Wouldn’t it be great if there was a fun and easy way of attracting donors and other funding sources? Nonprofit Executive Directors have found that Peer to Peer fundraising, or “friend to friend” fundraising is an effective way of accessing capital. It involves having existing donors and supporters ask their own network of family and friends for donations. The personal quality to this method of fundraising has contributed to its widespread success.

Keep in mind…

Peer to Peer fundraising is an incredibly valuable tool for nonprofits, but there are important considerations to think through:

• Who will be in charge of the project? Decide who will attract support and excitement for the campaign, etc. Form a group or committee of leaders (consider current and former board members) within your nonprofit to run the fundraising campaign.
• Do you have a good network? Make sure that for your particular funding needs you have a big enough network of donors. Don’t forget about all respective friends and family.
• Have you trained your fundraisers? Make sure you have taken the time to set goals for your fundraisers and have put in place effective methods for fundraisers to gain support. If you are fundraising for a specific project make sure that you have talking points on the goals and what the funds will be used for. Studies have shown that fundraisers generally have more long term value than donors. Fundraisers can raise about 10 times as much as donors, simply because it is easier to garner funds from people you know.
• Do you have adequate time? Most campaigns take as many as 20 hours per month to effectively run and support. Make sure that your group is aware of the time expectations and committed to the goals.
• Are you building an endowment? Endowments have very specific rules and restrictions so make sure that your fundraisers understand the difference between a project donation and an endowment donation.
• Are you using social media? Social media makes it easy to spread the message of the mission and get individuals to come together to rally support for a nonprofit that has personal meaning for them. It can also do the opposite for an organization so make sure fundraisers are following the organizations social media policies.

The personal touch of peer to peer fundraising is what makes it a valuable and commonly underutilized method of fundraising. If your fundraisers take the time to individually reach out to potential donors vs. sending out mass solicitations on behalf of your nonprofit your success rate will likely increase.

Questions about fundraising for your organization? Contact any member of our Not-for-profit Services Group.