Peer to Peer Fundraising Platforms: How Nonprofit Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Platforms Can Generate More Revenue for Your Cause

One of the greatest things about online fundraising is the enormous pool of potential donors available to you. No longer do you need to limit yourself to the same group of donors to support your nonprofit programs and projects -- now, your supporters can come from literally anywhere in the world.

Of course, it helps if your new donors have some connection to your existing supporters, which is why using a peer-to-peer fundraising platform is so useful to raise money for your cause. Peer-to-peer fundraising software allows your staff, volunteers, and other supporters to share your fundraising campaigns with their own professional and social networks -- effectively endorsing you to their friends and family so they have more incentive to support your mission.

This isn't just a great way to raise more revenue for your nonprofit or charity. By empowering donors to raise money on behalf of your organization, you strengthen your relationship with your supporters. Moreover, this type of fundraising helps inform new audiences of your cause and the work your nonprofit does in the community. This improves your brand recognition and raises awareness of the issues you find more important.

In order to use peer-to-peer donating effectively, however, you'll need a firm grasp of the fundamentals involved in this form of online giving. This article will delve into the nature of peer-to-peer fundraising, its benefits, top peer-to-peer fundraising software that can help in your campaign, and an overview of some of the best practices to follow when raising money this way. We'll also examine some of the challenges that come with fundraisers, how to track your performance, and what other strategies work well with a peer-to-peer fundraising platform -- now and in the future.    

How Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Works

A peer-to-peer fundraising platform lifts the burden of finding potential donors from your team and divides it among your entire support network. Using peer-to-peer fundraising software, your staff members and volunteers create donation sites of their own to raise money on behalf of your campaign. They then share these sites within their social media circle and invite others to donate to your cause.

Many popular platforms such as PayBee, GoFundMe, and JustGiving are used to host peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns. Users create personal fundraising pages that share the story of your nonprofit's mission and set a fundraising goal for a set period of time. Staff and volunteers customize each page with images and/or videos that showcase the type of work your nonprofit does in the community, making your mission more impactful to potential donors.

Once these donation pages go live, your supporters can share them with their social networks through social media, text messages, and emails using unique links. Visitors to the pages can donate directly through the page using credit cards, PayPal, or debit cards. The platform usually charges a transaction fee to cover processing costs. However, certain platforms such as PayBee allow donors to cover these fees, enabling your organization to keep more of the money.

While your supporters will conduct much of the legwork in a peer to peer fundraising campaign, your charity or nonprofit should still organize the overall effort. Supporters need a solid timeline to hold their peer-to-peer fundraisers as well as shared goals for the amount of funds you need to raise. Your nonprofit can also help supply images and video clips of their efforts, as well as marketing copy that communicates your nonprofit's story and mission. 

Some organizations enjoy incorporating some gamification into their peer-to-peer fundraisers. For instance, volunteers, staff, and other supporters can engage in friendly competition to see which donation page can raise the most donations. You can also hold your peer-to-peer fundraising campaign in tandem with a larger gala, giving you more streams of revenue. 

Benefits of Using Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Software for Fundraiser Management

Employing user-friendly peer-to-peer software tools provides several advantages for nonprofits and donors.

For nonprofits, software tools make it easier for supporters to customize their donation pages and include uniform branding images such as logos and photos. Those tools also help share their pages across multiple social media platforms, letting you reach a wider audience. 

Allowing supporters to build their donation pages on the same platform increases engagement and makes it easier for your nonprofit organization to keep track of all the efforts. Even if there are many different donation pages spread out across multiple social networks, peer-to-peer fundraising software enables all donations to be delivered to the main organization. This not only gives your organization an extended reach but also helps with revenue collection.

Many peer-to-peer fundraising platforms also contain tracking tools and a backend system that collects and helps analyze data. This is extremely useful for assessing the effectiveness of your activities. You'll be able to see how many people donated to your fundraiser and which outreach strategies were most effective. By analyzing your campaign performance, you'll be able to identify and use better management tactics for your next event. 

For donors, peer to peer fundraising tools make contributing to your campaigns quicker and easier. Platform tools keep your donation pages mobile-friendly, allowing users to easily view your pages on their smartphones and mobile devices and donate with a few taps. You can also offer popular donation choices, such as a recurring donation option where contributors donate small, regular donations on a monthly basis to provide nonprofits with regular streams of revenue. Many platforms also allow donors to contribute through credit cards, direct deposit, PayPal, or Apple Pay, letting users contribute in the way they feel most comfortable.

