Money Matters

Peer-to-peer fundraising: A guide to ideas and best practices

Peer-to-peer fundraising can turn your supporters into active fundraisers for your cause. Learn how it works, which campaign ideas to try, and the best practices that can help your nonprofit reach more people and build stronger donor relationships.

Published September 23, 202612 min read Share

Peer-to-Peer (P2P) fundraising lets your supporters raise money for your nonprofit by sharing individual fundraising pages with their own friends, family, and networks.

It can extend your campaign beyond your existing audience while giving supporters a more active role in your mission. Start with the basics of how peer-to-peer fundraising works, then explore campaign ideas, practical steps, and best practices to help your fundraising efforts succeed.

Key takeaways

• Peer-to-peer fundraising lets supporters raise money for a nonprofit through their own personal networks.
• Unlike crowdfunding, peer-to-peer fundraising typically gives individual supporters or teams their own fundraising pages linked to a wider campaign.
• Successful campaigns start with a clear goal, an easy-to-use platform, and practical resources that help supporters fundraise confidently.
• Peer-to-peer fundraising ideas can range from team challenges and virtual events to birthday fundraisers, matched donations, and giving-day campaigns.
• Tracking results, thanking donors, and keeping fundraisers engaged can help turn a single campaign into stronger long-term supporter relationships.

Here’s what we’ll cover

What is peer-to-peer fundraising?

Peer-to-peer fundraising is when supporters raise money for a nonprofit by asking their own friends, family, and networks to donate, often through personalised fundraising pages.

Instead of relying only on your organisation’s direct fundraising efforts, peer-to-peer fundraising gives individual supporters a direct role in spreading your message and bringing in donations.

Each fundraiser can create and share their own page, helping your campaign reach people beyond your usual audience. One of the strengths of peer-to-peer fundraising is that supporters can introduce your cause through relationships they already have.

For nonprofits, that can mean broader visibility, stronger supporter engagement, and opportunities to build relationships with new donors.

Is peer-to-peer fundraising the same as crowdfunding?

No, peer-to-peer fundraising is not the same as crowdfunding. P2P fundraising typically involves multiple supporters creating and sharing their own fundraising pages, while crowdfunding usually directs donors to one central campaign page.

Both fundraising methods use online platforms and networks to raise money. The key difference is that peer-to-peer fundraising gives individual supporters or teams their own pages connected to the organisation’s wider campaign and mission.

Those supporters can then bring new donors into the campaign through their own networks.

Types of peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns

Peer-to-peer fundraising can take several forms. Three common campaign formats are:

Rolling campaigns: operating continuously over months or years, these campaigns often support ongoing fundraising needs and aim to build longer-term relationships with donors. Examples can include annual appeals or ongoing supporter-led fundraising.

Time-based campaigns: running for a set period, these campaigns may coincide with a particular event, seasonal appeal, or urgent need. A defined start and end date can help create momentum and give fundraisers a clear timeframe in which to act.

Single-day campaigns: sometimes known as giving days, these campaigns concentrate fundraising activity within a short period. They often use social media, email, and online giving platforms to build anticipation and encourage participation. Examples include university giving days and GivingTuesday, which takes place each year in late November.

What are the benefits of peer-to-peer fundraising?

Peer-to-peer fundraising can help your campaign go farther by extending its reach, strengthening supporter involvement, and creating more opportunities to build long-term support for your mission.

Here’s how.

For the campaign organiser

Organisers can benefit from the additional reach that each supporter’s network brings. Your organisation can focus on running the wider campaign while supporters help spread the message.

For example, you can invest in resources that make fundraising easier, such as toolkits with sample social posts, campaign images, or short training sessions.

For supporters and their contacts

Supporters involved in peer-to-peer fundraising can take a more active role in your mission and see how their own efforts contribute to the campaign.

Peer-to-peer campaigns can also create a sense of shared purpose by bringing together people who care about the same cause.

For the cause

Peer-to-peer fundraising can introduce your mission to audiences you may not reach through your existing channels.

It can also provide useful insights into supporter engagement and fundraising performance, helping you understand which campaign approaches, messages, and activities work well.

How do you set up a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign?

The key steps in setting up a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign are choosing a clear goal, selecting the right campaign structure and platform, supporting your fundraisers, and tracking results as the campaign develops.

Here’s how to put those pieces together.

1. Set a clear goal

   What exactly do you want the campaign to achieve? Is the aim to raise a particular amount, attract new supporters, increase awareness, or achieve a combination of goals?

   Defining a specific fundraising target and timeline gives the campaign focus and makes it easier for fundraisers to understand what they are working towards.

   With a clear, measurable goal—such as raising a set amount by a particular date—it is also easier to track progress, measure results, and celebrate milestones along the way.

2. Decide on a platform to host the campaign

   For campaigns where multiple people or teams are fundraising independently, look for a platform that supports individual fundraising pages while keeping activity connected to the wider campaign.

