Nonprofit Tool Box: Peer-to-Peer Fundraising

Nonprofit Tool Box: Peer-to-Peer Fundraising

Each month we’ll highlight a free or low-cost online tool to further a nonprofit’s fundraising and communications strategies. BC/DC Ideas is not paid to endorse these tools, we’ve just done the research and love them a whole lot!

Peer-to-Peer, or social, fundraising is the latest in online giving strategies. This allows your current supporters to have an online giving page to ask friends, family and colleagues for donations on your behalf. What Peer-to-Peer does for a nonprofits is that it puts your message in the hands of your most avid and vocal fans. Let them do all the leg work to get the donations. All you need to do is put together a solid communications plan and add a dynamic online tool.

In this type of online fundraising game there are a few things to keep in mind:

  • It’s a bit more expensive than other online fundraising tools – The industry standard on transaction and service fees is 7.5%. That is high, no doubt. We speculate that as this fundraising technique becomes more widespread that fee will drop, but for now it’s a cost of doing business.
  • It’s people intensive -The key to a good Peer-to-Peer campaign is a dedicated community manager that can cheerlead the teams to victory. This person will help people set-up fundraising pages, give the team leads tips on fundraising techniques and rally the masses when donations hit a doldrums.
  • Needs a Creative Wrapper – Think beyond the typical walks and bike-a-thons of standard peer-to-peer campaigns. Think about a unique aspect of your nonprofit and capitalize on it. It could be asking people to fund a construction project, purchase much needed items or celebrate a birthday. You do not need an event or a specific fund, having an annual page for birthday wishes and special occasions is a powerful way to raise funds for your organization.

In looking at the Peer-to-Peer tool landscape there are some major players from Blackbaud and Razoo, but we landed on CauseVox as our favorite. The tool is highly customizable, beautiful back-end analytics, and is really simple to use. It offers a free trial that allows organizations to raise up to $3,000 before kicking in the $39 monthly fee. Organizations can run as many concurrent programs as they want, with completely unique looks, all within the monthly fee. We also really liked their responsive customer service and start-up attitude of adding new features.

Adding a Peer-to-Peer fundraising campaign to your year-end fundraising plan is effective way to boost your donation totals and add a new way to engage your donors. The team at BC/DC Ideas can help you create a winning plan and cheerlead your followers to the finish line – contact us!

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Kate Runy

CONTENT & MEDIA SPECIALIST

A passionate technical wizard, Kate thrives on managing online content, social media for communications, and development projects.  Kate is the workhorse of the team, pulling out amazing feats of content creation and management week in and week out. 

Prior to joining BC/DC Ideas, Kate coordinated website and social media content, communications, and advertising for Go Global NC and Alzheimer’s NC.

Things that make her happy: I love animals about as much as I love working for nonprofits.

Mishel Gomez Cespedes

CONTENT COORDINATOR

Mishel brings a passion for video storytelling and quippy social media content to the team.  At BC/DC Ideas, she is most likely editing video or scheduling the next moving social media post for our clients.

Her ear for storytelling is her greatest asset. Mishel has a unique ability to assemble content into a concise story that moves audiences to action.

A graduate of Wake Forest University she spent a semester in Spain and years serving her community through the campus organizations. Now, she is putting her passion for good to work.

Brian Crawford

creative director

Mix equal parts nerd and creativity and that’s Brian. A natural problem-solver, Brian’s ability to cut to the core of any problem helps guide our creative team to the correct solution without wasted time or money. It’s the core, this little nugget of truth, that helps our clients take the next step with their audiences.

Brian gets the greatest joy out of helping our clients realize and connect with their story. He is a true believer that everyone and every organization has a compelling story to tell, you just have to listen with an open heart.

Things that make him happy: Hanging out at the park with family, toddler-speak, hitting the focus pull, and good coffee.

Dawn Crawford

principal

The engine behind BC/DC Ideas, Dawn has dedicated her career to good. Dawn brings her considerable experience and expertise to helping elevate the nonprofit sector. Our team’s lead strategist, Dawn is often seen leading our IdeaStorms, penning communications plans, or checking in with clients.

Before launching BC/DC Ideas in 2010, she earned her chops in 10+ years of communications leadership roles for public health, healthcare and youth-focused nonprofits. Working for nonprofits is Dawn’s dream job, and she loves that her 40+ hours a week make the world a better place.

Things that make her happy: A glass of champagne to celebrate big wins, Basecamp, living in the South, seeing the world, and a well-formatted spreadsheet.