If you’re reading this article, you’re likely in the middle of a fundraising software selection process for your nonprofit organization. We understand how critical it is to select the right tools to fuel your digital fundraising experience and fuel your mission. So if you’re deep into your research journey, you’re in the right place. 

Learn more about GoFundMe Pro’s fundraising solution versus GoFundMe Pro alternatives. Plus, find out how our technology and community of over 200 million empower thousands of nonprofits to amplify real-time impact. 

Evaluating nonprofit platform alternatives to GoFundMe Pro  

There are several factors to consider during your nonprofit software evaluation. 

Today’s nonprofits have the option to power their fundraising efforts through a comprehensive nonprofit fundraising solution or buy into a set of individually sourced point solutions that make up a comprehensive tech stack. These point solutions may include online donations, crowdfunding, event management, payment processing, or donation forms, all sourced from different software providers. 

At GoFundMe Pro, we know that cohesion across various giving experiences and channels builds connection and trust with supporters. Offering the right experience to the right supporter at the right time fuels conversions, amplifies engagement, and keeps them coming back to give. We’re so confident that we shaped our product suite around it.

Point solutions: The risk of going too narrow 

Point solutions are software built to solve a single problem. This applies to fundraising technology when platforms zero in on one aspect of the online giving process, like direct giving or event ticketing. 

While one software might do one thing well, nonprofits usually use several fundraising tools to get the full picture. That means more headaches for staff learning all the systems and supporters trying to manage their giving.

For example, your team might have to enter donation data manually into one system while pulling reports from another, doubling the work and increasing the risk of errors.

The cost of managing multiple tools quickly adds up, resulting in time lost switching from software to software, stacking expensive subscriptions, and a confusing experience for supporters. 

All-in-one solutions: The risk of going too broad

All-in-one platforms, seemingly the simplest solution, often try to be everything to everyone at the cost of innovation and user-friendly experiences. The idea of a one-stop shop sounds alluring, but the typical reality of going too wide in your solutions could render your efforts fruitless in achieving any of your goals. 

For example, it’s hard to be a best-in-class CRM, digital fundraising, marketing, and financial management platform at the same time. The use cases for an email tool and CRM are entirely different from a fundraising platform. For that reason, we don’t recommend selecting a tool that does everything because we don’t believe it’ll serve your nonprofit team or do what you need. 

In short, more isn’t always better. A long list of tools may look impressive on paper, but it’s worth your team asking if all the features are valuable. And equally important, are they well built?

Instead of counting checkboxes, dig into the quality and depth of the tools that matter most to your organization. A more narrowly focused platform will often excel where it counts and deliver more long-term value.

Threading the needle with GoFundMe Pro

GoFundMe Pro balances breadth and depth to provide a platform solely focused on nonprofit fundraising, offering trusted online tools to engage and nurture supporters in diversified ways. 

Nonprofits choose us because we give them the flexibility to design campaigns that reflect their brand and strategy and the reach to engage more donors across our community of over 200 million—all within a unified ecosystem.

More specifically, nonprofits on GoFundMe Pro gain complete access to:

• Flexible direct giving solutions powered by Campaign Studio, including AI-powered donation forms and customizable donation pages
• Complete peer-to-peer fundraising experiences that empower supporters to take the lead
• A world-class recurring giving platform to help multiply your organization’s impact
• Industry-leading nonprofit fundraising event software built to create meaningful giving moments virtually or in person
• Consolidated nonprofit payment processing, allowing you to manage all your payments, payouts, and reporting in one platform
• GoFundMe Nonprofit Pages that allow you to increase visibility, offer more giving options, and unlock supporter data that helps you strengthen outreach and grow your community

Additionally, every supporter who gives on GoFundMe Pro can access a personalized donor dashboard, where they can keep track of their donation activity, resend receipts, and edit any recurring giving plans or fundraising pages. This frees your team to focus on other priorities. 

Enabling true supporter-led fundraising 

We’re seeing individuals put more trust in other individuals to help them decide where to make their next donation. In fact, the 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer report shows that 48% of people trust recommendations from friends and family when making decisions compared to 33% for ads and 17% for the news. 

Similarly, GoFundMe’s The Social State of Giving report highlights the influence of social media creators, with most Gen Zers and Millennials following impact creators online. 

Moving forward, we must give individuals more ways to champion your mission for you and invite their communities to do the same. 

That’s exactly where GoFundMe’s supporter-driven fundraising experiences come in—seamless, social-first tools that empower everyday people to amplify your cause and inspire others to give:

• • One-click fundraiser creation: Invite supporters to create fundraisers with AI-generated content they can review and publish in one click.

• Birthday fundraisers: Educate supporters on the option to leverage our fundraiser templates for birthdays and other special occasions. With prefilled text and themed options, it’s easy to get started in a few clicks. This tool also suggests relevant nonprofits to fundraise for based on the supporter’s giving history.

• Live fundraising tools: Help supporters maximize our livestreaming widget, which integrates with major platforms like YouTube and Instagram. This allows them to fundraise for you while streaming live performances, gaming sessions, or interactive events.
• Social integrations: Make it easy to share fundraisers to more surfaces directly from GoFundMe. 

Simplifying software integrations

Keep in mind that GoFundMe Pro connects seamlessly with a wide range of fundraising tools—like CRMs, email marketing platforms, and volunteer management software—so you can keep using the systems you know and love. 

With a dense library of integrations, including popular options like Salesforce, Google Analytics, and Virtuous, we make it easy to streamline your workflow without switching platforms.

How Direct Relief tops 35% conversion with GoFundMe Pro

How other fundraising platforms measure up

Here’s a look at how a few common alternatives to GoFundMe Pro compare, including the pros and cons to keep in mind:

Fundraise Up

Pros

• Strong focus on conversion, with a sleek, low-friction checkout
• Supports global fundraising with multiple currencies and localizations

Cons 

• May offer less flexibility for nonprofits seeking highly customized features
• Branding and campaign customization take a back seat to standardization
• Limited tools for peer-to-peer or event fundraising

Givebutter

Pros

• Easy to use and combines basic CRM and fundraising tools in one platform

Cons

• May lack the depth that larger nonprofits often need
• Most CRM integrations are non-native
• Offers limited AI or data-driven personalization 

Blackbaud

Pros 

• Well-established CRM with deep reporting capabilities

Cons

• Donation forms and campaign pages aren’t a core strength
• Giving experience feels outdated and offers limited design flexibility, leading to a disjointed donor journey

Funraise

Pros 

• Offers fundraising, CRM, and marketing tools in one platform
• Strong reporting and visual dashboards

Cons

• Broad feature set limits customization of donation forms and campaigns
• Limited ability to tailor ask amounts to specific campaign objectives

Donorbox

Pros

• Built-in CRM and strong integrations with faith-based platforms like Rock RMS and Planning Center

Cons

• Offers fewer social sharing and discovery tools

Choose a platform that meets today’s challenges head-on

Today’s nonprofits must navigate a complex landscape: shifting donor expectations, evolving digital behaviors, and needing deeper, more authentic engagement. The right fundraising platform not only supports your strategy but also amplifies it. It should reflect the care and integrity your donors expect, make it easy to connect with supporters across channels, and empower you to drive meaningful change.

Because in the end, it’s not only about the tools—it’s about the impact they help you create. One campaign, one connection, and one act of giving at a time.

Request a demo

When someone donates to your nonprofit, a small portion of their donation amount typically goes toward credit card processing fees. These fees, charged by payment processors, help power the secure, reliable systems that make online giving possible. While necessary, they can slightly reduce the total amount that goes directly to your mission. That’s why many nonprofits give donors the option to pay these fees themselves.

Inviting supporters to cover transaction fees can make a big difference. Not only does it help your organization receive the full value of each gift, but it also gives donors a simple way to increase their impact. Asking donors to cover online payment fees adds up fast, particularly when processing several donations, like recurring donations or peer-to-peer fundraising, at once. 

Below, we’ll show you how to make the most of this opportunity with the help of GoFundMe Pro.

Enable fee coverage easily with GoFundMe Pro

GoFundMe Pro makes it easy to encourage donors to cover the small fees that come with online fundraising. Using Campaign Studio, you can embed online donation forms directly into your website and guide donors through a smooth, branded giving experience. One powerful tool from our fundraising platform is the “nudge,” an animated message that pops up to encourage supporters to take helpful actions like covering fees or finishing their gift. Our 2024 data shows that when the nudge is activated, donors opt to cover feeds 33% more often. 

Here are a few nudges you can use in Studio:

• Donor-covered fees nudge: This animated prompt encourages donors to select a checkbox to cover the donation processing fees. You can customize the style, icon, and animation to match your brand.
• Recurring gift nudge: This nudge allows a donor to choose a midrange or custom gift amount, highlighting the option to make their gift monthly. Like the fee nudge, it includes editable graphics and animations.
• Abandoned cart nudge: This nudge prompts invites to return and complete a gift if someone starts a donation but doesn’t finish it. You can also track how people respond using Google Tag Manager and GA4 for deeper insight.

The impact of nudges for covering processing fees

Many donors don’t realize that online donations come with processing fees. They assume their full gift goes straight to the cause—and that’s what they want. That’s why giving supporters a simple, friendly prompt to cover the processing fees can be so effective. It helps them align their good intentions with the real impact of their gift.

You might wonder, if someone’s already donating, why ask them to do more? Instead, consider reframing covering processing fees as a natural next step, an extra act of commitment to a cause they already want to support. 

Donors are proud to give. Inviting them to go a little further by covering the processing fees lets them feel even better about their role in making a difference. It’s about offering one more meaningful way to support the mission they believe in.

How to enable nudges for your GoFundMe Pro campaign

Turning on nudges in GoFundMe Pro is a quick way to personalize your donation form and guide supporters toward actions like covering transaction fees. You can manage and customize these nudges directly in Studio to match your campaign goals and branding.

Here’s how to enable donor-covered fee nudges:

1. Go to the Studio designer for your campaign.
2. Click on the “Settings” tab.
3. Locate the controls to manage key features under the “Donations” and “Donation options” tabs.
4. Go into the “Donations” and “Donor covered fees” sections, where you can:

• Turn “Cover fees” on or off.
• Set a default percentage for the fee amount.
• Enable the donor covered fees nudge and customize its look.

For step-by-step help, check out these support guides:

• Embedded form settings
• Embedded Studio Designer

Ask donors to cover processing fees for even greater impact

Covering payment processing fees may seem like a small ask of donors. However, it can increase the total amount your nonprofit organization receives over time, boosting the success of your fundraising. By giving supporters a simple way to opt in and cover transaction costs, you offer them a chance to maximize their impact. 

With donation pages through GoFundMe Pro, inviting supporters to take this extra step is easy. Customizable nudges and simple settings in Campaign Studio make it seamless to encourage deeper generosity and donor engagement. 

Schedule a demo today to discover why the world’s top nonprofits choose GoFundMe Pro to advance their missions.

Planning a charity run/walk is one of the most rewarding ways a nonprofit organization can bring a community together around a good cause. Whether organizing a casual fun run, a 5K run/walk, or a half marathon, these events energize supporters, raise funds, and increase visibility for your mission.

We’ll take you step-by-step through planning a fundraising event that delivers on impact, experience, and efficiency—whether hosting your first one or looking for ways to take your experience to the next level.

Start with the big questions

Before you dive into logistics, take time to clarify your vision. A successful run/walk starts with strong answers to the following:

• What cause are you raising money for?
• Who is your audience—families, competitive athletes, or both?
• Why is an endurance event the right event type to help you achieve your goals?
• What are your fundraising goals?
• How many participants do you expect?

These early decisions will shape your budget, entry fees, location, sponsorship strategy, and registration process. Be specific. A clear purpose makes it easier to attract sponsors, inspire participants, and keep your planning team focused.

Define your fundraising strategies, budget, and registration process

Now that you have a vision, it’s time to align your finances with your goals.

Build your budget

Identify all potential expenses:

• Permit fees
• Venue rentals
• Race bibs and T-shirts
• Signage and timing equipment
• Water stations and snack tables
• First-aid and cleanup crews
• Marketing materials and social media promotions

Outline your fundraising strategy to offset expenses

Plan your income sources:

• Registration fees
• Peer-to-peer fundraising pages
• Business sponsorships
• In-kind donations (like T-shirt printing and bottled water)

Keep your expenses lean and focused so more dollars go toward your fundraising goal. And if you host an annual event, use data from previous years to refine your budget.

Set up your registration process

Use a mobile-friendly online platform that captures key info, like T-shirt sizes, phone numbers, and emergency contacts. Offer early-bird pricing to encourage early sign-ups and allow time to order accurate T-shirt quantities. Whether planning a walk-a-thon or a 5K run/walk, keep the entry fees accessible while aligning with your fundraising target.

Clearly explain the registration fee and what people get in return—like a race-day T-shirt, water station access, or post-race refreshments at the finish line.

Plan logistics and details

A great endurance event depends on strong logistics and clear planning. Start 4-6 months in advance, especially for in-person events held in public spaces.

Choose a location and route

Safety, accessibility, and atmosphere matter. Look for a venue that can accommodate your expected number of participants and provide a scenic or meaningful backdrop. A local park, school campus, or community trail could work well for a mile walk or full 5K run/walk.

Secure permits and insurance

Contact your city’s parks department or public works office to learn what’s necessary for the event. You also may need to coordinate with local police or emergency services and show proof of insurance.

Assemble a planning team

Divide responsibilities:

• Logistics and permits
• Sponsorship and fundraising
• Volunteer coordination
• Marketing and promotion
• Participant experience

Assign clear roles and meet regularly. Use a planning calendar or shared task list to stay organized.

Recruit volunteers

Volunteers are vital on the day of the event. They can assist with setup, check-in tables, water stations, finish-line cheering, and breakdown. The more prepared your volunteers are, the smoother the race day will run.

Consider hybrid or virtual options

For a broader reach, offer a virtual walk event where participants complete their mile walk or fun run remotely. This is great for including people who can’t attend in person but still want to support your nonprofit.

Promote the event with peer-to-peer fundraising

Promotion can make or break your turnout. Give people plenty of time to register and get involved.

Create a strong marketing plan

Start early and promote consistently across multiple channels:

• Social media posts and event pages
• Email newsletters
• Flyers at local businesses, libraries, and gyms
• Press outreach to local media
• Partner organizations and community calendars

Highlight your fundraising goal and how participants help your nonprofit reach it. Use storytelling, impact statistics, or testimonials to show what their support makes possible.

Empower fundraising through participants

Encourage people to create fundraising pages directly from your peer-to-peer campaign to raise money from their networks. This multiplies your reach and brings in more donations beyond the registration fee.

You can also encourage additional fundraising by inviting supporters to start fundraisers directly from your GoFundMe Nonprofit Page, tapping into the power of a community of nearly 200M.

Support fundraisers with:

• Sample posts and email templates
• Clear instructions for setting up pages
• Recognition for top fundraisers
• Incentives (like prizes or shoutouts)

This approach turns each participant into an ambassador for your cause and boosts your results significantly.

Manage the big day

Race day requires attention to detail. A smooth experience ensures participants feel good about coming—and coming back next year.

Create a run-of-show timeline

Plan every step, from setup and check-in to water breaks and awards. Assign volunteers to key areas like:

• Registration tables
• Mile markers or route stations
• First-aid support
• T-shirt pickup
• Finish-line energy crew

Keep check-in quick and welcoming

Have enough volunteers to manage lines, answer questions, and distribute materials, like race bibs and T-shirts. Make sure signs clearly indicate where to go.

Build a fun finish-line experience

Celebrate each participant. Include music, photos, awards, or refreshments. Make it memorable and mission-driven with banners or posters that share your impact.

Cross the finish line

Once the race ends, your final job is to close the loop and celebrate the success.

Thank everyone

Send thank-you notes or emails to:

• Participants
• Donors
• Volunteers
• Sponsors

Be specific about the impact of their involvement—how much you raised, how many people attended, and how the funds will support your nonprofit’s work.

Share highlights

Post photos from the day of the event, recognize top fundraisers, and reshare social media posts. Tag local businesses and community partners that contributed.

Collect feedback and reflect

Ask your planning team, volunteers, and participants what worked well and what to improve. Document lessons learned while it’s still fresh to set yourself up for success next year.

Energize supporters, raise funds, and increase visibility for your mission

A charity run or charity walk is more than a fundraising event—it’s a platform for connection, awareness, and action. When your nonprofit organization plans with intention and clarity, your event can inspire participants, attract media attention, and raise funds to grow your impact.

