Unlock Success: Your Guide to Peer-to-Peer Fundraising FAQs

Imagine harnessing the power of your donors to raise money on your behalf, while strengthening your nonprofit’s relationship with those donors at the same time. Peer-to-peer fundraising makes it possible to do just that!

With peer-to-peer fundraising, you can raise money, multiply your audience, and strengthen connections with existing supporters in one fell swoop.

If your nonprofit is considering launching its first peer-to-peer fundraiser, or if you’re looking for a refresher on best practices, you’re in the right place. Whether you’re a first-time campaign manager or a seasoned professional, we’ll answer any questions that you might have, including:

Peer-to-peer fundraising is a powerful way to maximize donations and supporter relationships. Let’s dive in so you can start preparing for your next campaign.s, but only if you’re equipped with the knowledge and motivation to do so. Let’s dive in so you can start preparing for your next campaign.

What is Peer-to-Peer Fundraising?

Peer-to-peer fundraising is a social fundraising strategy where individuals collect donations from their friends, families, and other peers on behalf of a nonprofit organization. 

Volunteer fundraisers create individual online campaign pages, set goals for how much they want to raise, and leverage their existing social networks to ask for donations. When the fundraiser ends, the money raised by these dedicated volunteers goes straight to the nonprofit organization.

What’s the Difference Between Crowdfunding and Peer-to-Peer Fundraising?

As its name suggests, crowdfunding refers to securing funding from the crowd. The organization’s fundraising team organizes a campaign page and then asks many individuals to donate — typically smaller donations like $5, $10, or $50 — to fund a specific project or cause.

Peer-to-peer fundraising is a multi-tiered approach to crowdfunding. You recruit participants who then create personal fundraising pages that their friends and family donate to — hence the term “peer-to-peer.” Rather than requesting donations from one audience, you have a large group sourcing donations from a number of different networks.

Rolling peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns go on indefinitely and are usually intended for general fundraising purposes. Market these campaigns using your social media posts, monthly newsletters, and website so users can easily donate or launch their own campaigns. 

Time-based peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns take place within a specific timeframe (commonly around 6 to 8 weeks) and are usually tied to a theme or fundraising event. Some of the most common events for time-based campaigns include walk-a-thons, 5Ks or 10Ks, bowl-a-thons, and golf outings. 

This type of peer-to-peer fundraiser takes more forethought when it comes to scheduling and proactively marketing the campaign to drive donations.

Giving Days

Peer-to-peer giving days challenge donors to reach a set goal — or raise as much money as they can — within 24 hours. A great example of this is Giving Tuesday, an annual global generosity movement that occurs on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving to offset the impacts of Black Friday and Cyber Monday consumerism. Challenge your donors to raise as much money as possible through peer-to-peer fundraising during one of the most charitable days of the year. 

Alternatively, schedule a giving day on any other day. Many nonprofits choose a day related to their cause. For example, the World Wildlife Fund might organize a peer-to-peer giving day fundraiser on Earth Day. These campaigns create urgency for your supporters and donors, driving them to help you reach your goal in this short period of time. 

How Does Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Work?

Peer-to-peer fundraising is a straightforward process that you’ll need to understand before you can successfully organize your campaign. Let’s break it down into steps.

1. Set a Fundraising Goal

Before forming a team and securing donations, your nonprofit needs to set a goal for the campaign. This goal will be a major driving force for your peer-to-peer fundraiser. It gives everyone an overarching objective to work toward and provides participants with a reference point when creating their personal goals. 

There are two types of goals to consider:

1. Financial goals. This is simply how much money your nonprofit wants to raise. Remember to consider factors outside of individual contributions, such as sponsorships and registrations if your campaign will end with an event.
2. Non-financial goals. These goals are more ambiguous and typically pertain to how your organization can grow its audience and impact. For example, one of your non-financial goals could be recruiting a certain number of new donors to your organization. 

As a rule of thumb, your nonprofit should set achievable yet aspirational goals within both of these categories, using past campaign results as a reference point for what you’re capable of achieving. Bear in mind that your goals should also be achievable within the time frame you have in mind.

2. Choose a Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Platform

Like any other online fundraiser, your nonprofit needs the right technology to get the job done. A dedicated peer-to-peer fundraising platform empowers your donors to create their own campaign pages and collect donations from their friends and families. They won’t have to worry about doing anything other than customizing their campaign page to emphasize their connection to your cause and sharing that page online.

