Blackbaud peer-to-peer fundraising tools can provide a massive boost to your fundraising. For nonprofits ready to make a new investment, combining the highly effective model of peer-to-peer fundraising with the power and support of Blackbaud software is a no-brainer.
If your organization is already using a Blackbaud platform and wants to invest in peer-to-peer fundraising tools, sticking with Blackbaud is your best bet. Or, if your organization is looking to adopt a Blackbaud product for the first time, peer-to-peer fundraising might be a good place to start.
Either way, we’ve got you covered. At DNL OmniMedia, we work primarily with Blackbaud platforms, helping nonprofits choose the right tools, implement them, and then develop customized solutions and configurations to fit their particular needs.
We’ll walk through the three main Blackbaud peer-to-peer fundraising options — JustGiving, TeamRaiser, and EverydayHero — to help you find the best choice for your organization. Here’s our comparison at a glance:
At a Glance: Blackbaud Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Tools
Continue reading for more detailed overviews of each Blackbaud peer-to-peer fundraising tool, plus some extra tips. Here’s everything we’ll cover:
Use this list to jump straight to a particular section, or just follow along from the top.
Blackbaud Peer-to-Peer Fundraising, Powered By JustGiving
Overview of this Blackbaud Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Tool
Blackbaud Peer-to-Peer Fundraising, powered by JustGiving is among the newest additions to the Blackbaud fundraising ecosystem.
The original JustGiving platform has been a popular choice for organizations looking for web-based peer-to-peer fundraising and crowdfunding platforms for some time.
Since launching back in 2011, it’s helped raise over $4 billion for a wide range of organizations and individuals. The platform’s recent partnership with Blackbaud has taken the platform to a whole new level of utility, though.
Top Features of this Platform
Blackbaud Peer-to-Peer Fundraising, powered by JustGiving offers a few exceptional features, including:
- Full customization and branding options. Your whole campaign will visually reflect your organization’s branding, from your central campaign page to the individual fundraising pages your volunteers create.
- Intuitive and modern design. Of the many peer-to-peer fundraising platforms out there, JustGiving is among the easiest to use. This is crucial when your supporters are the ones driving the bulk of the campaign.
- Built-in marketing and mobile tools. JustGiving includes email marketing tools, live-streaming features, and a mobile app for iOS, making it even easier to help support your fundraisers as they drive the campaign to its goals.
Other Considerations
As a web-based peer-to-peer fundraising platform, any organization can use Blackbaud Peer-to-Peer Fundraising, powered by JustGiving to launch a campaign, but they might not necessarily be able to integrate it with their CRM of choice.
If you’re already using Raiser’s Edge or eTapestry, though, you can directly integrate the two systems. This Blackbaud peer-to-peer fundraising integration has some major benefits, including real-time data updates and faster access to funds through Blackbaud Merchant Services.
This is a mid-priced option for nonprofits that want access to its wide range of features and tools. There’s no monthly membership fee, but nonprofits will pay a 5% platform fee plus a variable processing fee. Explore their site for more pricing details.
The Main Takeaway
Blackbaud Peer-to-Peer Fundraising, powered by JustGiving is an ideal peer-to-peer fundraising tool for mid-intensity campaigns. By this, we mean fundraising campaigns that don’t require a huge investment of your time and resources but still need powerful tools and support. JustGiving really excels at allowing supporters to quickly and easily set up their own fundraising pages, like in rolling, DIY-style fundraising campaigns.
Consider JustGiving if you’re already using Raiser’s Edge or eTapestry (or are thinking of making the move to one of these systems). Its features plus the benefits of these integrations and full support from Blackbaud make it the best choice by far for many organizations.
Blackbaud’s Comprehensive Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Tool, TeamRaiser
Overview of this Blackbaud Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Tool
TeamRaiser is Blackbaud’s own top-to-bottom solution for peer-to-peer fundraising.
It’s one of the most comprehensive sets of tools available for nonprofits that are ready to seriously invest in their peer-to-peer campaigns and want to develop more complex, multichannel strategies. This makes it perfect for major campaigns that culminate in events.
Most importantly, it can be extensively customized and configured to meet your organization’s particular needs. Explore our TeamRaiser configuration guide for an idea of what we mean.
Top Features of this Platform
TeamRaiser includes practically any peer-to-peer fundraising tools or features you might need during a campaign. Some of its top features include:
- Highly-customizable donor experience. The comprehensive backend of the software means you can completely customize the donor and volunteer experience, including personalized fundraising messages and time-triggered messages.
- Engagement-centric toolkits. TeamRaiser can help execute your peer-to-peer fundraising campaign, but it’s also designed to help generate more long-term value, too. Easily identify your most active supporters, segment your donor lists, and automate customized email streams.
- Event management tools. TeamRaiser even helps you plan and manage engaging events throughout your campaign. Create event pages with registration tools and easily track payment and registrant data.
Other Considerations
As a tool designed by Blackbaud, TeamRaiser works well in any ecosystem of Blackbaud software that your organization might already have established. This will really help you make the most of all the data your campaign generates.