Whether organizing your first walk-a-thon or turning your fun run into an annual event, GoFundMe Pro gives you the right structure and strategy to make all the difference.

Connect with us today to get started planning your first (or next) successful charity run/walk.

Copy editor: Ayanna Julien

Venmo and PayPal are two of the most popular mobile apps for sending and receiving money. Since 70% of people say preferred payment methods shape their giving decisions, enabling Venmo donations can help convert more supporters into donors.

Let’s take a closer look at the impact of Venmo for nonprofits, how your organization can power Venmo donations with GoFundMe Pay, and how our community has raised more for their missions by making the switch. 

What is Venmo?

Venmo is a popular mobile payment service known for fast and safe social payments between friends and family. It has 92 million active users who use the service as a seamless way to send, spend, share, and manage finances using their phone numbers.

How does Venmo work?

Venmo facilitates peer-to-peer payments. Friends can easily split bills, send money for shared expenses, or pay each other back in seconds. You can keep the money you receive in your Venmo balance or move it to your bank. Instant transfers are available for a small fee.

However, Venmo isn’t only for friends—over 2 million businesses, including brands like Amazon, Starbucks, and Uber, use it as well. In fact, people are 19% more likely to complete a purchase from a business that accepts Venmo.

That’s why more nonprofits offer Venmo as a donation option. It’s a simple way to meet people where they are and make giving easier and more appealing.

3 benefits of using Venmo for nonprofit fundraising

Inviting supporters to use Venmo on your donation forms makes giving more seamless, personal, and user-friendly. When the National Alliance on Mental Illness added Venmo and PayPal through GoFundMe Pay, it raised $256,000 in four months, with 82% of those donors brand new to the organization.

Here are some additional ways Venmo can help nonprofits grow their impact.

1. Increase conversions with Venmo payments

Using familiar payment options like Venmo can help more people follow through with their gift. With a 73% conversion rate across all payments among Venmo users, having the app’s button on your donation form can make a big difference.

How can supporters make Venmo donations?

It’s quick and easy:

Tap the Venmo button at checkout (the Venmo app opens automatically)

• Log in (if needed)
• Pick which account to use
• Confirm the donation amount

Most people already have a Venmo account set up on their phone, so it’s fast and smooth—no digging for credit cards or passwords.

2. Attract new supporters to your nonprofit

Offering Venmo as a donation option can help your nonprofit reach more people, especially those who prefer fast, mobile-friendly ways to give. When supporters see familiar payment methods, they’re more likely to trust the process and follow through with their donation.

Which donors prefer Venmo donations?

Venmo is especially popular with younger donors (66% of users are Gen Z or Millennials). They actively engage with the app, mentioning it on social media every nine seconds—which can include sharing the stories behind their donations. 

3. Make giving easier with built-in support

Venmo offers special tools, like Venmo Charity Profiles and Venmo Business accounts, that help nonprofits look professional and build trust with supporters. These features give your organization a polished profile—like PayPal does with its business accounts.

While business accounts have no monthly fees, there are small transaction fees. Seller transaction fees include 1.9% plus $0.10 of the payment total, while contactless payments accepted with Tap to Pay on iPhone or Android devices are 2.29% plus $0.10 of the payment total.

Want to keep it simple? Skip setting up a separate Venmo or PayPal business account by using GoFundMe Pay. It connects both platforms to your donation form in one easy step—no extra accounts to manage.

How to set up Venmo for a nonprofit: FAQs

How can nonprofits accept Venmo donations?

GoFundMe Pay is a trusted payment platform that offers reliable nonprofit payment processing and better donor data. It keeps all your payments, payouts, and reporting in one place.

Plus, GoFundMe Pay integrates with Venmo to give organizations more flexibility and control. This gives supporters one of the best possible donation and checkout experiences through a single fundraising platform.

Venmo is part of GoFundMe Pro’s integration with the PayPal commerce platform. Once a GoFundMe Pro customer activates the PayPal processor, they can enable Venmo with the click of a button. 

GoFundMe Pro’s Venmo integration offers individual supporters the choice to donate through their desired payment methods across many fundraising campaign types, including:

• Donation pages
• Embedded giving on your website
• Peer-to-peer fundraising efforts
• Fundraising events (virtual, hybrid, and in-person)
• Crowdfunding campaigns

How do I get started with Venmo on GoFundMe Pro?

Nonprofits that set up GoFundMePay will find PayPal and Venmo automatically turned on. You can also learn more about the steps to do so in our support article. For additional background on turning payment methods for donation pages on or off, review this resource.

However, if you want to get started with GoFundMe Pay for the first time, explore what sets it apart from other payment processing solutions and request a platform demo to see it in action.

What are some of the benefits of using GoFundMe Pay?

GoFundMe Pay simplifies online donations for nonprofits. Key benefits include:

• Flexible payment options: Supporters can donate using credit or debit cards, ACH, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, and Venmo. 
• Faster, larger donations: Nonprofits that offer digital wallets can streamline the checkout process, which 2024 GoFundMe Pro platform data has shown leads to 50% faster donations and 64% larger gifts. 
• Improved payment success: AI-assisted auto-retry logic enhances acceptance rates for credit card and ACH payments. 
• Comprehensive reporting: All transactions, whether from Venmo or another accepted payment type, are viewable in GoFundMe Pro and your customer relationship manager or CRM, providing a unified dashboard for tracking donations. 
• Streamlined backend processes: GoFundMe Pro helps you manage cash flow with customizable payout options and handle recurring plans, failed payments, tax receipts, and transaction reconciliation.
• Secure transactions: GoFundMe Pay is a PCI DSS Level 1 certified platform partnered with Stripe and PayPal, offering AI-powered fraud protection informed by $40B raised using GoFundMe’s technology or services.

With GoFundMe Pay, nonprofit organizations can enhance the donation experience for supporters and streamline their fundraising operations.

Accept Venmo donations with GoFundMe Pay to meet supporters where they are

At GoFundMe, we’ve built a community of nearly 200 million people who want to give back. This creates a huge opportunity for nonprofits to reach new supporters, including younger generations, and keep them involved over time.

Our platform provides all the functionality you need: 

• Popular payment options like Venmo and PayPal 
• Seamless integrations with your CRM for donor management 
• Easy-to-design donation forms 
• GoFundMe Intelligence to optimize your ask amounts 
• Nonprofit Pages to tap into millions of engaged supporters 
• And more 

GoFundMe Pay lets you connect with supporters on their terms, offering fast checkouts and trusted payment methods. By simplifying the giving process and linking directly to your fundraising tools, we help you turn interest into lasting support.

Copy editor: Ayanna Julien

Donor-advised funds (DAFs) are one of the most flexible and tax-efficient ways individuals can support the causes they care about most. Simply put, a DAF is a charitable giving account donors use to make contributions, receive immediate tax deductions, and recommend grants to nonprofit organizations over time. 

While many donors may have heard of DAFs, they may not know how to use them—or that they can. At the same time, many nonprofits are still figuring out how to tap into the billions sitting in DAFs to support their missions. 

In this blog, we’ll explain how DAFs work, why they matter for charitable organizations like yours, and how GoFundMe Giving Funds simplify access to this powerful giving channel to help propel your mission forward.

The rising popularity and unrealized potential of donor-advised funds

DAFs have quickly become a central part of the philanthropic landscape. 

According to a survey conducted for Chariot and K2D Strategies and reported by “The Chronicle of Philanthropy,” donations from DAFs grew 214 times faster than non-DAF revenue from 2019 to 2023, with the average DAF gift being 19 times larger than traditional charitable contributions.

As of 2023, total charitable assets in DAFs reached a staggering $251.52 billion—up from $228.92 billion in 2022. 

Despite this growth, a significant portion of these funds remains untapped. Meanwhile, the payout rate to qualified charities from DAFs has stagnated at just 20%, leaving 80% of these assets sitting idle. With billions set aside for future charitable giving, there’s a clear and pressing opportunity to drive more funds into the hands of nonprofits to fuel their philanthropic goals.

Removing obstacles to DAF giving

As DAFs grow in popularity, nonprofits face a key challenge: engaging DAF donors seamlessly and effectively. However, there are several obstacles to overcome. 

To start, donor data related to DAF giving is often incomplete. When charitable gifts come through via grant recommendations from a DAF sponsor, organizations often don’t know who the donor is, making it difficult to follow up, thank them, and build a lasting relationship. The result is a process that can feel disconnected and hard to navigate.

At the same time, many donors contribute to DAFs before choosing a cause—yet traditional DAFs often lack incentives or tools to encourage active giving. This can lead to stagnant funds, especially since many assets held are noncash and take longer to convert. 

This makes it critical for nonprofits to craft their own strategies and dedicate resources to appearing in DAF-friendly spaces.

On top of that, discovering nonprofits within these platforms is often limited, making it harder for donors to find organizations aligned with their interests. When platforms proactively surface nonprofits trending locally, responding to crises, or driving impact in specific areas, donors are empowered to give with greater intention and urgency.

And while DAFs have traditionally been used by wealthy donors, there’s an emerging opportunity to engage new markets, particularly the next generation of philanthropists, like Gen Z and Millennials. In fact, these younger donors are more likely to integrate charitable giving into their financial planning than other generations.

We need solutions that motivate donors to discover causes they care about and distribute their DAF dollars. Giving Funds aim to do just that, offering a streamlined, efficient approach that makes DAFs more accessible and impactful for donors and nonprofits. 

How GoFundMe Giving Funds bridge the gap

Traditional DAFs, which have historically been used by fewer than 1% of Americans, have long been structured around holding assets, often making them feel like a tool for financial strategy rather than a charitable giving vehicle for immediate impact. Giving Funds represent a new kind of DAF—one intentionally built for giving.

Giving Funds provide users with a centralized place to plan, invest, and grow their funds. Plus, they can track progress and manage all aspects of charitable giving on one simple annual tax receipt.

What sets it apart is its focus on simplicity and accessibility. While most traditional DAFs are complex and reserved for high-net-worth individuals with financial advisors and steep contribution minimums, Giving Funds open the door to a broader, more diverse base of donors with no administrative fees and only a $5 minimum balance. 

We’ve designed it not only for those already familiar with DAFs but also for the next generation of givers who increasingly prioritize social impact and establishing a charitable legacy.

Giving Funds help mobilize charitable dollars faster. Rather than letting contributions sit idle, our solution encourage donors to give to their favorite charities now. With smart discovery tools, curated recommendations, and suggested sharing features, Giving Funds make it easy to respond when it matters most.

With Giving Funds, donors can:

• Support over 1.4 million nonprofits within the GoFundMe platform that they already know and trust.
• Receive immediate tax benefits while setting contribution goals that align with their values.
• Use flexible payment methods to simplify the donation experience and remove friction. 

What Giving Funds can do for your nonprofit 

Giving Funds create a ripple effect—what starts as a seamless donor experience becomes a catalyst for nonprofit growth and impact. At a time when donor acquisition is more competitive than ever, Giving Funds open the door to a growing, often overlooked segment of philanthropic givers—many of whom are younger, values-driven, and eager to support causes that align with their beliefs.

With Giving Funds, nonprofits can:

• Become discoverable by a new generation of donors directly within the GoFundMe platform.
• Generate a steady stream of passive revenue as Giving Funds run in the background to support and supplement major campaigns year-round.
• Gain visibility into donor behavior and engagement through data that helps shape future outreach strategies.

GoFundMe’s incentives are mission-aligned, meaning that we succeed when donors give. Everything about the Giving Funds experience drives charitable donations into the hands of nonprofits instead of keeping them on the sidelines.

For nonprofits, this is more than a new tool—it’s a strategic shift that aligns with their goals for reach, retention, and results.

Get ready for the future of giving 

The launch of Giving Funds marks a major milestone in GoFundMe’s commitment to growing the charitable economy and shaping the future of giving. 

With more than $40 billion raised globally, GoFundMe is deepening its investment in the nonprofit space. By improving access to donor-advised funds, we aim to expand participation in philanthropy and unlock more support for the communities that need it most.

This new chapter not only broadens access to giving but also opens real opportunities for nonprofits like yours. As more supporters leverage Giving Funds to strengthen their philanthropic impact, so will your opportunity to connect with donors who are ready to give—many of whom are already active on GoFundMe. 

Make sure your nonprofit has claimed its Nonprofit Page so donors can easily discover and support your mission. 

Want to learn more? Check out our support article on Giving Funds for everything you need to get started.

Did you know that recurring donors are over 9x more valuable to your nonprofit than one-time donors? These loyal supporters not only provide a consistent revenue stream but also deliver powerful long-term value to fuel your mission-driven work.

In fact, GoFundMe’s The State of Modern Philanthropy report found that 29% of new donors who join a recurring giving program do so within the first 90 days of their initial gift. This makes early engagement key to building a sustainable donor base.

If you want to increase recurring donations through online fundraising, we’ve got you covered. Below, you’ll find eight opportunities to:

• Cultivate new recurring donors.
• Improve donor retention for recurring gifts.
• Encourage additional one-time gifts on top of recurring donations.

Each opportunity comes with an email template to help you jump-start your outreach.

1. Impact appeal

Once a year, reach out to your recurring donors to thank them for their support and show them how they can deepen their impact. Encourage them to consider increasing their gift amount by explaining how that extra support would help expand your programs, strengthen your mission, and tackle the issues you work to solve. 

Remember to be clear and specific about the impact of a larger gift. Then, make it easy for them to take action by linking to an online donation form where they can adjust their gift size. To make the ask even more compelling, consider framing it as part of a special giving campaign within your monthly giving program—one that celebrates donors who take the next step in helping your cause.

Email template: Impact appeal for recurring donors

2. Matching gifts

A matching gift is a great way to inspire your recurring donors to give more. Let them know when there’s a matching period and how they can take part. Encourage them to either increase their monthly gift or make a one-time donation to help meet the match. 

In your message, explain the match terms and amount. Then, show how their additional support will help your cause. Matching gifts are a cost-effective way to boost your nonprofit fundraising and give donors the chance to double their impact.

Email template: Matching gift appeal to recurring donors

3. Thank-you note

You likely use email automation to send quick thank-you notes each time you process a donation from a recurring supporter. While this is a great practice, make sure to also send a more heartfelt thank-you message to donors at specific points throughout the year to express how their support uniquely impacts your cause. 

This could be on the anniversary of their first gift or when a major program gets funded with help from their ongoing support. This simple act of showing your appreciation can help improve donor retention by reminding supporters why they initially gave. 

Email template: Thank you and upgrade ask for recurring donors

4. Milestone days

Use big milestones, such as your nonprofit’s founding day or the anniversary of a key program, to celebrate and connect with your existing donors. These are great times to share impact statistics, reflect on progress, and show how much your supporters have helped. 

With the right donor data and tools in your customer relationship manager or CRM, you can plan these messages as part of your donor management strategy. Be sure to end the message with a strong call to action that invites donors to upgrade their monthly gift and continue growing the impact they’ve already helped create.

Email template: Milestone day appeal for recurring donors

5. Cause awareness days

Cause awareness days, such as World Mental Health Day or International Women’s Day, are a great time to connect with your recurring donors in a natural and meaningful way. These days help call attention to your mission and can be part of a larger fundraising strategy.

Consider running a special campaign or sending a message asking donors to make a one-time gift in addition to their regular monthly support. You can also offer a special thank-you gift or exclusive incentive to those who choose to upgrade their monthly donation.

Use powerful testimonials and stories to show how their increased support makes a real difference. Then, be sure to highlight the recurring donation options available to make it easy for them to take the next step.

Email template: Cause awareness day appeal for recurring donors

6. Annual report announcement

When you share your nonprofit’s annual report, highlight the role recurring donors played in helping your organization grow. Show how their gifts supported major initiatives on a recurring basis, helped reach crucial benchmarks, and contributed to the long-term sustainability of your mission. 

In your email, give donors a sneak peek of the report with a few high-level statistics or success stories. Include a special section that focuses on recurring donors and thank them for the part they played in your progress.

Email template: Annual report sneak peek for recurring donors

7. Behind-the-scenes showcase

Recurring donors may not know about all the smaller projects or daily work happening at your nonprofit, whether in the office or out in the field. Share some of these behind-the-scenes moments to make your impact feel more real and personal. 

Share these stories through email or repurpose content from your social media. Use clear and personal messaging to connect these moments and distinct fundraising efforts to their support. Then, invite donors to consider increasing their monthly donation to do even more.

