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Fundraising Tuesday: 3 Online Fundraising Ideas to Engage Remote Supporters

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A guest post by Steve Lausch of OneCause

Looking for new ways to inspire donors to support your cause? We’ve got you covered!

Your organization’s audience consists of diverse individuals with different preferences and characteristics, so the key to capturing everyone’s interests is to host a variety of fundraising campaigns.

As you plan your annual fundraising strategy, remember to include opportunities for those outside your local community. You want to ensure that remote supporters feel seen and appreciated just as much as if they were located near you.

There are many ways to involve remote supporters. Let’s look at three top online fundraising ideas you can incorporate to leverage the generosity of supporters near and far.

1. Online Donation Page

Engage your remote supporters by accepting online donations. This is the first step to successful fundraising! An online donation page allows you to receive a reliable stream of revenue from your nonprofit’s website.

Keep in mind the following tips when setting up your donation page:

  • Design: Build awareness by having your organization’s colors and logos throughout your site.
  • Donation options: Retain donors by providing the option of one-time or recurring donations to support your cause.
  • Payment options: Enhance the giving experience by accepting Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, Venmo, and other forms of digital wallet.
  • Impact statements: Emphasize the power of donations with images, videos, examples, or a brief explanation of how they help your cause.

The best software will allow you to effortlessly personalize and create impactful donation pages to maximize your giving. Once you’ve created your donation page, make sure to embed it in your nonprofit’s website for supporters to find easily. If you don’t have a website, consider working with a web design company to start the process.

2. Online Auction

Auctions are a popular fundraising event for nonprofits, so why not take yours beyond the ballroom? Enable bidding from your remote supporters with an online auction! Hosting such an event provides various benefits for nonprofits, including:

  • Cost savings: Invest in flexible software so there’s no need to book a venue, catering services, or entertainment.
  • Increased participation: Have a link to your auction to make it simple for supporters to share your cause with their social network.
  • Improved accessibility: Move to an online auction to allow anyone to participate from anywhere without traveling for your event.
  • Better use of resources: You won’t have to worry about costs associated with in-person events, such as renting a venue, booking a caterer, or purchasing decorations.

Usually, online auctions take one of two forms:

  • Live auction: An auctioneer facilitates bidding on your auction items through a live stream. This event can be held either entirely virtually or in a hybrid format, where you invite major donors to the in-person auction and provide other supporters with the live stream link.
  • Silent auction: Supporters place bids on auction items they want through an online auction site without an auctioneer present. This type of auction relies on well-written descriptions that clearly communicate what the item is to entice the viewer to make a bid.

Regardless of which type of online auction you host, bidding usually takes place through mobile devices. Be sure to purchase auction software that streamlines online bidding and makes the process smooth and convenient for remote supporters.

3. Online Peer-to-Peer Campaign

Tap into the power of peer-to-peer fundraising with your loyal supporters. You can recruit your most committed champions to fundraise on your behalf. These individuals will create their peer-to-peer fundraising site and then use their social networks to spread the word.

There are many types of peer-to-peer campaigns, including:

  • Runs, walks, rides: Engage participants with physical activity, friendly competition, and social giving.
  • DIY supporter-driven: Empower supporters to create their own unique campaigns on behalf of your cause.
  • Giving and Awareness Days: Capitalize on dedicated giving and awareness days to boost the visibility of your campaigns and secure more donations.
  • Tributes and memorials: Offer supporters the opportunity to honor loved ones with personalized fundraising pages.

Peer-to-peer fundraising is an easy way to strengthen your existing relationship with remote supporters while expanding the possibilities of new supporters not local to your organization. Once you’ve recruited supporters to act as your peer-to-peer fundraisers, prepare them for their role with training sessions, templates for marketing materials, and more. Then, stay in contact with them throughout the process to provide them with any support they need.

 

Steve Lausch head shotSteve Lausch

Steve Lausch brings over 20 years of marketing experience to his role as the Director of Product Marketing at OneCause. He leverages his expertise in product evangelism, marketing communication, and strategic product planning to deliver innovative solutions that empower nonprofits. A storyteller at heart, Steve is energized by the opportunity to tell compelling stories that move people to action. He is dedicated to supporting nonprofits in their journey to make a positive impact on the world.

