When most fundraising professionals describe their payment processing systems, they likely give a quick, technical definition of how these systems transfer payments from donors to organizations through an online donation page. But sophisticated payment processors are much more than a simple go-between to move revenue.

For one thing, payment processing systems aren’t exclusive to your donation page—they can integrate with event registration forms, online store checkout pages, and various other transaction platforms. Plus, you can leverage your payment processing system to reduce human error, save labor and time costs, and even strengthen marketing and communication strategies. 

From enhancing the donor experience with navigable widgets to increasing the efficiency of your fundraising appeals, here are a few of the lesser-known marketing benefits of a robust payment processing system: 

• Improve the online giving experience 
  • Enhanced user-friendliness and navigability
  • Heightened security for your assets 
• Optimize your donor communications
  • Better fundraising appeals
  • Providing additional forms of giving
  • More effective thank-you messaging

While the main function of your payment processor is to facilitate gifts and accept online payments, a powerful payment processor can do far more to optimize operations across your organization. Ready to explore how payment processing can revamp your marketing and communication methods? Let’s begin. 

Improve the online giving experience

In the grand scheme of the digital donor journey, the payment process may seem like a formality—an obligatory last step in a longer campaign of trying to convince donors to give. But this couldn’t be further from the truth. Your donation form and the greater online giving process are some of the most important marketing materials at your disposal. 

They are one of the last impressions that a donor has of your website before their next visit, and a poor experience can lower their likelihood of completing current payments or giving future contributions. Luckily, the right payment processing system can help to ensure that donors not only go through with their gifts, but walk away with a better opinion of your organization.

Advanced payment processors help improve the online giving experience in several aspects, including user-friendliness and navigability as well as securing your assets. 

Enhanced user-friendliness and navigability

When it comes to creating an optimal donation page experience, ease-of-use should be one of your organization’s top priorities. After all, if a donor is held up for more than a few minutes trying to figure out your form, then they might give up altogether and abandon their payment. 

This is where a strong payment processing system can save your donors’ the precious time and energy required to successfully submit their online gifts. These essential payment processing features make the online giving process faster, easier, and more accommodating than ever with features such as:

• Custom fields. Use custom fields to only collect what you need from donors. Ask them for simple answers to necessary questions, while still customizing your donation process to capture the unique data your organization is looking for.  
• Different payment methods. Donors should pay how and where they want to. Find a processor that accommodates credit and debit cards, ACH, and international transfers.
• Integration capabilities. Integrated payment processors are embedded directly into your donation form, incorporating seamlessly into your form’s design and eliminating redirects off of your website to complete the payment process. 

The giving process should be a smooth experience with as few headaches as possible. To accomplish this, there are many aesthetic and technical tweaks you’ll have to consider, but these streamlined payment processing tools are one of the easiest and most effective first steps that you can take.

Heightened security for your assets 

From a marketing perspective, a lackluster security system reflects poorly on your organization, potentially frightening donors away and deterring online donations. Additionally, poor security measures could even put your organization and your donors at risk of falling victim to fraud and malicious cyber attacks. 

While measures such as password security and SSL certificates can help to strengthen your website from data breaches, a secure payment processor can act as your first and most important line of defense in the donation process itself. These systems use sophisticated anti-fraud tools to protect sensitive donor information from the many dangers of a data leak.

In particular, the iATS Payments guide to nonprofit payment processing details a number of specific security features that boost the strength of your organization’s payment processor:

• Tokenization and encryption. These features encode your donors’ data as it passes through your payment gateway, rendering it unreadable in the case of a security breach.
• PCI compliance. This official security standard is set forth by credit card companies to distinguish payment systems of particular merit and strength. 
• Additional anti-fraud tools. Dedicated tools to verify donor data, such as BIN or CVV2 identification, add an extra layer of security and safety to the online giving process. 

In the wrong hands, the online donation process can be a frustrating experience that creates a rift between public perception of your organization and how you wish to be perceived. But with powerful security features and robust UX capabilities, payment processing can make the online giving process as quick, navigable, and secure as possible for your online donors. 

Optimize your donor communications 

Your donor communications are a major component of your organization’s marketing efforts and overall fundraising success. These conversations are a driving force in donor engagement and retention, allowing you to more effectively encourage individual donors to give. 

