MANY: INDIVIDUAL & TEAM FUNDRAISING - CauseVox · 13 THE POWER OF ONE + MANY: INDIVIDUAL & TEAM...

THE POWER OF ONE + MANY: INDIVIDUAL & TEAM FUNDRAISING

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CONTENTS

4 Refresher: Basics of Peer-to-Peer Fundraising

8 Individual Personal FundraisingWhat’s your story?

Now, the hard part: fundraising

18 Team Fundraising

21 Bringing It In

25 Trends & Best Practices

27 Peer-to-Peer Fundraising on CauseVox

CauseVox is a crowdfunding and peer-to-peer fundraising platform for nonprofits and social good projects.

www.causevox.com



3 THE POWER OF ONE + MANY: INDIVIDUAL & TEAM FUNDRAISING

You may not have known it then, but the first time you went door to door selling chocolate and gift wrap, you were doing peer-to-peer (P2P) fundraising. And when you participated in your first Relay for Life or MS walk or similar event, you were combining individual fundraising with team fundraising. Twenty or 30 years ago, or even just 10 years ago,

P2P fundraising and crowdfunding were new and

interesting concepts to help nonprofits raise money

for their cause and grow their supporter base – now,

it’s hard to find an organization that doesn’t use it.

According to research firm massolution, the

crowdfunding market grew 167% globally in 2014,

and raised $16.2B; donation-based crowdfunding

alone grew 45%, and social causes was the second most active category of crowdfunding, making up

nearly 19% of the share, right after business and

entrepreneurship. This is great news for the nonprofit

industry, which is increasingly using crowdfunding

as a development strategy in addition to traditional

fundraising models.

We’ve written other eBooks explaining the

basics of P2P fundraising, providing a roadmap to

help you get started if you’re new to this approach.

But it’s time to get down to the details.

This eBook will give you specific strategies, case

studies from successful campaigns, and tactics to

be inspired by and apply to your own individual

and team fundraising. We’ll break down the story

and message, fundraising tools and techniques,

and best practices and trends. Ultimately, we want

you to walk away being able to put a plan into

action that works with your nonprofit’s mission,

goals, and community.

http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/crowdfunding-market-grows-167-2014-crowdfunding-platforms-raise-162-billion-finds-research-2005299.htm

http://resources.causevox.com/ebook/ultimate-guide-peer-to-peer-fundraising

THE POWER OF ONE + MANY: INDIVIDUAL & TEAM FUNDRAISING � REFREsHER: BAsics OF PEER-TO-PEER FuNdRAisiNg 4

REFREsHER: BASICS OF

PEER-TO-PEER FUNDRAISING


In case you need a little more context as to why individual and team (P2P) fundraising has become such an important strategy for many charities, or for individual causes, it boils down to the three Rs:RELATIONSHIPS. Traditional fundraising requires significant

investments of time, money, and effort by nonprofit staff. Best

practices follow a more drawn out communications plan and

timeline. But peer-to-peer fundraising exponentially grows

your audience in much less time by tapping into your current

supporters’ respective networks and relationships.

RESOURCES. Nonprofits generally feel more constraints on their

time, budget, and staff. P2P fundraising removes some of that

burden as your army of supporters takes on the heavy lifting,

spreading your message far and wide in creative and personal

ways. Now you can focus on other elements like partnerships,

content, or events.

REACH. When your tribe of advocates champion your cause and

raise funds, they’ll start with their family, friends, and colleagues.

Your story and mission will then spread to the next level and the

next, reaching new audiences in one of the most effective and

enduring forms of marketing—word of mouth.

Peer-to-Peer Fundraising

RELATIOSHIPS

Peer-to-peer Fundraising

RESOURCES REACH


And while there are many approaches to P2P fundraising, here are the three most

common approaches implemented by nonprofits and individuals:

CAMPAIGNS. Campaigns run for a

fixed period of time and have an

overall fundraising or impact goal.

Fundraisers participate by setting a

personal fundraising goal towards the

overall goal.

Examples:

¢ Save the library from shutting

down

¢ $10k for cancer research

¢ Funds for disaster relief

PERSONAL. This type of P2P fundraiser

focuses on milestones, individual

commitments or goals, or supporting

someone in need.

Examples:

¢ Birthdays for a cause

¢ Movember (grow a beard for

charity)

¢ In honor of or in memory of

memorial funds

ACTIVITY. This approach centers on

events such as marathons or walkathons

that encourage physical participation

and team fundraising.

