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Welcome to the Click & Pledge Fundraising Command Center Podcast!
Welcome to the Click & Pledge Fundraising Command Center Podcast – your mission control for mastering modern philanthropy. Every month, we equip you with the insights, tools, and strategies you need to elevate your impact. We believe in understanding the why, mastering the what, and showcasing the how of successful fundraising. Tune in every Monday for a new perspective:
The Why
Start your month with the big picture. "The Why" is our thought-leadership series that dives into the deep, foundational concepts behind our work. Every first Monday, we explore the science, philosophy, and psychology of fundraising, technology, and giving. This show isn't just about what you do; it's about providing a framework for why you do it. Join us as we connect big ideas from neuroscience, behavioral economics, and cognitive science to the future of philanthropy.
The What
Get to know your toolkit. "The What" is our product-focused series where we go "under the hood" of the Click & Pledge platform. Every second Monday, we deconstruct our features, reveal the "story behind the product," and explain what our technology is designed to do. If you want to understand the architecture, the design, and the specific problems our tools solve, this is your guide to the blueprint.
The How
Learn from the leaders. "The How" is our community showcase, where we pass the microphone to the experts: your peers. Every third Monday, we invite nonprofit leaders, fundraisers, and innovators to share how they are using our platform to run successful campaigns, engage donors, and grow their impact. These are their stories, their strategies, and your real-world templates for success.
Welcome to this edition of the Click and Pledges fundraising command center podcast, where we talk the why, the what, and the how in the Click and Pledges ecosystem.
Speaker 2:Today, we are doing a deep dive into, well, one the most powerful and I think human centered fundraising strategies out there peer to peer fundraising P2P.
Speaker 1:Yeah and if you're looking for a way to really break past the limits of your own mailing list P2P is, it's the answer you see all the time. It's your friend who suddenly decides to run a marathon for a local shelter or, you know, that birthday fundraiser that pops up on your social media feed.
Speaker 2:Or someone just creating a personal page to celebrate something, a milestone by giving back. That's all P2P in action.
Speaker 1:Exactly. And so powerful because it kind of flips the script.
Speaker 2:It really does. Instead of the organization doing all the asking, P2P empowers your community to ask for you. It's like advocacy on steroids.
Speaker 1:So our mission today is to unpack all of this. We want you to walk away understanding not just what PDP is, but really get the strategy behind why it works so well.
Speaker 2:And critically, how our click and pledge platform, specifically the Connect peer to peer tools, can make this whole thing, which can seem complex, totally seamless.
Speaker 1:Let's start with the big idea then because p two p isn't just another fundraising channel, is it? It's more of a a structural shift.
Speaker 2:It is. It fundamentally redefines your engagement. At its heart, you're turning your supporters into active enthusiastic ambassadors.
Speaker 1:And the genius of it really is that it leverages relationships that already exist.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:Instead of a cold email from a nonprofit, you're empowering your biggest fans to go ask their own people, their friends, their family, their coworkers.
Speaker 2:We suggest thinking about it as a three layer model. It really shows how the impact just multiplies.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So the first layer is the organization. That's you. You provide the mission, the purpose, the reason for it all.
Speaker 1:The why.
Speaker 2:The why. Then the second layer is the fundraiser. This is your advocate, your champion. They create a page, they tell their story, and they passionately ask on your behalf.
Speaker 1:They're the bridge.
Speaker 2:They are the bridge. And the final layer, and this is where the magic happens, is the fundraiser's network. These people donate because someone they know, someone they trust asks them to.
Speaker 1:Right. That pre existing credibility is everything. It's the reason this works, where a random ad might fail completely.
Speaker 2:That's the profound shift. It's not a transaction between a logo and a donor anymore. It becomes this human exchange built on social proof.
Speaker 1:So your voice isn't just one megaphone. Suddenly, it's hundreds of personal, credible voices all built on real relationships.
Speaker 2:And that multiplication effect is the reason PDP consistently outperforms so many other strategies. It's why we really see it as essential for growth.
Speaker 1:Okay, so let's dig into that why a bit more. I can imagine some listeners thinking hundreds of people fundraising for me sounds chaotic.
Speaker 2:Uh-huh. Little scary.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So why is it so much more effective than just, say, doubling down on direct mail?
