Tackling challenges in peer-to-peer and individual giving 

Sustainable funding is critical to driving your mission, but outdated tools and clunky processes can hold you back. When fundraising becomes complicated and giving feels frustrating for donors, even your most dedicated supporters can disengage. The result? Fewer gifts, lower donor retention, and stalled revenue growth. 

Nonprofit teams often spend more time troubleshooting tech than building relationships, while donation experiences that aren’t optimized to meet supporters where they are lead to drop-offs and missed opportunities for recurring giving. Plus, supporters struggle to fundraise on your behalf when platforms are hard to navigate or lack personalization, creating a disconnect that limits engagement and loyalty.  

If fundraising feels more and more complex, you’re not alone. In this blog, we’ll identify key pain points of peer-to-peer fundraising and individual giving, and walk through some data-backed strategies to help you overcome barriers and accelerate growth. 

The growing complexity of fundraising at scale 

In today’s environment, organizations encounter more than tight budgets and fluctuating donor retention. Navigating multifaceted fundraising portfolios, managing distributed responsibilities across teams, and engaging sophisticated donor bases that expect seamless, multi-channel experiences are common challenges. Outdated or siloed tech stacks can compromise supporter experiences and create inefficiencies, undermining your ability to drive mission-critical outcomes. 

Top four roadblocks for nonprofit organizations operating at scale 

1. Donor expectations are rising across the board

Major donors, corporate partners, and individual supporters now expect tailored, digital-first engagement. Legacy platforms and fragmented data often make it difficult to deliver personalized experiences, risking both loyalty and long-term giving. 

2. Disjointed technology impedes strategic focus

Many organizations run multiple tools for events, peer-to-peer fundraising, and individual giving, which leads to data silos, duplicate work, and reporting challenges that pull staff away from strategic initiatives. 

3. Workforce bandwidth and change fatigue

Teams can drive powerful results, but only when supported by streamlined processes and intuitive technology. When departments operate in silos or staff are forced to navigate complex systems, morale and productivity can suffer. 

4. Event fundraising needs innovation

Events risk plateauing or losing relevance unless they evolve with donor behaviors and incorporate personalization, user-friendly fundraising experiences, and unique experiential formats.  

Overcoming fundraising challenges: Strategic solutions for nonprofit leaders 

To grow sustainably, your organization needs more than small changes. It needs clear, actionable strategies. Here’s how nonprofits can address common challenges and improve their approach to fundraising. 

1. Make giving easy across devices and channels 

Your supporters expect intuitive, cross-device giving. Audit your current systems for gaps: Are donation forms easy to use, responsive, and secure? Does your platform offer digital wallet payments and easy recurring gift set-up? Addressing these questions directly impacts retention and lifetime value for both individual and institutional donors. 

Actionable step: Conduct a comprehensive user journey audit, leveraging analytics to pinpoint drop-off points. Then invest in platforms that streamline the donor experience from pledge to stewardship. 

2. Simplify event setup and supporter fundraising 

Complicated peer-to-peer tools can hold back your fundraising efforts. Focus on solutions that make it easy for your nonprofit team to set up events while providing a seamless experience for volunteers, teams, and ambassadors. Scalable tools should streamline customization and ensure consistency across campaigns. 

Actionable step: Look for a platform that allows you to set up branded events easily, without requiring technical expertise or developers. Choose one that offers fundraisers a modern, mobile-friendly interface to simplify the process and improve their experience. 

3. Unify your technology ecosystem 

With multiple systems in play, integration is critical. Whether it’s aligning fundraising, donor management, and marketing platforms, or ensuring seamless data flow into your CRM (think Salesforce or Blackbaud), unified tech ecosystems reduce error, optimize staff time, and fuel advanced analytics for better decision-making. 

Actionable step: Map your fundraising tech stack. Identify redundancies and integration gaps. Prioritize tools that offer robust APIs and proven CRM integrations, minimizing the need for manual workarounds or IT intervention. 

4. Reimagine signature and peer-to-peer events 

As event fundraising evolves, organizations need bespoke digital and hybrid experiences to sustain engagement across supporter segments. Advanced reporting, dynamic event pages, and customizable peer-to-peer campaigns are essential to track impact and scale success. 

Actionable step: Pilot emerging event formats, such as digital challenges, regional pop-ups, or hybrid galas, and track participation and revenue trends. Leverage this data to iterate and replicate what works. 

Empower your organization for transformational growth 

Change on this scale can be overwhelming, but nonprofits open to new ideas can find better ways to achieve their goals and make a greater impact. By investing in simple yet powerful platforms like DonorDrive, you can transform your individual giving, peer-to-peer, and DIY fundraising campaigns, creating a stronger donor and fundraiser experience and freeing up your staff to focus on impact, not administration. 

Next steps: Stay ahead of nonprofit fundraising trends by subscribing to our newsletter. Receive curated, actionable leadership insights and success stories from organizations like yours.