08 Nov 2010 2 Comments

New Study Shows the Power of Peer to Peer Fundraising

A new national survey of donor confidence reveals the growing importance of online giving and peer to peer fundraising. The Campbell Rinker Donor Confidence Survey of 510 donors nationwide highlights important donor trends, including:

  • One out of every two donors has given online and seven out of every ten households making more than $75,000 annually have done the same.
  • 54% of Gen X and Gen Y donors have given online, 44% of Baby Boomers, and 30% of those age 65+.
  • Females are twice as likely as males to donate online as a result of an e-appeal.
  • Peer-to-peer fundraising influences online donations: 15% of all respondents gave as a result of a social media appeal. Specifically, more donors under age 40 gave more often as a result of a special social media ask.


Other survey findings focus on the significance of direct mail appeals in driving donors to make a donation on the website itself. Most importantly, one in three donors were driven to a nonprofit’s website to give an online donation as a result of a direct appeal by mail.

Based on the survey findings, consider three takeaways for your online fundraising strategy:

1. Cultivate relationships with your stakeholders that have influence online. Think about who in your organization’s online network have large personal social networks. Find out if anyone is particularly influential online (has a large personal YouTube subscriber base, or is an influential blogger, for example), and foster those relationships. Bring your online influencers into your fundraising team by asking them to tweet/update/share the word about you event, online fundraising page, or online donation space. This will send traffic and donations to your online event, page, or appeal.

2. Integrate social network fundraising (peer to peer fundraising) into your overall online fundraising strategy. Integrate social network sharing into every online appeal. Make sure that your fans can share your online fundraising appeal easily to Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Yahoo! and other important social network spaces.

3. The growth of online donations means that, at a minimum, your nonprofit should have an easy-to-find donation button on its website. Online donations continues to grow, and even direct mail appeals can push your supporters to donate directly through you website.

by admin in Nonprofit resources Tags: , , , ,