Marketing a Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Campaign

Marketing a Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Campaign to Drive Engagement

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Who We Are

Mike Spear Sean Chisholm Taylor Corrado

What is Peer-to-Peer Fundraising?

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.

Single-Tier Crowdfunding

Examples:

• Kickstarter

• Indiegogo

• Online Donation Forms

Multi-Tier Crowdfunding (P2P)

• Supporters create individual fundraising pages tied to a campaign.

• Share pages online with friends and family to request donations.

Why Does P2P Work So Well?

“People don’t give to causes,they give to people…”

The Power of Social Media

• Average FB user has 262 friends

• Leverage personal relationships to increase reach

• Vehicle for self-expression

• Engage younger supporters

P2P By the Numbers

On Average:

• $568 per active page

• 7 donors per page

• 4 new donors per page

P2P By the Numbers

Team Rubicon:

• 73 Active Fundraisers

• 960 Donors

• $156,000 Raised

Main Benefits:

• Reach exponentially more people

• Raise exponentially more money

• Acquire exponentially more donors

The Two Main Types of P2P:

• “Rolling” (year-round) Peer-to-Peer

• Time-Based Campaigns

“Rolling” Peer-2-Peer

• Year-Round

• Revolves Around Supporter’s Life Events

• Supporters choose how and why they fundraise

• Inbound Marketing

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

All Campaigns Work in Concert

Campaign #1

Campaign #2

Campaign #3Campaign #4

Campaign #5

Rolling P2P

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!

Phases of the Campaign

Plan Recruit Engage Finish

2 weeks 5 weeks 1 week

The Planning Phase

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

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?

Campaign Theme- Outcome Driven

• Result dictates theme

• Tangible Impact

• Inflexible use of Funds

New Program Texting with Counselors

“Texting to Save Lives”

Donation Amounts Correlated with Impact

Campaign Theme- Activity Driven

• Theme= Mission + Activity

• Participatory in nature

• Mental quid pro quo

“Hearing Loss Stinks”

Wear Your Stink Week Shirt

Challenge drives Participation & Donations

Designing the Campaign Page

• Campaign theme highlighted

• Page compliments other marketing assets

• Evocative images and videos for emotional connection

Designing the Fundraising Page

• Carry over the branding

• Understand in under 30 seconds

• A short 1 minute video can help create an emotional connection

Designing the Checkout Page

• Why does all of this branding matter?

• 38% larger average donations

• Maximize conversions across the pages

Campaign Incentives

• Gear and other “schwag”

• Recognition

• Increased Impact

• Don’t crowd out generosity

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

The Recruiting Phase

The Soft & Hard Launch

Plan Recruit Engage Finish

Soft Launch Hard Launch

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”

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

The Results

0-33% 33-66% 66-100%

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

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

Launching Your Campaign

• M+R Study: 180 Appeals from 9 national organizations

• 4x Response Rate, ~2X Average Donation Size

• Email #1- Direct CTA to Join

• Email #2- Story w/ Link to Blog

• Email #3- Quick Email, Direct CTA

Rebuilding a Community this Holiday Season

Dear Joe,

Our Neighbors in Everytown, were visited by tragedy a few months ago when a tornado tore through their community. Along with the tragic loss of life, the town’s school was completely destroyed by the storm.

We are rallying our community together this Holiday season to raise the money needed to rebuild the school. Together we can make a huge difference in the lives of our neighbors and their children. What do you say, will you create a fundraising page and become a part of the movement?

I’m In- Create My Page!

- Your Friends at Neighborhood Action

Opening Email Series

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

The Engagement Phase

“Love the one you’re with…”

Segmenting Communications

Plan Recruit Engage Finish

Soft Launch Hard Launch

2 weeks 5 weeks 1 week

Final Activation Email

The Basic Segmentation:

• “Active Fundraisers”- Raised at least $1 • “Inactive Fundraisers”- Raised $0

Shift in Focus

Give Your Power Fundraisers Some Love

• What’s a power fundraiser?

• Personal emails and phone calls

• Let them know their impact

8 week Campaign to Fund the “Protection Plan”

32,000 Fundraising Pages Created

Over $1,700,000Raised

The Mid Campaign Blues

The dip is inevitable.

It’s your job to power the campaign through it

Using Content to Keep Inspiration High

• Personal stories of those helped

• Stories from your fundraisers

• Campaign updates

• Video addresses from leaders in your organization

• Anything funny, inspiring, engaging…

What?

Using Content to Keep Inspiration High

How?

• Blog

• Email 1 or 2 per week

• Social Media >1 per day

• Direct to Fundraising Pages

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

The Finish Phase

This is the Grand Finale

• Focus efforts on your most active fundraisers

• Two email closing series

• Build a crescendo

• Ex: 25 Campaign

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

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

THANK YOU!

End Credits

Mike Spearmike@stayclassy.org

Sean Chisholmsean@stayclassy.org

Taylor Corradotcorrado@hubspot.com

Image Credits:http://www.flickr.com/photos/newyorkdistrict-usace/5957560873/sizes/m/http://www.flickr.com/photos/energy2024/8542344036/sizes/m/http://www.kickstarter.com/blog/shortening-the-maximum-project-lengthhttp://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/

Reports & Studies:http://www.forbes.com/sites/rogerdooley/2012/08/08/donor-gifts/http://labs.mrss.com/online-fundraising-tactics-what-works/http://www.onlinegivingstudy.org/