[ASK AN EXPERT] Stop Treating Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Like a Spring Fling

‍Dear Charity Clairity,

I’ve been pushing for our organization to adopt peer to peer fundraising as a core strategy. Well, now our board wants us to “try out” a spring P2P fundraising event. I’m concerned because we really don’t have time to do this with such short notice, and I’m afraid we’ll end up drawing the wrong conclusions about how well peer to peer fundraising can work as a year-round strategy. Do you have any advice for how to persuade them to consider this more than a “one-off” event?

— What Springs to Mind

Dear What Springs to Mind,

You’re right to be concerned.

Too often, nonprofits treat peer to peer fundraising like a seasonal fling: a burst of spring activity followed by months of silence.

That approach leaves both money and relationships on the table.

The real power of nonprofit peer fundraising isn’t simply that supporters raise money for you. It’s that they introduce your mission to people who already trust them. Friends, family members, coworkers, and community networks become newly connected to your cause through someone they know personally.

That’s incredibly powerful.

And it’s why the smartest organizations don’t treat peer to peer fundraising as a once-a-year campaign tactic. They treat it as an ongoing community-building and donor acquisition strategy.

Why P2P fundraising peaks in spring — and why that’s a problem

There’s a reason peer to peer fundraising tends to spike in spring.

Warmer weather lends itself naturally to outdoor fundraising events like walks, runs, rides, and team challenges. Organizations often build entire peer to peer fundraising strategies around these signature events because they create excitement, visibility, and urgency.

There’s nothing wrong with that.

The problem arises when nonprofits begin to equate peer-to-peer fundraising exclusively with events.

This one off treatment of P2P makes everything seem too transactional:

• register 
• fundraise 
• attend the event 
• disappear until next year 

That’s a missed opportunity to grow donor love.

Research consistently shows donors value autonomy and personal agency.  Peer to peer fundraising works especially well because supporters can personalize their involvement. They can take charge.

A sort of magic unfolds when people become storytellers, advocates, and community-builders on behalf of causes they care about deeply.

The magic isn’t the event itself – something you created. It’s the supporter ownership – something they created.

You’re correct in intuiting that placing seasonal limitations on when and how your supporters can fundraise on your behalf will also limit your outcomes – both in terms of donors acquired and dollars raised.

When organizations limit P2P activity to one seasonal campaign, they unintentionally limit the momentum, identity, and emotional connection that make peer fundraising so effective in the first place.

The real cost of letting your P2P community go cold

People respond better to people than they do to institutions -- especially people they know and trust.

That’s one reason peer to peer fundraising campaigns often outperform traditional donor acquisition efforts. A recommendation from a friend or colleague creates emotional credibility --before the nonprofit ever enters the conversation.

But here’s the mistake many organizations make: They focus heavily on recruiting peer fundraisers during a campaign, then largely disappear once the event is over.

When supporters feel useful only during fundraising season, enthusiasm fades quickly. And each year the organization has to start almost from scratch rebuilding energy and participation.

That’s expensive.

A year-round peer to peer fundraising strategy allows nonprofits to build continuity instead of constantly rebuilding momentum.

It also creates a stronger donor pipeline.

Someone who first gives because a friend invited them to support a birthday fundraiser or memorial campaign may later become:

• a repeat donor 
• a volunteer 
• an event participant 
• a monthly giver 
• or even a peer fundraiser themselves 

That’s how community grows.

The goal is not simply to complete a campaign. It’s to deepen relationships over time.

This is why stewardship matters just as much in P2P fundraising as it does in major gifts or monthly giving.

Supporters who raise money for you should not feel like temporary labor. They should feel like valued partners in expanding your mission. That means:

• thanking fundraisers personally 
• sharing campaign impact 
• spotlighting participant stories 
• inviting continued involvement 
• making supporters feel seen and appreciated beyond the campaign itself 

The organizations that do this well build communities of fundraising champions, not just event participants.

