Group Fundraising: How Does It Work and What's Out There?

Slide 1: Group Fundraising How Does It Work and What’s Out There? Ben Rattray ben@change.org www.change.org 1

Slide 2: What is Peer-to-Peer Fundraising? Traditional Fundraising Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Nonprofit Nonprofit Vs. Potential Donors Donors Impersonal Personal One-way Interactive Expensive Inexpensive www.change.org 2

Slide 3: History of Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Has always been around House parties Walk-a-thons Canvassing But, limited use Not easy to collect money Difficulty asking people in person No ongoing communication www.change.org 3

Slide 4: What’s Different Now? Anyone can start a campaign Easy to invite friends, rapidly spread the message, and collect money Create a community www.change.org 4

Slide 5: Why is Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Powerful? The power of personal connections Magnified impact Social recognition Result: better engagement & giving experience www.change.org 5

Slide 6: Tools for Peer-to-Peer Fundraising (1) Fundraising Pages (2) Fundraising Widgets (3) Leveraged Communications www.change.org 6

Slide 7: Tools: Fundraising Pages Serves as a personal webpage/donation page Photo / message / goal / list of donors and comments www.change.org 7

Slide 8: Tools: Widgets Effectively a mini fundraising page Can be put anywhere on the web 87 million people have used a widget online www.change.org 8

Slide 9: Tools: Leveraged Communications (i) Email (ii) Blogs (iii) Social Networks www.change.org 9

Slide 10: Sources for Fundraising Tools Exclusively for Social Networking New Giving Traditional Fundraising & Fundraising Channels Providers www.change.org 10

Slide 11: Examples of Successful Campaigns Robin Maxwell Raised $18,000 from 1078 donors Received $10,000 matching donation Beneficiary: local MS Chapter www.change.org 11

Slide 12: Examples of Successful Campaigns Beth Kanter & Michele Martin Raised $41,000 from 1,650 donors Received matching grant of $50,000 Beneficiary: Sharing Foundation www.change.org 12

Slide 13: Examples of Successful Campaigns Amy Eldridge, Love Without Boundaries Raised $94,000 from 4,115 donors Received matching grant of $50,000 40 volunteers www.change.org 13

Slide 14: What Can I Expect? $50k Most campaigns don’t work this way Network for Good: 20 people raised 30% of funds Dollars Raised $0 0 1000 People www.change.org 14

Slide 15: An Interlude on Virality This is Viral: The average new member recruits > 1 additional member www.change.org 15

Slide 16: An Interlude on Virality This is NOT Viral: Exponential increase vs. Exponential decay www.change.org 16

Slide 17: Keys to a Successful Campaign 1. The Messenger 2. Compelling story 3. Photo or video 4. Catalyzing event 5. Specific ask 6. Blog support 7. Passion www.change.org 17

Slide 18: Do Organizations Have a Role? Is extra-organizational fundraising superior? Driven by compelling examples of money raised But, these are (1) hard to replicate en mass, and (2) oftentimes helped by the organization Nonprofit www.change.org 18

Slide 19: Presidential Campaigns www.change.org 19

Slide 20: What Can Organizations Do? (1) Ask people to fundraise for you Add a “fundraise now” button on your website Create a fun/compelling campaign (2) Communicate with and thank fundraisers Send personal thank-you notes Give public recognition Create a newsletter just for fundraisers www.change.org 20

Slide 21: The Future of Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Will this be transformative or marginal? Needs to be deeply integrated into nonprofit strategy What will it take? Improved tools or improved practices? www.change.org 21

Slide 22: The Past vs. The Future Current Model Networked Model Nonprofit Vs. Nonprofit www.change.org 22

Slide 23: Questions? ben@change.org www.change.org 23