How to successfully crowd-source for a good cause

The rise of peer-to-peer fundraising lets you choose your own adventure

Let’s say you have a cause that’s important to you, and a skill, interest or hobby you want to use to help raise funds for your favourite charity. How do you let friends, family, colleagues and community know about your cause and help support it?

Many charities have portals on their websites giving supporters the online tools to set up their own fundraises, such as walk-a-thons or other challenge events.

“We refer to this as peer-to-peer fundraising, because so often it’s people you know who are asking for the donations and asking their friends to spread the word on social media,” said Lys Hugessen, vice-president of partnerships for CanadaHelps.org. “Certainly, we’ve seen on CanadaHelps that this has grown a lot over the past several years. It’s one of the most powerful ways that people are motivated to give to charities.”

Powerful because friends asking friends to support their charity is a successful means of fundraising.HugessensaidCanadaHelpssaw$14 million raised through peer-to-peer fundraising last year. This is significant, particularly because it’s especially popular among younger segments of the population. As older adults are typically the largest segment of donors, this points to a promising trend for the future.

Here’s one way to use peer-to-peer fundraising: By doing something you already love — whether that’s running, cycling or making crafts — you set up a page online, promote it on all your social channels and ask friends and family to sponsor you. You can set this up using CanadaHelps fundraising technology on its site or contact your favourite charity and work with it directly.

That’s what Amber Needham of St. Thomas, Ont., did when she decided to raise money to establish a cornea stem cell donor registry. Needham lost her sight in a freak incident in 2014, and although her sight was restored due to a corneal stem cell transplant performed by Dr. Clara Chan, an ophthalmologist at Toronto Western Hospital, she again lost her sight in a second incident.

Today, Needham has partial sight, but she wanted to give back in some way to help Dr. Chan set up a corneal stem cell transplant registry.

One way Needham raised funds was by writing a book about her experience. “All royalties from the book sales go towards setting up the corneal stem cell donor registry,” she said. “When someone needs a corneal stem cell transplant, as patients, we have to go and find our own donors, which is excruciating. So, my intention is to raise the $80,000 necessary to set up the registry.”

In addition to the book sales, Needham completed a cross-Ontario tandem bike ride with her partner this past summer to raise funds. She’s now working on a gala fundraising event for 2023, all in support of the registry. The money raised is directed to funding the registry through a portal she set up with the assistance of the University Health Network (UHN) Foundation on its site. As her fundraising initiatives change, the fundraising portal is updated.

“Our website tools make it easy to start the fundraiser of your choice by creating a personalized page to collect donations from your network of supporters,” said Louise Aspin, senior vice-president and chief development officer of UHN Foundation.

“We offer downloadable resources with templates, tips and tools that guide you through the process and help you make the most of your fundraiser. Every little bit helps, and we are so grateful for anyone who chooses to use their time and resources to support us.”

Here’s another way people are using peer-topeer fundraising: Let’s say you’ve got an event coming up — a birthday, shower or wedding, for example — you can set up a portal to have funds directed to your charities of choice in lieu of gifts.

“People are also setting up these kinds of portals to honour those they love,” said Hugessen.

To find out how to create your own fundraising portal, visit CanadaHelps.org for information and ideas about how to set it up, or visit your favourite charity’s site or contact your charity of choice to see how you can set up your personal fundraiser.