7 Ways Using Data Can Improve Your Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Results

What do you do when your peer-to-peer (p2p) fundraising campaign results go flat? Or, what if you want to take your campaigns to the next level? We say it’s time to put your data to work!

Taking time to gather, analyze, and use data from your past campaigns or events can help you uncover trends and find new opportunities to improve your fundraising results. Here are some simple ways you can use data from your constituent relationship management (CRM) or peer-to-peer fundraising system to boost your peer-to-peer fundraising results:

1. Decide when to start recruiting

Dig into past years’ campaign or event data to find out when your top performers registered. Your biggest fundraisers typically register much earlier than others. So, while it’s usually a good idea to open registration as early as possible, consider waiting to focus on a multi-channel recruitment approach around the time when your biggest supporters typically register so you can use their enthusiasm as a launching point.

2. Focus your efforts

If possible, use source codes in all digital recruitment efforts so you can attribute registrants to specific marketing channels. This will help you determine which strategies are worth keeping (and even putting more resources toward), and which aren’t.

Also, review your fundraising/revenue based on a person’s connection to you. In many cases, those who raise the most money are a small percentage of your participants. This is not to say that you don't care about other participants, but it does let you know where you might want to focus more of your recruitment and fundraising resources to recruit more top-performing participants.

3. Make recruiting more personal

Use data from previous campaigns or events to add personalized notes to your recruiting emails and tap into the loyalty of past participants. For example, look up previous years’ results, and add a personal note to your recruiting email, such as:

• “Thank you for raising $X last year."
• “Thank you for being one of our top 50 fundraisers last year.”
• "Last year you ran X:XX in our 5K and took Xth place. Are you ready to do it again?"
• "You've participated in our event X times and have raised $X throughout those years with us. We sincerely thank you for your continued support."
  

4. Make your campaign more compelling

Often, organizations include basic messages about past campaigns in their recruiting emails, such as “Last year, we had X participants and raised $X.” Consider adding more compelling data from your past campaign to motivate more people to participate and raise even more funds. For example, “Last year we raised $X million dollars. With that money we were able to fund XX research grants. So far, those grants have produced XXX hours in the lab, which resulted in X new clinical trials set to launch in Q1 2019." Now there’s data in action — letting people know where their money has gone and will go, with measurable results!

5. Motivate participants to raise more

Once someone has registered, use data to personalize their experience and improve the likelihood that they'll fundraise for your organization. For example, team captains often are more engaged than other participants, so use your data to segment them and communicate with them in special ways, such as a phone call or personal email. Consider asking them to help in other ways, too, such as recruiting more participants.

6. Reconsider your fundraising incentives

If you have fundraising incentives or use milestone badges, look up your levels to see how many participants are reaching them. If you find many people are falling short of your lowest tier, you might want to lower it or test more effective communications to encourage participants to reach the goals. Alternatively, if it seems that too many people are quickly reaching your lowest tier, consider raising it.

7. Improve the event day experience

If an event is at the center of your P2P campaign, collect and record data from your event day to improve on future event day experiences. For example, did you have a photo booth that was booked solid? If so, consider adding another photo booth next year.  Was parking over-filled? Maybe add a second parking location and a shuttle bus for next year. Did your post-event silent auction raise significant funds last year? If so, consider adding more items this year.

When it comes to improving your peer-to-peer fundraising results, data can be one of your most valuable tools. Be sure to use it to help you personalize the peer-to-peer experience for your participants, strategize based on past successes, and make the most of your resources while raising more funds for your organization.

Learn more about how to take your peer-to-peer campaigns to new heights: Contact Cathexis Partners.

Author Bio                                  

Matt has a Salesforce Administrator certification, and for nearly 5 years has supported multiple Cathexis Partners clients on the Salesforce Nonprofit Success Pack and Luminate CRM products. Prior to joining Cathexis Partners, Matt worked at a nonprofit supporting the internal team, organization, and donors.