An Overview of the Top Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Platforms

Looking to invest in a peer-to-peer fundraising platform? You have many options. Below, we offer a platform overview of some of the leading software used by successful nonprofits and charities. Keep in mind that while every option on this list is rated highly, they vary in customization capabilities, ease of use, and price. You'll want to take the needs of your nonprofit and the expertise of your supporters into account when selecting one.

GoFundMe

GoFundMe is one of the top peer-to-peer fundraising platforms out there. Fundraisers have used GoFundMe to raise money for disaster relief, animal care, and even medical breakthroughs. The software is easy-to-use and customizable, allowing supporters to link their peer-to-peer campaign to many events, including marathons and memorial fundraisers. GoFundMe's site includes several tips for how to build an effective campaign page, including suggestions for selecting the right images and videos to promote your campaign.

Creating a GoFundMe campaign is free, although there is an automatic 2.2% + $0.30 transaction fee taken from each donation. Donors are also given the option of donating to GoFundMe, although this is not required. The GoFundMe payment processor also sends donations directly to your charity or nonprofit, saving you the trouble of withdrawing funds.  

JustGiving

JustGiving lets users create fundraising pages for registered charities in minutes. You simply create an account, search for your cause, list the type of event you're holding (memorial, marathon etc.), and choose your web address. Once your page is created, you can share the link with your social network and start collecting donations. JustGiving will send collected funds to the charity on a weekly basis.

To support users, JustGiving provides a fundraising page toolkit to help design your donation page as well as promotion tips to showcase your fundraiser on social media and the press. You can also find additional resources for more specific techniques, like sports or Christmas fundraising on their website.

Fees for using JustGiving vary by country, with some countries like the UK and Australia paying no platform fees and others like Canada paying 5%. Payment processing fees also vary based on country and the type of payment used (credit cards, PayPal, cryptocurrency etc.). Review JustGiving's pricing page for details. 

Classy

A subsidiary of GoFundMe, Classy provides peer-to-peer software tools designed for growth. Users receive ready-to-use templates for their campaign pages, along with useful features like progress thermometers, recurring gift options, employer donation match options, embedded videos, and more. Donation pages are designed for mobile-responsiveness, making it easy for smartphone users to contribute. 

Classy is a PCI DDS Level 1 security provider that uses Cloudflare for protection. Donors can contribute securely using PayPal, Stripe, or Coinbase.

Fundraisers can choose from three different packages that offer everything from unlimited campaigns to native marketing analytics capabilities to hands-on support from Classy's customer success management team. You can upgrade your package as you decide to scale up your efforts.

Pricing is based on an annual subscription plus a transaction fee. Add-on features can be included for an additional fee. Supporters need to contact Classy to get custom pricing.  

PayBee

You can create fully-customizable peer-to-peer campaign pages using PayBee. Our software tools allow you to select campaign goal amounts and donation options along with descriptions and images. PayBee also provides an "enable teams" option that lets different groups compete to see who can raise the most money for a cause.

One nice feature PayBee provides is the option for donors to cover transaction fees. This lets you keep more of the money you raise for charities, and we've found most donors accept this option if provided with it. 

Once your campaign page is ready, you can share it with your social network, either through a link or a QR code. PayBee also provides a leaderboard that can share your peer-to-peer fundraiser's progress with others. Donors can even click on a button or QR code provided in the leaderboard to start their own peer-to-peer fundraisers, extending your reach even more.  

How to Choose the Best Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Platforms for Your Nonprofit (It's Not Just About Pricing)

When selecting the best peer-to-peer fundraising software for your nonprofit, it's important to first consider the specific needs of your fundraising campaign.

Do you need to start a peer-to-peer fundraiser immediately for no cost? Then a platform like GoFundMe may be your best option. Do most of your supporters donate through mobile devices? Then Classy's software, which designs its pages for mobile responsiveness, could be a good choice. 

Consider what you want to offer in your peer-to-peer fundraiser. Some groups like to take advantage of gamification tools by letting different teams engage in some friendly competition to raise more money for your cause. Others needs to promote their campaign across a wide range of social media channels, making social media integration tools a priority. 

Learn what type of data the platform's reporting and analytics tools collect and assess. Do they look at the key performance indicators of your campaigns? Do they help provide you with actionable insights to improve future fundraisers?

Keep transaction fees in mind. Even free software providers need to charge transaction fees for each donation. Calculate what you expect your peer-to-peer fundraisers to earn and determine how much the transaction fees could cut into the raised revenue. If possible, select a platform that lets you pass these fees to the donor and see how much money you could save.

