Get Set For Success
PEER-TO-PEER FUNDRAISING FUNDAMENTALS
A smarter way to raise funds, grow awareness, and build lasting community support.
When Fundraising
Gets Personal
You’ve probably seen it happen without realizing there’s a name for it. A coworker runs a race and shares a donation link. A friend uses their birthday to raise money for a cause they love. These moments are part of something bigger: an approach to fundraising that’s all about people, connection, and community. It’s called peer-to-peer fundraising, and it’s more powerful than you might think.
What Is Peer-to-Peer Fundraising?
Peer-to-peer fundraising—or P2P for short—is a style of fundraising where individuals raise money on behalf of a cause they care about by leveraging their personal networks. Supporters create their own fundraising pages, then share them with friends, family, and coworkers to collect donations, often as part of an event or activity. Think of it as a form of fundraising that’s rooted in relationships.
The result? A wider circle of support, and a way to give that feels more personal and meaningful.
TRADITIONAL FUNDRAISING
PEER-TO-PEER FUNDRAISING
Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Benefits
There are plenty of great benefits to peer-to-peer fundraising for both your organization and your supporters. P2P fundraising events of all kinds can:
Expand Your Reach
P2P fundraising taps into your supporters’ personal networks to connect you with potential donors unfamiliar with your organization. This increases visibility and helps raise awareness for your cause.
Build Meaningful Relationships
Peer-to-peer helps build genuine relationships by connecting new donors to your organization through a trusted friend or supporter.
Strengthen Community and Engagement
Involving supporters directly in the fundraising process creates a sense of ownership and shared purpose. This deeper engagement helps build a more connected and committed community.
Increase Fundraising Potential
When multiple people fundraise simultaneously, their collective impact can drive higher overall donation revenue, often outperforming more traditional campaign models.
P2P Fundraising Impact: By The Numbers
P2P fundraising events are a powerful way to bring people together around something meaningful, memorable, and deeply connected to your mission.
P2P Fundraising Formats
Peer-to-peer fundraising can take many forms. While it’s often tied to events, it’s really about the campaign. At its core, it’s about giving supporters a reason to rally their networks. You don’t need a big event—just a clear purpose, a simple plan, and a few motivated supporters.
Here are a few of the most popular P2P campaign formats:
Community Events
Campaigns that bring people together around a shared experience, such as a bike ride or walk-a-thon. Participants register, fundraise in advance, and show up on event day to move together in support of a cause.
DIY Fundraisers
Supporters turn everyday moments into meaningful giving opportunities, like hosting a birthday fundraiser or organizing a bake sale, to collect donations for a nonprofit they care about.
Physical Challenges
Participants take a personal pledge to do something difficult (think running a marathon or doing 100 push-ups a day) and ask friends and family to donate in support of their personal challenge.
Virtual Challenges
Fundraising that happens online and spreads through social media, such as hashtag challenges or month-long digital campaigns, where participants share their progress and ask their networks to give.
Choose a format that fits your cause or your community, then encourage your supporters to tell their stories and boldly ask on your behalf. This is where the magic happens: when people come together to support causes they care about.
Events That Are Making Waves
P2P IN ACTION
Peer-to-peer events are happening across the country and they’re raising serious money. Here are Canada’s most successful P2P fundraisers, based on 2024:
Together for Good
Peer-to-peer fundraising works. That’s not just theory, it’s backed by data, experience, and hundreds of real-life campaigns across North America.
When you launch a P2P campaign, your supporters do more than donate. They take an active role as fundraisers, advocates, and community builders. By sharing your mission with their own networks, they help expand your reach in ways that are both personal and powerful.
If your organization is exploring cost-effective, community-first ways to raise funds and strengthen relationships, peer-to-peer fundraising is worth considering.
P2P: The Blue Sea Way
Peer-to-peer fundraising can feel daunting to some and energizing to others. No matter where you stand, working with experienced partners can make the process of planning and running a campaign more manageable and more effective.
Through a Blue Sea Foundation campaign, organizations get access to a tested framework, personalized support, and the momentum of well-established national events. It’s a practical, guided approach to peer-to-peer fundraising, built for charities of all shapes and sizes.
Grow Your P2P Knowledge
Let's Talk
We’d love to help you bring your P2P fundraising dreams to life. If you are ready to try it out, we’re here to help.
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