Examples:

¢ Run, walk, or race

¢ Dance-a-thon

http://www.causevox.com/features/personal-team-fundraising/


Of course, you need to determine if P2P is the right fundraising model for

you. A few questions to consider before moving forward:

¢ Do you or does your nonprofit have a particularly unique story element that would resonate through a P2P fundraising campaign?

¢ Do you need to raise a large amount of funds in a short amount of time?

¢ Is there a strong tie-in to an event, holiday, crisis, or current news/pop culture that would benefit from a P2P campaign?

¢ Are you looking to grow your community in new ways?

¢ Is your audience more inclined to be ambassadors for your cause?

So let’s imagine you’ve made your decision, and you’re going to

use P2P fundraising. Now let’s dive into what that may look like.

It’s time to get started.

THE POWER OF ONE + MANY: INDIVIDUAL & TEAM FUNDRAISING � iNdividuAl PERsONAl FuNdRAisiNg 8

INDIVIDUAL PERSONAL

FuNdRAisiNg


One person raising money for a cause may sound like a drop in the proverbial bucket, but there are dozens of examples of individuals who have started with a $10 donation and then ultimately raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to meet or surpass their goal. The idea that one person can make a difference in the world isn’t just a saying — it’s a proven fact at this point. So often these days, one person’s inspiring story or challenge motivates

people near and far to show support, and more than ever, with the

help of technology and social media — for people you’ve never met.

If 10-year-old Charlotte in Minnesota decides to raise $5,000 to

provide shoes for children at a local homeless shelter, one tweet

and a local news story later, she may end up raising $25,000 from

thousands of donors across the country and even around the world.

Or if Ben decides to run across the U.S. to raise money for wounded

veterans, he may get support from more than just his parents and

close friends – perhaps the nonprofit he’s fundraising for may jump

on board with a campaign, and veterans and their families from all

50 states will contribute everything from donations and running

gear, to food and shelter. These examples show the power of one.


What’s your story?As you can see, the personal story and

message are the keys to a powerful individual

fundraising campaign; perhaps even more

so than for other campaigns. A single person

trying to raise funds for a cause and meet a

goal can be very compelling.

RELEVANT ISSUE

THEORY OF CHANGE

PERSONAL CONNECTION

TANGIBLE IMPACTGOOD

STORY

The Makings of a Good Story


So, what’s in a good story? Here are the necessities:

Problem/Challenge � Theory of change � Solution

When creating a fundraising campaign, it’s important to lay out the issue, how and why it should be changed, and how you will help to address it. Just as all stories have a beginning, middle, and end, potential donors need to see that in a fundraising campaign.

Example:

¢ Problem: Jane’s husband returned from a tour of duty in Iraq with a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Jane wants to raise funds to help support veterans like her husband, and their families.

¢ Theory of change: Jane hopes that she will bring awareness to a growing need as more soldiers are coming home with TBI, but there aren’t enough resources to address it.

¢ Solution: Jane plans to complete a mini triathlon in every state, and wants to raise $2,000 for each one. The funds will go to a nonprofit that supports veterans and their families through physical therapy and counseling.

Get there: ask the big picture questions to find your beginning, middle, and end of your story: What is the problem, how can things be changed, and what’s the way to change it?


Personal Connection to a Cause

It can’t get any more personal: Jane wants to raise funds to help find support for her husband, and for other families in their situation.

Get there: find a way to make the cause you believe in direct and personal.

Relevant and Timely Issue

Support and care for current military members and veterans is a hot issue in our country. The Veterans Affairs scandal and growing concern over PTSD, sexual assault, and TBI make this an extremely relevant and resonant issue for a fundraising campaign.

Get there: do some research. Is the issue you want to support in the news? What are the current stories? How can you add to it?

Tangible Impact Metric

You may have a great story and a wonderful cause to support, but you also need to attach the funds to an outcome. The money Jane raises will pay for physical therapy and counseling for veterans and their families dealing with TBI.

Get there: again, do your research. The more you can directly connect donations to impact and outcome, the better. Provide multiple levels if possible. Don’t just use a vague statement of “supports X issue.”

http://www.causevox.com/blog/impact-metric/


Even if you are fundraising for a cause as part of an organization’s official

fundraising campaign, a personal story can make all the difference to

show the theory of change in action, and to illustrate the deep impact that

can be made on an individual. Agape, an Indiana-based nonprofit that

uses horse therapy and equine-experiences to cultivate personal growth,

hosted their third annual Drive to Ride fundraising campaign in spring

of 2015, with a goal of raising $18,000 to pay for lessons for their clients.