Using donor data strategically allows you to personalize communications with supporters and appeal to their preferences and expectations. 

And what better tool is there to collect donor data than your payment processor? From their capacity to give to their preferred giving methods, your payment processor captures critical information in the giving process. This data can improve your donor communications in the following key ways: 

Better fundraising appeals

Whether you’re sending out an email or a handwritten letter to your donors, fundraising appeals are a cornerstone of your organization’s communication and fundraising strategies. And to make these messages as effective as possible, there are a few essential techniques and pieces of information that should be included. 

Fundraising Letters’ guide to creating an effective outreach letter sheds some light on the five must-have elements for a successful fundraising appeal: 

• Address donors by name
• Employ emotional storytelling to draw donors into your organization’s narrative
• Share your organization’s history and mission
• Explain your current fundraising campaign
• Give options to donate or help

Efforts like personally addressing your donors and offering special donation options can be directly aided by the data that your payment processor gathers. 

For example, aside from names and addresses, your payment processor should be able to collect and log gift sizes directly into your donor database. This data can then be used to personalize each appeal and maximize donors’ likelihood of giving by asking for specific gift amounts based on each donors’ unique capacity to give.

Providing additional forms of giving

When creating your donation page, give more than just the option to submit a single, lump sum. Increase and diversify your giving programs by including additional forms of giving, such as corporate matching gifts, recurring gifts, and volunteer opportunities. 

However, if donors don’t take advantage of these additional opportunities on your donation page, your post-gift messaging is another great opportunity for you to encourage participation.

For example, let’s say that a donor chose not to explore matching gift programs, but used their work email address in the donation process. Thanks to your payment processor, as well as your matching gift database, that email address will be loaded into your records, allowing you to promote this giving type to donors whose employers offer a matching gift program.

This is just one way that the data collection capabilities from your payment processor can enhance post-gift messaging, enabling you to strategically market your giving programs.

More effective thank-you messaging 

Expressing appreciation is another great way for you to leverage your payment processor’s data to improve your donor communications. 

Like fundraising appeals, these messages should be intimate, sincere, and personalized to the donor. Information such as donors’ names, their past giving amounts, their frequency of giving, and the campaign or program to which they gave are all essential to making each thank-you letter feel as earnest and as genuine as possible. 

Of course, this is also exactly the kind of data that a dedicated, integrated processor will collect and organize for you. Poor payment processing systems, some larger aggregators, and other processing tools without integration capabilities require you to export donor data from their records and tediously load them into your donor database. 

But an integrated payment processor cuts out these bothersome steps, automatically funneling everything you need to know directly into your records. This gives your team more time and energy to devote to optimizing your donor communications. 

Even seasoned fundraising professionals tend to underestimate or forget about the powerful “behind-the-scenes” tool that is their payment processor. Unlike your constituent relationship management system or your social media marketing tools, your payment processing system works quietly in the background, ironing out issues you might not have been aware of and fending off threats before you had even taken notice of them. 

Whether it’s protecting you from potential hackers or offering up critical data to strengthen your marketing and communications, your payment processing system is an invaluable tool in your organization’s outreach toolkit. 

Author: Peggah Azarvash is a passionate Sales Executive at iATS Payments with 10 years’ experience providing payment solution support and guidance to nonprofits.

Good cybersecurity practices start at the top and trickle down throughout the organization, which means your board members should lead by example. This powerful group is responsible for knowing everything about your organization, including its strategic direction, fundraising strategies, and any risks that threaten those plans. 

As a board leader myself, I understand the temptation of skimping on your cybersecurity practices — especially if you lead a small organization. Aren’t there much more important things that your team should be focusing on? Well, of course your team has a lot on its agenda, but you can’t push those initiatives forward with confidence if your security practices are lackluster.

Technology can be a powerful resource, but with it comes the threat of cyberattacks. Taking the time to educate your team on security issues and implement measures to counteract any challenges now can prevent some major problems later on.

There’s no better time to reassess your board security practices than now, as we enter the new year. To help, we’ll explore the following core strategies:

• Implement password requirements.
• Offer scalable and protected solutions for remote workers.
• Invest in secure board software.
• Have a plan in place in case a cybersecurity breach occurs.

