Launching a Powerful Peer-to-Peer Campaign in 10 Steps

Peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns are an increasingly popular method for nonprofit organizations. You’ve seen how other organizations are using peer-to-peer fundraising successfully, and you know it could help you as well. But if you’ve never put together a peer-to-peer campaign before, you may be wondering where to start. How do you entice supporters to become fundraising partners? And what do you need to make a peer to peer campaign part of your overall fundraising process?

Below is a sneak peek into setting up a P2P campaign, step by step, taken from our in-depth chapter “How to Create and Launch a Peer-to-Peer Campaign.” For the complete chapter, download our popular eGuide, The Secrets of Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Success.

1) Use Fundraising Software with P2P Capability

Take advantage of fundraising software that has a user-friendly peer-to-peer fundraising tool, which will make setting up and running your campaigns much easier. Look for a system that allows your fundraising partners to quickly create and customize their donation pages, provides templates for pages and emails to make your job easier, and offers robust reporting so you can track the progress of your campaigns.

2) Choose a Theme for Your Campaign

A specific, easily-visualized theme will help donors get more excited about your campaign. Choose a theme that’s fun for your peer fundraisers and connects with what donors care about most. Consider creating a theme based on the community you serve, the challenge your community faces, the solution that you and your donors provide, or a special project that you have in the works.

3) Decide on a Goal and Time Frame

A goal and a time frame will help motivate donors and create a sense of urgency as you space out your fundraising process. Set a clear goal that’s easily broken down into personal impact. For example, if you’d like to create a campaign to help find homes for 200 dogs, and it takes $50 to cover the adoption costs, then you’ll need to raise a total of $10,000. Telling bite-sized stories like that will both engage your donors and help them understand the impact of their gift – and maybe even give more!

4) Invite Your Fundraising Partners

Reach out to an average of 10 supporters to join you as fundraising partners. Look for those who are most passionate about your mission and your organization. It helps if these individuals are well-known in their communities or have an extensive network of relationships. Board members, volunteers, regular or recurring donors, and supporters who frequently share your social media posts are good candidates. Work with each fundraiser individually to determine a dollar amount they’ll target. Let them know that, although they may not hit their goal, the outreach to their network is valuable since it promotes awareness of your cause.

5) Build Your Campaign Assets

In addition to your campaign page, consider all of the campaign assets you’ll need to recruit fundraising partners, including:

• Messaging that will motivate donors
• Graphics to share on social media
• Images and information to post on your website’s home page
• Advertisements to be published in community publications
• Content and images for email blasts
• Thank you emails to follow up with those who join as a peer fundraiser
• Communications for your fundraisers to share in their campaigns

6) Create Resources for Your Fundraisers

Give your fundraisers the resources they need for success. Provide them with appeal and thank you templates, images, and social media posts. Help them write a story explaining why they personally care about the mission. And make sure they know who to contact on your staff for help. You may even consider helping them get set up with an exclusive virtual or hybrid event to give them a platform to share more broadly with their networks the goal of the campaign.

7) Encourage Your Fundraisers During the Campaign

Actively engage your fundraisers during the campaign. Give them confidence and encouragement to maintain their efforts. Update them on campaign progress regularly and remind them to reach out if they need help or tips.

8) Celebrate Success

After the campaign is completed, it’s time to celebrate! Thank your fundraisers, staff, and board members. Create an email blast with photos and screenshots of successful campaigns and a donation thermometer to show overall success.

9) Engage New Donors

Thanks to the campaign, you now have new donors to educate about your work. Send new donors a welcome kit along with your thank you message. Be sure to communicate the impact of their gift and invite them to get in touch with someone from your organization to learn more.

10) Evaluate Campaign Results

Review and record your campaign results so you can see what worked well and what didn’t. Survey your fundraising partners to get their feedback. This data will help you improve your next campaign. Save messages sent to fundraisers and donors so you can simply update them later.

With the right tools, peer-to-peer campaigns are simple to set up and highly effective, making them an ideal fundraising strategy. As a bonus, your fundraising partners will be even more engaged with your organization and eager to spread the word about your work.

Download The Secrets of Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Success to learn more about how to create and run effective peer-to-peer campaigns.

Updated: June 29, 2022