They ended up bringing in more than $20,000 to pay for 100 lessons. A

blog post on their fundraiser site written by the vice chair of their board

is a great example of personal storytelling for a cause (excerpt below):

“Horses taught me how to care for another living thing, how to get back up after I had taken a fall and that hard work paid off… This is what drew me to Agape - the fact that life can be changed, molded and improved because of a relationship with a 1,500 pound animal. I’ve seen horses help with balance, speech, confidence, trust, memory and the list goes on.”

The author is vulnerable, honest, and almost intimate with her story.

Perhaps the most important element of her post is how she explains

the long-lasting impact of her childhood experiences with horses.

While a donation to the campaign may cover just a lesson now, it

can fuel a lifetime of memories and growth for one person.

Learn more about how to create compelling stories for your personal fundraising

campaigns from our eBook: Hollywood Storylines for Nonprofit Crowdfunding.

http://resources.causevox.com/ebook/hollywood-storylines-nonprofit-storytelling


Now, the hard part: fundraisingOnce the story is nailed down, it’s time to get to work bringing in

donations. For an individual, there are more potential challenges to

spreading the word and meeting a fundraising goal, but again, the idea

that a single person is tackling an issue for a solution resonates with

people in a way that sometimes a team fundraiser may not.

Setting up a donation website and sending out a couple of batches of

emails and posting on Facebook doesn’t cut it in this day and age, when

thousands of people are competing for attention and funds. At its most

basic level, fundraising can be tough: it’s intimidating for the person

asking, and it can be intrusive to the person being asked. So how can

nonprofits help individuals raising funds on their behalf so that their

experience is fun and rewarding?


Make it Experiential

Sure, you could let people email their friends and family to raise a few hundred bucks

and call it a day, but that’s not going to create true engagement and connection for either

the fundraiser or his/her donors. So why not build in an experience that’s part of the

challenge? A few ideas:

¢ Create a one-time virtual and/or physical event to coincide with the fundraising

timeline

¢ Send goodies and kits with relevant items to help fundraisers complete their challenge and as incentive

¢ Establish a set of tasks, projects, or mini challenges for the length of the campaign

(like WOD for Water did with their daily Crossfit workout)

¢ Tie the problem you’re trying to change to the fundraising challenge: Charity

Science’s Experience Poverty campaign asks fundraisers to get sponsored to

live on less than $2.50 a day for three days. Once you sign up, you get guides,

recommendations on food, and a suggestion to take the challenge to the next level.

http://www.causevox.com/blog/mark-whitehead-wod-for-water/

http://experiencepoverty.causevox.com/


Make it Educational

In crowdfunding, many donors give to someone because they know them, not

because they necessarily know about the issue or organization. So how can you

educate your fundraisers and their donors through the course of a campaign?

¢ Provide plenty of background information about your nonprofit and the problem

you’re trying to solve in a consumable, shareable, and easy to access format:

downloadable toolkits, infographics, fact sheets, etc. (We like how the Center for

FaithJustice went all out with a 18-page toolkit for their HungerWorkx campaign,

complete with links to recipes and tips for living on a SNAP budget, daily spiritual

reflections, and email fundraising templates.)

¢ Create opportunities to educate your fundraisers through webinars, events, trainings, video series, and more (Experience Poverty sets up 1-on-1 Skype

sessions with fundraisers). Encourage them to then pass that knowledge on to

potential donors in a creative and fun way.

¢ Connect fundraising achievements with new facts, stories, and opportunities: the more they raise, they more they know and can make an impact, and vice versa!

http://faithjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/HungerworX-Toolkit-FINAL.pdf

http://experiencepoverty.causevox.com/


Make it Efficient

Ever tried to make a donation online and you ended up bailing because it was too

confusing to figure out or because nothing was working? Yeah, it sucks, for both the

nonprofit and the now lost donor. So it’s of utmost importance to make sure your

individual fundraisers don’t need to jump through hoops to conduct a fundraising

campaign, and their donors won’t need to either.

¢ Be crystal clear about what your organization or cause supports and what the money goes to. Without an impactful mission or goal, you and your fundraisers

won’t get very far.