Email template: Behind-the-scenes update and upgrade ask

8. Asking for commitment

Offering special perks for recurring givers is a great way to show appreciation and encourage them to upgrade their support. Help your monthly donors feel like they’re part of something meaningful by highlighting different donation amounts and what each level makes possible. 

You can also segment your outreach based on current giving levels, so each donor sees the next available giving option. This makes the ask feel more personal and gives donors a clear path to deeper involvement.

Email template: Tier upgrade appeal for recurring supporters

Turn email engagement into donations with Campaign Studio

Email is a powerful way to spark supporter interest, but real impact comes from conversion. GoFundMe Pro’s Campaign Studio helps you bridge the gap, guiding donors from the inbox to the donation page with a seamless, branded experience that drives results.

With full customization, AI-powered donation forms, trusted nonprofit payment processing, and no-code updates, Studio empowers you to build campaigns that reflect your mission and grow lasting support.

Ready to elevate your email-to-donation journey? Discover four ways to unlock the full potential of Studio today.

Copy editor: Ayanna Julien

Peer-to-peer fundraising is a powerful strategy for nonprofits to expand their reach, build community, and raise crucial funding. When supporters fundraise on your behalf, they amplify your message to friends and family in a way that feels personal, trustworthy, and authentic.

To encourage participation, make the process easy and fun. The key is having the right peer-to-peer fundraising platform. 

Below, we’ll walk through the core peer-to-peer fundraising models, including why they matter and how GoFundMe Pro equips you and your supporters with the tools to raise more.

The ROI of peer-to-peer fundraising

Supporter behavior is evolving, with trust levels and peer influence playing a growing role in decision-making. According to the 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer report, 48% of people trust recommendations from friends and family when making decisions compared to 33% for ads and 17% for the news. 

Additionally, supporters are more likely to give when asked by someone they know and respect. This makes them a powerful extension of your fundraising team, as they can invite new supporters into your cause. Our platform data supports this: 80% of people who donate to a nonprofit’s peer-to-peer campaign on GoFundMe Pro are new to the organization. 

Organization-led vs. supporter-led peer-to-peer fundraising

There are two primary ways to activate your community through peer-to-peer fundraising: campaigns led by your organization and campaigns initiated by your supporters.

Organization-led peer-to-peer campaigns start on your terms and mostly live on your properties. They’re ideal when you want more control over branding, messaging, and the overall supporter experience.

With GoFundMe Pro, you can easily create a peer-to-peer campaign that supports everything from team and individual fundraisers to ticketed events and DIY challenges—all while gaining deeper insights and leveraging our portfolio of customization options.

Supporter-led peer-to-peer efforts, on the other hand, happen when supporters initiate a fundraiser on your behalf, outside of your campaigns. Whether they’re moved by a personal connection to your cause or inspired by a moment in the news, these fundraisers often begin organically and expand your reach far beyond your existing audience. 

GoFundMe is uniquely positioned to support this type of supporter-led action, with nearly 200 million users and a culture of everyday giving.

A strong peer-to-peer strategy harnesses both. Organization-led campaigns give you structure and consistency. Supporter-led efforts bring scale and authenticity. So how do you make the most of each?

How to maximize organization-led peer-to-peer fundraising on GoFundMe Pro

GoFundMe Pro gives nonprofits full ownership over every aspect of their peer‑to‑peer fundraising. Customizable campaign pages and optimized templates help maintain brand control while making campaign-building easy. That combines with powerful built-in tools, like supporter coaching, easy social sharing, and live leaderboards, to empower your community. 

The result is a seamless peer‑to‑peer experience where every dollar, donor connection, and story contributes directly back to your cause.

6 peer-to-peer fundraising campaign ideas

Pair your GoFundMe Pro peer-to-peer campaigns with a theme or event to drive further engagement. Try these ideas to rally supporters around your mission:

1. Cause awareness and giving days: Leverage national events that relate to your cause or offer some fun to help amplify peer-to-peer fundraising, such as Breast Cancer Awareness Day or National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day. Similarly, make the most of global giving days like Giving Tuesday.
2. Fitness challenges: Host a walk, run, bike, or swim where supporters can join to help raise awareness and funds for your cause.
3. Tribute or memorial campaigns: Help supporters honor someone’s memory with a peer-to-peer campaign that reflects their values.
4. School, alumni, or corporate competitions: Encourage friendly competition among different groups to motivate supporters for a good cause.
5. Registration with fundraising events: Allow supporters to fundraise leading up to an event. Even if they can’t attend in person, they can contribute to your goals and get involved.
6. Do-it-yourself campaigns: Let supporters get creative with their fundraising ideas throughout the year.

Offering different options like these helps build fundraising momentum that feels personalized and accessible for supporters.

Where to start

When you’re ready to launch a GoFundMe Pro peer-to-peer fundraising campaign, follow these steps:

• Select “Campaigns” in your account menu 
• Select “Create New Campaign” 
• Select “Peer-to-Peer” 

Fill out your campaign details in the form that appears. If you aren’t sure what to enter, use a placeholder. You can always edit this information later. 

After you enter your campaign information, set up the basic design of your pages to reflect your brand and mission.

For additional information, check out our support article on how to create a peer-to-peer campaign.

Ways to raise more through supporter-led peer-to-peer fundraising on GoFundMe 

Nonprofits can also benefit from the supporter-led peer-to-peer tools available to GoFundMe’s over 200 million-member community, unlocking another powerful way to grow their fundraising efforts. 

Nearly 70,000 nonprofits have already received support on GoFundMe. Your SEO-optimized Nonprofit Page helps new supporters discover your cause through search and social sharing at a time when donor acquisition is more expensive and competitive than ever.

What makes GoFundMe different is how easy it is for supporters to get involved. People can start fundraising in one click, with AI tools that help them write their story and stay motivated. Features like birthday fundraisers and streaming tools give your community more ways to raise money on your behalf. 

Tools to help mobilize your supporters

GoFundMe is packed with features built to help you reach wider audiences and engage more supporters. Empower supporters to fundraise on your behalf with:

• One-click sharing: GoFundMe invites supporters to showcase their favorite causes and track their collective impact through unique links and Profiles. With a single click, supporters can share any fundraiser, generating a unique link that tracks their impact in real time. Their personal impact dashboard provides detailed insights, including the number of people they’ve inspired, total funds raised, and more. 
• Birthday fundraising templates: GoFundMe provides fundraiser templates for time-based events, like birthdays, or other special occasions, like weddings, graduations, or memorials. These templates offer prefilled text and themed options to get started, with only one or two clicks to create. They also suggest relevant nonprofits to fundraise for based on an individual supporter’s giving history.
• Streaming tools: GoFundMe’s live fundraising tools allow nonprofits and creators to seamlessly integrate fundraising into their livestreams on platforms like Twitch, YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. With the option to choose from custom donation overlays—like a live progress bar, donation alerts, and donation QR codes—fundraising becomes more interactive, engaging, and rewarding for supporters.
• AI fundraising coaching: GoFundMe helps supporters succeed with AI-driven goal recommendations that automatically adjust as their fundraisers gain traction.

Best practices for peer-to-peer fundraising success 

Peer-to-peer campaign success requires using the best technology available and adhering to industry best practices as an organization. It also means mobilizing your supporters with the tools and guidance they need to be successful. Here are a few things to keep in mind for earned and owned peer-to-peer fundraising efforts.

3 simple tips for organization-led peer-to-peer fundraising

1. Optimize your campaign page

Your GoFundMe Pro campaign page gets the most eyes, so leverage these elements to drive supporter engagement:

• Hero block: Your hero block is your opportunity to grab supporters’ attention. Greet new and existing supporters with a sense of community around your cause. Start with a bold, clear headline and a strong visual that captures your mission.
• Content blocks: Content blocks help tell your story. Bring in testimonials and powerful imagery to create an emotional connection with potential supporters that encourages them to give. You can also share key statistics to support the urgency of your ask.
• Impact blocks: Impact blocks help supporters visualize how their donations will fuel your mission. For example, “$50 provides five children with a book to read for the summer” can motivate a supporter to give that particular amount rather than stopping at $35. They can see the clear benefit of that gift size and feel connected to what it will do.
• Leaderboard: A leaderboard can foster friendly competition. Showcase your top teams or individuals to provide donors with a reason to periodically check in. This is a great way to recognize supporters and keep them motivated.

2. Streamline your donation page

Your donation page is where you’ll guide supporters through the checkout process to complete their donation. Keep it fast and focused:

• Default to one-time gifts to keep it simple.
• Limit recurring gift frequencies to monthly to reduce decision overload.
• Keep donor questions minimal to prevent form abandonment.
• Use strategic default amounts that align with supporters’ giving patterns.

3. Add momentum to your thank-you page

Don’t overlook the post-donation experience. Use the thank-you page to express appreciation and invite continued involvement. This is especially important as new supporters join your community through a peer’s fundraising page.

Some potential calls to action to include after a message of gratitude are:

• Subscribe to our newsletter.
• Start a personal fundraiser on GoFundMe.
• Share the campaign with their network via social media.
• Invite them to an event.
• Promote a volunteer sign-up opportunity.

3 tips for stronger supporter-led peer-to-peer outcomes

1. Inspire supporters to fundraise for you

One of the most powerful ways to grow your peer-to-peer impact is by showing supporters what’s possible. Spotlight successful fundraisers on your social media, in emails, or at events to celebrate their efforts and spark inspiration. Encourage supporters to personalize their fundraisers with details about their connection to your cause. This helps them feel ownership and makes their message more authentic and compelling.

2. Provide toolkits to help supporters

Set your supporters up for success with ready-to-use toolkits that guide their outreach and fundraiser creation. Include email, social media, and text message templates, along with visual assets they can use to promote their fundraiser. These tools make it easy for participants to get started while keeping their messaging and branding aligned with your organization’s voice and look to build confidence and consistency.

3. Keep supporters engaged

Sustaining momentum is key to peer-to-peer success. Encourage supporters to post regular updates using the built-in tools on their fundraisers to keep donors informed and excited. Thank supporters for their efforts, celebrate milestones, and offer other ways to stay involved—whether volunteering, attending events, or sharing your mission with others. A little appreciation goes a long way in turning one-time supporters into long-term advocates.

Start the conversation, then let supporters take the lead

Successful peer-to-peer fundraising requires a thoughtful balance of organization-led and supporter-led initiatives. Your team’s strategic, branded campaigns provide essential structure and control, while supporter-led fundraisers bring authentic enthusiasm and expanded reach that potential supporters can’t overlook. Together, they create a powerful partnership that drives lasting impact.

GoFundMe Pro gives you the platform and tools to launch and manage impactful, scalable campaigns while also tapping into the organic energy of supporter-led fundraisers through GoFundMe.

Whether you’re starting out or ready to grow, we’re here to help you empower your supporters, strengthen your programs, and raise more for your mission.

Copy editor: Ayanna Julien

Thousands of leading nonprofit organizations trust GoFundMe Pro to power their online fundraising. Once onboarded, the next step is choosing the right campaign type for your first—and future—fundraising efforts.

Below, we provide a breakdown of GoFundMe Pro’s trusted campaign types, their specific use cases, calls to action, and added value to your fundraising strategy. You’ll also see how GoFundMe’s unparalleled scale and intelligence can help take your campaigns even further.

GoFundMe Pro campaign types to consider

Every organization has unique fundraising ideas, goals, and ways of engaging supporters, which is why the right nonprofit fundraising campaign can make all the difference.

Using a mix of campaign types throughout the year helps diversify your revenue streams and connect with different target audiences. While each campaign may serve a distinct purpose, they all work toward the same powerful outcome: fueling your mission.

Direct giving

Direct giving campaigns enable supporters to give to your organization through an online donation page or form. This can include one-time gifts, crowdfunding-style campaigns with storytelling elements, and recurring donations. These campaigns are ideal for year-round fundraising and appeals that don’t require peer involvement.

Peer-to-peer

Peer-to-peer campaigns empower supporters to fundraise on your behalf by creating fundraising pages to share with friends and family. This campaign type expands your reach through personal networks, builds community engagement, and is customizable for specific events, challenges, or giving days.

Events

Event campaigns help you raise funds tied to in-person, virtual, or hybrid events, such as galas, 5K charity runs, auctions, or livestreams. They combine ticketing, fundraising, and engagement tools to create a branded experience for attendees while supporting your fundraising goals.

When is the right time to leverage each campaign type?

Choosing the right campaign starts with clearly defined goals. Once you know what you want to achieve, you can select the format that offers the most effective path.

Aligning your strategy with the right campaign type keeps your fundraising focused and impactful.

Ideal scenarios for direct giving

Direct giving is a strong choice when your goal is to drive immediate donations from your existing audience. It helps you to deliver a clear, focused message directly from your organization, making it ideal for evergreen fundraising, urgent appeals, or time-bound campaigns where you want to control the narrative.

Giving directly from your website

A donation form is the most straightforward direct giving type, offering a way for supporters to give everything from major gifts to small donations directly to your organization without distraction. It’s often the evergreen destination linked from your website’s main donate button or featured in calls to action across your emails, social media posts, and other marketing communications.

Whether you want to drive one-time gifts or build a base of recurring donors, an optimized donation form is essential to sustaining successful fundraising efforts.

How to maximize your donation form with GoFundMe Pro

With embedded donation forms on Campaign Studio, you can offer existing and new donors a seamless giving experience without ever leaving your website. The tested, high-converting checkout flow requires no-code updates and loads in 0.3 seconds. You can also customize the form’s design to match your brand for a more personalized feel.

To further boost conversions, GoFundMe Pro donation forms include:

• Intelligent Ask Amounts that provides personalized donation amounts to each donor based on a combination of session data, nonprofit data, GoFundMe platform data, and third-party census and population data.
• Built-in nudges, prompts, and reminders that guide supporters toward completing their donations.
• Preferred payment methods that ensure a smooth experience for every donor.

Our internal fundraising platform testing has shown a 28% lift in revenue per site visitor with embedded giving enabled. Not only does it drive the highest conversion, but it also offers a better donor experience on mobile, automatically adjusting to different screen sizes and devices.

Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding campaigns go beyond a simple ask—they give you the space to tell your story, educate potential donors about your mission, and inspire them to give.

Unlike stand-alone donation forms, these online fundraising campaign pages often include more context, imagery, and storytelling elements to create a deeper connection with your audience. They’re ideal for time-bound goals, specific initiatives, or moments when you want to highlight impact while still driving one-time or recurring donations.

How to maximize your crowdfunding campaign with GoFundMe Pro

With Campaign Studio on GoFundMe Pro, you can:

• Build beautiful, high-performing crowdfunding pages using a drag-and-drop editor—no technical experience required.
• Enjoy lightning-fast page load times and built-in SEO tools to increase discoverability.
• Include real-time progress tracking to keep supporters motivated and engaged.
• Highlight matching gift programs and opportunities to help you increase momentum.
• Leverage Intelligent Ask Amounts to tailor suggested donation amounts for each visitor.
• Take advantage of our prebuilt layouts and customizable branding to make it easy to create a cohesive, engaging experience.
• Enable interactive features like donor comments, reactions, and activity feeds to help build social proof and urgency.
• Enhance your visual storytelling and likelihood of conversion with impact tiles, preferred payment methods, and our native Giving Cart solution.

Additionally, claiming your Nonprofit Page on GoFundMe connects your organization to a community of nearly 200 million potential supporters. Once your page is verified, it becomes easier for people to discover your cause and contribute to it directly, expanding your reach and increasing your visibility within the platform.

Recurring giving

While you can include a recurring option on your main donation form or page, creating a dedicated recurring giving campaign can be especially effective during membership drives or seasons focused on monthly giving.

How to maximize your GoFundMe Pro recurring giving campaign

Recurring campaign pages built with Studio offer all the same customization and performance features listed above—like personalized branding, Intelligent Ask Amounts, and prebuilt layouts—plus a few tools tailored specifically for sustaining donor relationships.

You can customize donation receipts, invite supporters to manage their recurring gifts, and receive notifications of failed payments so you can quickly follow up.

Whether building a formal membership program or encouraging consistent support, a recurring donation page makes it easy to grow your monthly donor community and keep your mission moving forward year-round.

Ideal scenarios for peer-to-peer

Launching a peer-to-peer campaign is a strategic choice when you want to expand your reach, raise awareness of your cause, and activate your community to fundraise on your behalf. Unlike direct giving, which relies on your organization making the ask, peer-to-peer campaigns empower supporters to tell their stories and rally donations from their personal networks.

As giving behaviors shift, we see more individuals place their trust in peers to help guide their donation decisions. That means it’s more important than ever to equip your supporters with tools to champion your cause and invite their communities to get involved.

