Peer-to-Peer Fundraising for #GivingTuesday

#GivingTuesday is a global day of giving that was founded in 2012 to encourage people everywhere to give back to their communities. The idea for a worldwide giving event started with the success of Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales on online shopping websites, which inspired many in the industry to create an online holiday season dedicated solely to philanthropy.

Embedding fundraising in communities is precisely what P2P fundraising is about, so the obvious choice is to add a P2P fundraising component to your next #GivingTuesday campaign.

Why Should we do Peer-to-Peer Campaign on #GivingTuesday?

One of the most exciting things about #GivingTuesday is that it’s an opportunity to make your supporters feel like they’re part of something bigger than themselves. Peer-to-peer fundraising makes this possible because it allows you to get the most out of your supporters and make it easy for them to fundraise. When they do get involved, peer-to-peer fundraising also helps you spread the word about your cause and encourage others to donate as well.

Let your supporters introduce your organisation to their network. We trust our friends and family more than advertising, news outlets and social media. P2P fundraising is word-of-mouth marketing for charities, and it breaks right through the noise barrier. This is what makes sit so powerful and a key reason you should consider adding it to your #GivingTuesday campaign.

Start early or let it keep going after #givingtuesday

P2P fundraising campaigns need more than a few days to get rolling. So start early, at least two weeks before #GivingTuesday and then let all culminate on #GivingTuesday (but not necessarily end). You can also use #Givingtuesday to kick off the campaign and let it run for all of December.

Find the best hook to get supporters fundraising

Now, to be honest, no one will create a fundraiser just because it is #GivingTuesday. But attaching your campaign to periods where people are more inclined to give might help. You will, though, still need an additional tactic to get people fundraising. This can be

• Create a leaderboard that lets your supporters, local chapters, and teams compete against each other for the most donations. You can even offer extra rewards for reaching specific donation goals on top of whatever prize your supporter has already won.
• Have fun with it! Giveaway prizes like tickets to an event, an opportunity for lunch with the CEO of your organization, merchandise and swag or a gift basket filled with goodies from local businesses. These prizes can be used as additional incentives for supporters who reach specific donation goals within a campaign period - but make sure these gifts are valuable enough so people will want them enough!
• Connect your campaign to a specific action your fundraisers should undertake. This can be a creative challenge, a virtual running event or wearing silly costumes. This is where your creative left part of the brain needs to come into action - and try to make it relevant and connected to your cause.
• Connect the campaign to a specific goal or project that you as a charity want to achieve. This help emphasise the community of feeling of getting together and achieving something together,

Keep your supporters engaged

The next step is to keep your supporters engaged throughout the whole period. This may seem like an obvious step, but it's easy to overlook, especially if this is your first peer-to-peer campaign.

We have written a blog post on how to keep participants in virtual events engaged - the same advice is true for any #GivingTuesday P2P campaign.

A few key pointers are to:

• Use the built-in automated email stewardship of BetterNow. This will save you considerable time, and it will be good enough for most campaigns in year one.
• Check in with participants the day before the end date, and make sure everyone feels they are heard and acknowledged leading up to the last fundraising sprint.
• Celebrate your fundraising heroes, but during and after the campaign.

Follow up with your donors after Giving Tuesday by asking them how they feel about their experience and what they would recommend for future campaigns. Share their stories on social media and thank them for helping the cause!

Conclusion

Now that you have a better understanding of what it means to run a peer-to-peer campaign let's get started! We hope this guide will help you create a fantastic #GivingTuesday campaign that will benefit your community and spread awareness about your cause.

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