44 Ways to Turn You Participants into Fundraisers

Turning your everyday supporters into fundraising superstars isn’t easy. It requires the right combination of fundraising expertise, engaged staff members, and savvy technology.

When done well, the results are impressive. Supporters raise significant amounts of money and bring new donors to your organization. For example, The Ride For Roswell event has seen an increase from $330,000 to $2.8 million raised annually since 2004 by helping participants become fundraisers.

As Blackbaud's Steve MacLaughlin recently mentioned, health organizations that turn supporters into fundraisers continue to be leaders in online fundraising, and this growth is now an important contributor to their overall revenue.

So, how can you help supporters become fundraising superstars? Below are 44 tips I’ve learned, organized by topic and ordered from easiest to hardest to implement. 

Teach Them to Fundraise and Provide Samples

1. Encourage them to use their social network. As Anthony Sicola’s recently mentioned, fundraisers who use who use social networking tools like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube increase fundraising results by up to 40%.
2. Offer rewards for fundraising levels achieved. At this year’s SXSW conference, keynote speaker Seth Priebatsch predicted a shift from the “social layer” to the “game layer” over the next decade. Make fundraising a game by offering rewards for levels achieved (E.g. $50 gift card for $5,000 raised).
3. Encourage them to start a team of fundraisers. Not only do teams raise more money for your organization, they add camaraderie and competition to fundraising.
4. Hold contests. After the initial excitement wears off, your fundraisers may need motivation. Create contests that reward fundraising activity. (E.g. Highest fundraiser in June receives 4 movie passes).
5. Provide samples of everything. Don’t let your fundraisers get stuck on something you could have easily provided. Supply sample fundraising emails, Facebook posts, tweets, phone scripts, thank you notes, approved logos, etc.
6. Provide fundraising success stories. Tell them how to raise money, challenges they’ll likely face and the impact their donations will have on your mission.
7. Provide fundraising tips so they know how to get started. Not every method of fundraising will be for everyone. Provide numerous ideas, but do emphasize the most efficient methods such as sending email through a tool like Friend Asking Friends.
8. Tell them how to approach their business contacts. Contacting a vendor or customer is different from asking their neighbor for support. Provide tips on fundraising with the corporate world.
9. But…let them know your key corporate relationships. You probably already receive support from many local companies. Avoid embarrassment and disappointment for everyone involved by disclosing who already generously supports your cause.
10. Offer tips for approaching the media. Your fundraisers may be fearless in promoting your cause. This is good. When approaching the media, though, they may need help. Offer tips and advice to receive coverage of their efforts.
11. Explain which types of fundraising events are most efficient. Recommend focusing on events that raise the most money for the least amount of work. For example, happy hours generally outperform bake sales.
12. Hold fundraising lunches/seminars/receptions to teach them how to fundraise. While success stories may have provided ideas, these sessions will let fundraisers “ask the experts” and get their questions answered.
13. Create an online community for your fundraisers to interact and share their ideas. Other fundraisers may have great tips or advice. Provide a way to collaborate and share.

Connect Them to Your Cause

1. Allow your fundraisers to raise restricted money. They may have been moved by one aspect of your cause and will want to fundraise for it.
2. Invite your top fundraisers to join your volunteer committee. This will make fundraisers feel closer to your organization and responsible for its success. Doing this will also inject some new enthusiasm and ideas into your committees.
3. Offer a tour of your hospital/school/office to further connect them to your cause. Meeting the people who will be helped and seeing the places that will be impacted by their efforts will give your fundraisers extra motivation.
4. Keep them updated on how donations will be used. Let them know the outcome of their hard work. If it’s an annual event or program, you want these fundraisers back each year.
5. Celebrate their accomplishments annually with a thank you party/dinner/reception/etc. It’s an extra opportunity to say thanks, connect them to your mission and encourage future participation.

Treat Fundraisers Like VIPs

1. When someone creates a fundraising page, call to say thanks and answer questions. Let them know you’re there to help. Not sure you have time to offer this type of assistance? What if you knew they’d raise $20,000?
2. Check-in occasionally. At some point, most fundraisers will feel discouraged, intimidated or confused about fundraising. Offer your expertise (and encouragement).
3. Ask them what you can do better. Your fundraisers likely could have used additional support or resources at some point. Learn what else would’ve helped, and provide this for future fundraisers.
4. Implement their good ideas. It will help them take ownership of the program and feel responsible for its success.  If you don’t implement an idea, tell them why not.
5. Find out what motivates your fundraiser. They are likely fundraising because of your cause, to be part of a team or receive an incentive (it’s true). Find out what motivates them and tailor communications accordingly.
6. Celebrate their milestones. Your fundraisers will likely be really excited when they reach their goal. Capitalize on this opportunity to thank them. Tools like Friends Asking Friends will even send automated messages when 50% or 100% of the goal is reached.
7. Respond quickly to fundraiser questions and complaints. Problems + slow response times = frustrated fundraisers. They may stop fundraising altogether until they hear back from you. The longer that takes, the less fundraising momentum they’ll have.
8. Offer your fundraisers any “extras” you have. Have extra tickets to the game? An extra seat at your gala? Call your top fundraisers first. Treat them like VIPs.
9. Arrange meet-and-greets with celebrities at events. Regardless of whether it’s meeting a professional athlete or a radio station DJ, give your fundraiser the VIP treatment whenever possible. It may keep them motivated.

