Ideal Duration for a Peer-to-Peer Online Fundraising Campaign

Online Peer-to-peer fundraising campaign is a fantastic method of raising funds where people join hands and work together. Your organization can reap the rewards of their team effort. However, it takes a lot more than teamwork to succeed in peer-to-peer campaigns; proper planning and an ideal time duration. 

There are two types of peer-to-peer campaigns: rolling campaigns that last year round and time-based campaigns that go on from a few weeks to months. Timing is key in both campaigns because if you set the deadline too early, you risk not having enough time, but setting it too late causes you to lose momentum.

This blog post discusses the ideal duration for a peer-to-peer network fundraising and how you can determine what time duration better fits yours.

Why Does a Peer-To-Peer Campaign Duration Matter?

Some peer-to-peer campaigns succeed in shorter durations because they maintain the donor’s enthusiasm and motivation for giving back and engaging with your campaign. If you run a campaign for a long time, you lose momentum and the interest of your donors and supporters, known as donor fatigue.

However, in some situations, long-term campaigns play a crucial role in developing the donor's trust. So it's important to run your campaigns for the perfect duration. 

You may decide the ideal duration of your peer-to-peer fundraisers by knowing what factors influence the duration of a campaign. 

What Factors Influence the Duration of a Campaign?

Here are some key factors (that may influence your campaign) to remember while deciding the duration of your peer-to-peer fundraising campaign:

Fundraising Goal

Every peer-to-peer fundraising campaign shares one similar goal: raising money. However, every fundraising campaign has a different cause, which can influence the duration of your campaigns. 

You must, therefore, consider the scale of your peer-to-peer fundraising goal to determine its ideal duration. 

If you want to build steady momentum, opt for a long-term campaign. If you want to encourage quick action and raise money fast, a short-term campaign will be your best to create a sense of urgency amongst the supporters. 

Nature of Cause

When organizing a peer-to-peer fundraiser for a complex cause, like a long-term development project, ensure supporters have sufficient time to comprehend and genuinely support the mission's details. 

We suggest longer campaigns for causes that must be donated to year-round. 

Causes like disaster relief management, climate change, and water preservation need more explanation. They're also causes that need donations year-long to be supported globally.

Choose a short-duration campaign in situations where urgency is crucial and you need funds. Disaster relief or medical emergencies are examples of situations that necessitate immediate attention. 

Audience Engagement

Your audience and donor engagement also play a crucial role in the duration of your campaigns. Increased engagement can ensure a successful peer-to-peer campaign for your nonprofit quickly. 

Research and study your old campaign insights to figure out your audience engagement. This will help you determine the duration of your upcoming peer-to-peer online campaigns. 

If you have high engagement, your nonprofit will reach its fundraising goal quickly. This is where short peer-to-peer campaigns play a good role. Your nonprofit’s audience will create a snowball effect, raising awareness and donations. 

Therefore, your peer-to-peer campaign will be a tremendous success. 

If your audience engagement is low, raising awareness about your peer-to-peer campaign might take more effort. 

Seasonal Factors

Apart from the duration of your peer-to-peer campaigns, picking the right timing is also important for the campaign's success. Some external factors, such as seasonal factors, are important to consider when deciding the time for your campaign.

An example of a seasonal factor can be the end of the year's time, also called the giving season. This is where people mostly donate and support fundraising campaigns before the holiday season starts.

You can also focus on the recent trending issues, such as a recent cause-related or a time-sensitive issue. Short-term peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns are ideal for situations like this. 

Doing your research and looking for such opportunities can help you multiply the impact of your peer-to-peer fundraising campaign.

Platform Limitations

Online peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns require fundraising software that can provide a seamless giving experience and track the performance of your campaigns. 

While these platforms help boost your fundraising efforts, they also have certain limitations that can affect your campaigns. It's possible that software imposes a limit on the campaign runtime.

Some platforms also charge a certain fee for extensive campaigns. Nonprofits often avoid paying this fee to reduce their overall cost. 

This is where BetterWorld comes in to save the day, as it’s 100% free for nonprofits to run their campaigns without stress. 

What is the Ideal duration of Peer-to-peer fundraising?

For many nonprofits, it's recommended to plan a short-term peer-to-peer fundraiser campaign that runs between a few weeks to a couple of months. 

Online fundraisers typically see a significant amount of engagement over a shorter period. A short campaign also has a low risk of donor fatigue. 

Therefore, the ideal duration of a peer-to-peer online fundraising campaign should be a couple of weeks. This gives your supporters and audience enough time to learn about your fundraising cause and engage with your campaign.

A long-term campaign typically lasts for months, providing you enough time to reach a wider audience and giving them a chance to contribute if they can’t contribute right away.

Common FAQs

How long does it take to promote a fundraiser?

Promoting a fundraiser depends upon the target audience and the goal of your fundraiser. However, promoting a typical fundraising campaign takes around 1 to 2 weeks. 

How do you encourage peer-to-peer fundraising?

You can encourage peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns in several ways:

• Communicate your fundraising mission and goals to raise awareness.
• Offer fundraising tools such as sample emails or curated social media posts to make it easy for your audience to share or engage with your campaign. 
• Create fundraising challenges and offer prizes for the top supporters.
• Share your progress and testimonial videos to encourage the supporters by showing them the impact they make. 

What tools can you use to monitor campaign progress and adjust duration?

Use software that enables you to create individual donation pages and let you keep track of your campaign insights. BetterWorld is a great tool to run your peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns. 

Conclusion

Planning a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign for your organization requires careful consideration, particularly for the campaign's duration. It's hard to decide just how long the peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns should be. 

Therefore, determine the goals of your fundraiser and decide if it requires urgent funds or not. Study your insights to learn about your audience engagement before deciding the length of your campaign. 

All it takes is smart planning, and you can decide your ideal time duration in no time. 

If you want to elevate your fundraising efforts, sign up on BetterWorld.