Peer to Peer

We didn’t call it “peer-to-peer fundraising” at first. Back in the late ’90s and early ’00s, some of us were excited by the prospect of bringing traditional fundraising activities online. One of the big areas of focus was the pledge-based special event. Historically, these campaigns occurred offline using just pens, paper pledge-forms, cash and checks.…

Maybe it is time to accept that walk is dead. Maybe enough people have done walk that we just can’t attract enough participants. Maybe the digi-verse gives them a new way to fundraise, and they don’t need to face-to-face with each other. Maybe no amount of lipstick is going to dress up this pig...

Maybe it is time to accept that walk is dead. Maybe enough people have done walk that we just can’t attract enough participants. Maybe the digi-verse gives them a new way to fundraise, and they don’t need to face-to-face with each other. Maybe no amount of lipstick is going to dress up this pig. “Peer-to-Peer […]

Millennials are going to change the nonprofit world in incredible ways. Their enthusiasm and capabilities are significantly different than the generations that came before them, and they are motivated to make the world a better place...

Wall Street investors famously coined the phrase, “It’s all about the Benjamins,” referring to the hundred dollar bill that bears Benjamin Franklin’s likeness. As it turns out, Franklin can give us a few tips about how to maximize fundraising dollars...

Peer-to-Peer fundraising is a great way to engage your donors and get them to participate in some healthy, happy, fun physical activity. We are currently surrounded by a world promoting fitness and wellness. Just look around: From fitness tracker watches (FitBit, Apple Watch) to food tracking apps (MyFitnessPal, My Macros+) to the numerous amount of “#fitspos” out there popping up like dandelions—all of these things keep you motivated to stay healthy and find any excuse to engage in physical activity, right?...

The first time I attended an Association of Fundraising Professionals meeting, I searched for the peer-to-peer fundraising sessions. There weren’t any. Each year I would go look, and there were never any sessions. Recently, a few are showing up, but they typically only involve peer-to-peer fundraising peripherally...

Planned Parenthood just got a windfall donation from a powerful woman. Elaine Wynn has donated $1 million to the women's health organization, Fortune has learned. “As a woman, a mother and a grandmother, I’m proud to do what I can to help protect access to reproductive health care,” the billionaire said in an emailed statement. Wynn…

On Facebook, it is ridiculously fun to quip, banter, engage, taunt, delve, disembowel and titillate. It is so much fun that a few times I have wandered into “Not-Niceness.” I had to find a way to stop being not nice. And I did. I Facebook-friended every church friend I could find, including my pastor. I friended them all so that they would see what I wrote. I thought that would constrain me. And I was right. It did make me nicer. But why? And more importantly, how could I make use of this behavior modification technique in fundraising?...

I was at the Women’s March in D.C., and as I went through the experience, I couldn’t help but think about the psychological principles we apply each day in the course of our work. We figure out how to use natural human biases to create conditions in which people are likely to say “yes” to our ask for fundraising, volunteerism or donations. The biggest bias at work at the Women’s March was ingroup bias. Here's what that means...