Team Power: How Teams Can Help Your Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Strategy

Are you wondering how to revamp your recruiting for your peer-to-peer events? Encouraging supporters to form teams is one of many solutions for your organization to try.

What kind of teams could your supporters form, you ask? Teams can include an internal team - a team composed of your staff, team of board members or a team of employees from one of your corporate sponsors. Consider recruiting a team from past supporters, volunteers, or even constituents. The list goes on and on! Encourage participants who are already signed up to form teams of their own – and invite their friends and family to get invovled. Highlight top teams through your email and social media outreach, whether that is through your email newsletter or a post on Facebook.




INCENTIVES

Think about incentives for teams and your individual fundraisers; the rewards should connect them to you and your mission. Fundraising incentives can be as standard as t-shirts, water bottles, and bags or as personal as a “thank you” message from those benefiting from your organization and affected by the cause. Some charities host a pre-race dinner or pasta feed for their supporters.

You could also think about hosting a dinner for the top team at the end of the event. Find a sponsor who will support you with food and refreshments for this dinner so you can keep costs low.

FINDING YOUR POTENTIAL FUNDRAISERS AND TEAM CAPTAINS 

The chart below shows a standard network of potential sources of fundraisers. Consider the following corporate channels you already have in place such as: vendors, clients, customers, volunteers, and employees. Identify key influential individuals who will be your champio
ns; champions could be the CEO, your board chair, teachers, team leads, team members, etc. Encourage these people to become team captains!





COMMUNICATIONS

Consider the different channels that you have in place such as your monthly newsletter, dedicated email outreach, social media like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.

Be sure to communicate in all imaginable ways: in person, as well as digitally with words and images. Create a standard email signature promoting the event and have all staff include it in their email, and provide it to supporters to use as well. Have team captains disseminate materials, like these email signatures, so that they can keep their supporters motivated and equipped with the proper resources!

Finding these powerful advocates and leaders takes time, but will be valuable for your organization for the duration of the event and beyond!