Is your nonprofit or ministry involved in peer-to-peer fundraising? Peer-to-peer fundraising is a great way to extend your fundraising reach and introduce new donors to the work of the organization. Quite often peer-to-peer efforts are associated with special events or social media, so the fundraising activities may occur for a short, designated period or for longer time frame. If your organization is not using peer-to-peer fundraising, you may want to consider adding it to the array of fundraising activities you engage in.
Before jumping in, start by setting some goals.
Non-financial goals are the first goals to set. How many people do you want to reach through the campaign? The obvious answer is as many as possible but focus on being practical. Think through the different types of supporters your organization has; these may include board members, staff, volunteers, community members, businesses, and your donors. Of these who would be likely to participate? Talk with each of these identified people about recruiting five people to participate.
The number identified is going to depend on the type of campaign – are you holding a 5k or a walk, a bowl-a-thon, etc.?
Think about other community activities that may be occurring at the same time. Do your best to avoid those time when there are numerous events going on. Many communities have a “master” community calendar that you can review so you can schedule your event at an optimum time.
Peer to peer fundraising done well usually requires a budget. Investing money to develop resources to recruit others and other marketing efforts will increase participation and improve the outcome.
Financial goals. Revenue usually comes in three forms – sponsorships, registration fees, and donations (fundraising). If you plan to seek out sponsorships, develop a sponsorship prospectus which outlines the levels and benefits for sponsors. Remember that when businesses use their sponsorship dollars, they are using marketing dollars so they are looking for a return on their investment.
Think about whether or not you will charge a registration or admission fee. If so, what will that fee be? Many organizations find they can make more money by not charging a registration fee. But on the flip side of the coin, people are more likely to show up for the event/activity after paying a registration fee
Fundraising dollars are the monies raised by the list of individuals you identified (see non-financial goals above). How much do you think each person can raise? The different groups of people you have listed may be able to raise different amounts. Once you have identified these amounts multiply them by the number of individuals identified to get an estimate of the amount of money you have the potential to raise.
Finally, add the amounts in each of these areas together to get a ballpark figure of the campaign revenue.
Peer-to-peer fundraising is a great way to extend your reach into the community and raise more money. Next week, we will look at some basic strategies to get started.