Speaker 2:Well, we really focus on five key benefits, and the first one is just the immediate scale it gives your team.
Speaker 1:You mean like free staff?
Speaker 2:Essentially, yeah. Think about it. Every single person who launches a P2P page, whether they raise $100 or $10,000 they are acting as a temporary member of your staff.
Speaker 1:They're doing the outreach, the follow-up.
Speaker 2:All of it. And it doesn't add a single dime to your overhead. You're volunteerizing the work of building relationships.
Speaker 1:That efficiency alone is compelling. But the second point, tapping into trusted relationships, feels like the real key in today's world. We're all just bombarded.
Speaker 2:We are. And you almost never open a cold solicitation email. But what if a friend sends you a message that says, hey, I'm doing this run. This cause means the world to me. Can you chip in $25?
Speaker 1:That's a totally different conversation.
Speaker 2:Completely. People give because of the person who asked, not just the organization. The trust is already baked in.
Speaker 1:I do hear this a lot though. Nonprofit leaders will say, our mission isn't fun, it's policy work, or it's social services. P2P is for five Ks, not for us.
Speaker 2:What do say to that?
Speaker 1:That is such a kai and friction point. And that's where the third and fourth benefits really come into play.
Speaker 2:The third is that P2P uses social dynamics to create its own energy. When you use features like leaderboards, team challenges, progress meters, all things our connect platform excels at, you turn giving into a fun social experience.
Speaker 1:It becomes a game almost.
Speaker 2:It gamifies it. When people see their name climbing a leaderboard, that competitive spirit kicks in and fuels the whole campaign no matter how exciting the core mission is.
Speaker 1:And the fourth benefit is just raw organic reach.
Speaker 2:Yes. Let's just do the math real quick. Say you have a good email list of maybe 5,000 supporters.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:If each of those people reaches out to just 10 friends, which is a pretty low bar, you've just unlocked a network of 50,000 potential new donors.
Speaker 1:Wow. People you would never have reached otherwise.
Speaker 2:Never. And they come in pre vetted by a source they already trust. And finally, number five is that the act of asking actually deepens the engagement of your current supporters.
Speaker 1:How so?
Speaker 2:When someone sits down to write their personal page, they have to stop and think, why do I care about this? They have to tell their own story.
Speaker 1:They internalize it.
Speaker 2:Exactly. It transforms them from just a passive donor into a truly active stakeholder. They have more skin in the game.
Speaker 1:So the why is crystal clear. It's leverage, trust, massive reach, but the execution has to be perfect. Let's talk about the how because this isn't something you can just tack onto an event, right?
Speaker 2:No, not at all. It requires a real strategy. We suggest six key steps to get it right.
Speaker 1:Okay. Step one or, step a?
Speaker 2:Step a is the foundation. You have to create an accessible campaign hub, a dedicated branded landing page where everything lives.
Speaker 1:So, it tells the story, shows the goal.
Speaker 2:Right. And most importantly, it lets supporters create their own page or join a team with almost no friction. If it takes more than, say, three clicks to sign up, you've already lost people.
Speaker 1:Step b is recruitment. You can't just blast an email to everyone and hope for the best.
Speaker 2:No. You have to be strategic. Start with your inner circle board members, staff, your top volunteers, your biggest donors, the people who are already all in.
Speaker 1:And you have to give them tools.
Speaker 2:Oh, absolutely. Don't just ask them to help. Equip them. Give them email templates, sample social media posts, tips. Make it easy for them to succeed.
Speaker 1:Then step c, which feels like the most important part to me, is encouraging that personal storytelling.
Speaker 2:This is where the money is. Yeah. Because people give to people, not to logos. We've seen data that shows a simple prompt like why does this mission matter to you Can triple a page's effectiveness.
Speaker 1:So you're not just saying tell your story, you're giving them specific emotional prompts to work with?
Speaker 2:Precisely. You're helping them frame their passion in a way that connects. Like, describe the moment you knew this organization made a difference.
Speaker 1:I love that. Okay. Step d is using those gamification tools we talked about.
Speaker 2:Yes. P two p thrives on that friendly competition. You need strong team features, leaderboards that update in real time, public shout outs for milestones. That social motivation is the fuel that keeps energy high.
