Peer-to-peer fundraising relies on high-level communication with your fundraisers and a quality fundraising platform. But what is the best peer-to-peer fundraising platform? GoFundMe is still a popular platform, but there are many others that may work better for your nonprofit. The following peer-to-peer fundraising platforms stand out because of the ease of setup, the cost, features, and more.
Your nonprofit wants to start peer-to-peer fundraising, but you don’t know where to start. This type of fundraising relies on high-level communication with your fundraisers and a quality fundraising platform. But what is the best peer-to-peer fundraising platform?
The answer to this question usually depends on your nonprofit’s needs. Peer-to-peer fundraising is a little different. Since it’s still a new fundraising form, organizations need to research the best tools in the market to find the right one for them.
The following peer-to-peer fundraising platforms stand out because of the ease of setup for organizations and fundraisers, the cost, features, and more. After learning about each platform, you can decide which is the best choice for you.
Donorbox Peer-to-Peer lets you create fundraising campaigns and turn them (with the toggle of a switch) into peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns. It takes nothing to get started – no startup or monthly costs or contracts! You can easily invite your supporters from the tool. They will receive email invitations guiding them to create their own fundraising pages and raise money for you.
Watch this tutorial video to learn more about Donorbox Peer-to-Peer fundraising platform.
You can also have a button added to your peer-to-peer fundraising page that anyone can click to start fundraising for you. You have the option to approve/reject such requests.
Here’s a successfully running peer-to-peer fundraising campaign on Donorbox. Their top fundraisers have raised nearly $5000 each for this campaign.
With Donorbox peer-to-peer fundraising platform, you can –
Donorbox also has a series of articles and resources you can use to set up a peer-to-peer campaign, use the right ideas and tips, and raise more funds online. Here’s a free course from Donorbox to help you create a stellar peer-to-peer campaign with your fundraisers.
There are no set-up costs, monthly fees, and no contracts for nonprofits to start with this peer-to-peer fundraising software. But Donorbox does charge a 1.75% donation fee for your primary campaign and a 2.95% fee for all supporters’ campaigns (unless you upgrade to the Pro Plan at $139/month, with a flat 1.5% platform fee across all fundraising tools). There is also an additional processing fee, but you can ask donors to cover these fees on Donorbox.
GoFundMe was one of the first peer-to-peer fundraising software on the web. Fundraisers create a campaign on GoFundMe with only a few clicks and can tell their story and share pictures that may encourage people to give. After creating a webpage, you can share your campaign with friends and family via email or social media.
GoFundMe is still a well-respected and well-used fundraising tool. Anyone can start a campaign. The only issue some may find with this website is the fundraising deadlines. If you don’t pay attention to these deadlines, you may lose out on some gifts.
In the past, you’d lose all gifts if you didn’t reach your fundraising goal, but GoFundMe has changed this policy. Another change GoFundMe has made is adding team fundraisers. Now, groups of individuals and teams who want to fundraise for a common goal can start a team page to raise money for one person, a group, or a charity.
There is no fee to create a fundraiser, but a 2.9% transaction fee and a $0.30 credit card processing fee are added to each donation.
Bonfire is different from other peer-to-peer fundraising software on this list because of how they raise funds. This platform lets nonprofits create custom t-shirts and sell products to raise more money.
Your supporters can start t-shirt fundraisers connected to your nonprofit and help you raise more money.
With this online peer-to-peer fundraising platform, you can –
Bonfire ships t-shirts directly to donors, so your nonprofit does not have inventory or additional shipping costs. There are also no startup fees, and donation fees drop from 8% to 3.5% with a nonprofit badge with each gift.
Everyone knows a picture is worth a thousand words, and Fundly stands out from others on this list thanks to its photo and video gallery on each campaign page. Nonprofits and fundraisers can create an interactive slideshow that encourages donors to participate.
This peer-to-peer fundraising platform has a mobile app on the Apple store and provides exceptional support for nonprofits with regular emails sent to walk you through the setup process. You’ll also receive a notification whenever anything happens.
