Thursday March 12- P2P campaigns

Hi !

Peter: What’s cookin this week 

In this week’s enews…

• The poll: How do you eat cereal?

• Who are friendraisers?

• Providing friendraisers the tools for success

• Stories and outcomes

• Great post: Donor experience and retention

• Three things you didn’t know

• P.S. An excellent tweet!

The solution to the Triple E (enews easter egg) from last week: Names of defunct airlines. It’s a long list. Trust me.

Personal note: Me and the kids are safe and sound. Thanks to everyone who reached out!

We’re in event season. Lots of organizations planning events, running events, making a push for donations.

One type of fundraising that can be very successful is peer to peer (P2P) or as I like to call it, friendraising. Friendraising can generate lots of revenue for your nonprofit but only if you provide help to your friendraisers.

Let’s dive into what real P2P campaign success looks like.

Cindy: Your friendraisers

You see them everywhere: People raising money for a charity close to their heart. Could be for their birthday, in memory of someone or as part of a coordinated event. We have all received messages and emails from people we know asking us to donate to these friendraising campaigns.

These friendraisers should be part of your diversified fundraising portfolio! Your friendraisers are gonna use their personal network- family, friends, colleagues, work buddies etc.- to raise awareness and X dollars to help your organization.

When approached by friends or family, 75% of donors are more inclined to give. They feel the ask is more personal, more one-to-one. They know the person asking- which means the organization has been vetted and given that person’s seal of approval.

Additionally, consider that friendraising is extremely popular with younger people. According to the Classy “Why America Gives” report from a couple of years ago, younger people were 2.7 times more likely to host an individual fundraising page on behalf of an organization they support.

Bottom line: A P2P ask is a valuable part of any event/campaign.

Asking people to host a friendraiser for you? They want to so that’s the “easy” part. The pain point? What YOU have to provide them in order for their mini campaign to be successful.

Just asking people to participate in your marathon and raise a minimum of X isn’t enough. You must provide them with the tools to successfully hit their fundraising goal.

What does that include?

Greg: The tools for friendraiser success

Your organization should have an online toolkit prepared in advance for people hosting a friendraiser for you. (I urge you to take a look at this page on the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation website. This page is dedicated to those who want to host a friendraiser. Look what they provide- everything needed to get started and host a successful event!)

Here is a list of things that your friendraiser online toolkit should include:

Logo: Your official logo and/or the event/campaign logo. Suggest friendraisers use it on the official donation page.

Mission statement: Provide friendraisers with your mission statement and a little more information (no longer than a paragraph) which helps answer the W questions:

• Who are you?

• What do you do?

• Who do you help?

• Where do you operate?

• How do you help those who need it?

Event info: Date, time, place, links (how to give, how to attend/join/sign up)

Messaging and language: Do you have specific language you’d like friendraisers to consider using? Share that with them. Additionally, provide them with suggested language to use for social media posts, emails and texts. Make it easy for your friendraisers to get the word out!

Pictures, images, video: Share some relevant pictures and images for friendraisers to use on their fundraising page, in social media posts and email. Same goes for videos they can embed. Make sure to add captions so people understand what the image depicts.

Stories: Provide a few success stories that friendraisers can consider sharing, so that donors can see the impact your organization is having in the community.

Donation impact: It’s not enough for friendraisers to ask for money! Give them the impact of dollar donation X and let them share that. Your online donation page (if that’s where friendraisers are directing people to give) should also include the impact for the various amounts you list.

Tax receipt info: Donors will want to know that your organization is a registered nonprofit, that a receipt will be provided etc. Make people feel at ease giving to an organization they may have never heard of before.

Gratitude assistance: Give your friendraiser’s language they can use to thank donors. Share a sample email/message that they can quickly edit and send.

Remember: Family and friends of your friendraisers may not be familiar with your organization. Make sure your friendraisers have what they need to not only inform but, just as important, to mobilize their network to take action.

Want more inspiration? Take a look at this page from Plan International Canada. Check out the different options for friendraisers and all the resources they provide. This is how ya do it!

If your organization has a ready to go toolkit for friendraisers, I’d love to see it. Please reply to this email with a link. Thanks!

Jan: Well said!

I ask for feedback because I want to hear from you. From time to time I’m gonna share some of the feedback you send- positive or negative- because I wanna shine a spotlight on my favorite people: My subscriber community!

A couple of weeks ago I asked for your opinion on an article that discussed whether “facts tell, stories sell” was the best fundraising advice or not.

Thank you to everyone who responded!

I very much liked what subscriber Michael said: “I think stories sell, outcomes sell is closer to the mark. Use a story to lead into the compelling facts about need and outcomes. Use the small picture to illuminate the big picture. Stories grab attention and complement the facts.”

Doris added very smartly: “A heartfelt story definitely gets attention and funds. People donate. Then what? If we follow up with facts about how their donation helped the cause, your lovely donors engagement level ramps up and you build cred for the next ask.”

I highly suggest reading this response to the original post above by fundraising expert Claire Axelrad. Get both sides of the issue!

Bobby: A little of this and that

In this section I’m going to share with you great content I’ve picked out that you can learn from.

1. The peaks, donor experience and boosting retention. MUST READ!!! (Apollo Fundraising)

2. Follow the fundraising formula (Ann Green)

3. How to write impact stories that generate giving (DonorPerfect)

4. How to perform a website audit (Wired Impact)

5. How to build loyalty, not just donations (The Nonprofit Maven)

Marcia: Three things you didn’t know… but now do

Here are some things you may not know but was looking for the answer to.

1) The 15 best museums in the U.S. you had no idea existed

2) How to properly clean a water bottle

3) What gets left on New Jersey beaches

SOTW (Song of the week): This week I listened to The Ketchup Song by Las Ketchup on an endless loop while composing the enews. Don’t ask why. But I now know the dance to the chorus! (And no, I will not be posting a video of me dancing. That would break the Internet!)

I’ll be back in your inbox next Thursday. Have a great weekend!

P.S. This is just an excellent tweet!