Five Ways to Support Your Peer-to-Peer Fundraisers and Help Them Raise More

June 25, 2025/ Mark Becker / Fundraising, Peer-to-Peer Fundraising / 0 comments

There’s more to peer-to-peer fundraising success than recruiting participants. Once participants are signed up for your nonprofit’s event or campaign, you need them to start fundraising and continue fundraising. But not all of them will have fundraising experience they can pull from to know what to do next.

That’s why it’s important to give your participants fundraising tools, tips, and encouragement. Providing them with these types of resources will:

• Keep them engaged
• Help them raise more
• Give them a positive experience that keeps them coming back to fundraise year after year

Here are some top tips from our work with hundreds of nonprofits to help you support and coach your peer-to-peer fundraisers:

1. Communicate through multiple channels.

Communicating with your peer-to-peer participants regularly and through a variety of channels helps to keep them informed and motivated. For example:

• Email – Send regular emails to encourage and inform fundraisers.
• Social media – Post images and stories about your campaign and mission to keep your campaign vibrant.
• Phone – Give top fundraisers a call to see how things are going and thank them for their work.
• Text messages – Send messages of encouragement and updates, and even send virtual high-fives to fundraisers as they reach milestones.

Learn what it takes to build successful email communications for your peer-to-peer fundraising. Get the guide, Building Powerful Email Communications for Your Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Campaigns and Events

2. Share inspiring stories.

Keep participants engaged and motivated by sharing personal stories. For example, share an inspirational story about someone who has benefitted from your organization’s mission. Or share a video or an article that highlights a top fundraiser and includes why the fundraiser is supporting your campaign and what fundraising techniques are working for them.

3. Step up your participant portal.

Your participant portal is the web page where peer-to-peer participants manage their fundraising and find resources to help them support your campaign or event. Optimize your participant portal to help participants recruit team members, ask for donations from their social network, track progress toward their fundraising goal, and access other resources that help them fundraise. For example:

• Provide email templates that they can use to solicit donations from friends and family. Include a tips page that includes suggestions for improving their peer-to-peer fundraising experience and raising more money.
• Offer a frequently asked questions (FAQ) page to help participants find answers and feel more confident in fundraising on their own.
• If your peer-to-peer fundraising software offers a news alert section, use it to provide fresh, ongoing updates and encouragement to participants.

Discover more tips on how to build successful peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns and events. Read the guide, The Nonprofit’s Guide to Peer-to-Peer Fundraising

4. Make things fun.

Your organization’s mission might be serious but there are still ways to add fun to your campaign to keep fundraisers engaged and motivated. For example, create fundraising “thermometers” and social media badges that fundraisers can use to show off their progress. Offer incentive/appreciation gifts such as t-shirts, hats, or stickers for fundraisers who reach specific milestones. Enter top fundraisers into a drawing for a prize.

Discover insights about the latest in peer-to-peer fundraising: Listen to The NonProfit Voice podcast episode, The Evolution of Peer-to-Peer Fundraising

5. Listen.

Get feedback from your peer-to-peer fundraisers during your campaign and once the campaign ends. Some ideas:

• Use short online surveys throughout the campaign so that fundraisers can give you quick input.
• Hold in-person or virtual get-togethers to get feedback from fundraisers and let them share lessons learned with each other.
• Make contact information easy to find on your website and in communications you send so that people can reach you.

Peer-to-peer fundraising success depends on participant engagement. Give your participants the resources and encouragement they need to succeed, and you’ll be sure to get the most out of your peer-to-peer program. 

If you’d like help with your peer-to-peer fundraising technology and strategy, Cathexis Partners is ready to help. Contact us to learn more and get started.