You don’t want poor cybersecurity protocol to get in the way of your board members’ responsibilities. Start devoting some time in your meetings to discussing different strategies. Your board will spend a lot less time worrying and a lot more time leading!

Implement password requirements.

It can be tempting to reuse the same passwords over and over so we don’t forget. After all, what’s more frustrating than trying to log into a platform in a time-sensitive situation just to realize you’ve forgotten your password? Well, I’d say that someone hacking into your account is even more frustrating than that!

Implementing password requirements, particularly on your board of directors, is a very simple step that any organization can (and should) take!

Between email, their board management solution, and any other platforms, your board of directors has access to a lot of platforms with sensitive information. Protect their accounts and implement password requirements like:

• Minimum password length. Longer passwords are often harder to crack than shorter ones. Set a rule that passwords should be at least eight characters long (or even longer than that!). 
• A mix of character types. This might mean requiring at least one of each of the following: lowercase letters, uppercase letters, numbers, and special characters (like punctuation).
• No commonly used passwords. You’d be surprised how many people use the same exact passwords. Provide everyone with a list of the most commonly used passwords, and ask that they don’t use those.
• Frequent updates. The more often people update their passwords, the less likely it is that hackers will be able to crack them. Consider having people update their passwords every 180 days or so.

Simplify this step by using platforms that automatically enforce secure password requirements. That way, you don’t have to worry about anyone using a poor password and slipping under the radar. You’ll also want to mention that board members shouldn’t write down their passwords where anyone else can access them.

Offer scalable and protected solutions for remote workers.

There has been a massive shift to remote operations since the start of the pandemic. Like many others, I’ve enjoyed the flexibility of remote work. But we must recognize that going virtual presents major security risks that we haven’t had to face before — at least not to this degree.

While working from home, more data is being exchanged digitally than ever before. Not to mention, more people are using personal devices and home networks, making it easier for cybercriminals to attack.

Your board of directors in particular needs scalable security solutions to continue fulfilling responsibilities remotely without worrying that their work will be compromised in some way. Here are some steps you’ll want to take into account to make remote operations more viable and trustworthy:

• Run secure virtual meetings. Meetings are a crucial time for your board members to discuss strategies and make important decisions. They need the option to continue meeting while physically apart. Boardable’s guide to hybrid board meetings explains that one of the primary concerns with virtual and hybrid meetings is cybersecurity. Whether your meetings are entirely or only partially virtual, the solution you use should prevent uninvited guests from joining. Just like for your virtual and hybrid events, select a protected solution that uses SSL certification to encrypt data and allows you to require a password to join.
• Provide them with devices. While it’s likely not doable on a slim budget, some organizations provide their board members with devices that they should use strictly for board work. Doing this makes it incredibly easy to wipe the device if it’s lost or somehow falls into the wrong hands.

Cybersecurity oversight has now become a hot topic for boards everywhere because of remote work. Offering scalable solutions for members who engage in board activities remotely should be on the top of your priority list if it isn’t already.

Invest in secure board software.

A good bit of the work your board completes will be done within your board management platform. Between managing documents, deciding on important matters, and anything else they tackle, a lot goes on within this type of platform. 

Many resources point to secure software solutions as one of an organization’s first lines of defense. It doesn’t matter if you’re looking at developing a website for the organization, collecting donations, or governing the entire organization. You should double-check that your solution implements the appropriate security measures.

In regard to board management, here are a few considerations to bear in mind when assessing the security of your solutions:

• Secure Document Storage. Your board handles a lot of private documents between strategic plans, budgets, and governing documents. Make sure documents are encrypted when uploaded to your board platform. You should also be able to limit the audience for each document or folder. That way, users only have access to the resources they actually need.
  
• Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certification. SSL is the standard technology for keeping an internet connection secure and protecting any sensitive data that’s being shared between two systems. A board management platform that has SSL certification, which may also be referred to as its successor Transport Layer Security (TLS) certification, will safeguard any data shared between two online board users.
  
• Customer Data Encryption. Make sure any data you share is protected, particularly payment information. You’ll need to pay for your board management solution, and the last thing you want is for your credit card information or any personal details attached to the account to be compromised. Ensure your credit card information is protected at every point in the payment process by making sure your board management provider uses a PCI-compliant payment processor. No need to worry about your organization’s funds this way.