Highlight Fundraisers Online and Create User-Friendly Forms

1. Make it easy to find a fundraiser’s page on your website. The more website visitors have to search for pages, the less likely they’ll donate. The Ride For Roswell does a nice job placing “Donate to a Rider” above the fold on their home page.
2. Make donation forms concise and compelling. Help your fundraisers by creating donation forms that are concise, compelling, and easy to complete. Family Legacy has one of the simplest forms I’ve seen.
3. Spotlight a new fundraiser on your website each month. It provides recognition and encourages others to start fundraising.
4. Ensure the registration form is concise and easy to complete. This makes it simple for anyone to get started and prevents frustration during the initial steps.
5. List top fundraisers on your website. Recognition and competition are two powerful motivators that may inspire some fundraisers to send out another batch of emails. Check out how YWCA Calgary does it in their Walk A Mile event.

Help Them Follow Personal Fundraising Page Best Practices

1. Allow supporters to create a fundraising page whenever they want to.
2. Give supporters the ability to set up a fundraising page for any occasion. Maybe they want people to donate on their behalf instead of having them buy presents for their birthday. Or maybe they’d like to help you get that new facility quicker. Whatever the cause, make it simple for them to get started and flexible enough to support their efforts. Here’s a cool example by Lustgarten.
3. Add a great default photo to fundraising pages. According to the Blackbaud and the Run Walk Ride Fundraising Council Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Consumer Survey, only 45% of fundraisers personalize their fundraising page. Your photo may inspire others to donate.
4. Make your default “My Story” compelling on fundraising pages. Not all fundraisers will change the “My Story” area. Your default story may inspire others to donate.
5. Add page sharing tools to the fundraising page. Free tools like Add This allow the page to easily be shared via email and social media.
6. Let them create a Friendly URL for their page. It’s much easier for fundraisers to tell potential supporters to visit a specific page, instead of your home page.
7. List the names and amounts of each donor on fundraising pages. Peer pressure has a funny way of inspiring larger gifts. Show gift names and amounts on a donor wall, like North Shore Medical Center’s Cancer Walk/Run.
8. Allow them to change their goal at any time. Once they reach their goal, it’s less compelling for friends to support them. Let them up their goal at any time, with tools like Friends Asking Friends.
9. Allow them to import email contacts into their fundraising dashboard. Once imported, fundraisers can keep track of which contacts who have donated, not opened the email , forwarded the email, etc.
10. Allow fundraising pages to be shared on Facebook and Twitter from their fundraising dashboard. Every extra click you eliminate saves your fundraisers time. Remember, social media can have an incredible impact on peer-to-peer fundraising effectiveness.
11. Allow fundraisers to upload either photos or videos to their page. A video can tell a more powerful story than a photo. Give fundraisers the option to upload a video, like Diabetes Research Institute does.
12. Create short education videos for every step of the way. Show them how to register, setup a page, import contacts, email family and friends, and other important fundraising activities.

OK, there’s my 44. So, what tips do you have for us?

This blog post originally appeared on Blackbaud's NetWitsThinkTank.com.  The author Mike Snusz brings over eight years of nonprofit experience to his role as a Senior Internet Marketing Consultant for Blackbaud, where he develops strategic marketing services to help nonprofits build constituent relationships, deliver compelling messages and maximize giving opportunities. He previously managed the turnaround of the Ride For Roswell, including the event’s growth from $330,000 to $870,000 over a two-year period. With sound online fundraising, email and marketing practices in place, the event now raises over $2 million annually. Mikes holds a B.A. in Marketing and M.S. in Organizational Leadership from Mercyhurst College. He also volunteers for Compass, providing pro bono strategic consulting to strengthen the sustainability of Greater Washington DC nonprofits.

How Do I Get Participants to Raise More Money?

Article by: Meghan Dankovich, Event360

Last month, I presented a five-part plan for getting participants to raise more money. In this post, I'll share some tactical recommendations to flesh out your strategy. As you'll see, these recommendations are all about encouraging the desired behavior in participants.

Encourage participants to register earlier. Those who register earlier have more time to fundraise. Give them incentives to register ASAP, such as offering an early-bird discount, a past-performer discount or pre-registration for next year's event.

Encourage goal setting. With online registration, auto-populate the "goal" field with a realistic figure, but give people the option to change it. We've found that those who take the opportunity to adjust their goal — either higher or lower — typically perform better than those who don't make any changes.