How to maximize peer-to-peer fundraising with GoFundMe Pro

GoFundMe Pro is purpose-built to help your organization mobilize supporters and maximize the impact of your peer-to-peer campaigns. Here’s how it empowers your community to fundraise more effectively:

• Multichannel reach: Extend your campaign’s visibility across GoFundMe, your organization’s website, streaming platforms, email, and social media so supporters can champion your cause wherever they engage with their networks.
• Consistent, professional branding: Ensure every supporter’s fundraising page reflects your organization’s identity with cohesive branding, messaging, and imagery.
• Mobile-first payments: Provide a fast, intuitive checkout optimized for mobile so supporters can give in seconds, boosting conversion rates by removing barriers.
• Data-driven stewardship: Access supporter insights and performance data to inform how you recognize, coach, and re-engage supporters throughout your campaign, fueling healthy retention rates.
• Seamless supporter activation: Help supporters launch fundraisers for birthdays, other personal milestones, or whenever they feel inspired with one-click creation on GoFundMe.
• Built-in fundraising coaching: Give supporters the tools to succeed with built-in tips and prompts that help them tell their stories, engage their networks, and raise more.
• Motivational fundraising tools: Activate friendly competition and momentum with real-time leaderboards and fundraising thermometers that track progress and fuel excitement.
• Easy sharing tools: Expand your reach with integrated social and text-sharing features that help supporters spread the word quickly and widely.

Ideal scenarios for fundraising events

Launch a fundraising event when you want to bring your community members together—whether in person, online, or both—for a shared experience that drives deeper engagement and giving. Events are ideal for rallying supporters around a period of time, celebrating milestones, or creating a sense of urgency and excitement.

Ticketed events

A ticketed event is the right choice when hosting a gathering where admission adds value, such as a gala, benefit concert, art gallery, or fundraising dinner. These events offer a unique opportunity to raise funds while delivering a memorable experience to your supporters.

By selling tickets, you not only generate revenue up front but also signal the value of the event, helping drive attendance and engagement.

How to maximize your ticketed event using GoFundMe Pro

Live Events, our suite of in-person, online, and hybrid fundraising event tools, simplifies the admin and attendee experience with:

• Flexible ticketing options: Customize ticket types to fit your audience and event goals—create VIP packages, sponsor tickets, virtual attendee options, and more. You can use discount codes to incentivize early registration or reward key supporters.
• Secure, reliable transactions: Host your event with confidence, knowing that all transactions get protected by Level 1 PCI-compliant security and SSL encryption, built on Amazon Web Services for maximum reliability and data protection.
• Tailored registration experience: Personalize the ticketing and registration flow to meet the needs of your audience. You can collect relevant information, offer donor-friendly checkout options, and ensure a smooth, branded experience from start to finish.

Registration with fundraising events

A registration with fundraising campaign combines event participation with peer-to-peer fundraising, allowing attendees to either purchase a registration or commit to raising funds on behalf of your organization—or both.

This campaign type is ideal for races, athletic challenges, and endurance events, like a walk-a-thon, where participants often engage their personal networks to support their efforts. It’s a powerful way to deepen involvement, expand reach, and boost fundraising success by turning each registrant into an advocate for your nonprofit’s mission.

Use this format when you want to maximize participation while empowering supporters to raise additional funds beyond their individual contributions.

How to maximize your registration with fundraising event using GoFundMe Pro

GoFundMe Pro simplifies every step of your fundraising event, from setup to success. Here’s how:

• Launch personal and team fundraising pages in minutes: Attendees can easily create and customize fundraising pages, whether signing up individually or as part of a team. These mobile-optimized pages are accessible on any device, making it simple for supporters to get started and stay involved.
• Boost fundraising through built-in sharing tools: Supporters can quickly share their pages via text or social media with prefilled messages and links—no copying and pasting required. These streamlined sharing options help spread the word and bring in more donations effortlessly.
• Keep supporters motivated with automated milestone emails: Participants automatically receive celebration emails from GoFundMe to keep the momentum going after they reach key fundraising goals. These personalized touches encourage continued engagement and help sustain fundraising energy through event day.

Your next great campaign starts here

No matter which campaign type you choose—whether a traditional donation page, ticketed event, or peer-to-peer fundraising—GoFundMe Pro accommodates your goals and makes every fundraising experience easier and more effective.

We’re constantly improving the platform based on real user behavior and data. Visit our Research Hub to see how we use insights to evolve our tools and enhance the donor and supporter experience. Plus, check out our Inspiration Hub for examples of how other organizations bring their campaigns to life with Campaign Studio.

Copy editor: Ayanna Julien

When someone joins your nonprofit’s peer-to-peer fundraising campaign, they show a deep passion for your mission and a willingness to take action. These dedicated supporters are motivated to reach out to their networks, rally donations, and raise funds on your behalf. 

With creative freedom and the right tools, their impact can go even further. That’s where do-it-yourself (DIY) fundraising comes in. DIY fundraising empowers supporters to raise money anytime and for any personal reason or occasion—even outside of a formal campaign. 

Below, we’ll define DIY fundraising and show how GoFundMe makes it easier to bring this powerful strategy to life.

What is DIY fundraising?

DIY fundraising—short for “do-it-yourself” fundraising—is a form of peer-to-peer fundraising that gives supporters the freedom to raise awareness and money for your nonprofit on their terms. 

It goes by many names: evergreen fundraising, year-round peer-to-peer fundraising, or DIY. At GoFundMe Pro, we call it DIY fundraising.

Like traditional peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns, DIY fundraising allows supporters to create personal fundraising pages to collect donations on your nonprofit’s behalf. The difference? Traditional peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns have a set end date and raise money for a specific program. Once the campaign ends, all associated pages close, and the funds go to one predetermined area. 

DIY fundraising is always on. Supporters can start a fundraiser at any time of year and for any reason meaningful to them, such as birthdays, anniversaries, athletic events, or personal milestones. They can also choose which of your programs they want to support. 

Enabling your supporters to take the lead

Giving supporters this level of creative freedom often leads to greater revenue and stronger engagement. DIY fundraising is a powerful way to tap into wider networks and reach new supporters faster. 

In fact, the 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer found that 48% of people trust recommendations from friends and family, reinforcing the value of peer-led fundraising. Similarly, one in four Gen Z respondents reported donating because of a social media creator, according to GoFundMe’s The Social State of Giving report.

By giving supporters more ways to evangelize your mission for you, you invite their communities to do the same. Here’s how GoFundMe makes it happen. 

How GoFundMe makes DIY fundraising even easier  

We’re entering a new era of supporter-led giving—one where supporters increasingly look to each other for guidance on where and how to donate. It’s a shift rooted in trust and community, and we’ve seen it firsthand on our fundraising platform.

GoFundMe has become a space where everyday people launch movements, rally communities, and build lasting support for the causes that matter most to them. We embrace this momentum by helping nonprofits tap into the growing culture of peer-to-peer, organic fundraising, making these moments more visible, more frequent, and more impactful.

Empowering supporters to raise more for your nonprofit on GoFundMe

One-click fundraising

Anyone can now create a fundraiser for a nonprofit on GoFundMe with a single click. Using AI-generated content, supporters can quickly review and publish fundraisers, removing barriers to getting started.

Live fundraising tools

To complement our popular DIY fundraising tools, we’ve introduced a livestreaming widget that integrates with major streaming platforms. This feature allows supporters to amplify their impact by raising money for their favorite causes directly from GoFundMe during live events like: 

• Gaming sessions
• Performances
• Interactive experiences 

One standout example: a Swiftie named Tess used it during a Taylor Swift concert to benefit a local nonprofit.

Birthday fundraising

We make it easier for people to turn personal milestones into meaningful impact, starting with birthday fundraisers. Supporters can now effortlessly launch fundraisers for nonprofits to celebrate their special day or other special occasions in their lives. 

Social integrations

Fundraisers perform exponentially better when seen and shared. GoFundMe’s social sharing integrations with Facebook, Messenger, LinkedIn, X, and WhatsApp make it easy for supporters to elevate their fundraisers across multiple platforms, helping you reach more people and achieve your goals faster.

Mobilizing your nonprofit’s peer-to-peer success on GoFundMe Pro

And let’s not forget GoFundMe Pro’s trusted peer-to-peer fundraising software—built exclusively for nonprofits to attract more supporters and put them in control. 

With GoFundMe Pro, you can: 

• Invite supporters to launch individual or team fundraisers in seconds. 
• Equip them with built-in tips and trusted coaching to help them reach their fundraising goals. 
• Keep motivation high with encouragement, recognition, and real-time support.
• Foster friendly competition with live leaderboards and fundraising thermometers. 
• Expand your reach with easy social and text-sharing tools. 

Additionally, GoFundMe Pro lets you carry your nonprofit’s branding across supporter pages and donation receipts while launching visually stunning campaigns with optimized templates. This way, you show up exactly how you want, and your supporters reflect your vision seamlessly.

The future of peer-to-peer is supporter-led

At GoFundMe, our focus is on supporter engagement and empowerment, not adding more to your internal team’s workload. We believe the future of peer-to-peer is in giving supporters the tools to do more for your nonprofit’s cause, personally and authentically.

The opportunity is massive: Last year alone, 70,000 nonprofits received a donation on GoFundMe’s consumer platform, and millions of dollars were raised through GoFundMe Pro. With a community of over 190 million, we offer nonprofits an unmatched chance to be discovered by new supporters—something especially valuable in today’s challenging donor acquisition landscape.

To ensure your DIY-fundraising strategy is successful, make participation as easy as possible:

• Provide simple instructions for supporters to get involved, like a fundraising toolkit or how-to guide.
• Offer inspiration and starter fundraising ideas to spark creativity.
• Celebrate their wins and show your appreciation along the way.
  

If you’re ready to tap into this new wave of supporter-led giving, GoFundMe Pro can help. Request a platform demo today to get started.

Copy editor: Ayanna Julien

Life milestones offer great opportunities for fundraising. Friends and family often want to celebrate these special moments, and a meaningful way to do this is by donating to a cause that matters to their loved one. 

Birthday fundraisers present a unique opportunity for supporters to tap into their networks to raise money for their favorite nonprofit organizations. Below, we’ll provide a step-by-step guide on how birthday fundraisers work, how platforms like GoFundMe can take them to the next level, and three tips for encouraging supporters to launch their own.

How does a birthday fundraiser work?

Birthday fundraisers—or fundraisers for other big days—empower supporters to galvanize their network to donate to your cause. These peer-to-peer fundraising efforts are effective because they center around a special moment that naturally inspires individuals to act. 

Individuals may launch a fundraiser asking friends, family, and colleagues to give birthday donations in lieu of birthday gifts. They can even make it a month-long celebration, allowing more time to collect donations. The time-limited nature of these fundraisers can help drive urgency.

How to choose the right platform for a birthday fundraiser

You’ve likely seen birthday fundraisers hosted on social media platforms, where individuals select a registered charity and collect donations for it through the site. However, these fundraising platforms often lack the ability to share supporter data with nonprofits, making stewardship and donor retention difficult. 

Nonprofits that claim their Nonprofit Page on GoFundMe, on the other hand, get access to robust donor data from these fundraisers. 

GoFundMe provides fundraiser templates for time-based events—like birthdays or other special occasions—that empower organizers to rally donations for their favorite nonprofits. These fundraiser templates offer prefilled text and themed options to get you started, with only one or two clicks to create. They also suggest relevant nonprofits to fundraise for based on your giving history.

Between its user-friendly fundraising features and a community of over 190 million people, GoFundMe is a powerful platform for supporters to engage their inner circles around special occasions in their lives.

3 key benefits of birthday fundraisers for nonprofits

There are a few reasons why it’s worth nonprofits’ time to encourage birthday fundraisers and fundraising for other special moments. You can:

1. Go further with DIY fundraising

Encouraging DIY fundraising around special moments—such as birthdays, anniversaries, or personal achievements like completing a race—offers new and flexible ways for supporters to engage with your cause. Instead of waiting for your organization to launch a new campaign, individuals can take initiative and create fundraisers whenever they feel inspired.

These peer-driven efforts allow supporters to set a personal fundraising goal, share why your cause matters to them, and invite people in their networks to contribute. By centering their fundraisers around personal stories, they create emotionally resonant appeals that often lead to broader reach and increased donations.

Providing simple, user-friendly tools to start a fundraiser makes it easier for anyone moved by your call to action to take the next step. From your Nonprofit Page on GoFundMe, visitors can create a fundraiser with one click, instantly turning them into impactful advocates.

2. Gather valuable data for future stewardship

Birthday and other special occasion fundraisers provide more than immediate donations. They offer valuable data on the supporters who create them and the donors who contribute to them. This information can play a key role in strengthening your long-term stewardship strategy.

Supporters who launch these fundraisers are activated, ready, and willing to go above and beyond for your cause. Use this passion as a foundation for deeper involvement by inviting them to attend your events, upgrade their gifts, or subscribe to a recurring donation.

When supporters create a fundraiser on GoFundMe, your nonprofit can access actionable data to assist with thoughtful follow-up that enables lifelong engagement with your cause.

3. Open the door to wider networks of potential supporters

Special moment fundraisers, like those tied to a birthday party, help introduce your cause to new audiences. When supporters create and share their fundraisers, they extend your nonprofit’s reach to friends, family, and colleagues who may not have known about your organization.

This organic exposure—often through social media, which our Meta integration helps to streamline—makes it easier to acquire new donors in an authentic way. These fundraisers can be a key part of your broader fundraising strategy, helping you grow your donor base while deepening engagement with existing supporters.

3 tips to encourage supporters to fundraise for their birthdays

Now that you understand the widespread benefits of birthday fundraisers, what are the first steps to activate your supporters? 

1. Include fundraiser inspiration on your website

To inspire action, make it easy for supporters to imagine what their birthday fundraiser could look like and achieve. Add a section to your website that offers creative birthday fundraiser ideas, tips, real-life examples, and guidance on how to define fundraising success, such as suggested fundraising goals. 

Outline steps for how to get started, sharing how easy it is to launch a birthday fundraiser directly from your Nonprofit Page on GoFundMe. If a supporter’s email is already in the GoFundMe database, they’ll receive an email leading up to their birthday, encouraging them to fundraise for a nonprofit of their choice. This automatic nudge will help educate them on the opportunity and support them on their journey to launching their next fundraiser. 

2. Highlight current supporters’ birthday fundraisers to provide social proof

People are more likely to start a fundraiser when they see others doing the same. Create a sense of community by highlighting birthday fundraisers on your social media channels regularly. Doing so helps you celebrate individuals who choose to donate their special day toward your cause and share quotes or testimonials about why the experience was meaningful to them.

You can also showcase collective impact—how many birthday fundraisers supporters have launched, how much they have raised, and what that support has helped make possible. This social proof not only builds momentum but also shows new supporters that they’re joining a movement, not just launching an isolated fundraiser.

3. Email an early happy birthday reminder

A well-timed email can go a long way in activating a supporter. Send a happy birthday message a few weeks before their special day and invite them to create a fundraiser to support your cause. This gives them time to plan and share their campaign with friends, family, and colleagues.

You can also do this for other meaningful moments, like anniversaries or personal milestones, you’ve recorded in your donor management software. Be sure to include helpful fundraising tools, like social media assets or an example of a personal message, that they can add to their campaign to make it easy for them to share.

Leverage GoFundMe birthday fundraisers to empower individuals to support your cause

Birthday fundraisers and other milestone-driven fundraising moments offer nonprofits a powerful way to engage supporters and expand their reach. 

Social media has also made it easier to share birthday fundraisers with friends, family, and colleagues, and there’s a great appetite for doing so. GoFundMe’s The Social State of Giving report found that half of Gen Z shares causes or fundraisers at least once a week, while half of Millennials and Gen X share them monthly. 

GoFundMe’s templatized online fundraising tools make it easy for supporters to create impactful fundraisers in one click and share them with their networks. With these activated supporters, your nonprofit can better sustain its mission with greater access to new audiences that arrive through a trusted peer.

Copy editor: Ayanna Julien

Sponsorships can help take your nonprofit’s mission-driven work to the next level. Thanks to sponsor funding and support, charitable organizations can execute major events and other initiatives to fuel their missions. A sponsorship letter is a key step in jump-starting these collaborations.

Below, we’ll cover everything you need to know about sponsorship letters, including what they are, who to send them to, and how to employ best practices for writing them. You’ll also find seven sponsorship letter templates to customize for your outreach.