Choose a platform that:

• Makes it easy to get up and running. Your nonprofit should be able to customize its profile, and peer-to-peer participants should be able to add text, images, and videos to their campaigns within a few minutes.
• Limits upfront costs to your organization. That way, all the money your supporters raise will go directly to your nonprofit, rather than to pay the platform’s fees.
• Provides donors’ contact information. One of the benefits of peer-to-peer fundraising is reaching new donors. Make sure you can access each supporter’s full name, contact information, and donation amount so you can follow up after the campaign.

If you want to get creative with your campaign, try out our t-shirt peer-to-peer fundraising platform. 

Bonfire empowers your supporters to launch their own t-shirt campaigns to support your nonprofit. All they have to do is select your nonprofit as the beneficiary, encourage their friends to buy a t-shirt, and your organization will receive the funds once the campaign is over. Bonfire will even process orders and ship the t-shirts directly to buyers so you don’t have to.

Offering t-shirts alongside your campaign is a fantastic way to drive more donations. Donors get a tangible item that represents your nonprofit’s purpose which helps to solidify their choice in supporting the cause.

3. Recruit Participants and Have Them Create A Personal Giving Page

Once you have the technology to create your campaign, start reaching out to potential volunteer fundraisers. Most nonprofits reach out to their existing networks, focusing on those who have already supported their organization. This can include:

• Staff members
• Volunteers
• Donors
• Board members
• Partners
• Past event attendees

Take to different platforms (e.g., social media, email, SMS, etc.) to share the opportunity and maximize your pool of potential participants. Some supporters may be responsive to emails, while others may be more likely to sign up if you call or text them. Leveraging multiple platforms effectively expands your reach and makes it more likely you’ll connect with different supporters.

No matter how you reach them, share clear, actionable steps supporters can take to create their campaign page.

Learn more: Explore 5 Effective Ways to Get Your Supporters More Involved with Your Peer-to-Peer Fundraiser

4. Promote the Campaign

Peer-to-peer fundraising is the epitome of teamwork. Between your nonprofit and the campaign’s participants, everyone should work together to promote the campaign and drive donations from their networks.

Supporters should leverage social media to spread the word to as many people as possible at once. Consider creating compelling marketing materials for your volunteer fundraisers to make promoting the campaign online as easy as possible. Additionally, let participants know that they’re free to text, email, and call their friends and family to solicit donations. All they need to do is share the link to their campaign page.

Beyond initially sharing their campaign page and fundraising purpose, supporters should: 

• Give their networks regular campaign updates to inspire them to continue giving.
• Shout out top donors and challenge others to take the lead.
• Share memories, pictures, and videos of their interactions with the organization, whether it’s of them volunteering or attending an event.
• Leverage storytelling methods to emphasize why the cause is so important to them. 

Similarly, your nonprofit can share milestone updates, shine the spotlight on standout participants, and continue recruiting new participants throughout the campaign. Your fundraising participants along with your campaign team are all responsible for the success of your peer-to-peer campaign, so make sure everyone is aware of how they can do their part.

5. Follow Up with Fundraisers and Donors

If you don’t continue to engage your peer-to-peer fundraisers, it’ll be easy for them to put their campaigns on the back burner after the excitement wears off from the initial launch. Keep them from losing steam by continuously reaching out with updates and words of encouragement. You might send a weekly email or create a Facebook group to let them know how the campaign is going and recommend strategies to step up their efforts.

When your peer-to-peer fundraiser eventually comes to a close, your team should:

• Thank everyone for their generous contributions. Send tailored thank-you notes to donors for giving their hard-earned money to support your cause. Try to greet them by name, reference their specific contribution, and note how it will impact your nonprofit. Do the same for the participants who took the time to make your campaign successful. Once the campaign wraps up, let everyone know how much you raised.
• Make sure everyone receives their t-shirts. If you sold t-shirts alongside your campaign, reach out to double-check that buyers received theirs.

Remember, one of the main benefits of hosting peer-to-peer fundraisers is to grow your reach and supporter base. Following up right after your campaign enables you to kick new relationships off on the right foot and solidify existing relationships with those who already support your cause.

What Are Some Fundamental Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Strategies?

Tell Your Organization’s Story

On your organization’s main fundraising page, give an overview of who you are and your nonprofit’s mission. Aim to go beyond just text! Add pictures or videos of your team members and projects to your peer-to-peer fundraising page to show the faces behind all of the hard work you do. 

With the basic building blocks down, you can experiment with developing strategies that make your peer-to-peer fundraiser stand out. Let’s take a look at three peer-to-peer fundraising ideas that fundraisers can use to boost participation and donations.

