Evaluating Peer to Peer Fundraising Software

Peer to peer fundraising is a great opportunity for non-profit organizations to raise donations from a wider pool of donors. Both proprietary events and do-it-yourself (DIY) campaigns peer-to-peer fundraising democratize philanthropy. To maximize this opportunity organizations need a checklist when evaluating peer to peer fundraising software

One individual fundraiser can raise more money for your organization than one major donor. One influence on your fundraisers’ success is the fundraising platform you provide. A good platform at a minimum supports the ability of participants to register, spread the word (email/social media) and accept donations.

We suggest four areas to consider when evaluating peer to peer fundraising software. Collectively the areas provide the opportunity to better engage with fundraisers and donors. Also, these areas minimize staff efforts to run the fundraising campaign. So they have more time to maximize donation and sponsorship opportunities.

The four areas we suggest are:

Branding / Design
Registration Process
3rd Party Integrations
Return on Investment = software cost / revenue raised

In this blog, we highlight the first two of the four areas for you to use when evaluating peer to peer fundraising software.

Branding / Design

Your fundraising platform is an extension of your organization. Branding and design are your number one opportunity to make an emotional connection with supporters. A primary focus for your organization is optimizing your brand messaging.

The URL, the site pages, and site communications need to highlight your brand message. Critical aspects of a well-branded and designed fundraising site contain the following at a minimum:

Logo(s) and color palette of choice on-site and in communication templates
The color palette of the organization available for font and background colors
White label URL (myorganization.org)
Your images and videos embeddable into the site pages
Page text is editable by you, so your message is conveyed your way.

Registration Process

An overlooked and underutilized opportunity to engage supporters is the registration process. A registration form is often used as a means to an end, versus a chance to engage.

The registration process needs to ask your participants to complete the process with a minimal number of keystrokes. The easier your registration process, the fewer registration abandonments. Additionally, your staff will spend less time supporting registrants.

A friendly registration process leads to a better mindset by participants to fundraise. User-friendly registration processes include:

The end of registration provides an automated confirmation email with profile details.
The end of registration provides an automatically created fundraising page.
The registration form allows you to ask as few or as many questions as you desire
The registration form allows you to label questions with your desired language.
Adding custom questions to the registration form is an option.
Adding e-commerce capability or merchandise collection info to the registration form is an option.

SUMMARY

We highlighted branding/design and registration, two out of the four areas to consider when evaluating peer to peer fundraising software to better engage with fundraisers and supporters while minimizing staff efforts to run a fundraising campaign. Our next blog will highlight the remaining two areas: third-party integrations and return on investment.

Peer to Peer Fundraising software can be simple. It can be easy to use, saving you time. Most importantly, SWEET! by Blue Sky is priced to fit. Let us know how we can help you experience Simple. Easy. Yes!