Peer-To-Peer Fundraising: Everything You Need To Know

Startup fundraising campaigns can be done in several ways, with different resources available. Therefore, it is always good to seek the one that will yield the best outcomes. But then, how can someone know which is the most appropriate without thorough research? In light of answering this question, we have elected to discuss peer-to-peer fundraising in this article extensively. Peer-to-peer fundraising is now commonly adopted by many fundraisers who wish to get donations quickly. So, you should read on to know more about this unique means of raising funds.

What Does Peer-To-Peer Fundraising Really Mean?

Peer-to-peer fundraising involves supporters raising funds on an organization’s behalf. It broadens the networks or avenues through which you can get donations. It’s no wonder peer-to-peer fundraising is also known as social or team fundraising. 

With this, the individuals who know about your fundraising campaign can tell others about it – creating more awareness and brightening the chances of getting more funds. Imagine your supporters individually connecting five or six of their peers to your fundraising campaign! 

This form of startup fundraising happens more often within the virtual or online space. Nonetheless, your supporters can also use direct word-of-mouth to communicate the fundraising needs to their peers. Once this is done, the link or means for the donations can be shared for you to receive them.     

Planning A Peer-To-Peer Fundraising Campaign

One thing you must understand is that every profitable venture emerges from the place of good planning. Even though you may be a non-profit organisation, a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign is not, in any way, different. 

Hence, it would do you a lot of good to map a winning strategy while at it. Now, let’s discuss steps to plan a successful peer-to-peer fundraising campaign.

1. Highlight Your Per-to-Peer Fundraising Goals And Define The Structure

The first thing on the planning agenda is to itemize your goals. Thinking on the question, “why do I need to raise funds?” You should provide a befitting and precise response to this question if you want to make the most out of the campaign. More so, people will be more willing to give if the motive is clearly communicated.

Again, the message you will send will create a first impression in people’s minds. Owing to this, you must carefully draft your goals as you even consider that some prospective donors have no prior knowledge of your organisation or project. 

Furthermore, you have to define the structure that the campaign will be forged on. This is important to ensure stability and smooth flow of the entire process. You will get to understand more about having a concrete peer-to-peer fundraising structure as you read on. 

2. Select Peer-To-Peer Fundraisers

After highlighting your goals, the next line of action borders on the selection of fundraisers. You can select these peer-to-peer fundraisers from your contact list, family, friends, or those that have supported the cause over time. 

You should factor in the willingness or interest of these individuals before selecting them. Are they willing to join the campaign and share the vision with their networks? You must be careful not to impose it on anyone to join in. 

3. Empower And Equip The Selected Peer-To-Peer Fundraisers

You should not neglect the fact that most of the selected startup fundraisers may not have any experience soliciting funds. So, you will have to encourage and furnish them with some helpful information. You may call this orientation or sensitization, and you will be wrong. 

Another way to empower your fundraisers is to provide them with available communication means or tools. Such tools may include a fundraising email template or a model for social media posts. This set of activities should be mainly directed at ensuring that the fundraisers fully grasp what the campaign is all about. 

Secondly, it is done to help them understand how to engage potential donors. You should not think there is no need for this because of the close relationship some fundraisers may have with their peers.

4.Have Your Fundraising Page Up And Running

You will need to have a central fundraising campaign page set up. This will enable you to monitor activities surrounding fundraising properly. Through this page, you can regularly communicate with your peer-to-peer fundraisers and post updates on the progress made over time. 

You can even integrate a leaderboard interface onto your campaign page. This will show the fundraisers through whom the largest donations have been contributed. The leaderboard could even inspire fundraisers to be more committed to the cause.

Events You Can Integrate A Peer-To-Peer Fundraising Campaign Into

Peer-to-peer fundraising should never be viewed as a standalone activity or event. You can incorporate it into different activities to have a more far-reaching impact. Therefore, without much ado, let us see some of the events you should consider in this regard.

1. Sports Events

Sports have a way of unifying people, and you can leverage this for your fundraising. The idea is to organize a sporting event – maybe a football game, athletics, chess, etc. – and invite potential donors. You should first extend an invitation to your immediate friends and supporters and ask them to tell their friends about it. It would be helpful to make the fundraising needs out beforehand. They don’t have to get to the venue before knowing the objective of the event.

2. Sales Of Baked Goods

You can also have some of your volunteers or startup fundraisers make baked goods for sale. The sales will be targeted at raising more funds for the project in view. You can create some friendly competition around it by urging participants to donate and vote for their favorite baker. You can make this more fun by ensuring that the participants do not know who – that is, the fundraiser – baked the treat they have eaten.

3. Online Auctions

Online auction registers as a cost-effective measure you can use in raising funds. And it is even more interesting to know that you can easily integrate this into your peer-to-peer fundraising. All you have to do is have the items to auction displayed and engage your audience.

Conclusion ( Peer-to-Peer Fundraising)

When carefully implemented, the peer-to-peer fundraising mechanism can bring you huge rewards. Your fundraising campaign will certainly be better for it. This is considering that you will get to lean on a substantial supply of human resources. So, it is up to you to consider all that have been shared in this article and put them to use appropriately.