Your board management platform provider should take security seriously. So when you’re looking for a new system, ask about their security policy and what measures they take to protect your information. It’ll be apparent if they take it as seriously as they should. This really goes for any software your team invests in.

You’ll also want to check that they assess their cybersecurity protocol on a regular basis. Trusted providers may regularly simulate a cyberattack on their system to check for potential vulnerabilities — often annually. This helps ensure that their platform is doing everything it can to protect your organization’s data.

Have a plan in place in case a cybersecurity breach occurs.

So you put all of this security protocol in place, yet a breach still occurs. What’s next? Well, you should have an emergency response plan in place and should always be prepared for the worst, even if it’s unlikely to happen. 

Bloomerang’s guide to nonprofit cybersecurity mentions that 68% of nonprofits don’t have documented policies to implement in case of a cyberattack. You don’t want to be on the wrong side of that statistic!

In the event that a breach happens, here are a few steps your team should take to reduce the chaos and get everything back in line:

• Assign specific roles and define the chain of command. Clarify the roles of different team members. Some boards establish a specific committee devoted to managing cybersecurity. Within this committee, you might have someone who will organize internal communications, another person who will manage external communications, and someone else who will take mitigation steps.
• Make sure everyone is on the same page internally. First thing’s first, make sure to communicate with your board and other internal leaders about what will be said externally. There needs to be a single version of truth regarding what happened and what the game plan is for moving forward, so everyone outside of the organization still has some trust in the organization during an inherently tense time.
• Be transparent about what information was compromised. Defining reporting requirements is crucial before an attack ever occurs. While storing stakeholder data can be incredibly useful for campaigns, that also means security incidents often involve people who aren’t a part of the organization. Identify any legal reporting requirements and be intentional about communicating what information was compromised both internally and externally.
• Define different mitigation strategies. There are different types of cybersecurity incidents that can happen. Do your best to plan for different kinds. For example, if there’s a data breach, would you shut the compromised system completely down? Who makes the call to do so? What steps will you take to strengthen uncompromised systems? 

Especially if your organization is large and well-known, you need to accept that there’s a chance your information will be breached despite your best efforts. Having an emergency response plan and updating it to account for new potential incidents will be immensely helpful if a breach does happen. 

Be sure to set aside some time on the agenda to revisit your response protocol with your board members every so often. That way, everyone will be fully aware of what they need to do in these cases. You’ll also want to share a report of all cybersecurity incidents with your board — at least annually. Any incidents that pass a certain severity threshold should be brought to the board immediately, allowing them to take the appropriate actions.

Final Thoughts on Cybersecurity for Boards

Especially with the shift to remote work, more boards and their organizations are talking about cybersecurity. It’s worthwhile to do your research and take extra precautions. Wouldn’t you rather do too much than too little and risk compromising sensitive information? What was just covered will give you a solid starting point.

If you need more ways to improve your cybersecurity protocol, brainstorm ideas with your board. Avoid group-think and put effort into thinking creatively about different cybersecurity issues. After all, two heads (or multiple in this case) are better than one!

Author: Jeb Banner is the founder and CEO of Boardable, a board management software provider for mission-driven boards. He is also the founder of two nonprofits, The Speak Easy and Musical Family Tree, as well as a board member of United Way of Central Indiana and ProAct. Jeb is based in Indianapolis, Indiana.

As a volunteer coordinator, one of your most important ongoing responsibilities is to engage your volunteers. This is because it’s much more time and cost-effective to engage and retain current volunteers rather than constantly expend energy on recruiting new volunteers. 

However, if your volunteer program has been in operation for a while, you might feel like your volunteer engagement strategies are getting a little stale. You’ve tried all of the traditional advice, from segmenting your volunteers to creating personalized outreach, but you’re looking for something new to inspire and excite your supporters. 

If this sounds familiar, it’s time to change things up and explore some creative ways you can interact with your volunteers and keep them engaged in what you have to offer. Here are six ideas for better volunteer engagement: 

1. Use your social media pages to interact with volunteers. 
2. Offer a reward for your volunteer of the month.
3. Inspire friendly competition with gamification.
4. Give your volunteer opportunities a creative theme.
5. Encourage volunteers to bring along family and friends. 
6. Help volunteers cultivate new skills. 