What is a sponsorship letter?

A sponsorship letter is a donation request that asks a company or individual to sponsor an upcoming event, project, or activity. The purpose of this fundraising letter is to convince the benefactor that your fundraising event or project deserves their support.

Sponsorship letters are one of the most common donation request letters because they’re versatile. You can use them to ask for support from individuals and companies, and you can ask for varying levels of monetary or in-kind support.

How is a corporate sponsor different from a corporate donation?

The difference between a corporate sponsor and a corporate donation lies in the expectations for each. When you send a corporate sponsorship letter, it’s to establish a mutually beneficial partnership with a company. The sponsor may provide funding, event space, or other resources for your initiative. In exchange, your nonprofit may offer things like advertising space, social media shoutouts, and other perks to help elevate their brand and reach a wider audience.

If you send a letter simply asking for a donation, you give a company an opportunity to donate to your cause without strings attached. There are no expectations that you’ll provide something in exchange for the gift. It’s a straightforward contribution, and it’s up to the donor to manage promotional efforts.

What are the benefits of fundraising or event sponsorships?

Corporate sponsorship is a critical part of a well-rounded fundraising plan. It’s a way for nonprofit organizations to accomplish more for their missions with financial help, auction items, or in-kind donation support from a business or corporation.

Nonprofits often have fundraising ideas that require more assistance than their teams can tackle alone. Partnering with organizations that align with your cause unleashes new possibilities for communities in need.

A corporate sponsorship offers a business or corporation increased visibility within a community. The sponsoring business can establish its charitable image by supporting organizations that do incredible work.

In fact, many consumers prefer businesses that demonstrate regular investments in the communities they serve, with past research showing that they’re 4x more likely to purchase from a company with a strong sense of purpose. A sponsorship opportunity is an excellent way to make a big splash and bring a good cause to the forefront.

How do you identify potential sponsors?

You’ll have the best luck in securing sponsors if you’re strategic with who you ask. First, establish a solid understanding of your audience:

• What primary demographics follow you on social media?
• What types of supporters attend your events?
• What causes are most important to your audience?

Knowing your audience can help you look for potential sponsors who target a similar group of people. With that, follow these five steps to identify prospects where you may already have a warm lead or can make a compelling case:

• Step 1: Reconnect with past corporate donors to frame sponsorship as the next step in your relationship.
• Step 2: Search for companies that have supported nonprofits similar to yours or that have strong corporate social responsibility programs.
• Step 3: Ask your current event vendors about in-kind sponsorship opportunities.
• Step 4: Explore the connections of your board members, staff, volunteers, and other champions.
• Step 5: Look for businesses that complement yours, such as a veterinarian’s office supporting an animal shelter.

The more connections you can make between your nonprofit and a prospective sponsor, the more likely you are to secure the partnership.

How do you ask for sponsorship?

Asking for sponsorship is all about making a good impression. A sponsorship proposal letter is informative and persuasive. It should clearly explain what your organization does, why it matters, and how a potential sponsor can make a meaningful impact by getting involved.

Clarity is key when requesting sponsorship. Be specific about what you’re asking for—whether financial support, in-kind donations, or services. Outline the time frame, benefits for the sponsor, and any commitments or expectations involved.

Also, don’t forget to highlight your fundraising goal and explain how reaching that goal will benefit your community or cause. Sponsors want to see the tangible impact of their contribution. Make it easy for them to say yes by showing how their support fits into a bigger mission.

How do you write a sponsorship request letter?

Sponsorship letters can have a general layout and key standard content, but you’ll also want to customize each to the recipient and make a timely ask. 

To craft an effective sponsorship letter:

• Introduce yourself properly: Start by introducing yourself and your organization in a warm and authentic way. Help potential sponsors understand your mission and why a partnership with you makes sense.
• Include details about the sponsorship: Outline what you’re asking for clearly with compelling language that describes the opportunity and highlights any sponsorship levels or benefits they’ll receive in return to avoid leaving potential sponsors guessing.
• Personalize your letter: Remember that a good sponsorship request letter should be personalized with the name of the person or organization you’d like to sponsor your nonprofit. Personalization is key.
• Keep it clear and concise: Even if you have a lot to share, aim for a clear, focused message. Avoid overwhelming the reader with jargon or lengthy paragraphs.
• Include next steps: Ensure the reader knows what they should do next at the end of the letter. Let them know how to confirm their support, who to contact with questions, or where to find more information. Including a call to action in a P.S. in your fundraising letter is an effective way to build urgency and get eyes on your primary request.

How do you write an email asking for a sponsorship?

In today’s online world, your sponsorship letter will likely be in the form of an email. In alignment with top email best practices, consider a few unique ways to ensure your recipient receives, opens, and, most importantly, responds to your message.

• Craft a compelling subject line: Include enough detail to be clear but enough flair to catch attention, like these email subject line examples.
• Keep it brief: Leverage the ability to use hyperlinks in your emails to reduce the amount of text.
• Add visuals: Show sponsors why your organization is worth supporting by using compelling visuals, like photos, infographics, or short videos, that highlight your impact and help create an emotional and memorable connection. Just be sure to optimize your file sizes for email to avoid endless load times.
• Add contact information: Provide your recipient with a phone number or point of contact to respond to your request, especially if the email is forwarded.
• Plan for follow-up: Wait about a week before following up to reopen the conversation without seeming too pushy or getting lost in the inbox shuffle.

3 sponsorship letter best practices to remember

The tips above are a great starting point for writing effective sponsorship letters: personalize your message, be clear and concise, and have a compelling call to action. The three best practices below can help you take your sponsor requests to the next level.

1. Leverage social media for greater reach

Take a page from many corporate sponsorships that successfully spotlight social media. As you craft your sponsor letter, consider ways to add value through social engagement and sharing.

For example, do you have a branded hashtag that you and your sponsors can use to promote your campaign or event? Could you partner with cause-aligned influencers to build traffic to your site during this time that would add exposure for your sponsors, too?

There’s a lot you can do online to entice potential businesses and organizations to consider your sponsorship proposal.

2. Offer special promotions and incentives 

Get creative about ways to place your sponsors front and center across your donation page, communications, event branding, fundraising promotional materials, and physical signage. The more real estate they can gain for their logo in connection with your mission, the more they may want to give. 

This can also be a great way to segment different sponsorship levels. Offer additional exposure opportunities for those willing to give at a higher level. For example, you may have a top-tier level that offers a keynote speaking opportunity during an event’s main programming.

3. Create a VIP experience for sponsors

Make your proposal feel exclusive. Frame the sponsorship as an invitation to join a select group of visionary partners shaping something meaningful. This can get your prospective donors in the mindset of not wanting to miss out on this opportunity.

As part of this framing, you can offer special access to your nonprofit, such as early event previews, team meet-and-greets, or branded storytelling opportunities. Invite sponsors to come to an in-person meeting to discuss the opportunity further.

7 types of sponsorship letter templates

Sponsorship solicitations can be a letter by itself, or you can include a cover letter with additional promotional materials, like brochures or other branded material about your organization, that help build your case. 

Starting with a blank page can be challenging, so below, you’ll find sponsorship letter templates for seven types of scenarios, including:

• Local business sponsorships
• Corporate sponsorships
• Event sponsorships
• In-kind sponsorships
• Food and beverage sponsorships
• Church sponsorships
• Sports team sponsorships

1. Local business sponsorship letter sample

Subject line: Sponsorship Opportunity | [BUSINESS NAME] x [NONPROFIT NAME]

2. Corporate sponsorship request letter template

Subject line: Sponsorship Opportunity | [COMPANY NAME] x [NONPROFIT NAME]

3. Event sponsorship letter template

Subject line: Sponsorship Opportunity | [BUSINESS NAME] x [NONPROFIT EVENT NAME]

4. In-kind sponsorship letter template

Subject line: In-Kind Sponsorship Opportunity | [BUSINESS NAME] x [NONPROFIT NAME]

5. Food and beverage sponsorship letter template

Subject line: Sponsorship Opportunity | [BUSINESS NAME] x [NONPROFIT NAME]

6. Church sponsorship letter template

Subject line: Sponsorship Opportunity | [CHURCH NAME] x [NONPROFIT NAME]

7. Sports team sponsorship letter template

Subject line: Sponsorship Opportunity | [TEAM NAME] x [NONPROFIT NAME]

How to thank your sponsors for their support

Your nonprofit likely already knows the importance of sending a donation acknowledgement letter (also known as a donation receipt). Still, thank-you letters are a powerful way to show appreciation to your sponsors.

After your campaign or event concludes, give your sponsors a strong reason to stay connected and get one step ahead of securing their support for next year. You could even make a phone call to thank each sponsor on a more personal level. Authenticity will go a long way when navigating the sponsorship process.

When you do reach out, be sure to provide key highlights from your event, including how much you raised and how the sponsor specifically helped make that possible. If you anticipate hosting the same event or initiative next year, let them know and share how you hope they’ll celebrate again with you in the future.

Use sponsorship request letters to build impactful partnerships 

Sponsorship letters are an effective way to build partnerships that raise money and awareness for your organization. They allow you to share your story, explain your cause, and tell people why they should join in. No matter which of the highlighted sponsorship letters you send, be sure to do your homework and convey a clear, compelling message.

You’ll also want to personalize each message and highlight the mutual benefits of working together. When you lead with authenticity and purpose, you’re more likely to build lasting relationships that go beyond a single event or fundraiser.

Copy editor: Ayanna Julien

As a nonprofit, you know how precious time is—and how directly it affects your fundraising effectiveness and efficiency. When 66% of nonprofit organizations report struggling with budget constraints and insufficient funds in recruiting and retaining employees, it’s clear that limited resources can create a ripple effect: operational challenges, staff shortages, and increased pressure on already-stretched teams.

The result? Less time to focus on high-impact activities, like planning campaigns, engaging supporters, and managing special events. With so many competing demands, staying efficient isn’t just helpful. It’s essential to sustaining your organization’s mission.

5 time-saving strategies to maximize nonprofit fundraising efficiency

To make the most of your time and resources, focus on effective fundraising activities that deliver the greatest return. Strategic effort—paired with the right tools—helps you work smarter and turn every action into meaningful impact. 

Here are five time-saving strategies to help you achieve tangible outcomes with your nonprofit fundraising programs: 

1. Deepen engagement with personalized storytelling

Successful fundraising relies on your ability to tell a compelling story. Your donors need to understand why your cause matters and how their gift, no matter the amount of money, will make an impact. 

When you tell stories that connect with people emotionally, they do more than donate. They’re moved to: 

• Share your cause with their networks.
• Advocate through fundraisers.
• Attend community events.
• Find other ways to get involved. 

Storytelling that speaks to what your supporters care about helps bridge the gap between their values and the impact they want to make, holding the potential to turn one act of good into a long-term commitment to your social good initiatives. 

With Classy Studio, you can create targeted messaging that speaks directly to your supporters by: 

• Personalizing your messaging: Your message should reflect where the donor is on their journey with your mission. Whether they’re a first-time supporter, a dedicated event participant, or a long-term major donor, Studio’s flexible and highly customizable campaign builder lets you tailor your narrative in real time to connect with each segment of your donor base.
• Engaging with mobile-first campaigns: Recent research shows that over 60% of website traffic comes from mobile devices. With more users preferring to browse the internet through their smartphones, Studio offers top mobile optimization features, including mobile-view editing, content prioritization, drag-and-drop customization, and one-click checkout for a seamless donor experience on any device.

2. Invest in giving that grows over time

One of the most effective ways to build sustainable support is through recurring giving. Recurring donors can provide up to 9x the lifetime value of one-time donors, making them a critical part of a long-term fundraising strategy. By focusing on nurturing these relationships, you invest in a reliable revenue stream that requires less ongoing effort and fewer fundraising costs than constantly acquiring new donors.

Studio helps make this process easier by offering no-code designs, advanced customization, and real-time editing options to create a simplified donation experience for your supporters. Whether growing a recurring donor base or preparing for your next annual giving day, Studio streamlines your efforts, enabling you to focus on the most valuable fundraising opportunities and connect with donors more meaningfully.

3. Embed giving on your website for higher conversions

Your website is likely one of your highest-trafficked assets, making it a critical piece of your fundraising strategy. But if your donation form is on a separate page or requires your visitors to leave your site, you lose valuable conversion opportunities.

With Studio’s embedded donation forms, you ensure your supporters can donate directly from the page that inspired them. Whether it’s your homepage, campaign page, or another page of your website, Studio donation forms are easily embedded, allowing supporters to donate without leaving the page. 

Embedded forms streamline the donation process by reducing steps and distractions, leading to higher key benchmarks like checkout completion rates. With as few as four steps to give, our embedded donation forms can increase revenue per site visitor by 28%.

Plus, setting up embedded forms is a one-time task, and for WordPress users, it’s even simpler with our plugin. That means you spend less time on technical details and more time on strategies that drive strong fundraising metrics.

4. Build off of trusted fundraising templates

One of the best ways to maximize your time is by leveraging templates designed around the latest best practices. Instead of starting from scratch, create time-bound or year-round campaigns that grow with your goals, adapt to changing needs, and align with top design and accessibility standards.

Studio then makes it simple to clone and adapt your campaigns for seasonal events or emerging challenges and celebrate donor milestones. You can quickly update campaign images, adjust fundraising goals, change messaging in real time, or add new content, like success stories or donor testimonials. 

At Classy, we’re invested in ensuring your campaigns perform at their best. Using A/B testing and real data, we constantly fine-tune our Studio layouts and capabilities so you can feel confident they’ll deliver great results. 

Request your next Studio template

Another smart way to save time and resources is by building playbooks into your fundraising plans. These playbooks are step-by-step guides that help you replicate successful strategies, minimize errors, and make fundraising more efficient. Try playbooks for your next: 

• Year-end giving campaign: Creating a playbook for your year-end campaign ensures you put your most successful strategies into motion when it counts, from timing and messaging to donor segmentation, follow-ups, and stewardship.
• Disaster relief campaign: Creating a playbook for disaster relief helps you respond quickly when a crisis emerges. It provides clear guidelines, such as defined goals, email templates, and a communications timeline, ensuring you can mobilize fast in times of need. 
• Annual appeal campaign: Creating a playbook with preplanned steps for messaging, outreach, and thank-you notes, ensures your annual appeal stays on target and helps boost donor retention. 

Drawing inspiration from others

One often overlooked tactic is adapting strategies that have worked well for others to fit one’s goals.  

Our online fundraising inspiration hub invites you to browse through a library of Studio campaigns, see what others across the nonprofit sector have created, and use these insights to inform your fundraising efforts. And don’t forget that customers can request access to optimized, tested templates from our campaign catalog to give your campaign a jump-start while aligning with today’s best practices.

5. Empower supporters to find new donors and unlock generosity

Your current supporters can be some of your best advocates for finding new donors, especially since people trust people more than brands. By adding dynamic social proof elements, such as progress bars and activity feeds on your donation or thank-you pages, you can show donors how their total contributions make a difference. 

These elements not only highlight the impact of giving but can also tap into the power of person-to-person trust, driving organic donor acquisition by motivating supporters to share your cause with their networks.

To ensure new donors feel valued and seen, personalize your thank-you page with a message that expresses heartfelt gratitude and inspires the next step, such as: 

• Making another donation
• Sharing on social media
• Signing up for your monthly giving program
• Contributing a major gift 

A thoughtful, tailored message reinforces the value of their support and inspires them to reach more people through their networks.

As social sharing becomes increasingly more popular, particularly among younger generations, make it even easier for donors to spread the word by enabling Meta social sharing options on your fundraising campaigns. This invites supporters to quickly share their favorite causes with their Instagram and Facebook networks and inspire others to join your cause. 

And don’t forget to claim your Nonprofit Page on GoFundMe. By doing so, new supporters can easily discover your organization through GoFundMe’s collective, growing community of 190 million, expanding your reach, helping you attract more passionate donors, and giving you access to valuable supporter data.

Working smarter to maximize your fundraising efficiency

When time and resources are tight, every decision you make can significantly impact your fundraising success. By using smart strategies like personalized storytelling, recurring giving, templated campaigns, and embedded giving opportunities, you make the most of your resources to achieve the results that have the greatest impact on your mission. 

With Classy Studio, your organization can create more engaging campaigns, optimize donor experiences, and track results in real-time—all without the technical expertise of a web developer. Our campaign builder’s flexibility allows for quick adjustments, ensuring your fundraising efforts stay in line with your goals and address your supporters’ needs effectively.