¢ Make things as plug and play as possible: Bayshore Christian Ministries even had a

Google calendar fundraisers could subscribe to that told them when to post new

updates on their social networks. Create ready to use logos, social media updates,

email templates, and more.

¢ Don’t assume all donations will come online just because it’s 2015. Make it easy for fundraisers to manually add donations, which the Anchor Church found to be

extremely useful for their 2014 campaign – 80% of their donations were made

outside of their CauseVox site.

There is a multitude of ways individual fundraisers can create their story and approach

a campaign goal. To find more tools, tactics, and examples, visit CauseVox.com.

http://www.causevox.com/blog/heather-biscoe-bayshore-christian-ministries/

http://www.causevox.com/blog/kris-hassanpour-anchor-church/


THE POWER OF ONE + MANY: INDIVIDUAL & TEAM FUNDRAISING � TEAM FuNdRAisiNg 18

TEAM FuNdRAisiNg


Going from individual fundraising to teams isn’t just adding on a few people and making a few more bucks. There are so many more layers added on and opportunities – think of all the extra stories you can tell via a team! Think of the types of events you can create that require teams. Add on challenges and rewards to make it a competition, and it’s a whole other level.The great thing about team fundraising is that the big

picture story and message gets amplified from a collection

of individual perspectives, on two different levels. Not

only do you have Joe and Mary and Tom sharing why they

think literacy is important for inner-city children, but

within their workplace or church team, they have another

common thread that adds to the story. A family fundraising

for cancer research may have come together initially when

one person was afflicted, but perhaps over the years, more

of them felt the impact of cancer, either personally, or

through loved ones. So their family has a story, but each

person on the team has their own story to tell as well.

Connectthe dots

All themediums

More Stories

A Unified Story


Connect the Dots

Make it easy for teams to share

their umbrella story, but also for the

individuals to get down to specifics.

The Fuse Project brings together teams

from all over the Alabama coastal area

for an annual dragon boat race and

festival to support projects benefitting

youth such as mentor programs;

Moxtropolis’ The Gauntlet pits individuals

and teams against each other in a

table top games tournament to provide

food for low-income families and

homeless individuals.

Get there: Create a story template that shows all the layers to be filled in.

More Stories, More Potential

With more people sharing their

perspective, the opportunities to reach

new audiences and potential donors are

now exponential.

Get there: Provide a guided checklist to help teams run through their connections and communities to make sure they cover all the bases. Grandma can go to her knitting circle while Uncle John reaches out to his boating friends, and Cousin Sarah asks her colleagues. Little Jenny can ask her classmates.

All the Mediums

With a mix of fundraisers in teams, there

are so many ways your organization

can collect content. It’s much easier

to request everything from art and

videos to blog posts and Instagram

pics. (WorldHelp made the most of this

following the devastating earthquake in

Nepal in April 2015.)

Get there: Provide your team captains with a mini training and guide on 10 different types of storytelling they can then model and share with their fundraisers.

Team fundraising is an invitation to really blow out storytelling for a campaign. Take advantage of the numbers and

make it easy for teams to really show why they’re supporting your cause, and who makes up each team.

http://fuseproject.causevox.com/

http://thegauntlet2015.causevox.com/

http://worldhelp.net/gift/nepal-earthquake-disaster-relief/

THE POWER OF ONE + MANY: INDIVIDUAL & TEAM FUNDRAISING � BRiNgiNg iT iN 21

BRINGING IT IN


Similarly to individual fundraising, your goal is to make team fundraising experiential, educational, and efficient for everyone participating. But because of the sheer numbers, the opportunities to grow your audience, brand, and perhaps surpass your goal are even more plentiful.

Create a Competition

Everyone likes a little friendly competition. One of the more fun aspects

of team fundraising is pitting teams against each other to see who can

raise the most money. Try the following tactics:

¢ Set up mini challenges throughout the campaign: top fundraising

team overall, first team to reach $1,000, team with the most donors,

etc. etc.

¢ Unlock new tools, content, and other incentives for teams as they

achieve fundraising milestones.

¢ Think of creating a physical or virtual challenge or contest to

accompany the fundraising campaign to heat things up even more.