Fundly also automatically updates your organization’s news feed on Facebook with each update you add to your campaign page.
Fundly has a 4.9% platform fee for individuals (0% for nonprofits) and a 2.9% + $0.30 credit card processing fee. No minimum donation is required to receive payments, and Stripe processes all payments in seven days.
CauseVox was started by two guys out of their apartment working for a cause, much like the nonprofits that use its tool. CauseVox’s peer-to-peer fundraising software stands out because of the options included for volunteer fundraisers.
Volunteers can build teams to raise money for a shared goal and create a customized vanity domain to make the page easy to share.
Each nonprofit peer-to-peer campaign includes –
The price for the basic plan is a $0 platform fee + processing fees for unlimited peer-to-peer fundraising pages. Other tools like custom branding, custom domains, team fundraising, P2P registration fees, and other email branding cost more.
Bloomerang is one of the pricier options on the list, but the features they offer stand out. Bloomerang’s mobile app lets you track donations, send thank-you notes, and perform donor research on your iPhone. This peer-to-peer fundraising platform includes the peer-to-peer fundraising option to help donors create fundraising pages and invite team members to raise more money for you.
Bloomerang also integrates with third-party platforms like Quickbooks, Shopify, and Constant Contact. It has a highly efficient donor database helping you turn first-time donors from your peer-to-peer fundraising campaign into long-term supporters.
Nonprofits choose a plan based on the number of donors. If your database has 1,000 donors and sends up to 5,000 emails, fees are $99 a month.
Classy started with a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign, and that has been their focus with nonprofits for years. Individuals and teams can create campaigns to raise funds for nonprofits.
Classy’s campaign pages are visually stunning and help organizations and individuals highlight their passions. Fundraisers can add photos, videos, content, and individual appeals to raise more money and awareness.
This peer-to-peer fundraising software makes it easy to edit campaign pages and provides tips and coaching to help fundraisers meet their goals. Nonprofits can easily see the results of their campaigns and encourage donors with comments and updates shared on campaign pages and social media.
Classy provides custom prices for your nonprofit. Go to their website to discuss pricing plans.
Donately’s peer-to-peer fundraising pages meld the nonprofit’s page with each fundraiser to create a clear call to action that each volunteer personalizes. Their fundraising starter kit helps organizations and fundraisers customize campaign forms and integrate them with third-party sources.
Their peer-to-peer feature includes the following:
There is a free startup plan with a 4% platform fee on donations. Higher-priced packages give nonprofits more form themes, customization, and text message engagement to use on peer-to-peer fundraising and other campaigns.
OneCause peer-to-peer fundraising platform provides several resources for nonprofit peer-to-peer fundraising, from blog posts to eBooks and campaign suggestions. Its motivation and rewards feature helps nonprofits create leader boards, milestone badges, social suggestions and hashtags, and other contests to encourage more participation.
Other features that stand out include
OneCause’s peer-to-peer fundraising plans start with the Essentials Package which includes everything but additional integrations. Nonprofits must schedule a consultation for prices.
You may be surprised to see Grassroots Unwired on this list, but their door-to-door fundraising style can add much-needed personalization to your peer-to-peer campaign. This peer-to-peer fundraising platform works with nonprofits, political campaigns, labor unions, and homeless census organizations.
Grassroots Unwired was created to help those who go door to door to collect funds or advocate for a cause. Volunteers can raise funds, collect donor information, and share details about the organization with a simple hand-held tool.
Nonprofits can use the peer-to-peer texting app to email follow-up messages. They have safe and secure payment features, canvasser tools to help your team reach more, multilingual scripts, and real-time reporting to keep everyone on the same page. This is an exceptional peer-to-peer fundraising platform for organizations and volunteers based around the country.
Grassroots Unwired does not include prices on its website, but nonprofits can sign up to request a demo and find the best options for their organization.
The following 6 features are necessary when looking at peer-to-peer fundraising software.
