A Few Good Tools for P2P Fundraising

Peer-to-peer (P2P) fundraising isn't new. For years, many organizations have engaged their supporters—from staff and volunteers to program participants and current donors—to raise funds on their behalf. Traditionally, these campaigns take the form of walk-a-thons or similar kinds of events at which supporters enlist sponsors from their own networks of colleagues, friends and family. Informally, this kind of distributed fundraising is sometimes called "team," "a-thon" or "friend-to-friend" fundraising.

Today, online tools let supporters participate in broad campaigns and reach out to diverse networks. Some facilitate the creation of individual, online donation pages, while others provide "widgets" that can be placed on a personal Web page, enabling fundraisers to connect directly to their friends and family.