Read reviews left by past users of the software. What type of organizations gravitated toward each company? Did their goals and needs match your own? Were they satisfied with the results of their campaign? 

Finally, many software providers offer free demos. It's highly recommended that you take part in them before investing in peer to peer fundraising software. This will give you a first-hand view of how user-friendly the software tools are and also let you ask any technical or fundraising questions to the providers.

Maximizing Success with Peer-to-Peer Fundraising

When starting a peer-to-peer fundraiser, it's important to keep the needs of your supporters in mind. For many volunteers, this might be the first time they've held a fundraiser or designed a campaign page.

Keep your software tools as user-friendly as possible. Ensure your supporters that you'll provide adequate guidance, motivation, and clear objectives.

Spend time developing SMART goals (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound). Communicate them to your supporters by offering a specific timeline to complete key tasks like building a campaign page, sharing links on social media, sending emails to their friends, family, and other supporters. 

Provide a resource library to help every volunteer design effective websites. Resources can include design elements like graphics and videos as well as templates and examples of past winning peer-to-peer websites. This will ensure all the sites promoting your nonprofit reflect your organization's brand and effectively showcase your mission.

Motivate your supporters by sharing the successes of your past peer-to-peer fundraisers. Challenge them to do better by engaging in some gamification. Use leaderboards and progress bars to keep everyone aware of their progress. Award badges and other prizes for individuals or teams who reach certain fundraising goals first -- and celebrate the entire efforts of your team at the end of your campaign with a ceremony and/or luncheon.

Follow-up with donors. Send personalized thank you notes and emails. Offer updates on the overall progress of your campaign. And be sure to request that they share your fundraising pages within their own social network -- this will help extend your reach even further.

Finally, use your reporting and analytics tools to assess your campaign. How many new donors did your campaign help recruit? How much web traffic did your supporters' peer-to-peer campaign sites direct to your own website? Did you achieve your desired number of social shares? Did your campaign help increase attendance at the fundraising gala you were promoting? See if you can identify what worked well about your campaign so you can replicate your success in future fundraisers. 

Challenges of Peer-to-Peer Fundraising and How to Overcome Them

Despite the advantages of peer-to-peer fundraisers, hosting this type of campaign does come with its share of challenges. Expect the following obstacles, and plan to adjust your campaign accordingly:

Over reliance on individual social networks

While some of your supporters may have massive social followings, many volunteers and staff members only have small personal networks, limiting the number of new donors you can attract. 

To deal with this hurdle, clearly define your ideal donors to your participants. Maybe your biggest donations come from local businesses that appreciate the way your nonprofit is improving the surrounding economy. In this case, your supporters should reach out to any local business contacts they have to inform them about your nonprofit and your fundraiser. Connecting with the most relevant donors can often generate better revenue than reaching out to a large pool of potential supporters.

Low engagement

Volunteers and supporters can experience burnout, especially if they've already invested a lot of their time and effort into managing your other fundraisers. This can keep them from actively soliciting donations from their networks. Likewise, the donors themselves may find themselves stretched thin if they've already contributed to many of your campaigns (not to mention other nonprofit fundraisers).

To handle this, create incentives for participation. This can include prizes for completing tasks on time or reaching key milestones in your campaign. Introduce some gamification tactics by having different groups of volunteers compete against each other to see who can raise more money. Offer reachable fundraising goals and show your progress to donors with a fundraising thermometer, which can encourage donors to contribute and help your reach your goal.

Technical difficulties and inconsistent branding

Having your supporters build their own donation pages might ease some of the fundraising responsibilities from your main team, but this type of outsourcing has its own problems. Participants may use images, slogans, and taglines in their websites inconsistent with the image you want to promote for your nonprofit. In addition, collecting and managing donations from so many different sites can be challenging and lead to issues with record keeping.  

Investing in a user-friendly peer-to-peer campaign platform can help mitigate these issues. A single platform can unite the multiple sites and ensure all donations are delivered to the proper recipient. Platform tools can also provide participants with templates and branding resources to create their donation pages, ensuring they reflect your organization's values and identity.

Fraud issues

Donors may be hesitant about sharing their credit card and other payment information to a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign if they feel the additional websites are not secure against fraud. This is understandable since many of the sites won't be created by your usual fundraising team but outside supporters.

To reassure donors that your system is safe, use multiple levels of security. Require that people creating peer-to-peer websites verify their identities with government issued ID before building their sites. Verify their phone numbers for additional security.

