In fundraising, did you know that the more you ask people to suffer, the more money you will raise? It sounds crazy, right? But it’s true. According to studies by Chris Olivola “when people anticipate that they're going to have to suffer to raise money for a charity, then their willingness to contribute to that cause actually goes up.” This is why endurance and competitive peer-to-peer fundraising events like the 39-mile Avon Walk for Breast Cancer has raised over $423 million dollars since 2003 to support breast cancer research and breast cancer screenings at the local level.
Peer-to-peer fundraising events often bringing in more revenue than any other fundraising campaign. If your nonprofit is interested in planning a peer-to-peer fundraising event check out the infographic below by Convio, which is packed with useful metrics and performance benchmarks. Highlights include:
- 68% of peer-to-peer fundraising events are endurance events. These events don’t just require a lot of physical training but typically require fundraising minimum’s to participate. For example, each walker in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer must commit to raising a minimum of $1800.
- On average - teams who compete in endurance fundraising events raise $1091 and individuals raise $611. Comparatively, teams for non-competitive events on average raise $79 and individuals raise about $52. This is a significant difference and shows just how on target Olivola’s theory is about what motivates people to give more money.
- Returning participants typically raise more money then new participants.