Peer-to-peer (or p2p) fundraising has been around for quite a while now and has taken on a life of its own in the digital era, with an array of excellent platforms available today.

For those unfamiliar with or just getting started, peer-to-peer fundraising involves your supporters by allowing them to have their own personalized campaign pages to promote your cause and engage donors. This allows your institution or organization to broaden its reach by tapping into the social circles and personal aspirations of your prominent supporters.

That being said, the right tools can make all the difference and we’d like to point out what some of the best options on the market provide and what you can expect out of them.

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10 peer-to-peer fundraising platforms to consider

Whether you’re a K-12 school or a higher ed institution, in no particular order, here are some peer-to-peer fundraising platforms that you should consider:

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1. Almabase

Almabase runs on a philosophy of integrating into your CRM and existing workflows, which remains true for their peer-to-peer fundraising features. Almabase boasts native sync with most higher-ed CRMs due to their TrueSync integration, combined with superior customer support and a willingness to integrate your ideas into their long-term vision. Almabase offers customizable pages and leaderboards powered with inbuilt text and email communication features built to drive donor engagement through organic and personalized communication.

Pros

- Almabase fits seamlessly into most educational institutions’ CRMs.

- It has the industry’s best two-way sync with Blackbaud’s RE NXT.

- It values donor experience and personalized communication and has built its features with them in mind.

- It is easy to set up, with a support team that focuses on quick response and resolution.

Cons

- As a platform catering mostly to educational institutions, they may not be as experienced in working with nonprofits yet.

- As Almabase’s roadmap depends largely on user feedback, new features requested by newer users may take a while to be implemented.

Pricing

Almabase’s pricing depends entirely on your needs. You can request a personalized demo and get a quote here.

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2. Classy

Classy is a peer-to-peer fundraising platform optimized for maximum nonprofit impact. It provides ready-to-use templates for scalable, high-impact campaigns and equips supporters with intuitive tools to advocate for the cause. Classy's features include campaign templating, embedded videos and livestreams, progress thermometers, team structures, and mobile-optimized pages. The platform also supports recurring gift options and flexible payment processing. Classy is known for its user-friendly interface and mobile fundraising capabilities

Pros

- In the past few years, Classy has become known as one of the easiest-to-use platforms.

- It has great integration capacity with CRMs and other fundraising platforms.

- It boasts a responsive and helpful customer support team.

Cons

- Classy usually caters to nonprofits and may not be as experienced with an educational institution’s needs

- Many reviewers mention it’s relatively high pricing

Pricing

Classy offers a standard “Essentials” plan and a “Partner” custom plan.

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3. Qgiv by Bloomerang

Qgiv, now part of Bloomerang, is a fundraising platform offering tools for donation management, event planning, and donor engagement. It provides features like customizable donation forms, peer-to-peer fundraising, and text-to-give options

Pros

- As it is owned by Bloomerang, it integrates well into the donor management platform’s CRM and should be an easy choice for customers of the CRM.

- It offers team fundraising and other gamification features for better donor engagement.

- Many reviewers praise its auction features.

Cons

- Qgiv is mostly centered around nonprofits and their functionality for institutions may be limited.

- Smaller nonprofits and associations might find the pricing to be a bit high considering the transaction fees on top of the package fees.

Pricing

Qgiv’s peer-to-peer fundraising platform is priced at $259 per month or $687 per quarter and has a 4.95% + $0.30 per transaction processing fee.

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4. Zeffy

Zeffy is a 100% free fundraising platform for nonprofits, offering peer-to-peer fundraising, crowdfunding, donation pages, and recurring giving options. They instead generate revenue through optional tips towards the platform that donors can choose to add. It allows fundraisers to join as individuals or teams and create their own fundraising pages.  The platform is also known for being simple, intuitive, and customizable

Pros

- Uniquely charges no fees of any kind.

- Offers tools to brainstorm, find grants, or start a nonprofit.

- Reviewers mention that it is easy to use for both staff and donors.

Cons

- Some donors not aware of Zeffy’s approach may be confused by the optional tip.

- Zeffy caters to nonprofits and may not be as experienced with an educational institution’s needs.

Pricing

Zeffy has no fees of any kind and instead runs on optional tips from donors.

