8 Tips for Motivating P2P Donors to Give

You’re always looking for new ways to attract donors as a nonprofit. One sure way is through peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns. Peer-to-peer fundraising has become a popular way for people to donate to and advocate for the nonprofits they care about. But how can you motivate your donors to give more?

This blog will provide tips and tricks on how to get your donor’s attention, what motivates them to give generously, and have them coming back time and time again.

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Here’s What We’ll Cover

What is P2P Fundraising?
1. Choose a Stand Out Challenge
2. Make a Heartfelt and Urgent Appeal
3. Make Connections and Create a Community
4. Don’t Be Afraid to Ask
5. Create a Bit of Friendly Competition
6. Offer Incentives
7. Make it Easy and Accessible to Donate
8. Always Say Thank You
Conclusions

What is P2P Fundraising?

Before we get into how to motivate your donors, let’s define peer-to-peer fundraising and how it can help you reach your fundraising goals.

Peer-to-peer fundraising, also known as P2P fundraising, is where people set up personal fundraising pages or campaigns to generate money on behalf of nonprofit organizations. Typical examples of P2P fundraisers are:

‘A-thons’ such as walk-a-thons, bike-a-thons, and swim-a-thons
School fun runs
5k (virtual) races
Golf marathons

So, why is this such a great fundraising strategy for your charitable organization? Three top benefits immediately come to mind:

Optimize Your Donor Base

P2P fundraising reaches new donors that may never have heard of your organization before. Current supporters recruit their friends, family, and colleagues to be part of making a positive impact.

Increase Donations

With a larger supporter base comes more donations. Not only will your nonprofit receive immediate contributions for the P2P campaign at hand, but it will also secure the potential to increase long-term recurring donations.

Maximize Exposure and Awareness

As your donor base grows, so does your nonprofit’s mission. Word of mouth spreads quickly, so the more supporters you have fighting for your cause, the better.

Now we’ve covered what P2P fundraising is and its major benefits for your organization, let’s dive into our pro tips for motivating your donors to give and ensure fundraising success.

1. Choose a Stand Out Challenge

Get creative, stand out and grab people’s attention with your P2P fundraiser. Whether your nonprofit’s planning a dance-a-thon or a charity golf marathon, make sure to get noticed. The importance of creating a fun and unique P2P fundraising challenge is priceless for motivating donors and boosting contributions.

It takes a lot of creativity and effort for many organizations to engage donors and keep them wanting more. So, to help out we’ve come up with a few ideas for unique P2P fundraising challenges which are guaranteed to catch your supporter’s attention:

Stand Out Challenge — Businessman Overcoming Difficulties Due To COVID-19

Polar Plunges – Challenge your supporters to brave the cold, where they’ll plunge into freezing-cold water to raise money for their cause.

100 Mile Bike-a-Thons – Host an extreme bike-a-thon (in person, hybrid or virtual) and motivate participants to get moving to raise valuable funds.

Head-shaving Challenge – Not a new P2P challenge but definitely an attention grabber! Recruit your bravest supporters and ask them to shave their heads in exchange for donations.

Fear Factor Challenge – Get your supporters to face their worst fears while raising valuable donations. Create living nightmares like sitting in a bath full of worms or cockroaches or set-up a disgusting food challenge and live stream the event.

Viral Videos – Get your supporters to come up with a viral video challenge accompanied by a song, a dance move, movie quotes, voiceovers, and so on. Make sure that it represents your nonprofit’s cause and your exposure could be limitless.

Check out more unique fundraising ideas here.

Pro Tip: It’s essential to generate hype and maximize outreach with these creative and unique fundraising challenges. So, to achieve this simply set up a peer-to-peer fundraising page, share it on social media, and provide a deadline to create a sense of urgency.

2. Make a Heartfelt and Urgent Appeal

One way to motivate P2P donors is by using emotional appeals. Paint a picture of your nonprofit’s mission and the positive impact it’s making by telling heartfelt stories to your supporters.

People love to hear a success story. Make your P2P fundraiser memorable by recounting how specific individuals or communities have benefited from your nonprofit’s impact. For example, you could use pictures from a recent disaster or crisis to increase empathy among potential donors. This will motivate them to donate as they’ve been shown how their donation can positively change someone’s life or an entire community.

Remember to be specific about what you need to achieve your fundraising goals and provide your donors with a deadline to accomplish (and hopefully) exceed them.

3. Make Connections and Create a Community

P2P donors often get the motivation to give when they feel part of a community all fighting for the same cause. Peer pressure is real, and although it’s often frowned upon, when it comes to fundraising, it’s not such a bad thing if you’re making a positive impact. Reach out, start connecting with more people, and create a community spirit surrounding your P2P fundraiser.

