By: Keisha Hartman

Peer-to-peer (P2P) fundraising is a powerful tool for both non-profits and its community.

Whether it’s run/walk events, DIY, or tribute pages, P2P fundraising is a way for non-profits to engage with its community and raise crucial funds for causes they care about.

From recruitment to fundraising – coaching your participants to be super fundraisers starts with a strong communication strategy. TeamRaiser offers valuable tools to further cultivate your participants and host more successful events.

WHAT ARE COACHING EMAILS?

Coaching emails are a tool that keeps your participants motivated and encourages them to be an active fundraiser in your P2P event with fundraising. You can use messages to inspire and guide the fundraisers with fundraising tips, campaign updates, give praise to top fundraisers and encourage past donors to give again.

With TeamRaiser’s built-in features, you can filter your email audience from past/current donors and participants to specific participant types and active fundraisers.

Here are three easy strategies to implement for your next TeamRaiser event:

1. ACTIVATE RETURNING TEAMS

Returning participants raise more money than first-time fundraisers. In walk events, a returning participant secures three times the contributions a new participant raises!* Enable the Returning Teams option in Advanced Event options, this allows you to send coaching emails to past participants to announce registration and invite them to return.

Use incentives by promoting an Early Bird registration discount or prize. Coaching emails allow you to:

• Target participants from the previous event
• Target team members whose teams from the previous event have not returned
• Target team captains whose teams from the previous event have not returned to the current event.

Create conditional content for your star fundraisers by congratulating them on how well they did last year and demonstrate the impact they made on the organization.

2. FOCUS ON TEAM CAPTAINS

In the recent Blackbaud P2P study, the report found that in cycle events and 5Ks, teams raise 85% and 76% of donation revenue, respectively. In the walk category, 91 cents of every dollar raised comes from teams.* Create a communication plan just for your Team Captains to not only motivate them to fundraise but how to use their tools to recruit and engage team members.

Segment your Team Captainsby inactive ($0 raised), active ($1+ raised), and power fundraisers ($500) and tailor your messaging to effectively engage them.

Use S-Tags to create conditional content to encourage your Team Captains to lead by example and take action based on their behavior. For example, you can create personalized content for those who have updated their personal page or made a self-donation.

3. EDUCATE USERS ON THE PARTICIPANT CENTER EMAIL TOOLS

Only a small percentage of event participants solicit donations through emails. But those who do, raise between 2 to 11 times more money than those who don’t.*

Configure filters based on the number of emails participants have sent from their participant center so you can focus on engaging those who have not sent any and continue to motivate those who have to send reminders.

Educate participants on the suggested email templates available to them so they can ask for donations and thank those who have donated. Make sure they understand that a link to their personal web page will automatically be included in the email stationery so donors can click on the link to read their story and hopefully be inspired to donate.

WHY YOU NEED COACHING EMAILS

Engagement drives fundraising.

When your P2P participants take certain actions—like sending emails or updating their personal page—they raise money. Coaching emails allow you to easily target participants behaviors and provide a personalized fundraising experience.

Request a consult to learn how you can use coaching emails to increase revenue and awareness for your cause with a P2P fundraising communication plan. Get started by emailing us at paul@doinggoodagency.com

*Download the Blackbaud Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Study here.