Grassroots or peer-to-peer fundraising can be a powerful tool for nonprofit organizations, especially when working with individuals who have or host a large engaged community online. Let’s walk through a case study of a massively successful peer-to-peer fundraising campaign to see how it works and how we might be able to replicate it at our own organizations. 

 

First, what is grassroots/peer-to-peer fundraising? 

 

You may find more complex definitions of peer-to-peer fundraising elsewhere, but for our purposes let’s just consider it any instance where an individual is fundraising for your organization through their own personal network. Usually, that individual will have a stated fundraising goal and will share that goal, and their purposes for fundraising for this specific cause, online. Often, peer-to-peer “campaigns” will be initiated by a nonprofit organization to facilitate multiple individuals running their own fundraising campaigns through their own networks, but for the purposes of learning today, it really doesn’t matter whether it’s a single fundraiser or dozens and whether the nonprofit initiates the campaign or the individual fundraising. Ok, let’s dive in! 

 

The fundraising case study we are going to look at today involves @SharonSaysSo, an Instagram account led by Sharon McMahon, a former high school government teacher, and RIP Medical Debt, a 501c3 nonprofit. (Full disclosure, I was in no way professionally connected to this campaign, but recently followed Sharon personally and have found her informative, helpful, and hilarious. When I watched the fundraiser unfold, I just knew it was a perfect case study for the Banyan audience.)

 

To start, some background. 

 

This fundraising case study revolves around an “online community” on Instagram. Sharon McMahon, who manages the @SharonSaysSo account, was a high school government teacher for many years and now educates people about US history and our government online, largely through Instagram. She offers unbiased facts about our governmental processes and has built up a community of more than 500,000 people. 

 

RIP Medical Debt is a 501c3 nonprofit that “empowers donors to forgive billions in oppressive medical debt.” Founded in 2014 by two former debt collection executives, the organization buys debt and forgives the loans, freeing families and individuals from the debt they have incurred for their health. Because the organization purchases debt in such large quantities, every dollar donated is able to eradicate roughly $100 in medical debt.  

 

Recently, Sharon selected RIP Medical Debt for a fundraiser with a stated goal of raising $20,000. She simply put this out on her Instagram account, linked the donation page on her account, and explained a bit about why she felt this cause was important to support. 

 

Within the first four hours, the community had more than doubled the $20,000 goal and raised more than $44,000. 

 

Within the first 24 hours, the community had raised more than $285,000. 

 

By the end of the weeklong campaign, the community had raised a total of $566,787. With RIP’s model of purchasing debt, that will forgive approximately 56 million dollars worth of debt. 

 

Wow.

 

Now – before you get nervous and say, “Okay, Bonnie… there is no way on earth I am ever going to raise $566,000 with an online peer-to-peer campaign…”, recognize that that is not the (only) purpose here! The true benefit of peer-led fundraising campaigns goes far beyond the dollars raised. BUT, since we are all about fundraising effectiveness here at Banyan, there ARE specific things you can do now to prepare your organization for success if this type of opportunity comes along in the future.

 

Let’s take a closer look at the campaign and the context of the situation to see what we can learn.

 

First, what did Sharon naturally offer that contributed to the success of this campaign? 

• An engaged community that trusted her.

  (Note here: while her ~500,000 followers would certainly be a DREAM to get your mission in front of, that does not have to be (and honestly, shouldn’t be) the goal. What about local business owners with a small but engaged community/client base? Or individuals with their everyday networks? Again, the overall dollar amount of a campaign like this does not have to be large to be successful!) 

• A natural interest in the mission.

  Sharon has also shared with her online community the story of her husband’s need for a kidney transplant. We can guess that, whether their family may have dealt with medical debt or not, the personal experience of such a large medical financial concern likely helped Sharon to see that RIP Medical Debt’s purpose and mission was one she felt a personal connection to. Additionally, the idea of eradicating medical debt is one that connects with Sharon’s followers, who may not agree politically on much, but they do agree strongly on the basic premise of humanity and connecting with and helping others. Both of these facets made RIP Medical Debt a natural fit for Sharon’s platform.

