Bright Idea: Make the Most of Giving Tuesday using a Peer-to-Peer Campaign

Who they are:

The Boys & Girls Club of San Marcos works to help youth of all backgrounds develop the qualities they need to become leaders and responsible citizens. They serve children and young adults between the ages of 6 and 18 during after-school hours when they’re away from parental supervision.  The Boys and Girls Club of San Marcos’ goal is to provide a safe environment where children can have fun and be themselves while being around adult role models that respect and listen to them.  

What they did:

Boys and Girls Club of San Marcos created a peer-to-peer campaign centered around Giving Tuesday, a global generosity movement that takes place the Tuesday following Thanksgiving. They began posting “Save The Date” graphics on social media about a month in advance while simultaneously inviting their supporters to join teams and create their own fundraising pages.    

To take it a step further, Boys and Girls Club of San Marcos secured a generous matching opportunity from a local attorney that agreed to match up to $20,000 of donations received on Giving Tuesday.  They put a cute spin on the campaign by challenging their donors to “make Ken pay,” Ken being the local attorney who generously agreed to the match and eventually upped the match to $25,000! 

They utilized their Facebook page to share updates and videos to keep donors aware of how the campaign was doing. On their peer-to-peer event page, they used the video widget to add similar videos to update progress along the way as well, including a video capturing their matching gift donor’s reaction when he heard the final total. 

Due to their marketing efforts and community engagement, their peer-to-peer campaign’s matching efforts were a success. After the campaign was over, they created an infographic to easily share results with their supporters. 

After a big fundraiser is over, it is important to share your results with your supporters. They are invested and want to know how well you did. Additionally, Boys and Girls Club of San Marcos updated their event site to showcase highlights so if a supporter landed on their peer-to-peer event page after the campaign ended, the page wasn’t outdated. 

What you can do:

There are a lot of great takeaways from this peer-to-peer campaign such as, developing your Giving Tuesday fundraising strategy ahead of time, leveraging a peer-to-peer format to encourage donations for this global giving day, and engaging the community by securing a donor that’s willing to match gifts. 

When it comes to planning, there are a lot of Giving Tuesday campaigns out there that you can learn from. No matter what you decide to do, just make sure you’re not waiting until the last minute to strategize and execute your plan.  

Leveraging a peer-to-peer campaign with Giving Tuesday is a great way to capitalize on mission awareness by working through your supporters’ networks to raise funds. During your peer-to-peer campaign, keep your participants engaged by sending them intentional emails that will motivate, encourage, and inspire.  

Share the tangible impacts their dollars will accomplish for your organization along with other key messages before, during, and after your campaign. To help make this easy for you, our team has put together some engagement tips and templates for your peer-to-peer fundraisers. 

Another element of Boys and Girls Club of San Marcos’ campaign is that they worked with a generous donor that agreed to match donations received up to $25,000.  Think about your local partners and sponsors.  Instead of offering the same annual event sponsorship, maybe one of your supporters would be willing to do a match for Giving Tuesday, even if it’s a smaller amount, like $5,000. As a fundraiser, you know every dollar counts when getting to your goal!  

To generate interest, build out a sponsorship packet for prospective match donors that will educate them on the exposure they’ll receive. For example, speak to how you’ll post X number of videos featuring a spokesperson from their organization to share the campaign’s progress or detail their logo placement on your event site, within emails, or promotion on social media channels.   

If you’re new to peer-to-peer fundraising or just looking to refresh your knowledge, check out our Peer-to-Peer Event Success Toolkit!  

Not a Qgiv client or curious about adding the peer-to-peer platform? Request a peer-to-peer demo or give us a call at 888.855.9595.