5 Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Resources for a Winning Strategy

In the age where you can watch a movie on your phone and answer the phone on your watch, convenience is the name of the game. To provide a flexible fundraising experience for the modern donor, your nonprofit can leverage a peer-to-peer fundraising platform. Whether you hold a DIY campaign year-round or host time-based campaigns for specific programs, peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns are successful in part, because fundraisers choose how they raise money for your mission.

Launch a Peer-to-Peer Campaign on Classy

Additionally, peer-to-peer fundraisers can exponentially increase your reach as your nonprofit taps into the network of your fundraisers’ networks. In fact, Classy platform data shows that the typical peer-to-peer fundraising campaign raises more than other campaign types, and drives higher conversion rates than crowdfunding campaigns and donation pages.

To help your team maximize the impact of your peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns, we rounded up our top five peer-to-peer fundraising resources. Use these free resources to create a comprehensive strategy that will help both your team and your fundraisers succeed.

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Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Resources

1. Understanding the True Financial Potential of Peer-to-Peer Fundraising

The first step of investing in a peer-to-peer fundraising strategy is getting buy-in to invest the time and money it takes to get your program off the ground.

This white paper dives into peer-to-peer fundraising data and trends from the Classy platform, examples of how nonprofits like Cleveland Clinic and buildOn leverage peer-to-peer, and more.

Download this white paper to equip yourself with all of the data points you’ll need to explain the potential return on investment and how peer-to-peer compares to other channels and traditional efforts like direct mail.

Download the White Paper

2. Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Benchmarks Worksheet

A crucial step in creating or updating your peer-to-peer fundraising strategy is having specific, measurable, ambitious/attainable, relevant, time-based (SMART) goals for your team to work towards.

SMART goals can inspire your team to reach new heights and act as the north star for your decisions. If your team is wondering, “Should we reassess our fundraising platform?” then you can start the conversation by asking, “Will this help us reach our peer-to-peer goals?”

Use this interactive worksheet, made with Classy platform data, to benchmark your performance against nonprofits from across the social sector. Once you see how you stack up, you can work more efficiently to not only hit your goals but exceed them.

Gauge Your Team’s Performance

3. The Anatomy of a Successful Peer-to-Peer Campaign

Now that leadership is on board and your team has set SMART goals, let’s dive into the specifics around how you can leverage peer-to-peer for the most impact. From year-round DIY fundraising where supporters can choose when, where, and how they fundraise, to registration with fundraising events, where event participants will fundraise leading up to an event, there are many options for supporters to get involved.

This guide covers the different types of peer-to-peer campaigns along with best practices, tips, and features that can help your team with the following steps:

• Design a captivating campaign
• Monitor engagement
• Steward fundraisers
• Capture new audiences

Download the guide below to learn more and find the ideas that best fit your organization’s goals.

Peer-to-Peer From A to Z

4. A Guide to Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Emails

We often don’t spend much time thinking about the emails that pop up in our inbox, but if you’re on the other side of the equation you know how much thought goes into each and every send.

Everything from subject line to list segmentation will impact how successful your email marketing efforts are, and if you’re up-leveling your peer-to-peer fundraising efforts, you should be auditing your communications as well.

This comprehensive guide covers the four main elements of sending peer-to-peer emails:  segmentation, design, branding, and mechanics. You’ll also get email templates, along with examples, that show what it looks like to put these elements into practice.

Engage Fundraisers With Email

5. How to Raise Money for the Causes You Love

The last, and perhaps most important step of creating a robust peer-to-peer fundraising strategy, is empowering your fundraisers for success. If you want them to have the most impact, enjoy their experience with your nonprofit, and return to fundraise again, then it’s up to your team to share the best practices and tools they need to feel empowered and energized to raise money on your behalf.

Share this guide with your first-time fundraisers so they can learn how to mobilize their friends and family in support of your cause. The guide will help them learn how to tap into their social networks, ask for donations with confidence, and even includes checklists so that your fundraisers can define their individual goals, target audiences, and communication strategies.

Empower Your Supporters

Now that you have a bookmark list full of resources to create a comprehensive peer-to-peer fundraising strategy, check out the following blog posts that focus on tangible ways to take your (already successful) peer-to-peer campaigns to the next level.

• INFOGRAPHIC: Why Peer-to-Peer Fundraiser Retention Is Your Next Big Priority
• How to Maximize Peer-to-Peer Fundraiser Retention and Raise More Money
• 9 Ways to Make It Easy for Peer-to-Peer Fundraisers to Crush Their Goals
• How to Easily Elevate Your Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Strategy to the Next Level
• 10 Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Ideas to Supercharge Your Campaign

How does your nonprofit leverage peer-to-peer fundraising? Tell us about your favorite peer-to-peer campaigns in the comments.