How to anchor P2P fundraising in your organisation

You have decided to invest in P2P fundraising as a new fundraising channel for your charity. But how do you ensure that you have the whole team on board? Creating a new fundraising channel can be a daunting task, and P2P fundraising is no exception.

What makes P2P fundraising unique?

P2P fundraising can be viewed as a tool in your fundraising arsenal, just like email, phone, and letter. It is a versatile tool that can be used to reach different supporter segments. This can make it challenging to determine where P2P fundraising fits within your organization. Should it be a tool for corporate engagement? Does it belong to the events and partnerships department, or is it primarily for building a community of fundraisers from your private donors or members?

Like any new tool, its success depends on proper adoption. Adoption is easier when progress and positive results are demonstrated. A strong start with P2P fundraising leads to early success and helps to secure its place within your organization.

Let's explore how to achieve this.

7 best practices for anchoring P2P fundraising as a fundraising channel

Based on onboarding hundreds of organisations with P2P fundraising, we have identified seven practices that can help you firmly establish it across your entire organization.

1. Have clear product owners
2. Establish a cross-functional team
3. Define clear goals and KPIs
4. Develop a comprehensive communication plan
5. Choose the right technology
6. Monitor and evaluate progress
7. Celebrate and share your success

1. Have clear product owners

Having a clear and active internal champion (or champions) is important for any organizational change. Although the success or failure of P2P fundraising is not solely dependent on these individuals, they can play a significant role in driving it forward. The product owner(s) should:

• Lead cross-functional teams (see below)
• Act as the spokesperson for the product to management
• Overcome obstacles as they arise
• Integrate the product throughout the organisation

Having clear product owners provides accountability and focuses attention on the success of the channel. In the face of unexpected challenges, a spokesperson for the tool can help overcome obstacles to implementation. Adding P2P fundraising to your organization requires change, and most organizations resist change by default.

2. Establish a cross-functional team

P2P fundraising is a versatile tool that can be used across many different fundraising areas. Typically, fundraising departments are organized by specific supporter segments. However, P2P fundraising spans all of these segments, making cross-functional teams important. These teams:

• Bring together representatives from different departments, such as marketing, fundraising, and IT, to ensure a cohesive and effective P2P fundraising strategy.
• Assign roles and responsibilities to each team member, such as coordinating communications or monitoring KPIs.

Having P2P fundraising driven mainly by cross-functional teams also ensures that there is no single point of failure and that knowledge is maintained even in the face of organizational change. We have repeatedly seen that an organization loses momentum when a key person leaves and important knowledge is lost.

3. Define clear goals and KPIs

You cannot attain success if you do not know what success means. If there is no consensus on what success entails, then you do not have a shared objective to work towards.

It is, therefore, crucial to clearly articulate the objectives of the P2P fundraising channel, which could include enhancing donor engagement, acquiring new leads, or increasing fundraising revenue.

Next, you should identify and set quantifiable key performance indicators (KPIs) that align with these goals, such as the number of fundraising campaigns created or the total amount raised. You can find more ideas for KPIs to monitor and measure here.

4. Develop a comprehensive communication plan

Your supporters will only participate in fundraising when they have a reason to do so, such as a sporting event, birthday, or wedding. This means you need to continuously communicate about P2P fundraising and remind your supporters of this option, as you never know when they will have an occasion to fundraise. For this reason, you need a communication plan.

This plan is usually in the form of a calendar and can include the following for inspiration:

• Case studies of successful fundraising campaigns
• Interviews with fundraising heroes
• Upcoming events or challenges you are hosting
• Celebrations of milestones (e.g. collectively raising a certain amount)
• Social proof is extremely important, and showcasing ordinary people making a significant impact will inspire and guide your supporters and their peers.

The communication plan must be supported by your social media team and the entire communications department. It should become second nature to create these stories, and you can start by having a plan in place.

5. Choose the right technology

A surefire way to damage a new fundraising channel is if it becomes a nuisance to your organization. If the export file requires extensive data cleaning, if the bookkeeping never reconciles, if the tool does not integrate with any systems, or if donor support is overwhelmed with requests from fundraisers, then it has the potential to harm the channel.

Therefore, ensure that you select a P2P fundraising solution that integrates well and provides clean data, which finance will appreciate. Additionally, choose a system that automates processes, guides your fundraisers, and reduces the workload for you.

And here, we will go into full sales mode and mention that BetterNow is the ideal system. So make sure to include us on your list of systems to consider.

6. Monitor and evaluate progress

It's important to be ready to seize opportunities as they arise. To identify these opportunities, it's crucial to regularly review your P2P fundraising KPIs and metrics.

This will enable you to spot trends and patterns. For instance:

• If you have a notably higher average amount raised compared to your benchmark organisations, you may be able to be more assertive in seeking new fundraisers.
• If all your fundraisers are sports-related, you might have untapped potential for birthday fundraisers.
• If the average donation size is low, you might be targeting the wrong supporter segments.

Monitoring and evaluating your progress will help you make P2P fundraising a success and secure its place as an essential channel within the organisation.

7. Celebrate and share your success

When you reach your 100th fundraiser, it's time to celebrate with cake for the whole office. Don't hesitate to mark this achievement.

Shared events are an effective way to anchor strategic initiatives. Celebrations are a great example of shared events. Whenever your cross-functional team achieves its goals, involve the entire organization in a celebration. Whether you serve green smoothies or sugary cake, it doesn't matter, just make sure milestones and goals are celebrated through shared events.

Here's another idea: bring one of your best fundraisers into the office and showcase them in the canteen. Help them share their story with the whole team. Your organisation will be inspired by their support, the fundraiser will become your ambassador for life, and P2P fundraising will be firmly established throughout the organisation.

What anchoring P2P fundraising is all about

For your organisation to have a lasting impact, you need a predictable and stable income stream that allows you to commit resources to long-term projects. Ensuring that knowledge about P2P fundraising is not confined to a single individual, but is widely understood throughout the organisation, is essential to achieving your mission.