Managing P2P Events in Challenging Times, Like a Pandemic

March is prime time for P2P recruitment and peer-to-peer fundraising for upcoming Spring events. You and your team have been working hard and feeling really good about how the season has been progressing. But, aside from the excitement, you are watching for any challenges to managing P2P events.

In the past, because of a natural disater or health emergency, a number of large conferences  announced they were canceling events. Among these was the Austin, Texas-based SXSW. The city of Austin issued an emergency disaster declaration (March 6, 2020), effectively canceling the event. A number of major companies had already pulled out or canceled their on-the-ground participation or project debuts (planned for the show), including Netflix, Warner Media, Apple, IBM, Facebook, and Amazon. Pearl Jam also announced that they canceling their summer concert series.

If major companies and celebrities are pulling appearances, what does this mean for managing P2P events at your nonprofit? The good news is that fundraising happens leading up to event day and is primarily managed through the digital tools provided by your fundraising platform, for example, Boundless Fundraising and Facebook Fundraising. So there is no reason for your participants to stop! They can still meet and exceed their goals leading up to event day.

The real question is what happens to your in-person events? I can’t tell you whether you should or shouldn’t continue with your plans for event day (please check with your legal and/or risk management teams), but I can offer an alternative to consider. Event day is all about celebrating the efforts of your community. The same digital technologies that support your peer-to-peer fundraising events also provide an option to host a virtual experience, where your participants can still come together as a community to celebrate and you can thank your loyal fundraisers.

Also consider how you are messaging both the fundraising aspect of your events (in your participant coaching activities) and any planned changes to event day. Use these communications as an opportunity to reinforce the message that your event is a new fundraiser experience, and the need for their continued involvement is more important than ever.