Here are some great ways to connect:

Social media posts – Use all the latest trends with social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Tik Tok, and YouTube to motivate your P2P donors to get involved. Post regular updates on Instagram and Facebook Stories to add a personal touch and give a face to your P2P campaign. Also, add donation buttons on your chosen platforms to maximize giving.

Set up a hashtag challenge – Add excitement to your P2P fundraiser by launching a branded hashtag challenge. This is great for increasing social media shares and creating a sense of belonging among your donors.

Never underestimate the power of the celebrity – Ask influencers, guest speakers, and celebrities to endorse your cause to optimize supporter engagement.

Local news, radio channels, and flyers – Advertise, send out press releases, and create hype around your P2P campaign for your local community. Contact local media to cover the story, spread awareness of your cause, and increase supporter participation and donations.

Invite them to volunteer with you – so your donors feel like they’re achieving something too, and not just donating money.

4. Don’t Be Afraid to Ask

One of the most difficult parts of P2P fundraising is asking for donations. Mastering the art of the fundraising ask can be scary for many fundraisers. Still, once you have it, you’ll be more confident in motivating new and existing donors to give generously and repeatedly.

But how do you do this? Nonprofits need to provide support and encouragement for their core fundraisers so that they feel inspired to motivate new recruits. This can be achieved by:

Holding motivational rallies
Sending out customized fundraising letters and emails
Making personal phone calls
Posting appreciation for your fundraising ambassadors on social media

Empower your loyal P2P fundraisers and see how this positivity and generosity trickles down to get new donors giving to your peer-to-peer campaign.

5. Create a Bit of Friendly Competition

Looking for a winning fundraising strategy to motivate P2P donors to give? Then why not use gamification techniques to create friendly competition among your supporters? With heightened levels of supporter engagement and pulling in more generous donations, the benefits of incorporating gaming features into your fundraiser are a no-brainer.

Here are a few of our best gamification features to stir up a healthy sense of competition in your donors, encouraging them to give generously and regularly.

Fundraising thermometers or progress bars
Leaderboards
Badges and Trophies for top performers
Quizzes, polls, and interactive games – add these to your live stream and make an interactive event where you can reward winners

6. Offer Incentives

So, boosting P2P donor engagement is a must for motivating them to give big and keep coming back for more. But what about optimizing that interest by rewarding them with digital tools and tangible prizes? The idea is that the more you show your supporters that they’re appreciated, the more willing they’ll be to support your P2P campaign. Just be sure to offer perks your organization can fulfill without negatively impacting your fundraising goals.

The limit is your imagination, but here are a few of our top ideas:

Receiving customized printed charity merchandise, such as a t-shirt, once you’ve passed a certain fundraising level.
Winning a gift card once you’ve obtained a certain higher level of donations.
Public recognition on your social media channels once fundraising milestones have been achieved.
If you run a raffle as part of your fundraiser, give away free tickets to top participants.
Give away gift baskets from local businesses to supporters for recruiting donors or sponsors.

See our list of prize ideas for school jog-a-thon and P2P events.

7. Make it Easy and Accessible to Donate

Peer-to-peer fundraising mobile giving — close-up of man hands make an online donate via mobile phone

It’s simple – the easier it is to give, the more donations you’ll receive. Don’t overcomplicate the donation process. Provide an easy-to-use, mobile-first platform with the latest mobile giving features so that your P2P donors can give at the touch of a button, anywhere at any time, and watch your proceeds soar!

Consider motivating your P2P donors with these top mobile giving features:

Offer Text-to-Donate – when you use SMS phone texting to donate to a nonprofit organization or charitable cause.

Digital wallets – mobile donations via Apple Pay and Google Pay, allowing many smartphone users to donate without entering credit card details.

Mobile first donation pages – mobile-friendly donation platform makes it easy to donate on all devices and share on social media for maximum outreach.

8. Always Say Thank You

And finally, don’t forget to thank your P2P donors and show them how they made a difference. Appreciation goes a long way to building and strengthening donor relationships, which is essential for recurring fundraising participation and donations. Don’t forget to send feedback on the event’s impact to let them know how their support positively impacted the cause.

Conclusions

The world has changed over the last couple of years. People are no longer motivated to give by the same things that once inspired them, so consider this when planning your P2P fundraiser. Get creative, be appreciative, and stay up-to-date with all the latest trends. The sky’s the limit if you can master this when organizing your peer-to-peer fundraiser!