Offer T-Shirts Alongside The Campaign

Selling custom t-shirts that represent your cause helps your nonprofit spread brand awareness and maximize donations. Donors are more likely to give when they receive something tangible in return. 

Peer-to-peer fundraising multiplies that impact since you’ll have a huge team of volunteer fundraisers selling the apparel. Long after your campaign ends, supporters will think of your nonprofit because they’ll have a custom t-shirt that reminds them of your cause each time they wear it. When they wear it in public, they could help spark interest in your cause for those who see the shirt.

Bonfire’s peer-to-peer apparel fundraising platform makes it incredibly easy for participants to offer branded t-shirts alongside their campaigns. Here’s how it works: 

1. Create your organization’s official profile, where you can tell your story, upload your logo, add a cover photo, and share links to your social profiles and website. 
2. Choose which design options are available for your supporters to use. Work with our design team to create a customizable design template that supporters can personalize, or you can let your supporters create their own designs.
3. Promote your campaign to your community. Recruit volunteers to set up their campaign pages, which you can display on your organization’s profile. The easy-to-use content editor allows them to add text, images, and videos without coding.
4. Encourage participants to share their campaign pages with their friends and families, asking them to buy a t-shirt to support your cause. When the campaign ends, the t-shirts will be shipped to everyone who bought them.
5. Stay connected with donors after your campaign. You can easily download a list of everyone who contributed to your campaign from your Bonfire Dashboard. You’ll also get their names, contact information, and donation/purchase amounts, making it easy to customize your messages. You can directly import this information into your CRM.
6. Bonus: Use our Bonfire + Classy Integration. If you’re already using Classy for peer-to-peer fundraising, enable the Bonfire + Classy Integration to empower your supporters to easily sell apparel alongside their campaigns on Classy. At the end of each Bonfire campaign, donor data is automatically synced with Classy, and the supporters get their shirts.

It’s that simple! All of the money your supporters raise will be sent directly to your nonprofit. We make sure payouts are frustration-free, alerting you when a new payout is available and sending it directly to you via PayPal, check, or ACH. We also offer reduced payment processing fees and free access to our fundraising platform for all verified 501(c)(3) nonprofits.

Gamify The Experience

Motivation will naturally be high at the start of your campaign. However, participation could dwindle if your campaign takes place over a few weeks. It’s up to you to keep everyone’s spirits high, and one way to do that is to gamify the experience. 

In other words, you want to make it fun to participate by incorporating competitive aspects like:

• Fundraising thermometers. Keeping a running tally of donations in the form of a thermometer shows your fundraising team and donors your campaign’s progress. Participants will know to step up their efforts if necessary to reach the goal, and donors might give a larger contribution to see how much they can make the thermometer move.
• Leaderboards. Show off your top fundraisers or donors to thank them, and inspire others to step up their efforts to get a shoutout. If your software doesn’t automatically generate a running tally of who’s raised the most money, just showcase the top performers or contributors on your nonprofit’s social media profile.
• Incentives for reaching milestones. Break up your participant’s goals into bite-sized pieces by giving them milestones to work toward. You can pair each major milestone with some sort of reward, like a campaign t-shirt, custom water bottle, or something else to inspire them.

Some friendly competition goes a long way in keeping the momentum going throughout your nonprofit’s fundraising campaign. Adding elements like this will inspire everyone to do their best, directly impacting how much money they end up raising for your cause.

Pair It With An Event

Many nonprofits pair their peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns with a big celebratory fundraising event to give everyone something to look forward to. This helps build hype around your campaign, increase attendance rates if you were already planning on hosting an event, and provides a natural opportunity to share fundraising results with your entire community.

Most often, peer-to-peer fundraisers are paired with events such as:

• 5K races
• “A-Thon” style events
• Galas
• Street festivals

Not able to bring everyone together? Try hosting a virtual celebratory event, like an online gala. You can even provide hybrid opportunities to engage both your in-person crowd and your at-home supporters. Whether you’re meeting in person or staying home, a well-planned event is a surefire way to keep everyone invested until the very end of your campaign.

Peer-to-peer fundraising is a great way for your nonprofit to raise money, strengthen its relationship with supporters, and reach new audiences. If you haven’t already, start outlining your nonprofit’s peer-to-peer campaign strategy to take your organization’s fundraising efforts to the next level. From there, build a fundraising team of dedicated supporters who will go the distance to see your nonprofit succeed.

For more tips that will make your fundraiser a success, explore these additional resources: