With fundraising increasingly moving online, particularly on mobile devices donors are looking for new, exciting fundraising experiences that easily fit into their day-to-day lives. Fortunately, there’s plenty of innovation happening in the peer-to-peer fundraising arena right now. Let’s look at three of our current favorites.
1. Campaign Within a Campaign
Everydayhero, a Blackbaud service, provides an out-of-the-box solution to support the launch and management of a P2P fundraising campaign. This can be a great first step for those nonprofits that are not ready to make the investment in a complete P2P fundraising solution. This solution provides the opportunity for multiple organizations to collaborate through themed events that can support various charity partners fundraising for a similar cause. An event gets a microsite with all of the foundational P2P fundraising tools; including participant registration, charity selection (beneficiary of fundraising activity) and donation management.
An exciting example of this “campaign within a campaign” is If Girls Ran the World, a global fitness event that was held in October 2016 to fundraise for nonprofits that empower girls, around the world, to lead healthy and meaningful lives. Participants choose from among the charity partners, register, set a run/walk distance and fundraising goal, then invite their connections to get involved and donate. More than $135,000 was raised by 1,275 participants.
2. Gamification
From actual games on smartphones to shopping reward cards to collecting travel points, gamification (providing rewards or incentives for activity) has become fairly widespread and an incredibly successful mechanism for increasing engagement, thanks to a more competitive environment and on-the-spot recognition. So it only makes sense for the nonprofit industry to seriously consider including gamification to incent increased fundraising activity.
Donor Drive’s P2P platform is one of many that offer achievement badges for participants to collect through their fundraising journey and keep them more engaged with the process. Badges can be earned by individuals, team members, and team captains for reaching different milestones or taking specific actions to “level up.”
3. eCommerce
Ecommerce offers an exciting connection to P2P fundraising by providing supporters with a tangible way to connect with an organization’s mission. A prime example is Heifer International, which re-imagined its successful but stagnating print catalog for a digital fundraising world. Using Classy’s P2P platform, Heifer International now provides donors with the option of the traditional purchase of an animal (goat, cow, etc.) or a share of one. Or donors can champion an animal and invite others to join them in supporting it financially. The platform allows potential donors to see the impact their contribution would have based on different amounts raised.
The above features are just three of many exciting innovations available in P2P fundraising right now. Depending on your organization, any or all of these features might be a good fit. But if you’re not sure where to start, just start small. Instead of jumping in with both feet, consider conducting a pilot test to measure its impact and build your case to support the larger investment.