Considering a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign? Before you pick a technology, be sure to read our article about how to run successful peer-to-peer campaigns.
Ready to get started? Your next task is to pick the right tool for your needs. There are many tools that can help you run a peer-to-peer campaign. Below are a handful of popular tools that might meet your needs. And remember that the power of social media is its ability for people to reach out to their friends easily; consider enlisting your supporters to use existing social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) to run your peer-to-peer campaign. They can ask their friends for money via status update; post links to great content about your campaign (videos, stories, testimonials); and ask their friends to submit their contact information to your organization for future engagement.
But if you want to use a more robust tool to help your supporters raise money for your organization, consider the tools below.
(Looking for more options? You can find even more options in this Idealware article.)
Razoo (www.razoo.com)
Razoo's low costs and substantial functionality makes it a compelling option. It offers a friendly format that allows organizations to create a homepage and then develop multiple, separate fundraising projects that all link back to the central page. Supporters can fundraise on behalf of one of the pages created by the organization, or create their own personal project pages. Razoo profiles and fundraising projects are not highly customizable, but do allow both the organization and fundraisers to add images, videos and text. Interesting features include the ability to present an annotated donation amount menu and for the system to support recurring gifts.
Razoo's costs are reasonable. There are no setup, monthly, or annual fees. Transaction fees are 4.9% of each donation. There is a minimum donation amount of $10.
FirstGiving (www.firstgiving.org)
FirstGiving provides easy-to-use tools that let supporters set up their own fundraising pages, and allows campaign administrators to track campaign progress across individual fundraisers. With the basic program (which is free except for transaction fees), the organization and individual pages are not very customizable and won't necessarily mesh with your organization's graphic style. The premium package offers more customization, the ability to link back to your organization's homepage, and support for teams of fundraisers.
The basic program has no setup, monthly, or annual fees. The premium program costs $300/year. For both programs, transaction fees are a relatively steep 7.5% of each donation (5% for FirstGiving and 2.5% for credit card processing).
Crowdrise (www.crowdrise.com)
Crowdrise allows nonprofits to set up fundraising pages and invite their supporters to create personal pages and collect donations on their behalf, and offers the organization access to a large community of existing Crowdrise donors. Nonprofits have the option of signing up for a free basic profile or a featured profile. Featured profiles are promoted to the Crowdrise community, and offer other additional benefits. Crowdrise is a great option for organizations hoping to find new donors outside of their existing community.
Donations are managed through Network For Good. The basic profile has no setup, monthly, or annual costs. The featured profile costs $299/year. For both profiles, transaction fees are 5%. For gifts under $25 an additional $1 is charged per transaction; for donations over $25, an additional $2.50 is charged.
givezooks! (www.givezooks.com)
Givezooks! lets individuals, nonprofits, foundations and companies create an account and start raising funds for a cause. givezooks! calls their peer-to-peer fundraising option "grassroots." To utilize this grassroots functionality, givezooks! unlimited is require; this functionality also offers wishlists and online event registration functionality.
Givezooks! unlimited starts at $129/month. With this plan, givezooks! does not charge any transaction fees, but organizations must have their own merchant account to process payments; for example, you may use PayPal, which will require 2.9% +$0.30 per transaction.
Causes (www.causes.com)
While the other tools listed here support a more general audience, Causes is specifically geared to let supporters who use Facebook fundraise from among their own Facebook friends. Anyone can create a Cause, select a beneficiary organization, and then solicit donations through their friends' networks. Your organization can also create a Cause for a specific campaign, with proceeds going to your organization.
Causes has no setup or regular fees. Each transaction is processed via Network For Good. Transaction fees are 4.75% of each donation.