What a year-round peer-to-peer strategy actually looks like

A sustainable peer to peer fundraising strategy is less about running centralized campaigns and more about creating ongoing opportunities for supporters to engage on their own terms.

Think of it as building an ecosystem rather than managing a single event.

Yes, you may still anchor your year around a major spring fundraiser. But between campaigns, supporters should have easy ways to activate their networks on behalf of your cause. For example, year-round nonprofit peer fundraising might include:

• birthday fundraisers 
• memorial or tribute campaigns 
• graduation celebrations 
• holiday giving traditions 
• athletic challenges 
• emergency response fundraising 
• workplace giving competitions 
• volunteer-led mini campaigns 
• ambassador or influencer programs 

The key is making participation simple, flexible, and supporter-driven.

This approach is actually more donor-centered than a tightly controlled organizational campaign because it gives people room to express their own values and motivations.

Someone celebrating a birthday may not want gifts for themselves. Someone training for a marathon may want to connect their effort to a meaningful purpose. Someone honoring a loved one may want to create a tribute fundraiser that channels grief into impact.

These moments happen year-round.

In many ways, peer to peer fundraising is simply word-of-mouth fundraising on steroids.

For decades, nonprofits have relied on supporters informally spreading the word:

• inviting friends to events 
• forwarding appeals 
• sharing personal stories 
• recommending organizations they trust 

Peer-to-peer fundraising gives supporters tools and structure to do this more intentionally and visibly.

And it doesn’t have to be complicated. For example:

• A volunteer creates a birthday fundraiser asking friends to donate $25 instead of bringing gifts. 
• A grateful client family launches a memorial tribute campaign
• A longtime supporter organizes a team fundraising page connected to a local 5K they were already planning to run. 
• A graduating student asks classmates to contribute to a cause that shaped their college experience. 
• A family creates a holiday fundraising tradition in lieu of exchanging gifts. 
• A supporter reacts to breaking news related to your mission and launches an emergency fundraising page within hours.

None of these require a massive organizational campaign. 

You simply create infrastructure supporters can return to whenever life presents a meaningful fundraising moment. You don’t confine P2P to a campaign calendar.

The tools that make continuous P2P fundraising possible

A successful, sustainable year-round strategy depends on making participation easy -- both for your organization and for your supporters. 

That’s where peer to peer fundraising tools become important. You’ll want to look for an easy-to-use platform, clear fundraising templates, and a way to provide responsive support and ongoing encouragement.

Whether through a standalone platform or an integrated fundraising system, your technology should reduce friction and empower supporters to act independently with minimal staff intervention.

The best peer to peer fundraising tools allow supporters to:

• create personalized fundraising pages 
• share campaigns easily on social media and email 
• track fundraising progress 
• participate as individuals or teams 
• customize their stories and goals 
• engage donors through updates and milestones 

Just as importantly, your system should help you capture and retain donor information so new supporters acquired through peer fundraising can enter your broader stewardship pipeline.

But technology alone is not the strategy.

The real key to success is creating an experience that feels intuitive, emotionally rewarding, and easy to share.

That means giving fundraisers:

• compelling templates 
• branded graphics 
• sample messaging 
• suggested donation amounts 
• clear calls to action 
• room to personalize their story 

The easier you make it for supporters to participate authentically, the more likely they are to return -- and invite others along with them.

There’s a big difference, from a donor perspective, when supporters are treated as temporary campaign participants rather than as long-term partners and ambassadors in growing mission awareness, community, and generosity.

When organizations shift from an event mindset to an ecosystem mindset, peer to peer fundraising stops being a seasonal tactic and becomes an ongoing engine for donor acquisition, engagement, and belonging.

If you want peer to peer fundraising to succeed long term, don’t think of it as a single campaign to manage. Think of it as a community to nurture.

Once that mindset springs to mind, the strategy becomes much easier to sustain.

Here’s to growing generosity year-round,

 -- Charity Clairity

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