TeamRaiser works particularly well with Luminate Online, Blackbaud’s digital marketing solution for nonprofits. Peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns and events require a lot of strategic promotion, so if you’re already using or want to implement Luminate Online, it might be a good idea to invest in both at once. As one of the most comprehensive peer-to-peer fundraising systems on the market, the cost TeamRaiser runs on the higher end. Reach out to Blackbaud to request a custom quote.
The Main Takeaway
In many ways, TeamRaiser is the ultimate peer-to-peer fundraising tool for large and enterprise-level organizations. It does require a substantial investment of your time and resources to get it up and running at full speed, though. It really shines during major campaigns, like peer-to-peer fundraising leading up to a large event like a 5K or walkathon.
However, TeamRaiser can also be adapted and configured for any type of peer-to-peer fundraising. The main idea is that it’s a long-term investment, not a one-time or one-size-fits-all solution.
Blackbaud’s EverydayHero Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Platform
Overview of this Blackbaud Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Tool
EverydayHero is a Blackbaud platform designed to offer a simple, straightforward, and relatively lightweight peer-to-peer fundraising solution for organizations of any size.
EverydayHero takes a highly engaging, donor-centric approach to peer-to-peer fundraising. It’s great for reaching wide audiences without requiring a significant investment in new software. You can set up a campaign in just minutes, and your employees and volunteers will get the hang of its features in no time at all. It’s one of the easiest ways to get started with peer-to-peer fundraising hands down.
Top Features of this Platform
EverydayHero stands out among comparable peer-to-peer fundraising tools for a few key reasons. Its top features include:
- Social media-style fundraising pages. EverydayHero takes a more storytelling-centric approach to fundraising by encouraging volunteers to make posts on their pages. This style is much more engaging for donors and more likely to secure donations.
- Unique integrations. EverydayHero has API keys to integrate with other top Blackbaud platforms like Raiser’s Edge and eTapestry, but it can also integrate with fitness trackers like Fitbit. This is perfect for physical challenges or walkathon-style campaigns.
- Easy-to-setup pages. It’s easy for volunteers to make personalized fundraising pages that retain all your branding, and managing digital content is a breeze for employees. EverydayHero is also mobile-optimized from top to bottom to ensure easy access anywhere.
Other Considerations
EverydayHero is an effective platform for all kinds of online campaigns, but it’s by no means the most comprehensive or heavy-duty Blackbaud peer-to-peer fundraising tool. It can be integrated with other Blackbaud systems, like Raiser’s Edge, but the main purpose of EverydayHero is its simplicity and speed.
It’s an easy way to get your supporters set up with fundraising pages that look and work great. EverydayHero is also one of the most budget-friendly solutions available. Nonprofits pay a 5% service fee plus payment processing fees. Donors are also given the option to cover these fees.
The Main Takeaway
EverydayHero is perfect for small to mid-sized organizations that want to incorporate peer-to-peer fundraising techniques into their strategies without planning a high-intensity campaign or making a major new investment.
This is an ideal solution for nonprofits on a budget that want to offer peer-to-peer fundraising tools to their supporters. The EverydayHero platform can be adapted for a variety of campaigns, but it’s best suited to ‘challenge’-style or Giving Day virtual events that don’t require months of advance planning the way a major campaign might.
Best Practices for Getting Started with a Blackbaud Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Tool
Even when it’s not especially expensive or won’t require a ton of your team’s time to implement, choosing a new fundraising tool is always an important investment. Building out your toolkit and learning how to use it is essential for developing effective, adaptable fundraising strategies.
Let’s walk through a few tips for choosing the right Blackbaud peer-to-peer fundraising tool for your organization and then making the most of it:
Determine a few guidelines.
As you begin researching different Blackbaud peer-to-peer fundraising tools and weighing your options, determine a few guidelines. Ask yourself these questions:
- What’s our immediate budget for a new fundraising platform?
- What are the organization’s goals for new peer-to-peer fundraising tools?
- What existing tools do we rely on? Do our new peer-to-peer tools need to integrate with them?
- What are our organization’s long-term tech plans? Is a new peer-to-peer fundraising tool part of a larger upgrade project?
Setting these guidelines before diving too far into research will prevent you from settling on a peer-to-peer fundraising tool that doesn’t fit your budget or overarching goals.
Again, if you’re already working with a Blackbaud toolkit, we recommend sticking with one of the platforms listed above. Reach out to Blackbaud or an official Blackbaud solution provider for more guidance when comparing them.
Focus on visual branding.
As a decentralized fundraising style that depends on your supporters to spread the word, visual branding should be consistent and bold across all of your digital campaign materials.
Make sure your peer-to-peer fundraising tool includes plenty of customization and branding options. Your central campaign page should look just like your website, and volunteer fundraising pages should clearly reflect your organization’s brand identity.
While it’s important that your volunteers be able to personalize their pages with their own images and text to explain why they love your cause, remember that your nonprofit’s brand is ultimately what new donors will need to see and trust.
Work with an expert for custom configurations.
This tip is important for any platform that will be central to your fundraising strategies. Work with a consultant or other Blackbaud specialist to help ensure your new peer-to-peer fundraising software is configured to meet your needs.
