns: time-based and ongoing.

Time-based P2P campaigns: Time-based campaigns usually center around an event or a timed goal to fund a project. While it can vary widely, time-based campaigns typically run for 6 to 8 weeks. The time restriction galvanizes and motivates fundraisers to reach their goals before the deadline.

Ongoing P2P fundraising campaigns: With ongoing P2P campaigns, fundraisers usually set their own timeline and structure the campaign around a personal event (like a birthday, anniversary, or personal goal). The primary campaign itself stays open indefinitely, so each fundraiser can begin and end on their own timeline.

4 Effective Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Campaigns

Now that you've got some basics about why P2P fundraising is such a powerful strategy, let's talk about adding it to your fundraising calendar. Here are some compelling peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns and strategies to consider.

1. Athletic event peer-to-peer fundraiser

This is probably the most well-known type of P2P campaign where participants ask friends and family to sponsor them as they accomplish an athletic feat. One of the most iconic athletic P2P campaigns is the Relay for Life.

With athletic P2P campaigns, you either charge participants a registration fee or ask participants to fundraise to participate in the event.

The Costa Verde International School in Mexico hosts an annual Surf-a-Thon fundraiser, raising thousands of dollars for the school!

The Kids Now Foundation hosts a Hike-A-Thon P2P fundraiser up Mount Tam in Marin County, CA. Each participating hiker aims to raise $1 for each foot of elevation they climb, for a total of $2,571.

One clever fundraising strategy that this organization used is they offer some insights into what a donation amount can provide for the program. A $30 donation purchases art supplies for one child. A $90 gift covers a music scholarship for one student. This is a very strategic fundraising strategy to add to the P2P campaign because they're educating new donors about the organization's work.

The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute partners with the Boston Athletic Association. Runners raise money to fund cancer research as part of their entry into famed running events like the Boston Marathon.

2. Giving Day P2P campaigns

Perhaps the most popular giving day is GivingTuesday in November. Still, there are many other meaningful days throughout the year that nonprofits can use as strategic giving days.

A giving day is a perfect opportunity to mobilize your supporters to fundraise on your behalf because it's a very brief time commitment that can feel less intimidating. Plus, there's fun camaraderie around sprinting toward a personal and collective fundraising goal together. Some nonprofits even offer prizes for people who raise the most money or reach their goal first or other accomplishments.

Leveraging awareness days as giving days for your nonprofit allows you to reach a wider audience and use hashtags associated with the national awareness day.

The Autism Speaks Foundation leverages April as Autism Awareness Month to mobilize its audience to increase awareness and raise funds to support various autism resources.

3. Special Occasion P2P campaigns

Many people want to fundraise for their favorite cause instead of receiving gifts or in honor of a birthday, anniversary, or other special occasions. It's becoming quite popular for people to ask friends and family to donate funds budgeted for presents to support a charity of choice.

Charity:Water is an organization that leverages this type of P2P fundraising very effectively. They emphasize the power of small donations to make a significant impact in the world by encouraging people to donate their birthdays or other special days to give clean water.

4. Personal Challenge P2P fundraiser

Like special occasion fundraisers, some people want to organize a P2P campaign to connect with a personal goal or raise awareness for a cause.

The Push-Up Challenge is an Australian campaign that mobilizes people to do push-ups to raise money for mental health. In 2020, the organization had 130,000 participants across Australia that banked 121 million push-ups and raised $5.1 million for mental health initiatives!

The MomsTRI invites participants to raise money for New Life Center, a shelter that serves victims of domestic violence. Participants raise money and complete a 400-meter swim, 12-mile bike ride, and 3-mile run for a great cause.

Lest you think personal challenge fundraisers are limited to athletic feats, there's also a rise in video game fundraisers, knit-a-thons, and other peer-to-peer challenge fundraising events.

How to Start a Peer-to-Peer Campaign with Soapbox Engage

Soapbox Engage helps nonprofits create fun, engaging fundraising experiences that ignite supporters' passion for making a difference while making it easy for anyone to get involved.

Once you set up your Donations app, you can launch an unlimited number of personalized peer-to-peer fundraising pages and begin collecting donations almost instantly. Each supporter can add their own stories, photos, videos, and other details.

One valuable feature that's often overlooked is that you can customize the donation page domain and URL endings. It's tough to share and remember long links with random letters and numbers, so the Donations app allows you to create custom links that are easier to share.

A significant benefit to the Soapbox Engage Donations app is that it seamlessly saves transaction data straight to your database and associates it with individual fundraising campaigns. This makes following up with donors a breeze after the P2P campaign is finished.

Donations app key features for P2P fundraising

Here's a quick summary of all the great features you can expect when you use the Soapbox Engage Donations app for your peer-to-peer campaigns:

• Mobile friendly pages and donation forms that allow people to give on any device
• Progress bars, thermometers, and goal tracking meters
• Social sharing is a breeze because the Donations app integrates with social media platforms
• Recurring gift options to invite supporters to give to your nonprofit in the future
• Suggested donation amounts to encourage giving tiers
• Flexible payment options that accept major credit cards, Paypal, and multiple currencies
• Integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Fundraising and Engagement and Salesforce
• Maximize donations by allowing donors to cover transaction fees
• Customized thank you and confirmation emails
• Customized email receipts

Overall, the Donations app is a flexible, affordable, and convenient way for any nonprofit to add peer-to-peer campaigns to the fundraising strategy. It's easy to use, and you won't have to write a single line of code. Head over to the Soapbox Engage website to see a demo and start your free trial today!

Here are three more resources to help you take your peer-to-peer fundraising to the next level.

• 6 Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Mistakes to Avoid: Like all fundraising strategies, peer-to-peer fundraising is not without its pitfalls. Avoiding these 6 common mistakes will really set you up for greater success with your next P2P fundraising campaign.
• 5 Easy Ways to Maximize Your Fundraising On Facebook: Social media is now a central part of our culture. Facebook and other platforms are transforming how individuals and nonprofits network and fundraise. If done correctly, you can expand your support base and raise significant funds on social media platforms, especially on Facebook. Check out this blog for some key things you need to know before asking for donations on Facebook.
• Level Up with Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Software and Unrivaled Salesforce Integration: Soapbox Engage's integration for peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns adds even more features to aid your organization in funding your mission. It provides a user experience that is mobile-optimized and built for your brand. Check out this blog to get all the details!