Online fundraising campaigns can be tremendously effective for raising money and acquiring new donors, but they don't automatically succeed. Too many promising campaigns wind up missing the mark because they aren't rolled out and promoted properly. In this webinar you will learn the best practices that will help you tee up your next peer-to-peer fundraising campaign for maximum success!

1. Marketing a Peer-to-Peer Fundraising
Campaign to Drive Engagement
&

2. Who We Are
Mike Spear Sean Chisholm Taylor Corrado

3. What is Peer-to-Peer Fundraising?

4. Peer-to-Peer is a specific type of Crowdfunding.
At it’s essence crowdfunding is the process of gathering
money from many to support a singular, common
purpose.

5. Single-Tier Crowdfunding
Examples:
• Kickstarter
• Indiegogo
• Online Donation Forms

6. Multi-Tier Crowdfunding (P2P)
• Supporters create
individual fundraising
pages tied to a
campaign.
• Share pages online
with friends and
family to request
donations.

7. Why Does P2P Work So Well?
“People don’t give to causes,
they give to people…”

8. The Power of Social Media
• Average FB user
has 262 friends
• Leverage personal
relationships to
increase reach
• Vehicle for self-
expression
• Engage younger
supporters

9. P2P By the Numbers
On Average:
• $568 per active
page
• 7 donors per
page
• 4 new donors
per page

10. P2P By the Numbers
Team Rubicon:
• 73 Active
Fundraisers
• 960 Donors
• $156,000 Raised

11. Main Benefits:
• Reach exponentially more people
• Raise exponentially more money
• Acquire exponentially more donors

12. The Two Main Types of P2P:
• “Rolling” (year-round) Peer-to-Peer
• Time-Based Campaigns

13. “Rolling” Peer-2-Peer
• Year-Round
• Revolves Around
Supporter’s Life
Events
• Supporters choose
how and why they
fundraise
• Inbound Marketing

14. Time-Based Campaigns
• Bound by specific
length of time
(generally 6-8 week)
• Based on specific
activity, or theme.
• Often provides good
team-building
opportunities
• Requires Targeted
Communication

15. All Campaigns Work in Concert
Campaign #1
Campaign #5 Campaign #2
Rolling P2P
Campaign #4 Campaign #3

16. The Online Fundraising Trap
• Effective DOES NOT mean
Automatic
• All forms of fundraising require
effort
• Supporter driven doesn’t mean
supporter lead
It is your job to promote your campaign effectively
and drive engagement from your supporters!

17. Phases of the Campaign
Plan Recruit Engage Finish
2 weeks 5 weeks 1 week

18. The Planning Phase

19. Setting Your Campaign Goal
What are you trying to fund?
• Tangible Programmatic Outcome
• More Diffuse Use of Funds
What is your base of support?
• Email Lists
• Social Media Following
• Active Donors
• Core Supporters/Evangelists

20. Establishing Your Campaign Theme
Your Campaign Theme is Your Basic Marketing Concept
• What’s the 30 second “pitch” ?
• Framework for your campaign
communications
• What is the funding for?
• Is there any sort of activity
involved?

21. Campaign Theme- Outcome Driven
• Result dictates
theme
• Tangible Impact
• Inflexible use of
Funds
New Program Donation Amounts
“Texting to
Texting with Correlated with
Save Lives”
Counselors Impact

22. Campaign Theme- Activity Driven
• Theme=
Mission +
Activity
• Participatory in
nature
• Mental quid pro
quo
Wear Your Challenge drives
“Hearing Loss
Stink Week Participation &
Stinks”
Shirt Donations

23. Designing the Campaign Page
• Campaign theme
highlighted
• Page compliments other
marketing assets
• Evocative images and
videos for emotional
connection

24. Designing the Fundraising Page
• Carry over the
branding
• Understand in
under 30 seconds
• A short 1 minute
video can help
create an emotional
connection

25. Designing the Checkout Page
• Why does all of
this branding
matter?
• 38% larger
average
donations
• Maximize
conversions
across the pages

26. Campaign Incentives
• Gear and other “schwag”
• Recognition
• Increased Impact
• Don’t crowd out
generosity

27. Campaign Collateral
Prepare beforehand:
• Onboarding email series
• Stories of individual impact
• New incentives
announcements
• Default page text/video
Prepare during campaign:
• Fundraiser stories
• Campaign updates
(video/email)
• Finishing email series

28. The Recruiting Phase

29. The Soft & Hard Launch
Soft Launch Hard Launch
Plan Recruit Engage Finish
Soft Launch- “The campaign within the campaign”
• Tap your core supporters
• Build momentum to establish correct frame
• Personal outreach
Hard Launch- “The big push”
• Get as many people as possible
• Email blasts, social media promotion
• Blog, cross-promotions, “the kitchen sink”