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5. DonorBox

Donorbox is a fundraising platform that allows nonprofits to launch peer-to-peer fundraisers in a few steps. It provides customizable donation forms and supports recurring donations via various payment methods. Donorbox also offers features for managing donors, sending personalized emails, and recording donor communications6. The platform provides resources like onboarding emails, courses, and templates to support nonprofits in their fundraising efforts

Pros

- Incredibly easy to set up and use.

- It has good reporting and supporter segmenting features.

Cons

- Integrations require additional fees.

- Customer support is limited to email according to some reviews.

Pricing

For peer-to-peer fundraisers, Donorbox charges a flat 1.75% platform fee for a main campaign and 2.95% for a supporter’s campaign. Payment processing fee details can be found here.

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6. Givebutter

Givebutter provides tools to launch peer-to-peer campaigns, complete with donation forms, fundraising pages, event management, a built-in CRM, and marketing tools to analyze your progress and streamline workflows. Their fundraiser teams offer a great choice for teams looking to gamify their peer-to-peer fundraisers as well.

It is a free platform

Pros

- Easy to set up and navigate for both staff and donors.

- A suite of free tools with monetization that allows opting for a platform fee or donor tips instead of a platform subscription.

- Has good integration with payment and social media platforms.

Cons

- Givebutter primarily caters to nonprofits and may not be as experienced with an educational institution’s needs.

- Some customers say that if opting out of tips from donors, the payment charges can be relatively costly sometimes.

Pricing

Givbutter has a popular free forever plan but also has the option of Givebutter Plus, starting at $29/month. If opting out of donors covering fees, Givebutter charges 1% for donation forms, 3% for pages, and 5% for events and auctions as well as a payment processing charge of 2.9% + ¢0.30 per transaction. You can find more details here.

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7. GiveCampus

GiveCampus is a fundraising platform for educational institutions, providing solutions for online giving, giving days, crowdfunding, P2P fundraising, and more. It blends peer-to-peer outreach, social media, and gamification to engage more donors and increase fundraising. The platform allows schools to execute giving days, year-end appeals, and crowdfunding campaigns. GiveCampus also offers features like matches and challenges to inspire donors and make them feel like their contributions are making a difference

Pros

- While some users report a learning curve to the platform, it is known to be extremely easy to use once you get used to it.

- GIveCampus supports most existing mobile wallets as well as several cryptocurrencies.

- It specializes in giving days and fundraisers for educational institutions, making it a great choice if you fit the niche.

Cons

- GiveCampus excels at Giving Days but may not be as robust for digital engagement and CRM integration

- Their customer support, while reportedly excellent, is limited to email at the time of writing

- As one of the premium options within educational fundraising, it is one of the more expensive options.

Pricing

GIveCampus has three platform plans: Essentials, Professional and Enterprise. On top of this, your price will vary depending on the modules you need. You can find more details here.

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8. JustGiving

As a Blackbaud product, JustGiving is a great choice if you are used to the Blackbaud CRM environment. Compared to other platforms on this list, JustGiving is relatively simple both in its presentation and it’s scope. This makes it an easy choice for teams that are just starting out or want something simple for a one-off event. It could certainly be a double-edged sword as that also means there may be better choices out there for teams that want a more comprehensive solution that runs across multiple fundraisers and year-long campaigns.

Pros

- Good choice for Blackbaud native teams that enjoy the CRM environment

- It’s simplistic approach makes it accessible to smaller or less experienced teams that want to make a simple event.

Cons

- JustGiving mainly caters to charities and similar initiatives

- Some customers mention that the user interface can be clunky at times

Pricing

JustGiving charges platform fees and a standard payment processing fee based on your geographical location and payment platform of choice. Crowdfunding pages are free to set up. UK charities do not need to pay a platform fee but instead have a subscription model. You can find more details here.

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9. Gravyty

Gravyty leverages predictive AI technology to provide frontline fundraisers with personalized insights into donor behavior. This innovative approach helps organizations enhance their outreach efforts by automating email drafts tailored to individual donors while integrating seamlessly with existing CRM systems. Gravyty's focus on personalization ensures that fundraisers can build stronger relationships with donors effectively.

Pros

- Gravyty has experience in working with both educational institutions and nonprofits.

