3 reasons why peer-to-peer fundraising is the big story in online giving

In 2013 peer-to-peer fundraising has grown with a huge success for the American charities. According to the Digital Giving Index, the number of donations acquired by fundraisers, who encouraged their family and friends to give, rose by 50 percent. Nonprofits that added peer-to-peer fundraising on their traditional donation pages benefit from a 15 percent growth in givings.

Watching this fast-paced development in the US market, peer-to-peer fundraising will

play a growing role in Europe in 2014. The Initiative ProDialog even considers peer-to-peer giving as one of the most important strategies for the future. Nonprofits have been recognised the potential: They cannot only raise cause awareness in a very effective way, but also reach new donors and fundraisers who wouldn’t be acquired through traditional channels.

Peer-to-peer fundraising: engaged supporters are the best fundraisers

The concept behind peer-to-peer fundraising isn’t new: supporters raise money for charities or causes and become fundraisers asking friends and family to donate. But now they can use online tools which make it easier and speed up connecting with their network. Using social networking like Facebook and Twitter they can spread the word and invite family and friends to join in and donate.

Best practise: charities engaged their network’s network

Almost always peer-to-peer fundraising is connected to some form of event or milestone. According to Initiative ProDialog, the international organization “Susan G. Komen for the Cure“ successfully mobilized their participants of the run “Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure“ to become fundraisers and ask their friends and families to donate. They raised $1,2 Mio. for the charity.

Also the German Kidney Foundation Support Society believed in the power of word-of-mouth when they created the campaign “Aktion Kinderwünsche“ which was nominated for the “best fundraising campaign 2013” in Germany. Successfully they encouraged families with children suffering from urgent kidney problems to share their personal stories online, spread the word and start a fundraiser.

3 reasons why peer-to-peer fundraising is growing

Peer-to-peer fundraising is playing a growing role for nonprofits. The three following trends are the reason why:

1. Social influence drives involvement in causes In general, recommendations of friends and family have more credibility than all other forms of advertising. According to Nielsen, 92% of consumers around the world say they trust earned media, such as word-of-mouth or recommendations from friends and family. This great influence on the peers also drives involvement in causes. People are more likely to donate if they are asked by a friend or family member. According to a survey, 39 percent of Americans responded that they are motivated to get involved with causes that have affected someone they know, and 36 percent said they are motivated by it being an important cause to family and friends.
2. Using social media supporters viral spread the fundraising message Social media like Facebook and Twitter is now an ordinary part of our everyday life. According to Bitkom, almost four in five internet users are registered in at least one social network. Younger users are particularly active: 90% are a member of one or more social networks. Social media provides nonprofits the opportunity to build strong relationship with donors and turn them into fundraisers. Furthermore Facebook and Twitter are great tools for peer-to-peer fundraising: Engaged supporters can motivate their network to take action and viral spread the fundraising message. According to a survey, especially young people ages 13 to 22 engaged in peer-to-peer fundraising for their causes by using social networks.
3. Online platforms make it easy to fundraise and share Online platforms like betternow.org help to run peer-to-peer fundraising. They bring fundraisers together with internet users looking to make a donation. With these platforms the supporters are able to create a personalized online fundraising page which they can easily share with their social network. Furthermore fundraisers can provide online donation options, so that family and friends can give directly online.