How to activate the supporters already in your corner

Spain's World Cup win 🇪🇸🏆 this weekend was a reminder of what happens when a community fully shows up. Not just the star players, but everyone moving in the same direction at once.

Peer-to-peer fundraising works the same way. Your most passionate supporters are already out there; the question is whether you're giving them the tools, the story, and the reason to bring their own communities along. This week is about exactly that: how to activate the people who already believe in your mission and turn them into your best fundraisers.

The take-home template

Some of your best donors can't always make it in person, and a well-run hybrid event means they don't have to miss out. Getting the experience right for both audiences takes more coordination than most teams expect, which is why having a checklist helps. This one covers everything from pre-planning and tech setup to post-event follow-up, with role assignments and marketing milestones built in so nothing gets missed on the day.

Snackable snippets

How to get more out of your P2P fundraising this fall 📖

Peer-to-peer fundraising works because it moves the ask out of your hands and into the people who already believe in your mission. A few things to keep in mind as we move into the busy fall event season: participants who create Facebook fundraisers brought in significantly more than those who didn't, activity tracking adds 25% on average, and gamification features like fundraising milestones push totals up by 55%.

Getting people to fundraise once they've registered 📖

Getting someone to register for a peer-to-peer campaign is the easy part. Getting them to start fundraising is where it gets tricky. What can help is including fundraising prompts directly on the registration confirmation page, setting up an automated email sequence that walks new participants through their first ask, and giving them a story that's easy to repeat to friends and family. The participants who feel coached and recognized along the way are the ones who come back next year.

For your inspiration folder

A youth rowing program in Sacramento turned its athletes into fundraisers and raised $107K. A school for neurodivergent children rallied competing school groups and crossed $100K. A New York City theater nonprofit pitted its board and staff against each other on GivingTuesday and raised $21K. A dog rescue let supporters vote with their donations on which rescue pup would land on a local brewery's beer label.

What do these have in common? The campaign gave people a reason to care that had nothing to do with the donation itself. When the ask is embedded in something people already want to do, the fundraising takes care of itself.