Keep in mind that effective volunteer engagement isn’t a one-and-done task. It requires an ongoing process that combines multiple engagement strategies to keep volunteers in the loop and offer them compelling reasons to stay involved. Let’s dive in to learn more!

1. Use your social media pages to interact with volunteers. 

Social media is more than just a tool for accumulating followers. It’s also a great place to show off your volunteers’ achievements, update them on upcoming events, and express appreciation. There are approximately 3.78 billion social media users worldwide, and with this rise in popularity, you should leverage multiple social pages to inform and interact with your volunteers.

Post volunteer shoutouts highlighting certain volunteer projects or specific volunteers who went above and beyond during a recent opportunity. Take photos during your volunteer opportunities and events and post those photos on your social media pages such as Facebook and Instagram. Be sure to tag each individual and encourage them to share the posts to help spread awareness of your opportunities.

Social media is also a great medium to communicate important information to your volunteers all at once. Let’s say you’re hosting a fundraising gala, and you want to attract as many potential attendees and donors as possible. You can encourage volunteers to be ambassadors and share your posts and event page on their social media accounts to get the word out. This way, you can attract a larger pool of audience members and encourage them to participate in your event.

2. Offer a reward for your volunteer of the month.

Acknowledging and rewarding your volunteers is a crucial component in keeping them engaged and motivated. Your volunteers donate many hours to help your cause, so it’s necessary to recognize the positive impact they have on your organization. 

To reward volunteers who make a sizable impact on your mission, consider offering a volunteer of the month program. Make the designation extra-special by offering winners a special prize or award. Examples of rewards can be:

• A gift card to a local business or restaurant – Everybody loves free food! Rewarding your outstanding volunteer with a gift card to a popular restaurant nearby will generate excitement and motivate your volunteer to continue giving their best efforts. This is a fun way to encourage your volunteers while also supporting a local business.

• Free merchandise – Consider offering your volunteer of the month free merchandise such as a t-shirt, mug, hat, or water bottle. Customize your merchandise with your nonprofit’s logo as well as a short message such as “Volunteer of the Month, April 2022.” This is a memorable gift and will make your organization stand out! 

• A special gala/certificate – Host a volunteer appreciation gala where attendees dress up and celebrate each other’s achievements. During this event, you can offer a certificate to your hard-working volunteer of the year. You can also highlight their accomplishments and what exactly they did that made them the volunteer of the year. This will make your volunteer feel special and encourage them to stay involved in your cause.

• A trophy – This is a great tangible reward that your volunteer can take home and place on a shelf. This symbol of their achievement will remind your volunteers of the general positive feeling that your organization promotes, which will make them want to continue volunteering with your nonprofit longer.

Rewarding your volunteers contributes to keeping them engaged and feeling appreciated for their accomplishments. Even a simple gesture of appreciation, such as a handwritten note, can go a long way.

3. Inspire friendly competition with gamification.

Gamification involves adding game mechanics to non-gaming environments and features elements such as points, leaderboards, and badges. This concept can be used to motivate and engage your volunteers in a fun way.

Use your volunteer management tools to keep track of each volunteers’ progress. For instance, keep track of volunteers’ total number of hours or statistics related to fundraising initiatives, such as how many peer-to-peer donations volunteers raised. Then, inspire a little friendly competition by incorporating gamification into your volunteer tracking system.

Award volunteers with badges or points once they hit certain milestones, such as a specific number of hours worked or donations raised. Then, volunteers can continue earning points until they hit a certain benchmark, where they can receive a prize.

Gamification is very effective in inspiring volunteers to reach a goal because it encourages them to push themselves. People love to participate in activities with a slight edge of competition because it inspires a drive to succeed and makes accomplishing tasks fun. Plus, elements like points and badges provide instant feedback on your volunteers’ performance, which will satisfy the need for recognition and will push them to do even better.

4. Give your volunteer opportunities a creative theme.

Giving your volunteer opportunities and events a theme makes them more fun and exciting for everyone. With the right planning and strategies in place, a themed event can boost engagement and attract more participants. 