Use automated systems and manual reviews to check for suspicious activity in the campaign. Look for suspicious beneficiary information, unusual donation amounts from new accounts, or strange donation patterns (for instance, where the person running a peer-to-peer website sends most of the donation back to the donor) which can indicate money laundering. Report any suspicious behavior to managers and the proper authorities.

Ensure that your platform uses a secure, encrypted payment gateway system that protects the financial data of your donors. Let your donors know about the multiple security measures you're implementing in your campaign to help them feel comfortable about contributing. 

Outside competition

Peer-to-peer fundraising is so popular that many other charities and nonprofits may be holding similar campaigns during yours. This can make it difficult for your fundraiser to stand out among so many other similar campaigns. This can also make it difficult to recruit supporters since many of them may be busy helping other charities.

Try to offer something unique about your peer-to-peer campaign that will attract not only donors but also supporters. Invest in a user-friendly platform and provide campaign marketing and training resources that make it easier for supporters to quickly build their own websites. Partner with social media influencers who can promote your campaign on their own social networks, providing you with greater reach (and effective endorsements). Sometimes, all that's needed to make your campaign stand out is to communicate better with your donors and participants -- reminding them of the impact they're making in the community and letting them know you're there to support them if they need help campaigning.    

Tracking and Measuring the Success of Your Peer-to-Peer Fundraiser

Measuring peer to peer fundraising success is a matter of identifying and measuring the key performance indicators (KPIs) that indicate your campaign reached its goals. Common metrics include:

• The total funds raised by your entire peer-to-peer campaign
• The average donation size (which can indicate how generous people who donated to this campaign were)
• The number of individual donors who contributed (which indicates the width of your campaign's reach)
• The number of new donors who contributed (which indicates how well your campaign expanded your regular donor pool)
• The number of websites/fundraising pages created by your participants
• The number of participants who promoted your campaign on social media, texts, and emails
• The number of people who learned about your campaign through social media sharing (indicating marketing effectiveness)
• The number of people who learned about your campaign and actually donated (indicating conversion rate success) 

An automated reporting system and analytics tools in your peer-to-peer platform can help compile and analyze this data during and after your campaign. Organize this data into easy-to-comprehend visual reports and compare your campaign's performance to past peer-to-peer fundraisers you held (as well as other fundraising galas). This will help show how leveraging your supporters' networks helps raise more revenue for your programs and projects.

Don't just limit yourself to number crunching. Create surveys asking participants to rate their experience in your peer-to-peer campaign. Ask how easy it was to build sites on your platform and if they felt they were given adequate training and support throughout the fundraiser. See if any of them would be willing to participate again and ask for any suggestions they have on how to improve this type of fundraiser. The more feedback you receive, the more you can improve your future efforts. 

Integrating Peer-to-Peer Fundraising with Other Fundraising Strategies

While peer to peer fundraising is a powerful revenue-generating tool on its own, it's even more effective when combined with other activities and events.

Linking an event with your peer-to-peer campaign is a great way to encourage participation. For instance, some nonprofits like to merge a fun run/biking/walking event with a peer-to-peer fundraiser. Participants not only promote your event through their websites, they raise money based on how many miles they walk, run, or bike (or how long they participate in your event).

An online challenge is also a good strategy to use in tandem with peer-to-peer fundraising (and one that can reach out to wider audiences). You could live stream a dance challenge or create a video game playing marathon that spectators can donate to through peer-to-peer fundraising pages.

Corporate giving, or the practice of getting donations from companies, is also something that can be combined effectively with peer-to-peer fundraising. See if you can partner with a company that offers a matching gift program. The corporation may be willing to match a portion of donations made by their employees to your fundraiser. This can encourage employees to give more, since they know their contributions will be increased by their company.

Likewise, a corporate partner can help organize an employee giving campaign where they promote your fundraiser in their company and encourage employees to donate to your campaign. This boost donation amounts and expands your donor pool even more. 

Future Trends in Peer-to-Peer Fundraising

Advances in software tools, online platforms, social sharing, payment options, and artificial intelligence (AI) will all affect peer-to-peer fundraising in the future. 

Your peer-to-peer platform will gain new tools that link it more seamlessly with social media platforms. This will make it easier for users to share their donation pages on social media and allow your nonprofit to reach wider audiences. Mobile-friendly pages will become even more standard as more people donate through smart phones and mobile devices.

AI tools will help create more hyper-personalized experiences for donors. Not only will your supporters be able to share their donation pages with their social networks, each member of that social network could receive a tailored donation appeal based on their past donation history and shared interest in your nonprofit's mission. This makes your overall campaign more persuasive and can increase revenue raised.