Ready to see how Classy from GoFundMe can increase your fundraising efficiency? Schedule a demo today to explore how our platform can help you maximize your time and fundraising expenses, engage supporters, and boost conversion to fuel long-term sustainability. 

Copy editor: Ayanna Julien

Your nonprofit website is the gateway to fundraising success—every visitor counts. A seamless, embedded donation form keeps them engaged and inspired to give.

Yet, many nonprofits don’t realize that friction and impersonal experiences on their current donation forms may limit their ability to convert more visitors into donors. 

The good news is that the right donation form builder and functionality can get through this barrier, boost donor engagement, and help you raise more.

Explore Embedded Studio

What makes a donation form effective?

A high-performing donation form keeps the donor experience top of mind.

Here’s what sets the best ones apart:

1. User-friendly design
   Studies show that simplifying forms can boost conversion rates. One study found that reducing form fields from 11 to 4 led to a 120% increase in conversions—backing our rationale for an embedded donation flow as short as four steps.
2. Speed
   Fast-loading pages ensure that donors don’t abandon their gifts out of frustration. Optimized donation forms minimize wait times and streamline the process while increasing your chances of healthy search engine rankings.
3. Minimized distractions
   A donation page should keep visitors focused on completing their gift. Removing unnecessary links or competing calls to action ensures they stay on track.
4. Mobile optimization
   With an increasing number of donations coming from mobile devices, a mobile-first design is crucial. A great donation form automatically adjusts to different screen sizes, ensuring a seamless experience across devices.
5. Versatile payment options
   Offering flexible payment methods—such as credit card, ACH, PayPal, Venmo, and digital wallets—reduces barriers and makes it easier for donors to give in the way that’s most convenient for them.
6. Personalization
   Aligning your donation form with your nonprofit’s branding creates a seamless, trustworthy experience. The personalized imagery and messaging that brought a donor to your page should carry through the entire process, helping inspire them to complete their gift.
7. Impactful prompts and giving nudges
   Personalized prompts—such as reminders for recurring gifts, fee coverage options, or abandoned cart notifications—encourage the giving you want and increase conversion rates. 
8. Integrated across all pages
   Embedding a donation form on your main donate button is key, as it’s the most prominent spot. However, adding donation entry points in-line across various pages allows supporters to contribute when they’re most inspired, no matter where they are on the site.

Why nonprofits trust Embedded Studio donation forms 

Embedded Studio takes the guesswork out of designing effective donation forms by providing nonprofits with a tested, powerful, and easy-to-use tool. 

Here’s why it stands out:

Data-backed design

Embedded Studio’s proven layouts and research-backed design elements help maximize conversion rates. 

Our high-performing pop-up design keeps donors focused on giving, no matter the device. It maintains your branding, provides access to FAQs, and allows easy navigation—all without distracting from the primary goal: completing the donation.

Additionally, our testing reveals that a black Continue button enhances focus, seamlessly guiding supporters through the donation process. This design choice drives more gifts and ensures your forms meet the highest accessibility standards, although you may choose to edit this color if you wish. 

The Embedded Studio form for the Foundation for Women’s Cancer incorporates these trusted design elements, providing donors with the most efficient and impactful donation experience.

The Embedded Studio donation form has greatly improved the donation experience for our supporters, who have praised its modern look and ease of use. The pop-up box allows supporters to give without needing to navigate away … from the page they were viewing.

Comprehensive functionality

Embedded Studio includes everything nonprofits need to create high-performing forms. Nonprofits like the Mission Kids Child Advocacy Center are already seeing the results of using these proven features to fuel their impact.

What features can I expect with Embedded Studio?

Embedded Studio provides a robust set of tools and features to enhance your donation experience.

Here are a few:

• Flexible giving options allow donors to choose between one-time and recurring gifts
• Customizable input fields enable you to collect key donor details—like payment preferences and optional addresses—after the donation is complete, helping streamline checkout while keeping the process distraction-free
• Program designation and tribute donation options allow supporters to direct their gifts in meaningful ways, enhancing donor engagement
• Employer-matching capabilities to amplify the impact of each dollar 
• Personalized nudges, including prompts for donor-covered fees, to help increase giving 
• Social sharing capabilities empower donors to amplify their impact
• Expandable FAQ links keep supporters informed without leaving the checkout flow
• Behind-the-scenes analytics tools like Google Analytics 4 provide valuable insights into donor behavior, enabling organizations to refine their fundraising strategies

Seamless integrations

Connected fundraising experiences are critical for nonprofits seeking to optimize their efforts. With Embedded Studio, nonprofits can effortlessly connect their donation forms with essential tools that streamline operations and strengthen donation outcomes. 

Whether your organization needs to track campaign performance, personalize the donor journey, or simplify the giving process, Embedded Studio delivers a robust, user-friendly solution:  

• Compatibility with all website builders, and WordPress users can simplify setup even further with our dedicated plugin
• Global donation capabilities with Passport
• Customer relationship management integrations like Salesforce, Omatic, and Virtuous
• Seamless connections to top payment processors for smooth transactions
• Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics 4 for tracking campaign performance
• Social share buttons to encourage donor engagement

Explore our WordPress plugin

No-code design

While a one-time code setup is necessary for the launch, once it’s in place, nonprofits can easily brand, design, and edit their donation forms without any technical expertise. This solution removes the barrier of relying on highly trained staff, enabling quick updates and adjustments without slowing down fundraising efforts.

This flexibility empowers your nonprofit to stay agile, ensuring your forms remain up to date and aligned with fundraising goals.

The Storehouse Community Center successfully branded its donation form using our no-code design tools by incorporating its colors, logos, and personalized text and images. This customization not only enhanced the donor experience but also ensured consistency with their overall brand. 

Additionally, they saved time and reduced costs associated with site updates, all while maintaining a seamless, user-friendly donation process. 

Easy steps to get started

Now that you’ve seen what’s possible with Embedded Studio, we want to make the next steps as seamless as possible. To get started, customers can easily request a predesigned donation form template from our campaign catalog, which incorporates all our research and optimizations. 

Transform your fundraising 

A well-designed donation form is one of the most powerful tools nonprofits can use to drive gifts and increase donor engagement. With Embedded Studio, you get everything you need to create stunning, high-converting forms that make giving effortless.

Already a Classy customer? Attend one of our biweekly Embedded Studio trainings for step-by-step guidance on designing your next standout form.  

If you’re not yet a customer, request a demo or explore our pricing packages as a first step to optimizing your nonprofit donation form with Embedded Studio. 

Copy editor: Ayanna Julien

Most nonprofit organizations know that recurring giving is key to predictable income and organizational growth, but they may struggle to envision a proactive recurring giving strategy. This can lead to feeling stuck.

A successful recurring giving program is the result of cumulative steps over time that build a truly sustainable effort. With that foundation in mind, it’s crucial to evaluate your current efforts and consider how to reach the next step. 

Below, we’ll guide you through the process of evaluating your current recurring giving program to find gaps and opportunities for greater fundraising. We’ll also cover how to upgrade your recurring donation program and ways Classy Studio can help.

4 tips to evaluate your current recurring giving program

Recurring giving is a critical part of your overall fundraising strategy. To make the most of it, you need a clear picture of where your current program stands. These tips can help you get started.

1. Define goals for your recurring giving program

To have a successful monthly giving program, you need to know what success looks like for your nonprofit. Goals allow you to plan for growth into the future and provide benchmarks against which you can measure your success.

To help set the right goals, ask questions like: 

• How many monthly donors do we want to acquire each year? 
• What is our ideal donor retention rate for monthly givers?
• Do we have a revenue goal for our recurring program?

2. Track recurring giving metrics

Gathering data on your current recurring giving program can guide your goal-setting process and demonstrate your recurring giving program’s return on investment (ROI). Below are three key metrics to track.

Monthly recurring revenue (MMR) 

MRR is the revenue you can expect to receive each month from your recurring giving program. Lost MRR, also called “churn,” is the monthly revenue you lose when people cancel their recurring gifts.

By tracking these figures, you can set goals for:

• Target total MRR for the year
• Percentage increase in MRR from the previous month, quarter, or year
• Maximum acceptable churn rate

These goals will provide an overview of your program’s success and whether your current investments in it are enough to meet your targets.

Number of active donors

This measure looks at the total number of supporters who make recurring gifts. You can use it to set goals around:

• Target number of supporters to have in your program
• Number of donors by which to grow your program each month, quarter, or year

This measure offers a concrete way of assessing your recurring giving program’s health. Even if you haven’t reached your revenue targets yet, you can see how many people join your movement and how each newcomer might encourage their networks to further the cause.

Recurring gift increases

Over time, you want recurring givers to increase the size of their donations, even if it’s only by a few dollars. Measure this by setting goals around:

• Number and percentage of recurring donors who increase their gift size each year
• Average donation size increase each year

Tracking this helps gauge your audience’s engagement and commitment over time.

3. Pull reports to measure ROI

Once you know what data you need to evaluate your program, it’s time to start running reports to determine the ROI of your recurring giving program. 

Using a fundraising solution like Classy from GoFundMe makes this easy. Classy allows you to access custom reports at any time and share them across your team. You can then use these to inform any pivots in your program.

Below are a few of the reports we recommend for evaluating your recurring giving strategy:

• Returning one-time donors: This report allows you to see donors who have given more than one donation to your organization. These supporters will likely be more responsive to targeted outreach encouraging them to become recurring donors.
• Failing recurring giving plans: This report allows you to quickly review any recurring donations that had unsuccessful transactions. Use this information to reach out to donors to remedy payment issues and keep their membership active.
• Recurring plans over one year: This report shows you recurring donations that have been active for at least a year. Use it to evaluate your recurring donor retention rate and identify potential candidates to approach for a slight increase in their contributions.
• Upcoming expiring recurring plans: This report allows you to see existing donors with upcoming credit or debit card expirations before they happen. Avoid unplanned churn by reaching out for updates and thanking them again for their ongoing support.

4. Audit your recurring giving processes

Your donation process needs to be smooth and provide the right incentives to supporters. Discuss with your team how you communicate with recurring donors, what stewardship efforts you employ, and what incentives you believe will most appeal to your target audience. These elements can impact supporters’ engagement and retention over time.

Here are several questions to consider:

• Do you have consistent appeals throughout the year?
• Is there a special day or event that could serve as an opportunity to ask for recurring donations?
• Do you have a recurring donor prospect list?
• How do you engage your recurring donors?
• How often do you check in with them?
• How do you recognize them?
• How do you reinforce what their dollars help you accomplish?
• What donor management tools do you use to automate regular touchpoints?

4 strategies to upgrade your recurring giving program

It’s critical to continue refining your recurring giving program to attract, convert, nurture, and retain new donors. Let’s explore four strategies to consistently raise more every month.

The ultimate recurring giving playbook

1. Create a dedicated campaign page

To grow monthly contributions to your nonprofit, the recurring giving option must be highly visible. This option should be on all online donation forms. You may also want to include a unique donation button on your nonprofit website that links to a dedicated recurring giving donation page.

On your monthly giving landing page, build a strong brand that increases your program’s credibility and memorability. Instead of calling it your “monthly giving program,” consider a unique program name that fosters brand loyalty and a sense of community and belonging among supporters. This can be something that ties in with your specific cause or something more general like the “Circle of Givers.”

On your branded recurring donation page, you can also include: 

• Value statements on why donors should give monthly
• Member and beneficiary testimonials about the power of recurring giving
• Social proof data, such as the number of monthly donors, average monthly gift, or a list of founding monthly donors
• Impact statistics about your nonprofit’s initiatives funded by recurring donors

Branded recurring giving programs in action

Atlas Free, a nonprofit working to accelerate and resource the fight against sex trafficking and exploitation, calls its monthly giving community “Team Freedom” and uses Classy to create an inviting recurring donor experience that encourages more sign-ups. With Classy’s in-line donation forms, Atlas Free can offer a seamless giving journey with its brand and website and has full control over copy and imagery.

2. Quantify the impact of recurring gifts

Just like one-time gifts, use impact blocks to help pair outcomes with different monthly donation amounts. For example, a food bank could highlight how many families it can feed for $10, $20, $50, and $100 per month. This helps monthly givers understand the tangible difference they’ll make at different giving levels.

You can also highlight the lifetime value of recurring donors’ support. Remind them that a $30 monthly donation adds up to $360 over the course of the year to help make the giving option feel more accessible.

3. Appeal to younger generations

Subscription giving offers a great opportunity to engage Gen Z donors. Not only are they accustomed to subscription experiences (like Spotify, Amazon, and Netflix), but they’re also earlier in their income-earning years. 

Gen Z supporters may not be ready to make a $500 annual gift, but smaller recurring contributions fit more easily within their budgets and open the door to future stewardship. 

To ensure that your recurring giving program appeals to this donor base, consider these tips:

• Prioritize your social media presence: GoFundMe’s The Social State of Giving report found that 46% of Gen Z believes people should share their donations online to help spread the word and inspire others. Mobilize them with the right tools to execute this by making appeals through social media and encouraging them to share their participation.
• Emphasize the power of smaller gift sizes: A branded recurring giving program specifically for younger donors, like a “Coffee Club,” invites them to swap one morning latte a month for a $5 recurring donation to your nonprofit.
• Optimize your mobile giving experience: Research shows that Gen Zers spend over six hours per day on their smartphones. Ensure your organization’s website and donation form are optimized for mobile use to meet these donors where they’re most likely to give.

Low-barrier giving options in action

Tunnel to Towers Foundation, a nonprofit that honors military and first responders, wanted an easy way to drive traffic across multiple channels to its recurring program. Using Classy, it launched a recurring donor program that encourages supporters to give $11 a month in honor of 9/11. This low barrier to entry means anyone can join the cause and contribute to making a significant impact on its mission. 

As the nonprofit’s senior vice president of marketing and communications explains, “For a small amount of money, they’re helping to pay off the mortgages of American heroes.” The result is powerful: Most of the nonprofit’s online donations come from recurring gifts, and it acquires thousands of new recurring donors per month.

4. Provide preferred payment methods

Classy’s Why America Gives report found that 20% of donors reconsidered making a gift when their preferred payment method was unavailable. Providing preferred payment options on your giving page creates a seamless experience that increases conversions.

Nonprofits can implement modern payment processes through solutions like Classy Pay, inviting recurring supporters to give via credit cards, ACH bank transfer, digital wallets, PayPal, Venmo, and more.

Classy Pay in action

Alight, a nonprofit working for and with communities displaced by conflict, climate change, and social and economic exclusion, decided to try face-to-face canvassing to acquire new recurring donors. The nonprofit processed donations using Classy Pay alongside seamless integrations with other tools designed for in-person donor acquisition through the Classy API. 

This approach provided the Alight team with real-time visibility into new recurring gifts and enabled precise and up-to-date reporting. It also kept the donation process quick (only a few minutes) for supporters with preferred payment methods. The campaign brought in 660 new recurring donors and raised $53,000, meeting its acquisition goals two months early.

How Classy Studio takes recurring giving to the next level

Customizing your giving experience for recurring donors has never been easier with Classy Studio. Make your brand shine and drive long-term value through your monthly giving campaign pages with several user-friendly features, such as the ability to:

• Adjust your default donation widget settings to recurring and decide if you want to disable one-time donations entirely.
• Offer monthly donations and membership campaigns with an annual gift option.
• Show different levels of giving with impact titles and customize them to specific program designations or have all recurring donations go to unrestricted funds.
• Use Embedded Studio to apply customizable nudges for recurring donations. These animated prompts appear under set circumstances, encouraging supporters toward the action you want them to take.

Studio’s enhanced email marketing capabilities also extend a personalized experience for recurring donors after they complete a gift. Nonprofits can:

• Send customized emails with the same drag-and-drop functionality used to build campaigns.
• Add a login, Manage Donation, or Update Payment button for supporters to quickly review their recurring gift membership.
• Add layouts with various sections and images that link back to education about your cause.

Evaluate and scale your recurring giving program for greater impact 

No matter the current state of your recurring giving program, you can take steps to level it up and continue to grow it over time. Perform a pulse check on where your program currently stands and draft up a plan on how you can incrementally improve your results.

The stepping stones above are great for guiding an annual or quarterly review process and will help you build a sustainable and predictable recurring giving campaign for your cause.

Copy editor: Ayanna Julien

Peer-to-peer campaigns equip passionate supporters with powerful fundraising tools, transforming them into an extension of your development team. These advocates not only help secure essential funds but also expand your nonprofit’s reach by helping you connect with new donors. 

Below, we share 10 key peer-to-peer fundraising tips to inspire greater engagement, drive more online donations, and strengthen your overall strategy. 

