For most of us, fall means the weather is cooler and the leaves begin to change color. This season is a great time to focus on peer-to-peer fundraising (well, all the time is really). Fall is a great time to emphasize peer-to-peer signature events because it’s important to the overall fundraising goals of your nonprofit organization – but not just in dollars raised. Signature events (and pretty much all P2P programs) are great for name acquisition and donor engagement as well.
Here are some tips to help you accomplish your goals this season.
3 Tips on how to boost fall registration
- Multi-channel messaging– use email, direct mail, social media and board involvement/word of mouth to boost knowledge of the event. Be aware of your most popular communication channels and utilize them, but also try using a new form of communication to reach more participants. Telling potential participants and those who have already registered you’re your event’s hashtag is in an email communication is a great way to tie these two channels together.
- Hero video – add a more emotional appeal with a hero video; this can help you explain your organization’s mission to supporters in a visually appealing way. This can be a picture, series of pictures or, the most impactful, a video; either way it has to encourage supporters to register for your event. If you 3d3 have enough recourses and a fall theme to your hero (and then switch out for winter, spring, etc.)
- Easy to use registration – UX is a huge factor when it comes to registration. If your registration process is difficult, lengthy or not easy to understand then your participant is more than likely going to abandon the site without completion. In other words, an easy registration process will allow your organization to gain more registrants. There are a ton of factors that make registrants drop off registration, but to learn more, read our new Path to Success.
3 Tips on how to boost participant fundraising
- Motivation- general appreciation of the participants along with utilizing storytelling throughout event season can be a great motivation to raise money to support the cause. Coaching emails for all participants or participant center can encourage and motivate participants to connect the money they raise with the mission they’re all working toward.
- Coaching emails for Team Captains- Team Captain is an important role that needs to be acknowledged. A good way to do this is by creating a separate email series just for them. There should be a total of 4 emails that have a mix of fundraising tips, team building and motivational messages to pass along to the team. To learn more about coaching for Team Captains, check out this blog.
- Mobile app –Boundless Fundraising™ allows participants to reach out to all their friends, family and co-workers through Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. This mobile and social app also has email covered as participants can use the badge feature to share progress and link to where the recipient can donate. Mobile allows your participants to fundraise on the go from their smartphone and tablet optimizes those mobile devices specifically. This helpful tool will enable participants to boost their fundraising by 60-80%. Check out the new Boundless Fundraising Benchmark for more info.
While the leaves are changing, your strategy behind fall P2P events should be too. Your organization should be looking forward to this time of year because this is the season of giving, which means it’s a great time to get involved in all aspects of fundraising. These tips should help your organization have a better idea on how to boost registration and participation for fundraising events. Happy fall fundraising y’all!