   The right platform should make it straightforward for supporters to create pages, accept donations, share progress, and give your organisation visibility into campaign activity.

   If your organisation is a registered charity, it is also worth checking how the platform handles official donation receipts. In Canada, only the charity itself can issue official donation receipts, and different rules can apply where donors receive goods, services, or another advantage in return for a payment.

3. Design your campaign page

   Your campaign page should give supporters a strong starting point rather than asking them to build everything from scratch.

   Consider providing:

   • Pre-filled templates: offer default images, suggested copy, and impact stories that supporters can personalise.
   • Built-in sharing options: make it simple to share fundraising pages through social media, email, or text.
   • Visible progress: show milestones or progress towards the wider campaign goal.
   • Clear next steps: make it obvious whether visitors should donate or start their own fundraising page.
   • Recent campaign activity: where appropriate, show milestones, featured participants, or updates that demonstrate the campaign is active.

4. Recruit fundraisers

   Committed supporters can become powerful advocates for your campaign.

   Start with people who already know and care about your organisation, such as volunteers, existing donors, members, community advocates, or people who have previously participated in events.

   You can also offer supporters the option to sign up for campaign updates and future communications.

   Relevant social media groups and online communities may provide another way to reach potential fundraisers, where participation and campaign promotion are appropriate and permitted by the group’s rules.

5. Provide tools and materials

   Your fundraisers are more likely to get started confidently when they don’t have to create everything themselves.

   The more you reduce the guesswork, the easier it becomes for supporters to share the campaign and stay involved.

   Consider providing:

   • Prewritten page copy: give supporters a starting point for their personal fundraising pages, including a short mission summary and sample donation requests.
   • Email, text, and social templates: provide ready-to-use messages that supporters can personalise.
   • Images and videos: offer campaign graphics, photos, and short videos for fundraising pages and social posts.
   • Fundraiser toolkits: bring your key resources together in one place.
   • Group chats or community spaces: give fundraisers somewhere to ask questions and exchange ideas.
   • Direct communication: use email updates, reminders, or platform messages to guide participants through the campaign.
   • Recognition: celebrate milestones and contributions with thank-you messages, badges, or public recognition where appropriate.

6. Monitor and share progress

   Tracking campaign progress helps you understand how fundraising activity is developing, spot barriers early, and adjust your approach where needed.

   Share meaningful updates with supporters as the campaign progresses. Celebrate milestones, recognise fundraisers, and tell stories that show how participation is contributing to the wider mission.

   For more complex organisations, financial reporting tools can help finance teams bring financial and operational information together and create clearer reports and dashboards for stakeholders. Sage Intacct supports custom reports, dashboards, and multidimensional reporting across financial and operational data.

7. Stay in touch with new donors

   Thank new donors promptly and keep them updated on the campaign and the work their support is helping to fund.

   Thoughtful follow-up can turn a one-time interaction into a longer-term relationship with your organisation.

   If your organisation is a registered charity, your fundraising practices, records, and donor communications should also follow applicable Canada Revenue Agency guidance and any relevant provincial or territorial requirements.

Peer-to-peer fundraising ideas

Examples of peer-to-peer fundraising include sponsored walks, team challenges, virtual events, birthday fundraisers, giving-day campaigns, matched donations, and supporter-led challenges.

The model is flexible, so the strongest idea is usually one that suits your cause and gives supporters a simple, appealing way to get involved.

Team challenges

Events such as fun runs, sponsored walks, or team quizzes can encourage collaboration and friendly competition, with each team working towards a shared fundraising goal.

Youth-led fundraising can also work well when school groups, youth ambassadors, or community organisations take an active role in promoting the campaign through their own networks.

Individual challenges

Individual challenges give fundraisers a way to connect a personal goal or activity with the cause.

For example, supporters might collect sponsorship for a fitness challenge, community clean-up, creative project, or other personal commitment.

Crafts or baked goods can also form part of a fundraiser, although organisations should consider whether payments qualify as charitable gifts where goods or services are provided in return.

Virtual events

Virtual peer-to-peer fundraising ideas include online cooking classes, yoga sessions, livestream challenges, virtual games, and other digital events supporters can organise from wherever they are.

Mobile-friendly fundraising tools can make these campaigns easier to share and manage.

Virtual events can also reduce some of the logistics involved in organising an in-person event while allowing supporters to invite participants from a wider geographic area.

Community and creative events

Concerts, comedy nights, quizzes, art events, food stands, and other community activities can all give supporters a reason to gather while raising money for a cause.

Reading, painting, music, or other creative challenges can work particularly well when supporters want to share their progress online or involve schools and community groups.

Birthday and anniversary fundraisers

Birthdays, company anniversaries, and other milestones can become peer-to-peer fundraising opportunities when supporters ask friends, colleagues, or family members to donate instead of giving gifts.

Social platforms can also make these campaigns easier to launch and share within a supporter’s existing network.