1. Expand your reach with the right tools

The 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer report found that 48% of people trust recommendations from friends and family when making decisions compared to 33% for ads and 17% for the news. 

This aligns with an overall shift toward trusting individuals over institutions. GoFundMe provides the tools to adapt to these trends.

Nonprofit Pages on GoFundMe

GoFundMe has long united peers to raise funds for individuals and causes they care about and has naturally evolved into a platform where people also rally behind nonprofits. In the past year alone, over 70,000 nonprofits have received support through GoFundMe.

One way GoFundMe helps nonprofits leverage supporters’ giving enthusiasm is through Nonprofit Pages, which enable individuals to easily find, donate, and fundraise for your organization. 

Nonprofits can claim their page for access to GoFundMe donor and fundraiser data to better understand the platform’s audience and benefit from more supporter-led fundraising efforts. With integrated SEO capabilities, Nonprofit Pages have the power to reach waves of new supporters to drive greater acquisition and growth for your cause.

2. Coach, equip, and encourage your fundraisers for success

To achieve an impactful peer-to-peer fundraising campaign, you must help your fundraisers be successful. Providing education and resources on the process mobilizes participants to deliver their message and reach more donors, raising more for your mission and deepening their connection to your cause. 

To coach, equip, and encourage your fundraisers, you can:

• Provide a toolkit with all the essential fundraising resources that supporters need to set up their fundraising page and be successful.
• Share fundraising ideas and examples of heartfelt storytelling to inspire giving through their donation forms.
• Prepare branded assets, sample social media posts, email templates, and other resources for easy sharing with their network.
• Host a weekly online webinar that covers fundraising FAQs and provides networking opportunities.
• Send milestone emails throughout their peer-to-peer campaign, congratulating them on their progress and providing tips and motivation for achieving their goal.
• Offer incentives for participation, such as raffle tickets, special T-shirts, and other swag.

Peer-to-peer fundraiser support in action

Hillel International teamed up with Classy from GoFundMe to make peer-to-peer fundraising as user-friendly as possible during the organization’s Hillel Global Giving Week. Our platform helped the nonprofit create a prefilled template easily customizable for 170 different campus Hillels. 

Classy experts also hosted a training session to ensure everyone within the organization could access our platform’s full fundraising capabilities. As a result, campuses saw 27% growth year over year for the 2024 giving week, and all campuses combined to raise a record-setting $5.5 million in four days.

Read the full story

3. Empower supporters to do more for your cause

The future of peer-to-peer fundraising is in empowering your supporters to do more for your nonprofit rather than creating more work for your already busy internal team. It also lies in showing up in the places where your supporters are likely to be. That’s why Classy and GoFundMe focus on supporter engagement and empowerment solutions.

GoFundMe has several new and upcoming features to help nonprofits achieve this, such as:

• Live fundraising tools that integrate GoFundMe with popular livestream channels so individuals can elevate your cause while livestreaming a performance, gaming session, or interactive event
• GoFundMe Profiles where individuals can show their commitment to your nonprofit and encourage their communities to do the same

4. Use peer-to-peer fundraising to connect with younger donors

Social media platforms are excellent for peer-to-peer fundraising as charity becomes more of a passion for younger generations. GoFundMe’s The Social State of Giving report found that most Gen Zers and Millennials follow impact creators online. In fact, one in four Gen Zers said they donated as the result of a social media creator, and 51% said they would trust impact creators to make donations on their behalf.

Here are some ideas to socialize peer-to-peer campaigns:

• Leverage Classy’s social sharing integration with Meta, which allows supporters to share campaign links on their Facebook feeds, Instagram profiles, and Instagram stories for larger reach and easy conversion.
• Encourage fundraisers to seamlessly boost their reach by duplicating their Classy peer-to-peer fundraising page to Facebook using Classy for Facebook.
• Leverage videos on Instagram reels and stories, TikTok, and YouTube to engage your audience of supporters and fundraisers.
• Deliver real-time updates on supporters’ peer-to-peer campaign successes on your nonprofit’s social media pages.
• Introduce some friendly competition by inviting followers to vote on elements like fundraiser creativity to build awareness of the many pages they can support.
• Support fundraisers in updating their social media profile pictures and banners to showcase their peer-to-peer campaigns and include links to their personal donation pages.

Engaging youth for peer-to-peer fundraising in action

To Write Love On Her Arms has fostered a highly engaged younger audience through thoughtful social media posting and engagement. This has allowed the nonprofit to encourage giving opportunities that resonate with Gen Z and Millennial donors. 

With Classy, TWLOHA has created a robust network of peer-to-peer fundraisers, securing more than 60% of its online donation volume from peer-to-peer fundraising.

Learn how TWLOHA achieved this

5. Think creatively with your community outreach

Raising funds through peer-to-peer campaigns requires outreach to different audiences to encourage their participation. Consider what partnerships you can form with untapped community groups or themes related to your mission that can heighten interest in the fundraising opportunity. For example, you can ask:

• Are there any local clubs, professional organizations, or service groups we haven’t engaged with whose members might be interested in our cause?
• Do any local events already exist that align with our mission and could pair with peer-to-peer fundraising opportunities?
• What media resources have we yet to explore to share our message and highlight the power of peer-to-peer fundraising?

Peer-to-peer creative outreach in action

Starlight Children’s Foundation provides colorful hospital gowns, toys, video games, and gaming stations to seriously ill children in hospitals across the country. When the nonprofit partnered with Sony Pictures to create “Ghostbusters”-themed hospital gowns, it saw an opportunity to share its work with new audiences. 

It connected with the Los Angeles Ghostbusters—a cosplay group that provides fans with an authentic “Ghostbusters” experience—and activated Classy’s peer-to-peer fundraising platform to recruit over 20 Ghostbusters groups around the United States and one in Italy to reach a wider donor network. Tapping into niche fandom communities through podcasts, online forums, and conventions, the Ghostbusters groups raised $40,000.

Get the details

6. Get corporate partners involved

Research shows that 88% of company leaders believe effective employee engagement programs help attract and retain employees. With more workers wanting to see charitable behavior from their employers, this is an excellent opportunity to bring in peer-to-peer fundraising to strengthen your corporate giving program. 

Here are a few ways to connect peer-to-peer fundraising efforts to large companies and local businesses:

• Empower employees to fundraise: Share a time-based initiative or a year-round campaign with corporate partners to engage their teams. Employees can create personalized fundraising pages to tell their unique stories and share involvement with their broader network of family and friends to raise more for your mission.

• Host a company competition: Build a campaign template that corporate partners can brand to their organizations and introduce company-wide. Teams and departments can compete for a reward, like a day off or a team dinner. Imagine a fun and engaging competition between the finance team and the marketing department that entices donation amounts from broader audiences outside the company.

• Uplevel to a corporate challenge: Expand your reach by bringing team fundraising to corporate partners to compete against one another and see who can collectively fundraise the most. This could include the opportunity for companies to match donations from employees and increase the overall impact they make together.

Corporate partner peer-to-peer fundraising in action

Feed More, a Virginia-based hunger relief nonprofit, partners with the Virginia Bar Association to recruit law firms for a friendly competition to see which can raise the most through its peer-to-peer campaign pages. 

The nonprofit focuses on retaining the individual firms and offices that have participated in the past through a retention strategy that includes a thoughtful communication plan before, during, and after the fundraising competition. 

They provide fundraisers with all the tools they need to be successful, including a fundraising toolkit, and assist them with any Classy-related fundraising page questions.

Learn from Feed More

7. Leverage a matching gift for peer-to-peer

According to Double the Donation, 84% of donors are more likely to give if there’s a matching gift, while 1 in 3 would give a larger amount if a match applied. Additionally, a well-executed matching gift strategy can have more than 75% engagement—5x the average rate. However, nonprofits may overlook this opportunity with peer-to-peer campaigns.

While you may have used a match to drive online fundraising for a year-end campaign or other signature event, it’s worth considering leveraging one for peer-to-peer fundraising, too. Nonprofit organizations can cultivate corporate sponsorships to support peer-to-peer campaigns or ask a major donor for a gift to drive momentum for the fundraising effort. 

Matching gifts for peer-to-peer fundraising in action

buildOn has a strong community of students, families, and corporations that support its mission through peer-to-peer fundraising. Thanks to a generous donor, it offers a match for student fundraisers one day every year—known as Match Day. 

To qualify for the match, fundraisers must raise a minimum of $750 before Match Day starts. Once they meet that goal, any Match Day donation to an individual fundraising page receives a match up to $500.

The buildOn team uses its Classy and Salesforce integration to easily see who’s eligible to participate in the Match Day. This enables the team to closely monitor campaign performance and tailor communications and targeted support to help fundraisers reach their goals. 

Through this, 35% more individuals met the $750 fundraising minimum in 2023 than the previous year. Additionally, participants raised $30,000 in the first five minutes. Match Day has proven to be an effective acquisition tool, with 150+ unique donors on that day alone and hundreds more in the months leading up to it. 

Read on for full details

8. Encourage teams to elevate causes

While individuals can create peer-to-peer fundraising pages, these campaigns are also a powerful tool for community-building through team efforts. Nonprofits can look for ways to help like-minded individuals increase their impact by organizing team-based peer-to-peer fundraising efforts around specific causes.

This is an especially effective approach to peer-to-peer fundraising for nonprofits that span wider geographic areas, contain multiple different chapters, or have a set of distinct causes with set fundraising goals. These cohorts lend themselves well to forming peer-based fundraising teams.

Team-based peer-to-peer fundraising in action

The YMCA of San Diego County has 14 locations that participate in its Annual Campaign, a peer-to-peer fundraiser that rallies support around the county’s highest-need communities. To better personalize donor experiences, the nonprofit decided each of its branch locations, social services, and overnight camps would have a campaign. This allowed supporters to join teams around the fundraising priority that mattered the most to them.

Creating separate campaigns for each location might seem like a daunting task. However, with Classy’s templating functionality, the nonprofit streamlined this process by creating a single campaign that it could duplicate for each location, customizing the name, hero image, and programs for each branch. This saved time cross-checking all the backend settings to focus on creating the best giving experience.

Dive in to learn more

9. Incorporate peer-to-peer fundraising at events

Fundraising events add an extra level of engagement to peer-to-peer efforts. In-person or virtual attendees can set up a fundraising page using event registration software for nonprofits. The fundraising experience may include an endurance event like a walk-a-thon, an entertainment opportunity like a benefit concert, or other exciting ideas your donor base enjoys.

Coming together for the event adds a personalized and timely element that can energize fundraisers. Supporters can root for participants to achieve a time-based fundraising goal, even if they can’t attend, creating added reach. 

Events with fundraising help nonprofits offer:

• Wider accessibility for participation across in-person, hybrid, and virtual event audiences
• Flexibility for donors and participants to get involved how they’d like
• Interactive components, like activity tracking, gamification, and livestreams
• Smooth reporting to see engagement from pre-event to the day of the event

Classy powers events of all shapes and sizes, from endurance events to galas. Organize sports tournaments, cooking classes, or other themes that pair well with peer-to-peer fundraising. 

With Classy Live, you can even extend beyond registration to create a virtual venue for attendees anywhere or provide in-person event features like on-site check-in and digital fundraising displays for event staff.

10. Think about donor acquisition and retention

To get the most out of your peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns, keep donor acquisition and retention strategies top of mind.

Potential donors naturally gravitate toward stories that create a feeling of connection to something greater. When recruiting supporters to participate in your peer-to-peer campaigns, review your messaging to ensure it tells a compelling story. For example, you may want to highlight:

• An opening email series that introduces your campaign’s story in bite-sized portions that each call on people to become fundraisers
• Impact stories that demonstrate your program’s potential to change lives and outcomes for people who need it
• Videos and photos that help people visualize your story and appeal to their emotions
• Testimonials that bring in the voices of your constituents, volunteers, staff, or board members for an additional human touch

Additionally, create a plan for after your peer-to-peer campaigns to ensure new givers leave with a positive impression of your nonprofit and fundraisers feel appreciated for their efforts. As you wrap up your campaign, be sure to send a thank-you message to every fundraiser and donor to show them how much they matter to your mission. 

For the best results:

• Add details to every thank-you message, like a fundraiser’s name, campaign goal, and total amount raised to show they’re deeply valued.
• Drive future engagement by sharing tangible results that participants’ contributions made.
• Build digital e-cards that fundraisers can share with donors to their campaign to extend the gratitude effect.
• Have your thank-you note come from your leadership, a beneficiary who received support, or another significant figure that adds a human touch.

Peer-to-peer donor acquisition and retention in action

Since joining the Classy community, Stadia has been growing peer-to-peer fundraising as part of its overall strategy to acquire new donors. Every staff member has an annual fundraising goal and can set up a fundraising page quickly for the nonprofit’s annual “Go The Extra Mile” campaign to appeal to their networks via built-in social sharing capabilities. 

The team uses templates to keep branding consistent across fundraising pages. A seamless checkout process then offers multiple payment options to make it easy for donors to give. The ease of fundraising, sharing, and giving on Classy helped Stadia bring in 100 new donors from the campaign and achieve a peer-to-peer conversion rate 25% higher than the industry average.

Read how Stadia achieved this

Use peer-to-peer fundraising to reach more supporters, build community, and increase revenue 

Successful peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns thrive on strategic planning, strong engagement, and a sense of community. Effective fundraising fosters authentic connections and makes it easy for participants to share their passion. 

Use the above tips alongside powerful solutions from Classy and GoFundMe to help meet your peer-to-peer fundraising goals while strengthening long-term relationships with supporters.

Copy editor: Ayanna Julien

Acquiring new donors is an investment. It can cost nonprofits $1.50 to raise $1.00 from a new supporter. On top of this, economic uncertainty, changes in donor behaviors, and a shift in trust from institutions to individuals emphasize how critical it is for nonprofits to adapt their strategies to align with today’s best practices.

In the current climate, getting donors to donate must involve a multichannel approach and efforts to meet them where they are. To help identify prospective donors and cultivate your next wave of lifelong supporters, we’ve rounded up eight techniques to expand your donor base and foster loyal relationships. 

Explore effective ways to source donations across various giving levels and learn how GoFundMe and Classy from GoFundMe’s innovative tools can help make outreach easier. 

1. Conduct prospect research

Prospect research involves gathering and analyzing detailed information about potential donors to understand who they are, what drives them, and how they might connect to your cause. Information you may collect in your donor database includes:

• Philanthropic history: Investigate past giving behaviors for insights into future generosity, such as monetary and in-kind donations to other nonprofits, participation in volunteer opportunities, political giving, and other support of similar causes.
• Wealth screening: Identify financial capacity with wealth markers, such as net worth, real estate holdings, stock holdings, and business affiliations.
• Charitable motivations: Delve into the “why” behind a prospective donor’s giving. Which causes do they care about? What inspires their generosity?
• Personal backgrounds: Get to know individual donors to tailor your approach by gathering information on demographics, hobbies, marital status, communication preferences, and professional and educational backgrounds.

Nonprofits can tap different databases, historical records, and other research methods to collect specific information, storing it in their customer relationship management (CRM) platform to create complete donor profiles. This approach to donor management can help:

• Drive hyperpersonalized content.
• Inform major donor outreach.
• Identify planned or deferred donors.
• Discover new donor cohorts.

Prospect research is the first step toward expanding your nonprofit’s reach and impact. Classy’s comprehensive suite of tools can then help turn your research into action with options like flexible donation pages and donation forms tailored to your unique brand, goals, and donor preferences. Plus, gain access to in-depth fundraising intelligence and analytics to keep your finger on the pulse of your campaigns and make refinements as needed.

2. Leverage peer-to-peer fundraising

The 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer report found that 48% of people trust recommendations from friends and family when making decisions compared to 33% for ads and 17% for the news.

GoFundMe’s The Social State of Giving report supports this, finding that most Gen Zers and Millennials follow impact creators online. In fact, one in four Gen Zers said they donated as the result of a social media creator, and 51% said they would trust impact creators to make donations on their behalf. 

Given that people trust other people more than organizations, leveraging current donors’ interpersonal relationships to cultivate interest and support for your nonprofit is an excellent avenue for donor acquisition. One of the most effective ways to do this is through peer-to-peer fundraising, which allows supporters to advocate for your cause and expand your reach in a cost-effective way. 

Encourage long-time supporters to assist you with this type of gift fundraising, letting them know how much of an impact it can have on your organization.