• A willingness to be a spokesperson for your cause.

  For the entire week-long campaign, Sharon shared openly how the success of the campaign was positively affecting her. She jokingly shared that her kids were annoyed at her for “crying on the internet” all week long. The openness, authenticity, and connection she felt to the campaign, the donors supporting the cause, and the individuals and families who would benefit from their medical debt being forgiven was real, raw, and unfiltered. 

 

Next, how did RIP Medical Debt effectively capitalize on this situation and respond? 

• Intentionally offering opportunities for grassroots fundraising campaigns. From a look at RIP Medical Debt’s website, it is clear that their overall fundraising strategy includes running large, often celebrity-run, online campaigns to raise money. So their infrastructure was already there and ready for Sharon to use. This was key to making the donation process simple for the large number of donors supporting the campaign. 
• Thinking through the infrastructure necessary beforehand. The campaign infrastructure had a process in place for collecting email addresses. I cannot stress enough how important this piece is. Once you have someone give an initial gift, especially in a situation where their connection to your mission is as tenuous as this, having a way to contact them after the fact is vital if you want to build this relationship further. If you do one thing, find a way to capture the email addresses of as many of your grassroots donors as you can!
• Engaging the new audience immediately! And then… use those email addresses to THANK THEM! I donated myself (I couldn’t really use this as a case study and not fully participate, right?!), and soon after the campaign ended, I received a great email directly from RIP Medical Debt. In it, they: 
  • Listed the total amount of money raised by the campaign & offered a testimonial from a beneficiary to show the power those dollars have
  • Gave great explanatory information on the mission 
  • Offered opportunities to get further involved 
  • Even referenced and focused the information on what they knew about the community that had donated by including a public policy section and tying it back to Sharon’s focus of better understanding US government and affecting policy change. 

• Consistent communication with the fundraising lead. Lastly, it was clear that the RIP Medical Debt team was consistently in communication with the fundraising lead, too. Sharon shared during and after the campaign information from RIP Medical Debt, and noted how impressed and stunned the RIP Medical Debt team was with the success of the campaign. 

 

So, as nonprofits, what can we take away from this campaign? What can we do to improve our chances of success with a grassroots, peer-led campaign like this? 

• First and foremost, figure out the infrastructure and process for successfully facilitating a campaign like this. It does not have to be complex. It could be as simple as a special field on your donation form that asks the donor to identify if this gift is a part of a campaign (and if so, which). But ensure at the outset that you will be able to appropriately capture donations for the specific campaign so that you can report back on its success. Write this procedure down so it is formalized and ready to go when the opportunity arises!
• Recognize that you don’t necessarily know who is already invested in your work! Recognize that this person, your own “Sharon”, may already be out there following you on social media and you have no idea of their connection to your organization. So share on social media with them in mind. Offer opportunities to run peer-led campaigns, and share testimonials of donors who have run these campaigns in the past. Show your audience that you are already doing it, and doing it successfully. 
• Be strategic and intentional with your digital presence. More generally, ensure your digital presence is connecting with your audience in a meaningful way. Share high-quality content and make connections with your audience – do Q & A sessions, start a conversation in your posts and captions, offer them to get further involved with the organization – anything to strengthen the bond the individual has with what you do. 
• Engage with this new audience – quickly! Make a connection with the donors after the fact. Thank them and engage them with your mission. Offer them opportunities to get further involved through volunteering or connecting on social media. This step is crucial in successfully retaining these donors!

 

Whatever your goal, the key to success with peer-led fundraising efforts is being prepared when the opportunity comes along! Taking the time now to define the process and ensure your infrastructure is prepared, coupled with inviting those interested in leading campaigns to know that it is an option you welcome, will bode well for these opportunities for your organization in the future.