For example, if you’re hosting a canned food drive near Halloween, consider making it more than just a canned food drive— make it a Halloween-costume-themed canned food drive! Or, if you’re hosting a 5K event, encourage participants and volunteers to come wearing their favorite Disney-themed outfit. This changes things up a bit and adds an extra flavor of excitement. It also allows your volunteers to socialize with others, making their volunteering experience less work-intensive and more fun.

Making your volunteer and fundraising opportunities themed also helps market them to community members. It will catch the attention of anyone who passes by, offering a great opportunity to talk about what your event and organization as a whole is all about. This can encourage community members to donate to your cause or even sign up to volunteer at a future opportunity. 

5. Encourage volunteers to bring along family and friends. 

When your volunteers include their family and friends in your events and activities, they’ll feel much more comfortable participating and likely have more fun since they already have one or two people they know. It also helps promote awareness of your volunteer program to a larger audience.

However, the first step is to offer a memorable experience for your volunteers first before they bring their family and friends along. Proper volunteer engagement and management involves giving your current volunteers a positive experience so that they promote your program to family and friends via word-of-mouth advertising. 

From there, you can encourage them to create social media posts to share information about any upcoming activities, conferences, and fundraising events to attract the interest of potential participants. Remember to offer proper training and tools to help them feel confident in getting the word across. 

Once they’ve caught the interest of new volunteers from their audience of family and friends, add the names and contact information for these new volunteers to your volunteer management database to help grow your audience. 

6. Help volunteers cultivate new skills. 

Every volunteer offers their own unique set of skills and strengths. By providing training opportunities, you can enhance their skill set and offer an added benefit to your volunteer program! 

Learning never stops, and by offering new roles, you will help your volunteers step out of their comfort zone and grow their knowledge base. As a volunteer coordinator, you will have a much easier time engaging with volunteers if your program is just as beneficial for them as it is for you. 

There are plenty of ways you can help volunteers earn new skills, such as:

• Offering volunteers eLearning training – This allows your volunteers to learn at their own pace, in the comfort of their homes. You can create several modules for your volunteers to work through and provide a certificate for completion. Offering an eLearning training experience also allows you to monitor volunteers’ progress and provides an ongoing resource if volunteers have any questions or concerns.

• Providing unique virtual experiences – If you’re hosting a virtual event, you can offer your volunteers valuable virtual experiences. Your virtual volunteers can help manage your nonprofit’s digital efforts, such as website maintenance or hybrid event management. This is an excellent opportunity for them to learn independently as they will be in charge of different areas of your online event. Most in-person volunteering experiences don’t offer as much independence since there is typically a volunteer coordinator on site to oversee everything. However, virtual volunteer opportunities can offer greater leadership opportunities, allowing volunteers to gain confidence and learn new technical skills.

• Giving them leadership opportunities – If you have any experienced or long-time volunteers, you can upgrade their role by offering leadership opportunities. This can include taking charge of training new volunteers, leading a volunteer opportunity, or even being a mentor! This can provide volunteers with a resume booster and offer the experience they may need for any future job opportunities.

Helping your volunteers grow by offering opportunities to learn new skills can foster an enjoyable, unique experience for participants. Remember to celebrate all their achievements and offer ongoing support to help answer questions or address concerns!

There you have it! Now that you’ve learned six different volunteer engagement ideas, it’s time to plan how you will go about putting these plans into action! Shaking up your current engagement strategies will bring some excitement to both your staff and volunteers. Your volunteers are the backbone of your organization and help you reach your goals, so it’s important to focus on how to increase their satisfaction and plan accordingly.

Remember to request feedback from your volunteers as it will help you measure the success of your program. Good luck!

Author: Shreya Tragad is a creative content creator focusing on delivering information about the importance of volunteerism for nonprofit organizations. She is passionate about creating engaging content, writing, and graphic design to help viewers easily retain information. You can find her work at www.initlive.com or on Linkedin and Twitter.

How has your nonprofit’s peer-to-peer fundraising programming fared in the past year and a half?

There’s no shame in admitting that your P2P revenue may be down. In fact, if you’re like many nonprofits, your P2P fundraising may have taken quite a hit due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Even the largest programs across the country reported major declines in revenue and participation— with revenue declines ranging from 16.1% to 58.9% in the top 10 programs.

