Lessons From UK P2P Fundraising Experience

Hammered by the pandemic, in 2020 the UK’s 25 largest peer-to-peer fundraising programs brought in only 52% of what they raised in 2019, according to a just-released study by Massive, the country’s leading mass participation event agency.

Instead of bemoaning that performance, however, the study’s authors feel the results tell a “surprisingly positive story” when one realizes that lockdown kept 19 of the top 25 programs from operating as planned.

Among the Massive Top 25 reports key findings:

— It’s very hard to replace a physical event but existing events had built up sufficient loyalty to move supporters to pivot to virtual. On average such moves enabled nonprofits to hold onto 40% of revenue. Most successful at this type of pivot was the Alzheimer’s Society’s Memory Walk which retained 67%.

— The fastest-growing events were those that were designed for long-distance participation. For example, although Cancer Research UK’s traditional Race for Life suffered one of the worst revenue declines, it’s virtual Cycle 300 and Walk All Over Cancer were among the country’s fastest growing programs.

Looking ahead, the study’s authors expect 2022 to see a significant increase in physical events “but things won’t go back to where they were. Instead, we expect more hybrid events, with opportunities to participate both virtually and in person, with virtual potentially used as an additional way to take part, and as a way to recruit new supporters, keep more existing supporters engaged, build a sense of community, and get more individuals to move on to higher value physical events.”

Click here to download a copy of the report including a chart detailing the UK’s 25 largest peer-to-peer fundraising programs.