Image via CrowdCrux.com
Fundraising is about more than donors giving dollars. It’s about getting supporters to donate their social networks. That’s what nonprofit crowdfunding and peer-to-peer fundraising are about.
Fund drives, 5Ks, and golf outings bring together beneficiaries, donors, board members, and staff. These events invite community involvement, and they generate buzz about your organization, both of which are crucial to better and broader fundraising down the line.
But galas and golf days are time-consuming and costly, and there are only so many large-scale campaigns and events a nonprofit can handle each year.
Consider Nonprofit Crowdfunding
Fun Fact: The online fundraising platform GoFundMe is soon be the largest giving organization in the world, even larger than the Gates Foundation, according to GoFundMe CEO Rob Solomon.
Sites like GoFundMe, YouCaring, and CrowdRise create low-cost and far-reaching fundraising opportunities. New and long-time donors can give with the click of a button, plus your organization can see what works and what doesn’t when it comes to motivating donors—well before those big events.
Check out these resources and make your next crowdfunding campaign fail-safe:
Crowdfunding for Nonprofits: Answers to five common questions about launching a crowdfunding campaign – Stanford Social Innovation Review
How to Plan a Nonprofit Crowdfunding Campaign – CauseVox ebook
Grow Your Donor Base with Crowdfunding – MobileCause webinar
Peer-to-Peer-to-Peer
Sure, you want everyone on your email list to donate. Some may even be able to reach into their own wallets and give big.
But there’s a bigger and more reliable opportunity here—getting these supporters to donate their social networks.
Social networking is not new. Nonprofits have been doing it for years with walks, galas, and Girl Scout cookie campaigns.
What is new is the technology that ignites social networking. New apps make it easy for your nonprofit to methodically and strategically build a wider and wider base of support, at lower and lower costs.
Like crowdfunding, peer-to-peer (P2P) fundraising is one of these technology-powered tools. Think of crowdfunding and P2P fundraising as the hammer and the saw to technology-powered approaches that build your nonprofit’s supportive social networks.
SalsaLabs’ Essential Guide to Peer-to-Peer Fundraising for Nonprofits details everything from the difference between choice and open campaigns to how to fuel your campaign superstars.
CauseVox offers communications strategy and concept development tips, and Classy points out the Achilles hell of crowdfunding: lofty expectations.