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4 Classy Integrations to Increase Peer-to-Peer Engagement

by Kevin Penney

Guest Blog by our valued partner, Bonfire

Classy is a well-known name in the nonprofit sector, providing software that powers campaigns for organizations all over the nation. While the platform supports a variety of campaign types, it’s best known for its peer-to-peer fundraising functionality.

When you empower your supporters to raise money on behalf of your organization, you’ll earn donations from their expansive networks while simultaneously boosting your volunteers’ connection to your cause. With dedicated software like Classy, your volunteer fundraisers simply customize their own fundraising page with their connection to your cause and share with their friends and family, encouraging others to contribute to the campaign.

Therefore, when you consider increasing engagement for your next peer-to-peer campaign, you should think of both those who donate and those who fundraise on your behalf. Both parties are integral to the success of your fundraising initiative and should be proactively engaged to maximize the campaign results.

That’s why we put together this guide—to discuss how nonprofits like yours can power their campaigns through Classy and leverage their vast integration network to increase engagement amongst all supporters.

We’ll dive into four popular Classy integrations for this purpose, including:

1
Boundless Solutions™
2
Bonfire
3
Double the Donation
4
MailChimp

When your participants feel engaged and responsible for your peer-to-peer campaign results, they’ll be much more motivated to drive donations and inspire their networks to give, ultimately creating a more lucrative campaign.

1. Boundless Solutions™


On its own, Charity Dynamic’s tool, Boundless Fundraising®, allows nonprofits like yours to create their own custom-built mobile app. This app enables organizations to automate outreach with potential supporters in order to raise more. The Classy integration with Boundless Fundraising® allows organizations to take this a step further by integrating with their various fundraising campaigns. For each of your peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns launched on Classy’s platform, you can:
  • Encourage your fundraisers to reach their friends and family by sending and posting messages to social platforms and over email.
  • Engage your fundraisers through push notifications.
  • Allow fundraisers to upload their offline donations to the campaign.
Peer-to-peer fundraising is all about communication between your volunteer fundraisers and the donors that contribute to the campaign. After all, these new donors are likely giving for the sake of the person hosting the campaign page. But they have the potential to become lifelong supporters if you continue reaching out even when the campaign ends.

2. Bonfire


Bonfire is a t-shirt fundraising platform designed specifically for nonprofit organizations that want to expand their fundraising potential and deepen donors’ commitment to the cause. Backed by Bonfire’s intuitive fundraising tools, you can design a t-shirt that captures the cause and purpose of your campaign with your organization’s logo, colors, and campaign details in an aesthetic fashion. Then, you can sell these works of art directly to supporters in an online store.

The Bonfire + Classy integration allows you to leverage the power of merchandise sales alongside your Classy peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns. Connect your Classy account to Bonfire, then your supporters can sell t-shirts to raise money for your campaign while spreading your message at the same time. It’s the perfect way to amplify campaigns that are traditionally “donation-only” fundraisers since donors will be motivated to give in exchange for premium cause-related apparel.

Here’s what the integration looks like in practice:

  1. Connect your organization’s Classy account to Bonfire and select the Classy campaigns you want to fundraise for.
  2. Team captains launch their t-shirt campaigns that are connected to their specific Classy team or event fundraiser.
  3. At the end of each Bonfire campaign, the donor data collected from t-shirt sales is automatically synced to your Classy account.
  4. Finally, Bonfire sends your supporters their t-shirts and you collect 100% of the profits.

Whenever supporters purchase new t-shirts, the donations and sales show up on your team captains’ campaign feed. You can also check fundraising campaign statistics and key performance indicators directly from your Bonfire campaign dashboard. This will help you ensure that you’re always on track and progressing toward your campaign’s ultimate goal.

3. Double the Donation


Double the Donation is the industry leader in corporate social responsibility, helping organizations leverage the programs already in place at various companies to raise more in matching gift revenue and volunteer grants.

Your peer-to-peer campaign is the perfect opportunity to take advantage of these contributions. Did you know that when supporters are 84% more likely to make a donation and 33% more likely to give more when they realize their contribution will be matched? However, most individuals don’t know that they’re even eligible for a match!

That’s where the Double the Donation integration with Classy comes in. You can add a matching gift search tool directly on your Classy peer-to-peer fundraising pages, allowing your supporters to research their own eligibility at the peak of their engagement with the campaign.

By including this matching gift tool on your campaign pages, you’ll likely encounter several additional engagement benefits, including:

  • Supporters will immediately know the minimum amount necessary to obtain a match from their company. If they had been planning on giving less, they’ll be more likely to increase their donation amount in order to maximize their impact.
  • Donors on the edge about giving will be more likely to hit the final “submit” button on their donation when they know that their gift will be matched by their employer.
  • Your volunteer fundraisers might be eligible for a volunteer grant if they’ve put in hours of solicitation for your organization.

These benefits result in higher donation revenue for your organization. Plus, you can send a special thank you to these supporters who secured donation matches, explaining the amplified impact they had on your mission thanks to their contribution.

4. Mailchimp


Mailchimp is a marketing solution that allows nonprofits to create beautifully crafted and impactful emails to engage supporters, prospects, potential supporters, members, and other constituents. Not only that, but you’ll gain access to irreplaceable insights and information about your email campaigns that help you make the most of your marketing efforts.

Backed by the Mailchimp integration with Classy, you can collect the contact information from new supporters in your campaign and automatically create segments to reach these new supporters on your marketing platform. With this integration, you can:

  • Create beautiful email campaigns to alert your supporters of the peer-to-peer campaign and encourage supporters to become fundraisers.
  • Collect and organize donor and fundraiser names and contact information in specific lists on your Mailchimp account.

In addition to using this integration to promote your campaign before it starts, your team can also use it to connect and develop relationships with your new supporters who gave to a peer-to-peer campaign page.

One of the most valuable aspects of peer-to-peer fundraising is its ability to both raise money and acquire new supporters. Take full advantage of this feature by reaching out to all new supporters and encouraging them to start a long-lasting relationship with your organization.

Classy integrations are an important part of ensuring that your peer-to-peer campaign data is in a centralized location and that you’re getting the most from the opportunity. When you look for integrations for your next fundraiser, consider what aspects of your campaign you’d like to amplify. Whether you’re looking for additional marketing power or to maximize donations with t-shirts and matched gifts, there’s an integration for you! While these are our favorite integrations with Classy, they’re not the only ones available. If you’re looking for a more comprehensive list of options, check out Double the Donation’s list of Classy Integrations. After you’ve built out your integrated network of tools, watch how your fundraising revenue skyrockets. Happy fundraising!

Kevin Penney has been working in digital media for over ten years. He’s the CMO and co-founder of Bonfire, an online platform that’s reinventing the way people create, sell and purchase custom apparel.

He enjoys strategizing, working closely with his team, and hockey, exactly in that order.