For organizations that rely on peer-to-peer fundraising to bring in the bulk of their revenue, declines such as these can be devastating. That’s why so many nonprofits focused on diversifying their revenue streams over the past year, seeking out new grant, major gift, and donor-advised fund-related opportunities.

But, what if you could diversify your peer-to-peer fundraising revenue stream itself? And, with that, insulate your nonprofit’s funding (and mission!) from future crises?

If the past year taught us anything, it’s that nonprofits need to do their due diligence to de-risk their missions. So, let’s discuss Facebook and the role it can play in diversifying your P2P strategy. We’ll cover the following points:

• What is the role of Facebook in peer-to-peer fundraising?
• What are Facebook Challenges?
• How can you incorporate Facebook Challenges into your P2P strategy?

Before we dive into de-risking your mission with social fundraising, let’s first discuss the connection between Facebook fundraisers and the peer-to-peer fundraising ecosystem overall

What is the role of Facebook in peer-to-peer fundraising?

Inspired by the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, Facebook released its first fundraising tools in 2015. Not long after, in 2016, the platform released functionality that allows individuals to create standalone fundraisers on behalf of their favorite charities.

In 2019, the platform celebrated $2 billion raised for nonprofit and personal causes; in 2021, that number has risen to over $5 billion. And now, according to 360MatchPro’s fundraising statistics, “Of the donors who are inspired to give by social media outreach, 56% of them say Facebook has the biggest impact on them.” 

Functionally, Facebook fundraisers are social-media-based peer-to-peer fundraisers. When a user creates a fundraiser on behalf of your nonprofit, they share it with their friends, family members, and colleagues and ask those individuals to donate to the campaign.

However, where there would be dedicated peer-to-peer fundraising software in a traditional campaign, there is instead a dedicated Facebook fundraiser. Also unlike traditional peer-to-peer fundraisers, your nonprofit’s supporters can start fundraisers on your behalf whenever they want, independently of any fundraising campaigns your organization is hosting overall.

All of that said, while social fundraising has been a clear force for good, some nonprofits are hesitant to embrace Facebook in their peer-to-peer fundraising strategies. These organizations worry that:

• It will be difficult to retain Facebook supporters as long-term supporters of the nonprofit.
• Online peer-to-peer fundraising loses the community aspect of in-person events.
• Social media-based fundraisers will draw attention away from the nonprofit’s other campaigns.

However, these worries are hardly reason enough to forego the benefits of social fundraising as a tool to de-risk your mission— especially because Facebook Challenges defy each one.

What are Facebook Challenges?

Facebook Challenges are time-bound peer-to-peer fundraisers that take place entirely on the social network.

During a Challenge, participants complete a specific task or activity, such as walking a specified number of miles or completing an exercise for a certain number of repetitions. Participants complete this activity on each day of the Challenge, reporting back on their progress in a shared Facebook group to which all participants are added. At the same time, participants use a Facebook fundraiser to raise funds for your nonprofit from their networks. These gifts may be made due to an interest in your cause, or simply to support the participant in their pursuits!

To help you visualize, consider this example Facebook Challenge:

Participants are tasked with walking 10k steps each day, for a total of 30 days. During this time, participants “check-in” with their fellow participants in the Facebook group, encouraging one another toward their goals. Throughout the Challenge, each participant has the goal of raising at least $250 for your nonprofit through a Facebook fundraiser. 

How can Facebook Challenges de-risk peer-to-peer fundraising?

We started this article by discussing the idea of using Facebook to de-risk your overall peer-to-peer fundraising strategy. Then, we discussed a quick history of social fundraising and an innovative new way to use Facebook fundraising— Facebook Challenges. Now, let’s combine the two ideas.

Research has shown that Facebook Challenges are an additive fundraising method.

This essentially means that, rather than pulling resources and support from your other fundraising campaigns, Facebook Challenges enhance your strategy overall.

For example, consider if you chose to host a traditional fundraising event. You’d be marketing the event to existing and new supporters alike, but your existing donors and volunteers would be the most likely to attend and give. You’d need to schedule carefully to ensure the event doesn’t fall too closely to your other fundraising efforts, because your supporters could experience donation fatigue after being asked to give to your organization twice in a short period of time.

