In the past, when the cost of staging peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns was more prohibitive, these campaigns were mostly limited to big, national charities.
With the growth of online and mobile tools, peer-to-peer fundraising is now much more accessible, even to smaller, locally focused nonprofits.
But just because it’s easier than ever to create a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s easy to be successful.
In fact, the increase in the number of programs means that competition for donors is more intense than ever.
As a result, nonprofits must be more creative—and they must also be willing to constantly adjust to changing conditions and test new ideas and approaches.
Peer-to-peer fundraising is the practice of having a nonprofit’s supporters take part in an activity such as a walk, bike ride or challenge and reach out to their friends, family members and colleagues for donations.
Organizations that are continually successful with peer-to-peer fundraising have the mindset that they need to be regularly experimenting and testing new ideas—which means taking chances and risks and accepting the inevitable failures that come along with that—so they can ultimately learn what innovations deliver results.
Here are three examples of nonprofits that exemplify the spirit of innovation needed to succeed in peer-to-peer fundraising.
Boston Red Sox Foundation
Endurance fundraisers such as marathons and triathlons have been popular for decades.
But as endurance fundraising programs are struggling to keep pace with newer forms of P2P fundraising, the Boston Red Sox Foundation decided to put a new twist on the marathon—with impressive results.
In 2017, the foundation staged an entire 26.2-mile marathon within the cozy confines of Fenway Park—and restricted participation to 50 runners, each of whom had to raise at least $5,000 to qualify.
The runners completed 116 laps inside the iconic ballpark—and raised $320,000 in the process.
“To have the entire race inside the park was a unique opportunity for the runners—and it made for a memorable and successful event,” says Mick Blume, a program specialist for the Boston Red Sox Foundation.
American Cancer Society
Like many nonprofits that manage legacy peer-to-peer fundraising programs, the American Cancer Society is routinely looking for ways to incorporate new technology and elements to keep the programs fresh.
For years, the American Cancer Society partnered with college basketball programs nationwide for a program called 3-Point Attack. Coaches and teams at participating colleges would invite fans to pledge donations for each three-point shot made by the teams.
The effort, however, was difficult to manage—especially since it was conducted largely on paper forms.
Two years ago, however, it decided to take advantage of technology that allows teams to solicit pledges and collect donations online, issue challenges to other teams via social media, and compete with other programs on an online leaderboard.
“We are excited to relaunch a fundraising program that started it all, now in a digital space, while staying true to what drives sports fans: competition,” says David Doan, brand marketing and partnership development executive for the American Cancer Society.
The rebooted program has raised more than $350,000 during its first two years and generated more than 50 million social media impressions—and the organization is now looking to expand the program at the high school level.
Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation
Peer-to-peer fundraising has long been built on the idea that more is better. More events and more participants bring more dollars, which, in turn, bring more help to those in need.
But the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation is proving that the opposite can also be true.
MMRF, which raises money to combat a specific strain of cancer that annually affects about 30,000 people in the U.S., has been experimenting with a new campaign that brings together small groups of passionate supporters to participate in adventure-based P2P events.
The campaign, Moving Mountains for Multiple Myeloma, succeeds because participation is exclusive—as small as 12-15 people per excursion—and the level of interaction among participants is high.
Unlike some diseases, multiple myeloma is a disease that affects a small population, says Alicia O’Neill, MMRF’s director of partnerships and business development. As a result, MMRF doesn’t have a huge base of supporters with a close connection to the cause.
It does, however, have a strongly committed group of supporters—which lends itself to smaller, more-focused events.
“This is a very different type of program,” O’Neill says. “You have to set up each group to be high touch. This is almost like stewardship of major donors in a development office.”
During the first six events held through the program, 112 participants have raised $1.2 million for MMRF.
Learn More
You can find other examples of innovative approaches to peer-to-peer fundraising in a free resource guide, Building an Innovative Peer-to-Peer Program.
David Hessekiel is Founder and President of Engage for Good (formerly Cause Marketing Forum) and Peer to Peer Professional Forum and author of Good Works!
Originally posted on Forbes.
