Ask Shyness. Ask Discomfort. Whatever you decide to call that uneasy feeling, let’s face it: asking for money—even for a worthy cause—makes a lot of us uncomfortable. This type of hesitancy has the potential to throw a wrench in what could otherwise be a thriving peer-to-peer fundraising event since the success of your event is closely tied to the ability of your team fundraisers to overcome their discomfort with asking for donations.
Fortunately, we sat down with peer-to-peer aficionado Megan Jusczyk for a live discussion about ways to help your team fundraisers banish ask shyness once and for all. The hour-long talk was packed with helpful tips, so we created this “cheat sheet” of main takeaways for everyone to carry with them into peer-to-peer event season!
Peer-to-peer fundraising involves teams and individuals raising funds for your nonprofit by reaching out to their personal network of friends, family, and colleagues. By creating a personal fundraising page or team page on a fundraising platform and sharing it through social media, email, and other channels, individuals can attract a lot of donations that collectively add up to a significant amount of funds.
Peer-to-peer-style fundraising events are a fantastic way to expand your reach beyond your existing donor base and build a sense of community around your cause. Peer-to-peer fundraising has become increasingly popular and proven effective in raising funds, whether your cause is centered on health, education, environmentalism, religion, racial or gender equity, animal welfare, or anything in between.
Megan Jusczyk—the guest speaker at our Say Goodbye to “Ask” Shyness: Keys to Unstoppable Team Fundraising discussion—cofounded the For Kids’ Sake Foundation when she first recognized how little funding goes to both childhood cancer research and families in need of financial assistance after a pediatric cancer diagnosis turns their lives upside down.
Over the last decade, For Kids’ Sake has hosted over 50 peer-to-peer events—everything from triathlons and soccer tournaments to annual 5k/10k races and golf tournaments! The foundation has also supported a multitude of DIY-style fundraisers that their supporters have hosted to raise funds on their behalf over the years.
As Megan mentioned during our Goodbye, Ask Shyness discussion: For Kids’ Sake has experience running all sorts of fundraising events, from galas to hybrid auctions and raffles. But peer-to-peer events are her favorite. They “hold a special place in [Megan’s] heart,” as they not only get entire communities working together, but they also bring in a ton of funds for your cause.
And Megan takes peer-to-peer fundraising seriously. Ensuring that her team fundraisers feel confident and passionate in their donation requests brings her a giant step closer to helping save more kids’ lives. She has passionately and tirelessly thought about ways to put ask shyness in the rearview, and these tips that she shared during the live discussion are easy for any nonprofit team to apply to their peer-to-peer fundraising strategies.
Stories pull people in. And everyone who works for a nonprofit has a valuable, personal story about why that cause is so important.
People connect to emotional storytelling and are more likely to positively respond to a call to action because of a clearly laid out, emotionally charged appeal than they are to disconnected stacks of statistics and numbers.
Don’t get me wrong, statistics have their place, but you want to cushion them with a healthy dose of an emotional appeal for maximum impact as you connect with team fundraisers and give them the tools to connect with donors.
Here’s an example of a time Megan paired up with another nonprofit called Beat Childhood Cancer to help promote one of their campaigns. This video clearly demonstrates all the suggestions I listed above and can be a useful guide as you work on perfecting your own narrative.
Megan said that many years ago she was at a peer-to-peer event and was blown away by how successful another childhood cancer nonprofit was at raising funds compared to For Kids’ Sake at that time, so she contacted them to ask, “What’s your secret?”
When they told Megan about FirstGiving—now part of FrontStream’s all-in-one fundraising platform—she immediately did her research and then adopted the platform to bring For Kids’ Sake’s peer-to-peer game to the next level.
Megan says that an unfathomable portion of For Kids’ Sake’s fundraising success—and going from raising only a few thousand dollars per event to nearly $3 MILLION overall throughout recent years—is directly due to implementing FrontStream’s powerful yet super intuitive fundraising technology to run more events and raise more funds.
Not only that, but by using peer-to-peer fundraising technology, she gives her team fundraisers a vital tool that makes their donation ask so much simpler. When your team supporters can “show” potential donors more than “tell” them about an event or the structure of an event, they feel way more empowered to deliver their ask and exceed their goals.
Here are key points Megan brought up about how peer-to-peer software is a gamechanger for nonprofits interested in maintaining and reaching new support year after year:
You can easily put together beautifully branded event pages that include everything you need to promote your event and collect registration fees and donations all in one spot. This comes in especially handy when you have event themes.
For example: For Kids’ Sake’s 13th Annual 5k/10K to Crush Cancer is ‘80s themed this year, so they want their event page to give bodacious ‘80s vibes throughout to get supporters in the festive mindset before they even arrive at the event!
*For Kids' Sake ultimately ended up raising 144% over their goal for this event
This is a HUGE one. You don’t want to limit your fundraising. You want to give supporters the chance to easily set up their own DIY-style campaigns on your behalf, even while you’re running as many bigger events as you’d like at the same time.
Megan told us a great story of how this offering helped For Kids’ Sake: One of their supporters (Steve!) ran his own DIY campaign and was happy with the idea of raising a couple of thousand dollars for For Kids’ Sake. He hosted a small event or two at his house (a pizza party, a cornhole tournament in his backyard, etc.).
By creating a customizable event page and linking it to QR codes placed on flyers around his yard and home, Steve raised over $15,000. With all donations processed directly through For Kids’ Sake's integrated payment system, the collection and attribution of funds to his campaign page were seamlessly efficient for both Steve and Megan’s organization.
Two main ways For Kids’ Sake uses promo codes that you can try for your next event to bring in more funds:
💡Remember: You always want to set an expiration date on all promo codes, as the fear of missing out on a good deal is the main motivator here.
The more people your event appeals to, the easier it is for your team fundraisers to not only feel confident asking for more in donations but also in asking MORE people to support and join the cause!
For Kids’ Sake’s annual family-friendly 5k/10k race is a great example. Every summer, the organization secures a permit for a large park. They use it as the start line and finish line for the races. But the park also has a wooden pavilion over a bunch of picnic tables that they use for a silent auction + face-painting station for the kiddos. There’s a playground that grandparents can bring little ones to while other family members take part in the race. A gazebo for a sound system and for announcing awards for runners in every category. A soccer field where they set up a bouncy house for kids and have the local fire department create a foam party for everyone to play around and cool off in!
When you attempt to make your peer-to-peer event inclusive, more people are interested in attending. Even if a few attendees aren’t paying for/donating to every aspect of the event, they’re still incredibly valuable to your cause, as they play a vital role in getting the word out to others who may just be your next major fundraising superstar. Who knows—if they see a vacation package on the auction table they can’t resist bidding on, or they decide that they or their friends and family out-of-town would love a piece of branded merchandise commemorating the event—they might end up giving in a way that works best for them. (And with all-in-one fundraising software, their impromptu monetary support all goes to the same place, so it’s beneficial AND easy for all parties.)
According to Megan, this is THE most important aspect of running peer-to-peer events, rivaled only by the fundraising software you adopt.
For business sponsors, team supporters, and donors alike, Megan always finds at least seven ways to show her appreciation for their support after every event.
After our live discussion, Megan texted me a list of points she wishes she made, and I thought this was a great place to share them. All is not lost!
If you’re interested in ways to up your peer-to-peer game while simplifying the ask for your supporters, FrontStream’s all-in-one fundraising platform covers all your bases. To learn about all the ways we mentioned above (and way more, to be honest), contact us today!