Matched donations

Matched donations can increase the potential impact of individual contributions.

A business, employer, or other organisation may agree to match eligible donations dollar-for-dollar up to an agreed limit. That can give individual donors an extra reason to contribute because their gift may have greater impact.

Countdown and giving-day campaigns

Countdown campaigns use a fixed deadline to focus attention on a short fundraising period.

They can work well alongside milestone updates, daily goals, and final-push messaging through email, text, and social media.

The same approach can be used for seasonal appeals, giving days, or the closing days of a longer campaign.

What are the best practices for peer-to-peer fundraising?

Peer-to-peer fundraising best practices include setting clear goals, giving fundraisers ready-to-share materials, choosing an easy-to-use platform, tracking performance, and communicating consistently throughout the campaign.

A few practical principles can make a difference.

• Report campaign results: regularly share meaningful progress and explain what the campaign has achieved. Clear reporting can help supporters stay engaged and reinforce transparency with donors.
• Provide shareable content and materials: give fundraisers templates, graphics, and suggested messages so they can participate without having to create everything themselves.
• Keep the fundraising experience simple: reduce unnecessary steps in registration, page creation, sharing, and donating. A complicated experience can create avoidable drop-off.
• Support your fundraisers: check in throughout the campaign, answer questions, share ideas, and recognise progress.
• Use friendly competition carefully: leaderboards, milestones, and badges can help maintain momentum where they fit the tone of your campaign, but participation should still feel welcoming to supporters who raise different amounts.

What should peer-to-peer fundraising platforms include?

A good peer-to-peer fundraising platform should make it easy for supporters to create and share fundraising pages, track progress, communicate with the organisation, and support the wider campaign.

Look for features such as:

Individual and team fundraising pages

Supporters should be able to create individual pages or join teams where the campaign structure calls for it.

Team tools can make it easier to track collective progress and encourage friendly competition.

Progress tracking and reporting

Look for tools that let fundraisers and organisers see how campaigns are progressing.

Depending on your needs, this may include individual goals, team totals, campaign-wide reporting, or dashboards.

Easy social, email, and text sharing

Sharing should be quick and simple.

Look for tools that make it easy for supporters to distribute their fundraising pages through social media, email, or text, with useful preview images and descriptions where supported.

Custom branding

Your fundraising pages should reflect your organisation’s identity and make it clear to donors which cause they are supporting.

Consistent branding can also help create a smoother journey when someone moves from a supporter’s social post to the campaign page.

Mobile-friendly donation experiences

Supporters and donors may encounter your campaign through a phone or tablet, so make sure registration, sharing, and donation journeys work well on mobile devices.

Integrations and data management

Consider how the fundraising platform will connect with your wider systems.

For larger organisations, integrations with accounting, donor management, customer relationship management, payroll, or other operational systems can reduce manual work and improve visibility across the organisation.

Strengthen your peer-to-peer fundraising strategy

Effective peer-to-peer fundraising depends on more than the campaign itself. As fundraising activity grows, your organisation also needs a clear view of the money coming in, the funds being managed, and the wider financial picture.

Nonprofit accounting software can help finance teams manage fund, grant, project, and donor accounting while improving visibility into the organisation’s financial position. Sage nonprofit solutions also support reporting, budgeting and planning, multi-entity consolidation, and integrations with fundraising and operational systems.

For organisations with more complex financial needs, Sage Intacct for nonprofits includes capabilities such as fund accounting, grant tracking and billing, revenue recognition, nonprofit reporting, dashboards, and multi-entity consolidation. Sage Intacct can also connect with fundraising, payroll, customer relationship management, and other systems to give finance teams a broader view of operations.

Good financial management supports clearer reporting and stronger stewardship, helping your organisation understand campaign performance while giving stakeholders a more transparent view of how funds are managed.

Peer-to-peer fundraising FAQs

How long should a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign run?

There’s no single ideal length for a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign. Giving days and other short campaigns can create urgency, while longer campaigns give supporters more time to build momentum and reach their networks.

Choose a timeframe that fits your fundraising goal, audience, and campaign type.

How do you recruit the right peer-to-peer fundraisers?

Start with supporters who already have a connection to your organisation, such as volunteers, repeat donors, members, event participants, or community advocates.

Personal invitations and clear expectations can make it easier for potential fundraisers to understand the role and decide whether they want to take part.

Can small nonprofits run successful peer-to-peer campaigns?

Yes. Small nonprofits can use peer-to-peer fundraising because supporters help extend the campaign through their own networks.

A focused campaign with a small group of committed fundraisers can still reach people beyond the organisation’s existing audience without requiring a large-scale marketing operation.

What are common challenges in peer-to-peer fundraising?

Common peer-to-peer fundraising challenges for nonprofits include recruiting enough fundraisers, keeping participants engaged, maintaining consistent messaging, and making the fundraising process easy to use.

Clear onboarding, ready-to-share resources, regular communication, and simple technology can help reduce these barriers.

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