30. The Kiva Study
• Cryder, Lowenstein, Seltman
(2008)
• Measured rate of contributions
to projects on Kiva.org
• Hypothesis: rate will increase
as project gets closer to goal

31. The Results
0-33% 33- 66-100%
66%

32. The Takeaways
• Contribution rate has a direct relationship to
progress towards goal
• Goal proximity effect
• People want to be part of a winning story
• Better to build momentum before promoting widely

33. Recruiting Core Supporters
Who?
You (lead by example), past power fundraisers, younger committed
supporters, evangelists, passionate volunteers
How?
Personal emails and/or phone calls
Message?
You are asking them to be a part of the inner circle that makes sure
this campaign is a success. You need leaders, and you’re asking for
help.
How Long?
~1 week or so

34. Launching Your Campaign
Opening Email Series
• M+R Study: 180 Appeals Rebuilding a Community this Holiday Season
from 9 national organizations Dear Joe,
Our Neighbors in
• 4x Response Rate, ~2X Everytown, were
visited by tragedy a
Average Donation Size
few months ago when
a tornado tore
through their
community. Along
with the tragic loss of
• Email #1- Direct CTA to Join life, the town’s school
was completely
destroyed by the community together this Holiday season
We are rallying our
storm. the money needed to rebuild the school. Together we
to raise
• Email #2- Story w/ Link to can make a huge difference in the lives of our neighbors and
their children. What do you say, will you create a fundraising
Blog page and become a part of the movement?
I’m In- Create My Page!
• Email #3- Quick Email,
- Your Friends at Neighborhood Action
Direct CTA

35. Launching Your Campaign
Social Media Promotion & Website Real Estate
• Capitalize on your
website traffic
• Take to social media
• You can’t just
repeatedly post CTA’s
to start fundraising
• Create mini-stories,
use images, and link to
your blog

36. The Engagement Phase
“Love the one you’re with…”

37. Segmenting Communications
Soft Launch Hard Launch Shift in Focus
Plan Recruit Engage Finish
2 weeks 5 weeks 1 week
Final Activation Email
The Basic Segmentation:
• “Active Fundraisers”- Raised at least $1
• “Inactive Fundraisers”- Raised $0

38. Give Your Power Fundraisers Some Love
• What’s a power
fundraiser?
• Personal emails
and phone calls
• Let them know
their impact
8 week Campaign 32,000 Over $1,700,000
to Fund the Fundraising Pages Raised
“Protection Plan” Created

39. The Mid Campaign Blues
The dip is inevitable.
It’s your job to power the campaign through it

40. Using Content to Keep Inspiration High
What?
• Personal stories of those
helped
• Stories from your
fundraisers
• Campaign updates
• Video addresses from
leaders in your organization
• Anything funny, inspiring,
engaging…

41. Using Content to Keep Inspiration High
How?
• Blog
• Email 1 or 2 per week
• Social Media >1 per
day
• Direct to Fundraising
Pages

42. Unrolling Additional Incentives
• Don’t give everything
away at the beginning!
• New incentives give you
something to talk about
• Ex: Trips to Uganda
• Matching donation
periods

43. The Finish Phase

44. This is the Grand Finale
• Focus efforts on your
most active fundraisers
• Two email closing series
• Build a crescendo
• Ex: 25 Campaign

45. The “X” Factor
“The best laid plans of mice and men…”
There is no substitute for your own creativity
Your supporters may be the ones fundraising, but it’s
your responsibility to create an engaging experience

46. Tying Things Together
• Peer-to-peer presents a
tremendous opportunity to
raise funds and grow your
base of supporters
• To get the most out of it,
you have to put effort in!
• Planning, persistence, and a
willingness to adapt are
essential to maximizing the
benefits of p2p

47. THANK YOU!

48. End Credits
Mike Spear Sean Chisholm Taylor Corrado
mike@stayclassy.org sean@stayclassy.org tcorrado@hubspot.com
Image Credits: Reports & Studies:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/newyorkdistrict-usace/5957560873/sizes/m/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/rogerdooley/2012/08/08/donor-gifts/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/energy2024/8542344036/sizes/m/ http://labs.mrss.com/online-fundraising-tactics-what-works/
http://www.kickstarter.com/blog/shortening-the-maximum-project-length http://www.onlinegivingstudy.org/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jayneandd/4450623309/sizes/m/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/uncleweed/1019895394/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wwworks/5623339500/sizes/m/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/crobj/4015095840/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/isherwoodchris/4830109432/