Once individuals give a one-time donation through a friend’s peer-to-peer campaign, use their contact information to send a welcome series. Offer quick ways they can continue to engage with your cause and tell compelling stories that drive them to take further action.

3. Connect through social media

Social media continues to be a powerful tool for finding nonprofit donations. GoFundMe’s The Social State of Giving report found that 40% of respondents share causes or fundraisers by posting about them on their social media channels. This is particularly true for younger generations, with half of Gen Zers posting about fundraisers weekly. 

Nonprofits can leverage this enthusiasm to expand their message’s reach and acquire new donors.

First, gauge your staff’s capacity to expand your social media presence and identify which social media platforms best align with your goals and supporters’ preferences. For example, you can:

• Capitalize on the traffic potential of Facebook to boost cause awareness.
• Share campaigns on LinkedIn for higher conversion opportunities.
• Unlock traffic with a multiplatform approach spanning popular channels like TikTok and Instagram.

To encourage online donations, follow social media best practices, such as:

• Create social media business profiles.
• Schedule posts around the times and days your audience is most active.
• Stay ahead of new trends and algorithm shifts.
• Prioritize brand and posting consistency across platforms. 
• Emphasize short video content and powerful imagery.
• Incorporate digital advertising into your strategy when budget allows.

Additionally, leverage Classy’s social sharing integration with Meta, which makes it easier for donors to find, share, and support causes on their preferred social channels. You can use the integration to:

• Inspire donor action through Instagram stories and in-feed Facebook posts that have a donation button and dynamic progress metrics.
• Stand out in the feed with a fresh, polished look.
• Gain access to rich donor data and insights with funds processed exclusively through Classy.
• Increase credibility among donors with posts that render as official fundraisers.

4. Engage corporate partners

In addition to providing major gifts, sponsorships, and grantmaking opportunities, corporate partners can allow access to their networks, offering introductions to a receptive audience. For example, corporate partnerships can include:

• Connections to board members with philanthropic interests
• Highlights about your nonprofit’s work at corporate events
• Opportunities to share your work during networking opportunities or lunch hours
• Introductions to other companies, philanthropists, or prospective donors within the corporation’s network
• Matching gift programs for employees to encourage new donors through the chance to have an even greater impact

Classy’s corporate giving software bolsters the donor acquisition potential of corporate partnerships with co-branded giving pages, partner-driven events, peer-to-peer fundraising opportunities that inspire friendly competition between departments, and more.

5. Optimize donation experiences

Smooth donation experiences encourage new supporters to complete their transitions. They can also build trust and confidence in your brand. 

In an increasingly mobile world, one critical element is streamlining your campaigns for use on phones, tablets, e-readers, and other mobile devices. Invite people who aren’t familiar with your campaigns to test the mobile journey to your donation forms from various social media platforms and email requests. 

Note points of friction, load times, clunky formatting, or broken links that may impact your donor acquisition efforts. You may also want to: 

• Reduce the number of required form fields.
• Increase font and donation button sizes.
• Eliminate unnecessary text and competing calls to action.
• Compress image sizes to reduce loading times.

Classy Studio, our easy and flexible campaign builder, takes donation experiences to the next level. With the ability to customize your story, brand, and campaigns, you can create hyperpersonalized, connected experiences across various interactions that activate your community at scale.

To ensure our customers’ success, we released a campaign catalog of Studio templates that have been tested for effectiveness and engagement. Simply request the template of your choice, and we’ll upload it directly into your account.

Additionally, Embedded Studio enables nonprofits to incorporate pop-up and in-line donation forms directly on their websites, allowing supporters to donate without leaving their current page. According to our internal platform testing, the approach has shown a 28% lift in revenue per site visitor.

6. Time your campaigns effectively

Once you develop your fundraising campaigns and identify which distribution platforms will best support your donor acquisition goals, schedule your content for when donors are the most likely to engage with it. 

Use data from your past campaigns—as well as the latest best practices for email and different social media channels—to determine the optimal send times for the highest engagement and donation volume. You can also use weekends to share touchpoints that keep donors connected to your cause when they’re more likely to have some downtime.

To ensure your acquisition initiatives get in front of the right audiences at the right times:

• Review campaign traffic daily, weekly, and monthly to tailor promotions.
• Compare email open rates to send time to target engagement.
• Plan a midyear analysis to optimize your fundraising strategy ahead of the peak year-end giving season.

Between the season’s spirit of generosity and potential tax advantages, year-end is a particularly potent time to acquire new donors. Ramp up your end-of-year donor cultivation efforts with more frequent social media updates, personalized thank-you notes to lapsed donors, and small gifts or swag to motivate new donors to engage with your nonprofit. 

You’ll also want to participate in Giving Tuesday to get your giving programs in front of prospective audiences. 

7. Expand your reach through diverse channels

While acquisition channels like social media, direct mail, and email are tried-and-true options, it’s crucial to expand your reach wherever you can when looking for new supporters. 

Update your information on nonprofit rating sites like Charity Navigator, BBB Wise Giving Alliance, and Candid’s GuideStar. This way, when prospective donors search for details about your nonprofit, they’ll get a complete look and a vote of confidence for your brand.

Another effective strategy is claiming your Nonprofit Page on GoFundMe. These pages enable supporters to easily find, donate, and fundraise for nonprofits on the GoFundMe platform. Your team can easily onboard and manage your organization on the site and access relevant supporter data to improve your discoverability, find new potential supporters, and benefit from more supporter-led fundraising efforts.

It’s also worth checking out GoFundMe’s new streaming widgets, which integrate seamlessly with platforms like Twitch, TikTok, and Instagram, allowing you to collect donations in real time from your viewers. Fans can actively contribute to causes while enjoying your live content or that of impact creators or other supporters. 

8. Use events to build donor relationships

Fundraising events are an excellent way to build relationships with first-time donors. They provide a memorable introduction to your cause. Plus, Classy’s Fundraising Event Experience report found that 91% of fundraising event attendees will likely take further action with a nonprofit organization after a positive event experience. 

A great way to acquire new donors through events is to let current supporters bring a plus-one. You can even offer discounted ticket bundles to encourage members of your community to bring their friends. 

Other ways to get the most out of donor acquisition efforts at events are to:

• Foster in-person networking between attendees and staff members.
• Host fun activities in trendy or attractive venues to draw in new supporters.
• Gift attendees with free branded swag or perks.
• Send thank-you notes, make phone calls, and offer other stewardship after the event, like a post-event survey, to show how much you value new attendees’ input.
• Make sure new supporters know their next opportunity to give or get involved. 

For hybrid events, ensure your virtual component thoughtfully complements your in-person efforts. Classy Live can enhance attendee involvement, boost fundraising efforts, streamline event communications, and increase revenue for your cause, whether in person, hybrid, or virtual.

Rocky Mountain Public Media used Classy Live to improve event processes for its annual Live at the Vineyards event, raising 30% more than the previous year from over 1,400 attendees. Peloton4Parkinson’s also used the platform to host its yearly day-long spin ride, which engages virtual and in-person attendees, surpassing its fundraising goal by 14.4%.

Try new strategies to find donors for nonprofit organizations

Knowing how to find donors for a nonprofit is a critical first step to building an effective fundraising strategy. With these multichannel approaches that meet donors where they are, you can be confident that your nonprofit maximizes key and untapped acquisition opportunities.

Once you feel confident about securing donations for your nonprofit, explore donor retention strategies to maximize your acquisition investments and build an ever-stronger community of support for your cause.

Copy editor: Ayanna Julien

Building a strong recurring giving program is no longer a nice-to-have but critical to nonprofits’ sustainability and scalability. 

With increased access to innovative online fundraising software, encouraging and accepting recurring donations has become a realistic option for nonprofit organizations of all sizes. Whether you need to create a recurring giving program from scratch or strengthen and grow its existing community, a well-developed program and strategy can protect your organization’s long-term financial health and help you scale it.

Below, we’ll provide more background on the value and appeal of recurring giving in today’s economy and discuss four approaches to building a successful monthly donors program.

What is recurring giving?

Before we discuss the best practices and strategies, let’s clarify what we mean by recurring giving. Recurring donations occur when a donor signs up to give automatically at a specified interval.

Monthly donations are perhaps the most common frequency, but daily, weekly, biweekly, quarterly, semiannual, or annual giving options are available, too. 

Many nonprofits also refer to recurring giving as monthly giving or subscription giving.

Why do recurring donation options appeal to donors? 

The subscription economy is expected to grow to $1.5 trillion in 2025, double its size five years earlier. From artisan coffees and cat toys to music services and streaming platforms, people have gotten used to the subscription model, paying a set amount each month for goods or services. 

In fact, recent surveys have shown that subscriptions are as popular as ever, with 51% of people likely to start a new subscription within the next six months, and 59% saying that excitement is their top emotion when signing up for a new monthly service.

Nonprofits can respond to this consumer shift by rebranding their recurring giving programs as subscription donations and implementing the best practices from today’s most successful subscription services. 

With some subtle tweaks and intentional messaging, your nonprofit can capitalize on the ease subscription services offer to take your recurring giving program to the next level.

Here are some pro tips from successful subscription brands that can help you increase recurring donor acquisition and retention rates, allowing you to benefit from consistent online donations from a loyal recurring donor base.

Tip 1: Treat recurring donors as members

Companies like Amazon Prime and Disney+ treat subscribers as members through strategies like special member days and branding. Try giving your recurring donor community a special name and offering members unique opportunities and access throughout the year.

Tip 2: Offer membership tiers

Subscription services often offer price tiers based on users, features, or professional status to balance value and cost. Apply this to donations by promoting giving levels with special perks.

Tip 3: Create a discount option

Another common strategy used with subscription services is offering first-year pricing discounts to encourage new members to join. Nonprofits can institute a “discount” by encouraging donors to request a donation match from their employer to gain the benefits of a higher membership level without paying the additional cost. 

Tip 4: Ensure seamless, automated payment

The subscription economy doesn’t rely on members returning each month to settle their bills. Instead, it sets up their payment information once to seamlessly automate the charge at the agreed-upon frequency. Nonprofits can implement modern payment processes for recurring donations through software like Classy Pay, with preferred payment methods, such as credit cards, ACH bank transfer, digital wallets, PayPal, and Venmo.

What are the benefits of a monthly giving program for nonprofits?

Classy’s State of Modern Philanthropy report found that 29% of first-time donors who become recurring donors do so within the first 90 days of their initial gift. Once they’ve established their giving on a recurring basis, these loyal supporters are over 9x more valuable to your nonprofit than one-time donors. 

If that’s not enough to motivate you, recurring giving programs also facilitate:

• Increased revenue. Of the top nonprofits on Classy from GoFundMe, nearly 40% of their revenue comes from recurring donors. Even though monthly donors may give smaller amounts on a per-gift basis, the aggregate amount they give annually almost always adds up to more.
• Easy and effective giving processes. A monthly recurring donation allows supporters to spread the financial impact of their giving across the entire year. In our Recurring Donor Sentiment Report, 37% of respondents said they make a recurring gift over a one-time donation because giving in smaller increments is more budget-friendly.
• Improved cash flow. Since nonprofits often receive most of their income during a seasonal donation window, their revenue may feel stretched outside those major giving days. Building a predictable monthly revenue stream helps to reduce this imbalance and provide much-needed support during your organization’s lull periods.
• Better long-term planning. The Fundraising Effectiveness Project’s quarterly fundraising reports have found that repeat donor retention rates have remained steady despite economic fluctuations. As a result, this recurring donation revenue offers greater predictability than one-time donors.
• Greater cost-effectiveness. Once a donor joins your monthly recurring donation program, the gifts continue indefinitely until the donor decides to stop them. You’ll need a retention strategy, of course, but the costs of maintaining donors are generally lower than acquiring new ones.
• Strengthened donor loyalty and engagement. Our Recurring Donor Sentiment Report found that 47% of monthly donors believe their ongoing donation makes a greater impact than a one-time gift. This loyalty to and investment in your mission means they are likely willing to take additional actions for your cause on top of their monthly donations.
• Heightened sense of community. The key to donor retention is nurturing a deep sense of trust, connection, and collaboration with your community. Every month, when a donor makes their contribution, you have the chance to start an organic conversation and remind them of their impact on your nonprofit.

How can nonprofits encourage recurring donations?

A general best practice for inspiring recurring donations is to always have a monthly giving option on your donation forms. This presents an organic opportunity for donors to opt in to ongoing support. When a supporter completes the checkout process on a donation page, this simple prompt can encourage them to upgrade their planned one-time gift to a recurring donation.

Classy Studio makes it easy to add a recurring option on your donation forms, including the ability to apply customizable nudges to draw supporters’ attention to the opportunity. These animated prompts appear when a donor selects a mid-range suggested gift or enters a custom amount that isn’t the highest or lowest option. The nudge draws donors toward the action you want to encourage them to take.

However, remember that people typically won’t give a recurring gift without targeted outreach. That’s why it’s also best practice to have a specific recurring donations campaign that educates your community on the value and impact of the giving type, which we cover more below.

4 types of recurring giving programs to consider

Your nonprofit must decide which type of recurring giving program or strategy best suits your community to incentivize engagement. There are four main approaches to consider. Below, we’ll explain how each works and highlight their benefits and downsides.

1. Create a membership program

Membership programs are an approach to recurring donation programs that invite your donors to join a community of givers. A nonprofit may offer the members of this community certain benefits or perks, such as VIP event tickets, appreciation events, branded membership pins, or other swag. Many nonprofits will also create a specific name for that community and special branding for the program. For example, the Circle of Givers or Champions of Hope.

The key benefit of this approach is that it makes recurring donors feel more valued and connected to a group of like-minded supporters. This is a great marketing strategy as it provides a community feel rather than coming across as transactional.

A potential downside to this giving campaign is that it requires a larger time commitment to keep up with specific member communications, promised incentives, and other program-specific tasks. However, these can all lead to an elevated donor experience that builds loyalty.

2. Offer a sponsorship opportunity

Another approach to recurring giving programs is to frame the donation as a way to sponsor a specific initiative, child, family, animal, or other recipient of your nonprofit’s services. 

A key benefit to this recurring fundraising strategy is that it makes the donation experience more personalized and meaningful, as donors feel close and connected to the beneficiary of their gift. Some nonprofits may even be able to facilitate having the child or family write letters to the donor to further build an emotional connection to the cause.

However, one thing to consider with this approach is that typically donations from recurring giving programs are put into a general fund rather than directly sponsoring a specific child or family. This isn’t always the case, but if it is, you may have some challenges with messaging to ensure you’re not misleading your supporters.

3. Encourage giving levels with incentives

Incentive-based programs encourage recurring giving by offering unique incentives for each gift amount, such as branded swag, special communications, or member-only events.

A benefit to this fundraising effort is that incentives can lead to higher monthly gift amounts. In addition, these types of benefits are a nice way to say thank you to donors for choosing to join your cause.

The downside to this approach is that it can be difficult for some nonprofits to afford the incentives. You’ll need to first determine whether it’s worth it to spend money on these items, given the impact you expect it to have on acquiring recurring donors. Then, you may want to see if one of your local partners or a corporate sponsor is willing to help.

4. Highlight items to exchange for a recurring gift

A final approach you can take to your recurring giving strategy is an exchange program. Exchange programs show items people could forgo in exchange for a recurring gift. For example, a new donor could skip a $7 monthly latte to make a donation instead, or an existing donor could gift the money they’d typically spend on a streaming service each month.

The benefit of an exchange program approach is that it’s a good way to motivate donors by showing how easy it is to make an impact.

Test this approach with a specific audience segment first, as it might make more sense for and appeal to younger donors. A time-specific promotional campaign might also be a good opportunity to see if this resonates with your supporters.

Leverage recurring donations to amplify your mission and foster loyal supporters

Nonprofits that apply entrepreneurial thinking when establishing recurring gift programs can meet donors where they are in the current subscription economy and turn one-time gifts into monthly donations. The better the experience you offer recurring donors, the more loyal they become to contributing a reliable income stream.

Regardless of which type of recurring giving program you choose, remember that communication and building relationships with your donors are the most important things. 

Focus your energy on making donors feel appreciated, special, and valued. If you need to sacrifice incentives to improve your communication with donors, do it. The goal is to keep your donors happy and build relationships with them that will retain and grow their support over time.

To learn more about building a successful recurring giving program on a donation platform like Classy from GoFundMe, check out our Recurring Giving Playbook. This comprehensive guide will help you discover how to set goals and measure your program’s success, elevate your program with distinct branding elements, craft a compelling email appeal, and more. 

Copy editor: Ayanna Julien