Immersive experiences will become more relevant. Instead of just relying on still images and videos to share the impact of your charity's mission, future donors may be able to experience your nonprofit's programs through virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR). VR/AR tools can also be used to increase the gamification elements of your peer-to-peer campaign, making it more engaging for donors and participants -- particularly the younger generation, who will be accustomed to this type of environment.

Finally, payment options may change or expand in the future. People are already comfortable donating through digital options like PayPal and Apple Pay. Future donors may prefer a form of blockchain donation that increases transparency and security -- making it easier for them to track the use of their funds and see how trustworthy and effective your organization is. This can potentially increase donor loyalty and retention.

Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Peer-to-peer fundraising is an excellent way to expand your current donor pool by leveraging your supporters' personal networks. By investing in a reliable, secure, and user-friendly peer-to-peer platform, you can provide your partners with the tools to create multiple websites that can reach out to a vast pool of untapped new donors and raise more revenue for your charity or nonprofit.

While this strategy does have challenges regarding technical difficulties, security issues, and supporter engagement, modern software tools and organization tactics all help make peer-to-peer fundraising fun and effective for everyone involved. In addition, automation and data analytics tools help assess your success and improve campaign performance with every new fundraiser.

When investing in this type of fundraising, it's important to select the proper platform. PayBee offers nonprofits a user-friendly experience in planning, building, marketing, managing, and analyzing successful peer-to-peer campaigns. See how our platform works by signing up for a free demo of our platform tools. You'll see how our software can enhance multiple activities from auctions to gala events, and ask your questions directly to our team of technical experts. Assessing software capabilities is important for your long-term success, so sign up for a free demo today!   

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Let's answer some additional questions people have about peer-to-peer fundraising.

What is the difference between peer-to-peer fundraising and traditional fundraising methods?

Traditional fundraising involves a nonprofit or charity soliciting donations directly from potential supporters. This may involve hosting a gala event, arranging a charity auction, or making phone calls.

A peer-to-peer fundraiser enables individual supporters to raise money on behalf of your charity or nonprofit by asking friends, family, and other members of their social network for donations. It empowers individual supporters by showing they can fundraise directly for a nonprofit and expands the nonprofit's own network of donors and supporters.

What are the fees associated with using a peer-to-peer fundraising platform?

Depending on the platform you choose, you may need to pay:

• A platform fee, or a percentage of the total funds you raised, to your provider for use of their technology
• A transaction fee for every donation processed
• A payment processor fee for donations made through specific options such as Stripe or PayPal
• A subscription or monthly fee for use of the platform
• Various add-on fees for additional features like CRM integration   

Keep in mind, that some platforms allow you to offer donors the chance to cover some of the fees, saving you money. Certain platforms also offer nonprofit discounts and you may be able to get a better deal by selecting different platform packages or service bundles.

How do I engage donors in a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign? 

Be open and honest about your goals for the campaign and your need for support. Share stories about your mission and encourage your supporters to share personal stories about why your cause and nonprofit mean so much to them. Such endorsements will communicate the importance of your mission and why others should support you.

Use social media to share updates about your campaign, including how close you're getting to your fundraising goals. Invite visitors to join your campaign by creating their own donation pages and raising money on behalf of your group. This will help you leverage even more social networks and further widen your donor pool.

Regularly show appreciation for the support you're getting. Send thank you notes to individual supporters. Offer activities (like friendly competitions) during the campaign to engage supporters. Host a luncheon or other activity at the end of your campaign to thank your participants for their help.

Can peer-to-peer fundraising be used for large-scale nonprofit galas?

Yes! A peer-to-peer campaign can be used to support a large-scale gala in many ways.

Beyond simply providing your gala an additional way to raise donations, a peer-to-peer campaign helps generate buzz around your main gala. Supporters can promote your gala on their website and encourage friends, family, and social network members to share details about your gala to get more guests to sign up.

Peer-to-peer fundraisers can also attract powerful supporters such as local businesses and online influencers. These people can also help promote your gala to their social following or within their company and encourage attendance. You might even be able to get some of these supporters to sponsor your gala and provide additional financial or logistical support.  

Many platforms that provide tools for peer-to-peer fundraising, including PayBee, also have tools for promoting large-scale galas, hosting gala activities like auctions, assisting staff with check-in and check-out, printing table cards, customizing event pages etc. By investing in a platform, you gain additional support for your gala.