Encourage self-donations. If you're not doing it already, ask for a self-donation at the point of registration. Encourage them to demonstrate to donors their commitment to the cause by jumpstarting their fundraising with a personal gift. You'd be surprised at how well participants respond to this type of ask.

Encourage team participation. Participants on teams tend to feel a sense of peer pressure, accountability and support — and often find inspiration from their teammates. This all adds up to better performance.

Encourage them to become team captains. Those with a direct connection to your cause are often the best candidates to become team captains. These motivated leaders can be strong recruiters and inspire their teams to reach greater heights. Thanking team captains — on your website, at opening ceremonies, with a brunch or luncheon — makes sense, too.

Encourage them to communicate with donors. Give participants instructions that are easily accomplished (e.g. email your five closest friends this week), and even offer incentives (e.g. email 10 people this week and be entered in a drawing to win a prize). Suggest they email donors with updates on their fundraising and training progress leading up to the event, and then send thank-you's after the event to make it feel good and inclusive to be a supporter. This does wonders for strengthening your fundraising culture over the long term, as donors will get attached to their experience of the event as well.

And after the event … Survey participants according to segment. Ask high performers the ways in which you helped them most. Ask low performers what you could have done to help them more. Ask everyone about their "affinity driver" and cause connection to see what other forces are at work (if that information was not already collected at registration).

If possible, tie your survey results back to your registrant list in the event database to assess self-reported data against actual behavioral data. Above all, make sure you only ask questions to those answers you're willing and able to act on. This is a great learning opportunity, so be sure to take advantage of it!

A Final Note
The last comment I’d make about getting participants to raise more money is simply to ASK! Sure, providing support, guidance and recognition are all important functions of your relationship with them. But asking them to do more in the name of your mission can often be the most direct and successful tactic of all. 

The Classics Work

Guest Blogger: Kathryn Hall. The classics never go out of style: More from Chicago’s P2P Roundtable Somethings never go out of style like the LBD “little black dress,” pearls, and a fab pair of sunglasses.  For the gents a suit is the ultimate classic look. No matter the decade or the current wacky trend; one things for sure  you can’t go wrong with the LBD or a suit. Like fashion, fundraising has a few classics of it’s own that never go out of style.  Guest Blogger Kathryn Hall has a few thoughts on this subject.  Take it away Kathryn! A few weeks ago Guest blogger Nancy Palo shared her take away from the Run Walk Ride Event Fundraising Roundtable in Chicago. The consensus of the group was that “the next big thing” is independent fundraising events. I’d like to share a quirky subplot that David Hessekiel, President of the Run Walk Ride Fundraising Council, introduced to the roundtable discussion:  What if “the next big thing” is really not new at all? What if it’s “what has always worked” and remembering the basics? In the last few years much of our focus in the peer to peer fundraising space has been on securing effective means of electronic mass communications, providing the best high volume online fundraising systems to participants and pioneering the latest social media capabilities. This new fundraising landscape has given rise to challenges: Low retention rates, increasing competition from a growing number of P2P fundraising events and the need to differentiate / stand out. What if in our excitement to take things online and do more with electronic communications, we’re getting away from “old fashioned” fundraising fundamentals? Talking to people and making personal connections has always worked. There’s a good chance revisiting the value of the human element can help your program. A few suggestions from the group: Send hand written notes. Highly “personalized” communication via segmented email can only go so far. A hand written thank you note has big impact in this day when most personal communication happens by email and text message. Encourage your fundraisers and team captains to use snail mail creatively as well. Ask for support in person. As the volume of electronic asks from kids, relatives, friends and coworkers goes up, they get easier to ignore. When you or your fundraiser make a personal (in person/on the phone) ask, it stands out. Encourage participants to ask for gifts in person, not rely completely on technological gimmicks. Church World Service shared their homespun series of Crop Hunger Walk “Crop Vids” that, among other things, address people’s fear of asking for money with a light, humorous tone.    Talk to your team captains; cultivate the relationship. If your research shows that returning teams raise 50% more than new ones, go after the team captains personally. Ask them to come back in person rather than relying on electronic communications about the new season’s event. Have staffers go to the events and meet people. This lets supporters know there’s a human person behind the email address and name. Laurel Rosenthal, Manager of Online Fundraising at theALS Association shared that while this approach is expensive, the investment paid valuable dividends in terms of increased retention rates. Shake things up a bit. The reliable kick-off meeting is indispensable, but is the format getting a bit stale? Lindsay Avner, Founder and CEO of Bright Pink likes to keep meetings interesting. Her groups hold sampler events, trying out new locations and themes: wine and cheese, martinis, cupcakes, and similar. Collect feedback through participant surveys. Jeff Shuck of Event 360 spoke of the importance of surveying not just those who attend, but those who do not return to the event, “Find out who didn’t come back. Many, many will say they had a conflict in their calendar. This means you didn’t communicate your mission powerfully enough to get them to prioritize your event over something else.” – Amy’s guest blogger Jennifer Ashbaugh offered more suggestions for post event surveys in a recent post.