Fundraising Tuesday: 3 Exciting Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Ideas

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A guest post by Jacob Spencer of Donately

Donating is good, charitable, and meaningful. But can it be exciting? While it might not be the first word that comes to mind when you think about how to raise donations, injecting a new element or two into your usual fundraisers can help spice things up for long-term supporters while also intriguing new ones.

How can you make a classic reliable fundraiser like a peer-to-peer campaign more exciting? Like with most fundraisers, your data will be your guide. Put it to use to make informed decisions about what your donors want out of your campaigns. For instance, if donors have shown a preference for virtual events, start brainstorming more ways you can engage with them online during your campaign.

To help inspire your nonprofit, this article will dive into three peer-to-peer fundraising ideas to help change up your usual campaigns for the better. We’ll explore:

  1. T-Shirt Fundraisers
  2. Giving Days
  3. Events

1. T-Shirt Fundraisers

Donors give to peer-to-peer campaigns because of their connections to your volunteers who are fundraising on your behalf. You can make their choice to give even more meaningful by making them feel like they’re part of a team with custom t-shirts.

In t-shirt peer-to-peer campaigns, volunteers raise funds by selling t-shirts to donors. These shirts promote your cause and give donors something to hold onto that will remind them of your nonprofit. Here are a few tips for running this type of fundraiser: 

  • Design custom shirts. While you theoretically can make one t-shirt design and have all of your volunteers promote it, it’s much more meaningful for donors if they can buy a custom garment either designed wholly or with significant input from their friend or family member. Help your volunteers create designs that look good and represent their connection to your cause with design templates, color choices, and suggested fonts.


  • Gamify your campaign. Just like with sports jerseys, having everyone wear matching t-shirts can create a bit of a competitive vibe. Your nonprofit can leverage these feelings of friendly competition and gamify your campaign with a prize for the volunteer who raised the most.

 

  • Celebrate volunteers. At the end of your campaign, thank all of your volunteers for their hard work. Send a thank you card, give them a call, or even host an appreciation event where they and their friends and family can show up in their new t-shirts.

To get started with your t-shirt peer-to-peer fundraiser, you’ll need to partner with a platform that specializes in custom merchandise. Donately’s guide to online donation tools recommends Bonfire, citing their high-quality and discounted payment processing fees for nonprofits. Check them out or explore other options to find a partner that gets your nonprofit team and supporters excited.

2. Giving Days

Giving Tuesday has become a staple of nonprofits’ fundraising strategies. In just 24 hours, supporters are encouraged to give and see if they can reach your organization’s fundraising goal. While the short time span might seem like a detriment on the surface, creating a sense of urgency can help generate a lot of excitement in a limited time frame.

For your peer-to-peer campaigns, consider scheduling them around Giving Tuesday or create a giving day just for your organization. For example, many veterans’ groups make Memorial Day their giving day.

To prepare your volunteers for rapid-fire fundraising, share your nonprofit’s marketing and promotional tips ahead of time. Host an onboarding session where volunteers can ask questions like how they should discuss your nonprofit or if they can still accept donations made after the deadline.

Plus, giving days and peer-to-peer campaigns have an essential aspect in common: they both rely heavily on social media promotion. Online fundraisers can be more accessible for many volunteers, including those who live in remote locations outside of your core community. Make sure your nonprofit’s social media pages are set up ahead of time so volunteers can link to your organization when they make their #GivingTuesday posts.

3. Events

How do you end a peer-to-peer campaign? For nonprofits running continuous and rolling peer-to-peer campaigns, the answer might be never. But sometimes your organization will need to launch a campaign to raise funds in a short period of time. For these types of peer-to-peer campaigns, consider ending with a bang by hosting an event.

Peer-to-peer events give your volunteers an opportunity to meet with others who worked on your campaign, have one-on-one conversations with your staff, and introduce your nonprofit to members of their personal networks who attended. There are a variety of events you can host, including:

  • Walk-a-thons
  • Auctions
  • Community days
  • Advocacy events
  • Sporting competitions

Remember that an engaging event can also serve as one last opportunity for supporters to donate. If you’re close to your goal, let attendees know and keep them updated on your progress live throughout your event to drum up even more excitement.

Author: Jacob Spencer, Customer Success / Account Manager, Donately

Bio: I strive to make every step of our customer journey as enjoyable as possible. My goal is to turn everyone that trusts Donately into a raving fan! Raising funds can be daunting, but we know that with the right tools, it can and should be easy.

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