Giving Tuesday is upon us! On this day, we do good, we give, we fundraise, and we bring people together to support the causes that are dear to them. On this day we share the message and spirit of generosity.
This year, we strongly recommend that your nonprofit focus on social media fundraising. If your nonprofit organization sent fundraising mailers or emails in the past couple of weeks, chances are that it got crowded out in a barrage of campaign mailers and emails. Now that the elections are behind us, plus the fact that social distancing has seriously curtailed in-person fundraising events, peer-to-peer fundraising is arguably the best fundraising tool available.
As it is said, ‘the function of leadership is to create more leaders’, so too the function of successful fundraising campaigns or fundraisers must be to build a network of fundraisers. One very effective method of accomplishing this is through peer-to-peer fundraising.
First a reminder of what peer-to-peer fundraising is all about. Peer-to-peer fundraising is simply a fundraising campaign that is aimed at peers reaching out to each other on behalf of a cause. Peer-to-peer fundraising gives nonprofit organizations and fundraisers the opportunity to recruit more donors, thereby widening their overall reach.
Peer-to-peer fundraising makes the most of limited resources through recruiting an army of current, as well as new, supporters. Nonprofits usually raise more through peer-to-peer fundraising than other fundraising means.
Start with your current supporters and create a friendly competition for them to reach out to their social media friends and create their own network of fundraisers. Facebook is perfectly set up for this. Facebook has tools for its users to create their own fundraisers and set fundraising goals with a fundraising thermometer of their individual goals and progress. Create a leaderboard to highlight fundraisers with the largest fundraising teams in real-time.
Go a step further by helping your fundraising team in the following ways:
The mistake your nonprofit could make is to focus solely on Giving Tuesday. Giving Tuesday should not be regarded as a one-day fundraising campaign, but rather the start of a longer campaign. Build on Giving Tuesday to turn it into a Giving Week, or even a Giving Month.
It is true that coronavirus has seriously curtailed your fundraising efforts and even the ability of donors to give. However, it does give you an opportunity to make it the centerpiece of your fundraising narrative, and rightly so as nonprofit organizations are the de facto boots on the ground.
As always make sure your nonprofit is in compliance with state fundraising laws. If you have any questions as to where or when fundraising registration might be required, contact us.
Written by Franklin Asongwe