Peer-to-peer fundraising has revolutionized the way nonprofits engage their supporters, and with GivingTuesday on the horizon, it’s the perfect time to explore the incredible potential of this fundraising strategy.
In fact, in our 2023 Giving Study, we found that 71% of donors are willing to aid organizations they support in their fundraising efforts. This number was even higher amongst the younger generations. There is a reservoir of untapped, enthusiastic supporters who want to amplify your cause, which is why considering a peer-to-peer GivingTuesday campaign is a fantastic idea.
In a rapidly evolving digital landscape, peer-to-peer campaigns provide a dynamic and effective means of mobilizing passionate advocates to champion your cause. Discover how to leverage this exciting approach to not only raise funds but also elevate awareness and forge lasting connections with your community of supporters.
Make Your GivingTuesday Campaign A Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Campaign
Peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns are built to help you engage your audience to fundraise on your behalf, helping you reach new networks of donors while at the same time building your community.
And, with the spirit of GivingTuesday being a global movement of philanthropy, setting up a personal fundraising page for GivingTuesday gives your community members a tangible way for them to participate in GivingTuesday for your organization.
Free Download: Year-End & GivingTuesday Fundraising Toolkit
Here’s five major reasons that we here at CauseVox think it’s a good idea to try a peer-to-peer GivingTuesday campaign.
1. Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Campaigns Cut Through The Noise
As the song says, it’s the most wonderful time of the year. It’s also the busiest for many of us, not just fundraising professionals. Between parties, gift-giving, school concerts, church services, bright twinkly lights, and traveling, people have a lot on their minds.
In times of stress, we tend to cut out non-essential messages…like the ones we receive from organizations asking us for money. However, it’s not as easy to tune out people you care about. Peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns aren’t centered on organizational messages, they rely on people reaching out to their social networks.
With peer-to-peer fundraising, your strongest supporters give a word-of-mouth recommendation for your organization to their networks, and an unbiased testimonial on your behalf. In an age where folks, especially millennials, value authenticity, peer-to-peer fundraising accomplishes things that institutional fundraising can’t.
2. Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Campaigns Are Ideal For One-Day Giving
Peer-to-peer fundraising works best when campaigns are urgent, and “today only” is as urgent as it gets.
You can definitely use GivingTuesday to kick-off your year-end fundraising, but the day itself is just that, a day. The time-limited element stops would-be donors from filing your organization away on their “to do sometime in December” list.
In addition to being a good GivingTuesday fit, peer-to-peer fundraising brings you more donors more quickly. A one-day giving event doesn’t have time to unfold little-by-little; you need to reach the maximum amount of potential givers ASAP. Peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns instantly put your fundraisers’ social circles within your reach.
3. Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Provides An Opportunity For Meaning
Peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns give people a way to give back at a time they’re looking to do so.
The holiday season is the most charitable in the US. According to M+R Benchmarks Report, December giving, on average, accounts for nearly a quarter of nonprofits annual revenue, with 10% of the giving happening in the last three days of year. The cultural focus on giving goes beyond buying presents for your family and extends to the entire community.
The holidays are still a consumerist extravaganza, don’t get me wrong. However, for many people, just buying and giving stuff is becoming kind of empty. People are looking to bring meaning to their holidays. That’s the whole point of GivingTuesday. Plus, you can include the option for donors to make a tribute dedication with their gift – meaning instead of giving a physical present to someone, they can make a donation in their honor.
As an additional bonus, this time of year, people are also looking for concrete ways to teach their kids about charity and compassion, and how much better it is to give than receive. Raising money for a cause or organization they believe in can meet all these needs.
4. Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Campaigns Take Burden Off Staff
Is your development staff overwhelmed? Are you the entire development “staff”? Peer-to-peer fundraising can take some things off your plate. While a community-driven fundraising campaign doesn’t run itself, and does still require your attention, a lot of the day-to-day work of the campaign is done by your army of peer fundraisers. This frees up time for the approximately ten million other things development professionals are doing this season.
CauseVox has made it easy for both you and your peer-to-peer fundraisers to track where they are in their goals. While peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns require you to manage logistics, a lot of the work that makes them successful is best done ahead of time. It’s the preparation that you do now that really can help make a GivingTuesday peer-to-peer campaign thrive. Once it’s up and running, your fundraisers carry the torch.
5. Thanksgiving Brings Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Opportunities
Many folks celebrate Thanksgiving with friends and family. And you know what friends and family often do? They ask you what you’re up to. Voila! You’ve just been given a great opportunity to talk about GivingTuesday.
Thanksgiving week is a great time to lay the groundwork for your GivingTuesday campaign. As you can see, Dorcas Ministries peer-to-peer GivingTuesday campaign has raised almost $200,000 by inviting an army of supporters to engage their networks! It gives your personal fundraisers the chance to enlist their friends and family in person. This makes the email they’ll send afterwards “warm” instead of cold. It gives accountability to people who said, “Yes, I’ll give to your campaign.” And, bonus, it gives your personal fundraisers something positive and meaningful to do instead of dodging political discussions.
Power Your GivingTuesday Campaign With CauseVox
With peer-to-peer fundraising, you’ll bring your supporters opportunities for meaning and service this holiday season. You’ll supercharge Thanksgiving into a fundraising opportunity, and take the burden off your staff. You’ll get past the holiday stress and into people’s hearts. Not bad for one little day.
Here at CauseVox, we’ve seen that campaigns that use peer-to-peer fundraising tend to raise twice as much as those that don’t, and GivingTuesday is no different.
Do you think a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign is right for you this GivingTuesday? At CauseVox we’re here to help. From webinars to tech support, we’ve got you covered.