Speaker 1:And then the part that probably gives managers a headache. Step E, data and stewardship.
Speaker 2:The biggest headache, yeah. You can't let all these new donors get lost in the shuffle. Your system has capture that data.
Speaker 1:So you can follow-up.
Speaker 2:Immediately. With an automated thank you, with impact updates, with an invitation to subscribe to the newsletter. You have to have a plan to convert that one time P2P donor into a long term supporter.
Speaker 1:Which brings it all together with step f choosing the right technology.
Speaker 2:Because if the platform is a nightmare to use none of the other steps matter. It needs to handle branded pages, teams, mobile giving, social sharing, all of it seamlessly.
Speaker 1:And that strategic need for, you know, a robust flexible platform that leads us right to the click and pledge system.
Speaker 2:It really does. Our connect peer to peer site tool was built from the ground up to execute all six of these steps without the headache.
Speaker 1:So let's get into the specifics of the platform because this is where the theory becomes reality. Lots of systems offer a page. What's different here?
Speaker 2:Well, the most critical thing to understand is what we call the engine versus the car.
Speaker 1:Okay. I like that.
Speaker 2:Our general campaign tools are the engine. They handle all the data, the security, the payment processing. It's powerful and secure. The connect peer to peer site. That's the car.
Speaker 2:It's the sleek branded body that pulls all that engine data in and displays it beautifully.
Speaker 1:Oh that's a great way to put it. So the organization sets up the engine first, the campaign and then Kinect gives the fundraiser the visual tools to make it shine.
Speaker 2:Precisely. And the way they customize it is with widgets. We've built these specific widgets just to drive engagement. You don't just add text. You drop in the leaderboard widget.
Speaker 2:You use the campaign progress bar widget.
Speaker 1:So you're building the page with these engaging blocks. You're gamifying it as you go.
Speaker 2:You're gamifying it. And it's so important for the user experience. But what if you're a small shop and you just need to launch fast?
Speaker 1:Yeah. What if you don't have a design team?
Speaker 2:That's why we built the inspired default template. You can use it to hit the ground running. But for full control, our site builder lets you change everything, colors, fonts, headers to match your brand perfectly. No code required.
Speaker 1:And what about mobile? So much of this happens on phones now.
Speaker 2:It's all automatic. Every connect site is built to be responsive. It just works whether you're on a phone, a tablet, or a desktop. It ensures you don't lose donors because of a broken looking form.
Speaker 1:Okay. Here's a tricky one. In a big campaign, how do you make sure the right team or person gets credit for a donation?
Speaker 2:That's handled by our dynamic campaign feature. The site is smart. It knows which link a donor clicked.
Speaker 1:Ah, so it automates the tracking.
Speaker 2:It does. If a donor clicks on Jane's personal link, the system automatically tags that donation to Jane, updates her goal, and moves her up the leaderboard. It just happens.
Speaker 1:And that automation must save nonprofit staff hundreds of hours. It makes that stewardship step step e actually possible.
Speaker 2:It really is the key. By providing these fully customizable sites with all the engagement tools built in, the technology stops being a barrier. It becomes a true accelerator for your campaign.
Speaker 1:So at the end of the day, whether you're launching your very first PDP event or scaling up a huge annual drive, this is just one of the smartest strategies you can use.
Speaker 2:It is. It turns your supporters into your best storytellers.
Speaker 1:It activates that human connection. It leverages trust, and it just amplifies your mission through authentic voices.
Speaker 2:And with a platform like the Click and Pledge Connect system, the tech isn't a hurdle anymore. It's the mechanism that drives that growth.
Speaker 1:It makes you realize that peer to peer fundraising isn't just a strategy, it's really a movement built on community and shared purpose. We'd really encourage you to think about how activating your community today could just fundamentally change your organization's future.
Speaker 2:For more information about this and all Click and Pledge products, make sure to visit clickandpledge.com and request for a one on one training or demo, whether you are a client or curious about our platform, just ask us and we will gladly get together with you to chat.
Speaker 1:And don't forget to subscribe to this podcast to stay up to date with all the latest and greatest features of the Click and Pledge Fundraising Command Center.