Well Aware’s annual Showerstrike campaign dares fundraisers to

boycott the bathtub for a week.

http://www.causevox.com/resources/case-studies/well-aware/


Cultivate Partnerships

Collaboration can be a great thing for fundraising campaigns, and we fully

recognize the power of partnerships to help you reach your goals. Here’s

how partnerships can support team fundraising:

¢ Provide prizes and incentives for volunteers and fundraisers via

sponsors, like She’s the First did with fitness studios for their

Run the World campaign.

¢ Assign partners and sponsors to different teams, and connect the

team captains with an ambassador from the partner. Encourage them

to share ideas and promote your cause and the campaign together.

¢ Make partners a part of the story, and a part of the experience,

depending on the fit. Strathcona High School’s Treehouse Project fundraiser brought in partners like IHOP for a bike-a-thon event, and

priMED for an employee matching campaign.

http://www.causevox.com/blog/shes-the-first-online-fundraising/

http://strathconainitiative.causevox.com/


Communicate Broadly

Again, there’s power in numbers with team fundraising, and it especially

helps with communications and outreach. Instead of just one person

sharing on social media, you have dozens, perhaps hundreds, or even

thousands. Think of how many people your organization can reach if

each person on a team shared the campaign with just 10 people – math

meltdown!

¢ Use all of your options – don’t just get stuck on social media or email.

Your fundraisers are diverse in age, and they and their communities

are on different networks. Provide guidance for as many as you can.

¢ Be persistent, and encourage your teams to be, too. Remind them to

do outreach again and again, not just at the beginning and end of a

campaign.

¢ Don’t assume your fundraisers know how to get the word out.

Be ready to help them go the extra mile by providing suggested

bloggers and influencers in their city, including relevant hashtags in

your social media samples, and pitching to media about select teams.

For more ideas and tactics on team fundraising, check out our blog on

CauseVox.com, and our Learning Center, where you can find other eBooks

about personal fundraising.

http://www.causevox.com/resources/learning-center

THE POWER OF ONE + MANY: INDIVIDUAL & TEAM FUNDRAISING � TRENds & BEsT PRAcTicEs 25

TRENds & BEST PRACTICES

THE POWER OF ONE + MANY: INDIVIDUAL & TEAM FUNDRAISING � TRENds & BEsT PRAcTicEs 26

Among the various tips and specific ideas for individual and team fundraising, there are a few common threads that speak to trends and best practices for nonprofits looking to use this approach:

¢ Content creation is an essential element

to personal fundraising. Your nonprofit

needs a story, and so do your fundraisers.

Story = impact. It also drives traffic to your

fundraising site, grows your audience,

and prompts sharing.

¢ Fundraisers need support and motivation.

Always create a toolkit for a fundraising

campaign that includes, at minimum: logos,

taglines, mission, 1-2 images, impact metrics,

sample email, and a few social media posts.

If you have the resources, consider a content

calendar, sample blog post and press release,

videos, and more.

¢ Trends change yearly, or even monthly

(that’s why they are trends), and so do tools.

Be aware of what the community is using

and what are the most effective tools and

approaches for your nonprofit, especially

within P2P fundraising. What worked last

year may not work this year (or even exist!)

¢ Know your issue inside and out. If you can’t

answer basic questions your fundraisers may

have, you shouldn’t be asking them to raise

money on your behalf. Do your research,

know your goals, live your impact metrics.

¢ Accessibility and convenience matter. Don’t discount mobile, or that a story can

be told with an amazing picture. Stay on top

of what your fundraisers and community

need to make it easy (and quick) for them

to support you.

Every day, people are changing the world

through crowdfunding. Explore the power of

one + many for your cause. You never know what

may happen.

THE POWER OF ONE + MANY: INDIVIDUAL & TEAM FUNDRAISING � PEER-TO-PEER FuNdRAisiNg ON cAusEvOx 27

PEER-TO-PEER FUNDRAISING ON cAusEvOx


Use CauseVox for peer-to-peer fundraising.Ready to leverage the power of one and many? Launch a peer-to-

peer fundraising campaign easily with CauseVox.

You can customize any fundraising site (without coding) to suit your

needs. Whether it’s campaign, activity, or event-focused, fundraising

sites on CauseVox feature powerful tools to help you reach your

fundraising goals.

Individuals and teams can create fundraising pages to help you

raise awareness and donations. Learn how to make peer-to-peer

fundraising easy today by going to www.causevox.com.



www.causevox.com



MANY: INDIVIDUAL & TEAM FUNDRAISING - CauseVox · 13 THE POWER OF ONE + MANY: INDIVIDUAL & TEAM...

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