The most important configurations you should consider are, of course, CRM integrations. Never overlook the value of being able to cleanly access and report data across your fundraising and database systems.
If you choose a Blackbaud peer-to-peer fundraising tool, you should be able to integrate it with Blackbaud’s other leading database and fundraising platforms. The complexity of this process will vary between systems, but it’s a good idea to enlist an expert to oversee it. They’ll ensure the proper implementation of your new peer-to-peer tool and migration of any important data.
Nonprofit tech consultants can also help get your peer-to-peer fundraising platform integrated and live on your website. A tidy flow of data from your website through the peer-to-peer tool into your database is a great way to quickly discover new fundraising insights.
Develop a big-picture strategy.
The exact scope of this strategy will vary depending on the goals of your peer-to-peer fundraising campaign, but the main idea is that this fundraising style involves a lot of moving parts.
If you’re investing in a new Blackbaud peer-to-peer fundraising tool in preparation for a specific, large-scale campaign, this is particularly important. Major peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns can be very complex, so get started now!
These campaigns typically incorporate plenty of digital marketing elements and events throughout. Your new tools should support more than just processing donations. Ideally, they’ll include marketing or event management tools. At the very least, a CRM integration will make it much easier to plan a comprehensive strategy for your campaign.
Explore our guide to developing a nonprofit digital strategy for an idea of how much should go into your marketing plans for a major campaign like the kind we’re talking about.
Why Peer-to-Peer Fundraising?
Peer-to-peer fundraising has very quickly become one of the most popular and effective ways for nonprofits to raise money online, and there are tons of peer-to-peer solutions out there. So why go with a Blackbaud peer-to-peer fundraising tool? First of all, let’s cover why it’s such a good idea to conduct a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign in general.
Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Statistics
The numbers show that peer-to-peer fundraising is here to stay. It’s an extremely effective way to engage large numbers of supporters in multiple ways. It’s also an increasingly diverse fundraising field. Here’s how Blackbaud breaks it down:
Take a look at these stats:
- Walkathons are the most popular event-based peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns, with participation rates of around 65%.
- The average DIY-style peer-to-peer fundraising campaign raises about $400.
- Bikeathon peer-to-peer participants are the most engaged, raising more money, attracting larger gifts, and using web tools more effectively.
- Over 40% of the total revenue raised by 5K peer-to-peer events comes from online registration fees.
- 21% of peer-to-peer fundraising revenue is generated through social media posts.
- Peer-to-peer fundraisers who send emails about the campaign raise between 2 to 11 times more than those who don’t.
- Online donation pages had an average conversion rate of 8% on mobile devices last year, but the number of transactions completed through mobile devices increased by 50%.
The world of peer-to-peer fundraising has changed a lot in recent years. Although overall participation rates have declined slightly, those donors and volunteers who do participate have been raising more money than ever before across all campaign and event types. The techniques and tools for maximizing the impact of these campaigns have gone a long way to drive this increase in effectiveness.
This means it’s more important than ever that your peer-to-peer fundraising software gives your engaged participants and volunteers all the tools and support they’ll need to promote your cause. As evidenced in the statistics above, these should definitely include easy-to-use registration features, email and social media marketing tools, and mobile-optimized fundraising pages.
Sources:
- The Blackbaud Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Study
- Nonprofit Fundraising Statistics from Double the Donation
- Nonprofit Tech for Good
The Benefits of Peer-to-Peer Fundraising with Blackbaud
You already know that peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns are highly engaging. Whether you’re planning a major event-based campaign or just want to let your supporters create their own DIY fundraising pages, the whole point is to let them take control and show others that they care about your mission.
It’s a flexible fundraising style that allows for multiple engagement techniques and a variety of events to keep your community excited. This means these campaigns can also generate a ton of valuable engagement data. Use this data to learn more about your supporters, like what messages they respond to and where best to find them online.
As a leader in nonprofit technology, Blackbaud’s range of tools are especially well-suited to support peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns. This is not only because Blackbaud Peer-to-Peer Fundraising, powered by JustGiving, TeamRaiser, and EverydayHero all contain plenty of effective and unique features. It’s also because the full suite of Blackbaud tools for nonprofits are some of the best available. Never underestimate the value of software integrations!
For nonprofits that work within the Blackbaud software ecosystem, or are considering making the move, using Blackbaud peer-to-peer fundraising tools goes a long way to maximize impact and data generation in the long run.
To learn more about Blackbaud products and peer-to-peer fundraising, be sure to continue your research with some additional resources:
- 5 Reasons to Seek Strategy Consulting for Nonprofit Tech. Learn why developing a big-picture strategy to join your technology and fundraising goals is a smart investment, and get started developing your own.
- Double the Donation’s Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Ultimate Guide. Still have questions about peer-to-peer fundraising? Start with this exhaustive deep dive.
- Raiser’s Edge vs. Salesforce for Nonprofits. Ready to upgrade your CRM but aren’t sure which big player to focus on? Explore our Blackbaud-Salesforce comparison to get your bearings.