On the other hand, Facebook Challenges reach an entirely new audience that your nonprofit likely hasn’t engaged with previously. Just consider the results in this GoodUnited resource. During its Facebook Challenges, American Cancer Society:

• Added 443,078 leads to its database at a $3.12 cost per lead.
• Saw 61,000 new fundraisers started in conjunction with the Challenges.

Most interesting, however, was that over 95% of the Facebook Challenge participants were new to the American Cancer Society. Rather than diverting supporters from other ACS campaigns, Facebook Challenges brought new supporters into the nonprofit’s audience.

Because Challenges take place online, they have unlimited reach. As of January 2021, the total number of active internet users in the world was 4.66 billion— so your digital campaign can really make an impact when it comes to bolstering your donations and audience. In a year where both fundraising and participation were down, this is invaluable.

Even further, we know that both in-person and hybrid events can be complicated and expensive to plan and coordinate. But, that’s not the case for Facebook Challenges. So, you can de-risk your P2P strategy without much disruption to your current fundraising calendar.

Let’s walk through the Facebook Challenge planning process so you can see this for yourself.

How can you incorporate Facebook Challenges into your P2P strategy?

If you’re ready to embrace Facebook Challenges as a way to de-risk your peer-to-peer fundraising strategy and mission overall, start planning your first campaign with the following steps:

1. Outline the parameters of your Challenge. Consider the task or activity you’ll want participants to complete, the dates of the campaign itself, and your fundraising goals both for the overall fundraiser and individual participants.
2. Create the tech infrastructure to support the campaign. This is essentially the Facebook group that participants will join when they sign up for the Challenge. Write a clear description of what the Challenge will entail and ensure the cover photo is branded to your organization, both of which will build trust in your new supporters that the campaign is legitimate.
3. Use Facebook Ads to spread the word. With your paid Ads campaign, target both known supporters of your nonprofit (i.e. those who have “liked” you on Facebook) and lookalike audiences that have similar characteristics and interests as your known supporters. This is how you’ll engage with a new audience of support.
4. Engage with participants for the duration of the campaign. Once users follow the ads, sign up for your Challenge, and join the corresponding group, the fundraiser is underway. Interact with participants in the group to ensure it’s an engaging experience, such as sharing discussion posts, updates about the progress of the campaign, and fundraising tips to help them reach their goals.

Last but not least, consider ways that you can continue engaging with your new supporters long after the campaign ends.

For example, you can use Facebook Messenger to hold one-on-one conversations with new supporters throughout the year. Simply post thank-you comments on each Facebook fundraiser, thanking the participant for their efforts in your Challenge. In that message, invite the participant to begin chatting with your nonprofit in Messenger. Then, you can keep the conversation going!

Facebook Challenges are the ideal tool to de-risk your peer-to-peer fundraising revenue, providing an additive fundraising channel for times when P2P revenue is down. This means that regardless of future crises, your mission is funded.

However, if you’ve read through this guide and are worried about your team’s capacity and ability to manage yet another fundraising channel— don’t fret! There are now social fundraising solutions providers that can manage the process for you from start to finish, from planning the initial Challenges to communicating with participants long after the fundraisers are complete. This means that even if your team is busy, you can still experience all of the benefits of Facebook Challenges in your peer-to-peer strategy.

Author: Maria Clark is a nonprofit executive and technology evangelist with 30+ years of industry experience. Today she serves as Executive Vice President of Partnerships and Chief Evangelist for GoodUnited, the social fundraising solution. Maria is a champion of the new and has fearlessly led change management efforts throughout her career. 

Previously, Maria spent 33 years at the American Cancer Society, a top #20 US nonprofit and the leading cancer research nonprofit with an annual $800+M budget, in roles spanning all aspects of nonprofit communication, operations and fundraising. Most recently, as Senior Vice President for Peer to Peer Development, Maria led strategy development, planning and implementation for name brand ACS events like Relay for Life, Making Strides Against Breast Cancer, a robust gala and golf portfolio and the Raise Your Way DIY platform, as well as championing new digital strategies that support community fundraising. 

Maria lives with her husband Derek in Dallas, Texas, where she has a deep history with the nonprofit community. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Notre Dame School, a special needs Kindergarten through post high school in Dallas, and remains active in the Leadership Dallas Alumni Association. Maria is mom to two adult daughters, Devin and Corrie, and her fur baby, Ozzy.