Did you know that one-time donations average about $60, while peer-to-peer fundraisers often gather as much as $1,000 or more? Peer-to-peer fundraising platforms have the power to turn average, one-time donors into long-term fundraisers!

People are more likely to give to a cause through someone they know: Your current, existing supporters. With peer-to-peer fundraising software, your organization can multiply the size of its potential donor network quickly and easily. Peer-to-peer fundraising software also offers organizations and individuals the capability to plan and manage events through event registration, accept general online donations, track progress through reporting, and communicate with supporters via email — all while staying on message and within branding guidelines.

There are multiple peer-to-peer fundraising platforms from which to choose, and selecting the right peer-to-peer platform for your needs isn't easy. The standard platform should offer you branding, email, addition of team pages, and customer support, but the best peer-to-peer platforms should offer you something beyond those points.

A Pay-the-Fee option

Offering your donors a "cover the transaction fee" option saves your organization tons and costs your supporters pennies. This feature also creates transparency for your donors and helps you manage expenses. Did you know: 38% of donors on the FirstGiving.com platform choose to add a small "pay the fee" amount to their online donation.

Integration with the tools you already use

Integration is key! A great peer-to-peer platform allows you to simplify your back-end operations by including other features like shopping carts, event ticketing, online auctions, workplace giving and contact management. And of course, when your online fundraising pages are seamlessly linked to a customizable event registration platform, you can gain more supporters and fundraisers, create momentum for your event, and build longer lasting relationships with your brand ambassadors.

A "Donate to a Team" button

How many times have a group of your friends decided to run a marathon or have a benefit for a charity? If you’re like most people in the nonprofit community, probably more times than you can count! No one likes to pick favorites, and with a specialized peer-to-peer fundraising tool, your donors won’t have to — because friends can team up and accept donations as a group. A button that allows you to donate to a team, or split a donation across all team members, will certainly ease tensions. Imagine if you had to pick one person to donate to out of a team of close friends - yikes!

Embed your peer-to-peer calls-to-action on your own turf

Embeddable widgets allow for a better user experience, period. When you have a donate button available on your website, blog, Facebook page, and individual fundraising websites, you can let supporters know where to help from all marketing outlets. This way, they don't need to go searching around for the one page that allows them to donate. No more annoying links, no more searching fruitlessly for the spot on the page that says “Donate here.” Plus, because the right peer-to-peer software offers messaging capability, you can give your supporters helpful reminders when the time is just right.

Longevity of the platform

The amount of time a peer-to-peer fundraising platform has been around can tell you a lot about the strength of its tools and the company as a whole. It shows that the people who work there are committed to helping nonprofits and are some of the most well versed in the business.

As we all know, not every nonprofit organization can claim the same efficiency that others do — and don’t you want to eliminate as much overhead as possible? Choosing the right p2p software means choosing the platform with a sterling reputation for transparency, customer service and ease of use.

Do your research. Shop around and find out what's right for your nonprofit, but make sure it can offer you aspects above the rest. Choosing the right peer-to-peer platform will attract new supporters, donors, and fundraisers to your cause. Learn more about FrontStream's peer-to-peer online fundraising options!

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