- It offers complementary solutions to find, engage, and build communities for donors and alumni for customers looking for a comprehensive package.

- Gravyty boasts AI-powered features for better personalization and donor engagement.

Cons

- An integrated and digital engagement-driven platform naturally comes with a learning curve that will have to be accounted for.

- Will require time and investment to get the most out of the suite of solutions Gravyty offers.

Pricing

While some information is available online, there is no accurate pricing publicly available at the time of writing. Interested users can talk to their sales team here.

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10. DonorDrive by Bonterra

DonorDrive offers smart and customizable P2P fundraising solutions that empower supporters to create personalized experiences at scale. Its features include an intuitive event builder, personalized coaching for fundraisers, gamification elements like leaderboards, social media integrations, and seamless CRM integration which enhances supporter engagement significantly

Pros

- Great for running multiple events and campaigns simultaneously.

- Has great custom reporting tools that can go in-depth if set up correctly.

- Good for mobile and social media fundraising.

Cons

- It has a steep learning curve that requires some expertise to get the most out of it.

- Some reviews mention that donors sometimes struggle with certain aspects of the platform.

Pricing

Donordrive presents three tiers, namely Essentials, Pro, and Enterprise, with pricing based on the needs of each customer. You can learn more here.

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How to select the best peer-to-peer fundraising platform for your institution

With so many unique platforms offering something unique, making sure you choose the right one can be a little overwhelming. However, there are some things you can keep in mind while choosing the right peer-to-peer fundraising software for your team.

1. Features

While each platform may offer peer-to-peer fundraising capabilities, you can dig a little deeper to find the right fit for your needs. If you are a small team just looking to organize a quick fundraiser, there might be a lot of features you end up not using but have to pay for. On the other hand, if you are looking for a long-term solution, a platform that doesn’t have built-in analytics may be a dealbreaker. Remember that the features you purchase can either boost or hamper your fundraising efforts.

2. Scalability

Many teams want a tool that scales up alongside them as they engage more donors and alumni. However, there is often a point where their needs outgrow their chosen platform. To avoid this, consider both your short-term and long-term plans to see if the upgraded pricing tiers of a platform will meet your team’s requirements later down the line. You can also try to talk to customers of these upgraded plans to get a better idea.

3. User experience

Your staff, fundraisers, and donors all need to have an equally good time engaging with your fundraising pages. From payment processing and reporting workflows to page load times, there are many aspects you should talk about or test out during a free trial or demo to see if a platform is the right one for you.

4. Learning Curve

Some solutions come with a relatively low learning curve but offer limited functionality, while some others can be the driving force of all your fundraising strategies but may require experienced personnel or a specialist in a certain software environment. Try to find a balance between the training time required and potential functionality to ensure that you don’t undergo an abrupt transition.

5. Pricing

Pricing is always one of the key things to consider for any tool but it’s also important to remember the nuances down the line. Always consider the rates attached to upfront costs, renewals, transaction fees, upgraded plans, and more. Switching platforms inevitably leads to more expenses through database transfers and staff upskilling as well. Therefore, it will be important to consult your database managers and other staff members before you make a decision.

6. Support and roadmaps

In this industry, something is always bound to go sideways at some point and it is important to also consider how your platform provider can be reached out to by your staff to resolve their issues. Response times on live chat or email support channels should be something you always keep in mind. For the long-term, you also want to support platforms that onboard customer feedback and have detailed roadmaps for upcoming features.

7. Security

Both your staff and your donors need to be assured that the level of security on offer. Always look out for a platform’s data encryption measures as well as their compliance and authentication processes to see if it will inspire confidence from your donors.

8. Customer reviews

Third-party review sites like G2 and Capterra offer a good view on what their customers think about them. While these reviews can be subjective, you might just find the right complaint or praise to help you finalize your shortlist.

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Wrapping up

We hope we’ve given you the tools you need to pick out or at least consider some of the best peer-to-peer fundraising solutions out there, as well as what you need to consider before adopting one. Whether you’re a higher ed institution optimizing your peer-to-peer fundraisers or a K-12 school just looking to get started, we hope you pick out the right solution and can make a great positive change.

If you’ve had successful peer-to-peer fundraisers before and want to know how you can build a community around them, check out our blog post to help you keep providing meaningful experiences

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