Most online peer-to-peer fundraising software will let you sign up for a demo and decide for yourself if it works for your needs. You need to grab this opportunity. This session will help you understand how easy it is for you to set up a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign on this platform.
Also, make it a point to think of how convenient the tool would be for your fundraisers.
You can’t just contact them and expect them to raise money without training. And that too should not be a headache for them. Choose a peer-to-peer fundraising platform that guides people to create and customize campaign pages. You should always provide training but most people should get it anyway.
On Donorbox, your fundraisers are guided every step of the way. The tool is simple to use and there are instructions to help them go through it on their own. We also have a weekly 30-minute live demo for which you can book your seat to learn about our tool and features.
Peer-to-peer fundraising relies on supporters to spread the word about your organization. And as they share their individual campaign pages, most of their connections would open these pages on their mobile devices. Your peer-to-peer fundraising platform must ensure a mobile-friendly UI for all pages.
It’s not the primary peer-to-peer campaign that needs customization. All your peer campaigns must also be personalized as per individual fundraisers. They should be able to add their personal story, picture, other images, and videos.
Your fundraisers must also be able to set their individual fundraising goals. This helps them feel comfortable about raising money without additional stress.
See how this fundraiser has customized her fundraising page with her own story and her picture to successfully meet her fundraising goal for this peer-to-peer fundraising campaign.
Even the most technically savvy volunteer won’t know how to work with a new peer-to-peer fundraising platform. A few on our list have gone out of their way to provide resources like blog posts, videos, and free courses explaining how to create campaign pages that work.
Nonetheless, you and your fundraisers may need more support. Be sure to choose a peer-to-peer platform that offers customer support and is there for your organization whenever a snag pops up.
The Donorbox customer support team is there for you every step of the way. Just let us know what help you need and we’ll get back to you at the earliest.
Also, we have a webinar guide to help you get started with Donorbox Peer-to-Peer (along with tips and ideas, and more).
In case you need more help, we’re always there for you.
Your fundraisers should not have difficulty sharing their individual pages on social media. Your peer-to-peer fundraising platform should include social media sharing buttons to help quickly share these campaigns online. This reduces time and effort on their part and helps them do more to raise money for your cause.
It also helps donors and other visitors quickly share these campaigns online and spread the word even further.
Donorbox peer-to-peer fundraising pages include buttons to easily share fundraiser campaigns with their social media network. Here’s how it works –
Start a Peer-to-Peer Campaign on Donorbox
Peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns have great potential for getting you in touch with new donors and potential supporters. Hence, your peer-to-peer fundraising platform should collect donor information from all peer campaigns as well as your primary campaign to help you create and maintain donor relationships.
It should securely collect and store all personal information and help you manage this data for more effectiveness.
Donorbox’s Donor Management tool helps you achieve all this without any hassle. You can manage this donor information, add more details, track communication notes, segment donor data to personalize communication, and also get triggered notifications on important moments. We also have a reporting module to help you create in-depth reports on your donor data.
We also let you integrate with leading CRM tools like Salesforce, HubSpot, Blackbaud RE NXT, etc. to sync up donor and donation data on both ends and use it for more significant needs.
Now that you’ve seen several peer-to-peer fundraising software options, you have a better idea of what’s available. As you research many platforms, define your organization’s fundraising goals and decide which tools will help you meet them.
As a nonprofit, your first focus is often your budget. Thankfully, many options on this list are affordable for any size organization. If your nonprofit is looking for a quality option at little cost, Donorbox prides itself on giving nonprofits several fundraising tools for no startup or monthly fee. Learn more about our features and how your nonprofit can raise the needed funds.
Donorbox Premium is a success package designed for nonprofits willing to level up their fundraising and donor acquisition efforts. You get a dedicated account manager, expert coaching services, a set of powerful tools for your organization, and priority tech support. Pricing will be personalized for every nonprofit!
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Kristine Ensor is a freelance writer with over a decade of experience working with local and international nonprofits. As a nonprofit professional she has specialized in fundraising, marketing, event planning, volunteer management, and board development.
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Kristine Ensor