raised through peer-to-peer fundraising

Challenge

In 2020, Birch Family Services, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping individuals with autism and developmental disabilities, was celebrating their 45th anniversary. However, when the COVID-19 pandemic placed limitations on in-person fundraising events, Birch Family Services needed another way besides their typical spring fundraising event to fundraise and celebrate their anniversary. The Birch Team knew they could not forgo this important opportunity to fundraise and celebrate their milestone.

Solution

The Birch Team created Birch@45, a 45-day virtual campaign consisting of a 5K Challenge and Celebrating Today, Building Tomorrow gala. They hosted Birch@45 on a MobileCause Event Page with important event details such as event honorees, links to registration, donation and sponsorship forms, text-to-donate instructions, and a donation progress circle showing their fundraising results in real-time. Also included were links to a peer-to-peer fundraising page so supporters could sign-up for the 5K and fundraise through their social networks. Additionally, peer-to-peer fundraisers were provided with email and social templates to share Birch@45 with their friends and family.

Impact

By creating a virtual fundraising event, the Birch Team was able to celebrate their 45th anniversary and raise over $366,000. Especially successful was the peer-to-peer fundraising portion of their campaign. Originally, the Birch Team’s goal for the peer-to-peer fundraising was just $25,000, but after they quickly surpassed that goal, they aimed for $35,000, then $45,000 and in the end, raised over $83,000. Engagement amongst peer-to-peer fundraisers was higher than in past campaigns, as it was easy for participants to share their peer-to-peer page through email and social media. Birch Family Services crushed their goals with their first ever virtual fundraising event, helping to reach new donors and increase engagement among existing supporters.

What is DFS?

Our team of Digital Fundraising Strategists have experience in nonprofit management and are power users of MobileCause. Using best practices and extensive fundraising, marketing and communications experience, the team provides fully-integrated development and setup of your campaigns. Enabling you to spend your time executing programs and connecting with your constituents. We create and implement campaigns for you so you can focus on running your organization.