Turning Peer to Peer Fundraising Benchmark Data into Action

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Turning Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Benchmark Data Into Action

Jeff O’Toole, Sr. Client Success Manager

Tammy Radencic, Client Success Program Manager

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In this session we will:

• Overview the most comprehensive report for finding Peer-to-

Peer Fundraising benchmarks to measure against

• Discuss use of primary event categories for “apples to apples”

benchmark comparison

• Review key findings from this report from across the Peer-to-

Peer Fundraising landscape

• Outline the top 5 Metrics that Matter and provide an action plan

for each

• Q&A

AGENDA

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• The 2012 Peer-to-Peer Event Fundraising Benchmark Study provides:

- High level view of today’s competitive event fundraising world and gives

event organizers valuable reference data

- Allows you to determine the effectiveness of the events you manage by

comparing them to similar fundraising events in the industry

- Data collected January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2011

BENCHMARK DATA OVERVIEW

https://content.blackbaud.com/7007P2PBenchmark.html





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• 1275 organizations sampled (28,000 event candidates)

• Provides median value for each key performance

indicator

(the halfway point in the data set)

• Mean – Average. Add all of the numbers in the set and

divide by how many numbers are in the list.

• Median – Arrange in order from lowest to highest. The

number in the middle or the average of the two middle

numbers is the median.

• Mode - The number in a list that occurs most often.

BENCHMARK DATA OVERVIEW

Mean

• 1,12,30,30,45,50=28

Median

• 1,12,30,30,45,50=30

Mode

• 1,12,30,30,45,50=30

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• Cycling - Multi- and single-day events devoted solely to cycling. A registration

fee is generally charged and there is often a minimum fundraising

requirement.

• Endurance Runs/Walks - Multi- or single-day events that are longer than 10

miles. They generally charge a relatively high registration fee and often have

a required fundraising minimum.

• Runs/Walks With a Registration Fee - Often provide some upfront

incentives to participants, such as an event t-shirt. Most short distance

competitive races fall into this category

• Runs/Walks Without a Registration Fee - Participants are typically

encouraged, but not required, to fundraise. These events aim to include

as many people as possible in an effort to spread awareness

of their mission and gain new supporters

EVENT CATEGORIES

Event categories make it easier for you to classify your own events when making

comparisons to the benchmarks in the study. (Events that do not fall into these categories — bowling or golf events, galas and luncheons, for example —

are not included in this report)

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• The event fundraising industry across all event types experienced

growth in fundraising and participation despite continued uncertainty

in global economy and increased competition from new event

programs.

• Donors contributed more per transaction than they did in 2010.

• For short-distance running and walking events, the absence of a

registration fee has a positive impact on participant fundraising

performance and year-over-year retention rates.

• The number of emails sent from the participant center continues to

decrease as social networks increase in popularity and as events

adopt mobile applications to support fundraising efforts.

• Returning participants and team captains continue to be the most

valuable participants for traditional and third-party events.

• Returning participants' fundraising can be double to triple the amount

of a first year participant.

KEY FINDINGS – TRADITIONAL EVENTS

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KEY FINDINGS

• When comparing your event against these metrics, focus on the percent of

change rather than actual registration/fundraising number.

• If your event is outpacing the percent growth, then your event is healthy —

even if the actual participant count or fundraising total is below the median.

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1.Participant Retention

2.Team Participation

3.Percentage of Zero-Dollar Fundraisers

4.Engagement: Participant Participation

5.Donor Contributions

TOP 5 METRICS THAT MATTER

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Participant Retention


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METRIC: PARTICIPANT RETENTION

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• Participants who

return online

from year to year

outperform

participants who

are new to the

online

fundraising tools.

• Past participants

are more

effective because

they already

know how to use

online tools.

METRIC: PARTICIPANT RETENTION

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• Create a Communication Calendar to organize your

communication strategy

• Be sure your plan targets most valuable groups for

retention:

- Top fundraisers from last year

- Past team captains

- Multi-year participants

• Send at least 2 emails targeted to each core retention

group

ACTION: PARTICIPANT RETENTION

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Other ways to increase participant retention:

• Use reporting to understand who your most valuable

participants are. Look at activity as well as revenue.

• Communicate with your participants throughout the year - not

just during the event season. Help them understand the impact

of their support.

• Invite participants to other activities in your organization. The

more engaged they are with you, the more likely they are to

participate and fundraise next year.

• Build personal relationships with your most valuable

participants!


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Team Participation


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METRIC: TEAM PARTICIPATION

*Alzheimer's Association, Easter Seals, March of Dimes, American Diabetes

Association, Arthritis Foundation, National Multiple Sclerosis Society

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• Team captains

consistently

outperform

participants who

are registering

as individuals or

participating on

an existing team

• Team

involvement

also has a direct

relationship to

retention, which

also helps

increase

fundraising

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• Put primary focus on recruiting and enabling team

captains

• Encourage all registrants to form teams as part of your

engagement email series

• Be sure team captains are targeted with tips and tricks for

how to grow their teams

ACTION: TEAM PARTICIPATION

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Other ways to increase team participation:

• Incentivize team formation:

- Early/discounted registration

- Prizes for largest team, most raised, best costumes et

• Make it easy – set up FAQs, guides, email templates*

• Don’t be afraid to foster competition

• Recognize top teams regularly

• Encourage corporate teams (event sponsors can be good

prospect pool)

• Remind participants that banding together for a cause with

friends and family members is a great way to reconnect.


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Zero-Dollar

Fundraisers


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<35% of Total

Participants

METRIC: ZERO DOLLAR FUNDRAISERS

Benchmark Metric Data

Run/Walk w/ Registration $ 1000

Average Raised per Part. $50

Zero Dollar Fundraisers 40%

Total Raised $30,000

Total Raised @ 35% $32,500

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• In all marketing, messaging etc be sure participants understand that fundraising

is the key purpose of the event!

• Be sure participants can easily make a self-donation as part of the registration

process.

• Ask for a donation in the "Thank You For Registering" email.

• Coach participants to kick-start their fundraising by making a donation toward

their own goal.

• Target those participants who have not fundraised within a week or two of

registering. Send them coaching emails that encourage them to log in and start

fundraising.

• Consider dropping a registration fee. If the revenue brought in from your

registration fee is less than the combined increase in both the percent of

fundraisers and the amount brought in per fundraiser, you might end up raising

more money.

• Provide incentives or contests based on number of emails sent from the

participant center.

• Provide email message templates that participants can easily

customize and send.

ACTION: ZERO DOLLAR FUNDRAISERS

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ACTION: ZERO DOLLAR FUNDRAISERS

DAY 1 SPONSOR YOURSELF $30

DAY 2 ASK THREE RELATIVES FOR

$20

$60

DAY 3 ASK SIX FRIENDS FOR $10 $60

DAY 4 ASK FIVE COWORKERS FOR

$10

$50

DAY 5 ASK FIVE NEIGHBORS FOR $5 $25

DAY 6 ASK YOUR SPOUSE OR

PARTNER

$25

DAY 7 CELEBRATE YOUR

SUCCESS!

$250

HOW TO RAISE $25O IN A WEEK

All you have to do is ASK!

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Participant

Participation


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METRIC: PARTICIPANT PARTICIPATION

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• When setting goals and measuring

the progress of event fundraisers,

you should monitor and measure the

following areas of performance:

- number of emails sent by participants

- number of gifts raised per participant

- amount raised per participant


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• Half of all participants are asked by a friend or family member to

participate in the event – Encourage team formation & make recruiting

easy w/ email templates & social media sharing

• Half of all participants have personal connection to the cause – don’t

forget your donor and volunteer groups as prospect pools for event

fundraising

• Encourage participants to set a fundraising goal so their progress can be

reflected in the fundraising thermometer that appears on their personal

fundraising page.

• Teach participants how to personalize their fundraising page, share

stories, use the online tools to fundraise

• Have a documented communication strategy for engagement!

ACTION: PARTICIPANT PARTICIPATION

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ACTION: PARTICIPANT PARTICIPATION

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Donor Contributions


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• The average amount of money a

donor gives online when an event

participant asks for his or her support.

• This metric can greatly impact the

overall revenue of the event.

• For cycling events and long-distance

events with a high fundraising

minimum, fundraisers tend to ask for

higher gift amounts, resulting in a

higher average online gift.

• Across all event types, the data shows

an uptick in the amount that donors

were willing to give in 2011 compared

to 2010.

METRIC: DONOR CONTRIBUTIONS

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• Ensure that your donation form is short and easy to view on any

device — computer screen, tablet, and smart phone.

• Provide a mission-related “value proposition” next to the level you’d

like donors to choose, such as “$120 will help immunize 172 children

against polio for their entire lifetimes.”

• If you are running multiple events in tandem, test out different

suggested donation levels on donation forms for different events.

• Suggesting $25 as the lowest donation level may discourage someone

who wants to give $20, or it may encourage someone to increase the

amount he or she initially intended to give.

ACTION: DONOR CONTRIBUTION

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CLIENT SUCCESS METRIC SCORECARD

Segment Benchmark/ All

Participants

Benchmark / Fundraisers

only YOUR EVENT

Average raised per fundraiser $51.36 $227.55 XXXX XXXX

# gifts per participant 1.01 4.36 XXXX XXXX

$0 participants as part of total

participants <35% XXXX

Average gift size $47.63 XXXX

% of participants on a team 66% XXXX

Participant Retention Rate 16.76% XXXX

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Tammy Radencic

Client Success Program Manager

[email protected]

910-988-8162

@tammyradencic

Jeff O’Toole

Sr Client Success Manager

Jeff.O'[email protected]

843-261-4757

QUESTIONS? COMMENTS?

mailto:[email protected]

Turning Peer to Peer Fundraising Benchmark Data into Action

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