Nonprofit teams can become over-extended when creating and executing large-scale fundraising campaigns, either due to a lack of team resources or restricted bandwidth. Running campaigns that operate beyond your team’s limits for extended periods of time can lead to burnout. However, your staff doesn’t have to coordinate its fundraising efforts alone. 

Volunteers can help supplement your fundraising team and use their own connections and passion for your cause to drive giving. All you need to do is tactically recruit and empower your volunteers to help your fundraising team reach more people organically and increase your overall revenue. Let’s explore four creative strategies to recruit volunteers and involve them in your fundraising processes.

1. Encourage Event Support

Large-scale fundraising events are a great way to raise funds quickly. However, they require a significant administrative team lift that some nonprofits may not be able to accommodate. 

Call on your volunteers to provide event support so your development team has the capacity to coordinate logistics and ensure the day runs smoothly.

Here are some ways volunteers can help out at a fundraising event: 

• Run attendee check-in: Have volunteers enthusiastically greet participants and register their attendance in your constituent relationship system (CRM) so your team can track engagement with your cause. 
• Manage the event: Successfully building and running an event requires significant effort. Establish a shift schedule for volunteers to help with setup, answer questions, and break down your equipment at the end of the day. This makes it easy for busy volunteers to find a shift that fits their schedule, spreads the workload among more people, and reduces the mental and physical burden on your staff. 
• Provide tech assistance: Sometimes, fundraising event tech (from donation pages to registration tech) is slow to load during peak use or otherwise malfunctions. To ensure tech issues don’t derail your event, train your volunteers in basic tech support so they can help attendees and their peers.
• Staff fundraising booths or tables: Your volunteers care about your cause, are vocal community advocates, and can speak to the real-time impact of your initiatives. This makes them great candidates to run a fundraising booth or table at larger events. While you should always have at least one staff member on hand, invite dedicated volunteers to serve as ambassadors of your organization during community events. 
• Market to their communities: Before major fundraising events, ask volunteers to spread the word amongst their community. Additionally, provide event-specific swag, such as branded T-shirts or tote bags, to visibly link your volunteers to your cause and raise awareness. 

When planning a fundraising event, make sure to clearly communicate expectations to volunteers before your start date. Create a run-of-show and provide parking instructions, any specialized training materials or references, and emergency contact numbers a few days before the event begins. Provide additional instructions for each job type (such as ticketing, tabling at a booth, or welcoming guests) so volunteers know their roles before they attend. 

The evening before the event, send a text message reiterating your excitement about seeing your volunteers and sharing any last-minute details. Effective volunteer management reminds your volunteers of their commitment, reduces no-shows, and helps your fundraiser run smoothly. 

2. Create a Peer-to-Peer Fundraiser

Peer-to-peer fundraisers are a great way to expand your reach beyond your usual audience by leveraging dedicated advocates for your cause. A peer-to-peer fundraiser calls on established volunteers and donors to reach out to their community networks for donations.

This type of fundraising strategy for nonprofits is a highly successful way to reach new audiences with minimal administrative lift. When prospects receive a donation request from someone they know who is already involved in your organization, they’re more likely to respond positively. At the same time, ambassador support reduces your administrative team’s need to directly engage every new donor. 

Here’s how to create a successful peer-to-peer fundraiser: 

• Create outreach templates: Give committed volunteers a standardized way to reach out to their community. This can include a physical flyer, an engagement script, or even a QR code linking to your digital platform. A clear method of communicating your current initiative empowers volunteers to advocate for your mission with confidence. 
• Provide talking points: Your volunteers should be prepared to answer questions about your cause, its impact, and the specific initiative they’re advocating for. A one-page informational flyer with key metrics, a summary of your mission, and major talking points ensures your volunteer team is on the same page. 

• Check in regularly: Just because peer-to-peer fundraising decentralizes your fundraising initiative doesn’t mean your team can check out. Regularly touch base with your designated peer-to-peer fundraisers to ask how they feel about their outreach efforts, check in on their progress, and answer questions. 
• Provide KPIs: Clearly display a fundraising tracker to create excitement and show your fundraisers the progress they’ve made towards their goal. A daily or weekly impact report showing funds raised and their current impact keeps their energy thriving and provides fresh metrics for campaign promotion. 

Peer-to-peer fundraising requires a great amount of trust in your community members, but can also increase your ability to connect through shared investment in your mission. At the end of the day, you’re trusting volunteers to accurately represent your organization and its mission, with the goal of raising funds. Make sure to offer adequate preparation and support to your peer-to-peer fundraisers before, during, and after your campaign, and prioritize including advocates with a long history of support for your organization. 

3. Crowdfunding to Engage Your Community 

Crowdfunding tactics successfully engage your broader community and bring your mission directly to grassroots networks. While peer-to-peer fundraising relies on the networks of established volunteers and donors to spread the word about your initiative, crowdfunding calls on your broader community to contribute, regardless of personal connections to your organization. Common examples of individual crowdfunded fundraisers include per-mile marathon fundraisers, Walk-a-Thons, and digital sites that spread the word about your cause while encouraging viewers to donate.   

Your volunteers are a critical component of successful crowdfunding campaigns. Often, these initiatives are paired with large-scale events, such as Days of Giving, fundraising fairs, or a-Thon initiatives. Recruit your volunteers to support your programming and development teams through your event marketing, run-of-show, and set-up. After all, there’s nothing like an enthusiastic volunteer to get people excited about your cause! 

To host a successful crowdfunding campaign, use these tactics: 

• Use strategic marketing campaigns: Crowdfunding works best when individuals learn about your organization and are immediately inspired to donate. When creating your marketing materials, include a brief summary of your mission, the specific initiative you’re funding, and its anticipated impact. Then, use a Call to Action (CTA) to motivate immediate support. 
• Mobilize corporate employee networks: Partner with local businesses and ask supporters to create workplace groups dedicated to your initiative. Golfstatus recommends several business-oriented fundraising ideas to get your whole office involved, such as fundraising happy hours, corporate steps challenges, and office cook-offs. Office fundraisers increase your events’ community reach, boost fundraising, and show that your affiliated business partners are socially responsible organizations - a win-win-win! 
• Automate new donor entry and follow-up: Crowdfunding campaigns bring in many new donors in a very short time. Automated donor profile creation, data logging, and acknowledgment emails help your CRM process large-scale campaigns without overwhelming your staff. 

At the end of your campaign, send every participant a notification of how much your campaign raised, how the funds will be used, and an invitation to become further involved in your organization. Orr Group recommends using generative AI to create personalized impact reports for each participant, showing their personal influence on your initiative. Large-scale, community-based campaigns are a great way to increase your organization’s visibility among new audiences and bring in new supporters. 

4. Assist in Stewardship Efforts 

Your volunteers are passionate about your organization’s mission and impact. Include their unique perspective in your stewardship efforts to provide a personal touch based on their experiences with your organization and help your donors meet the real people carrying your mission forward.  

Volunteers can fill these stewardship roles by:

• Writing and signing direct-mail stewardship letters thanking donors for their support. 
• Providing written or video testimonials about their experiences with your organization, illustrating the real-time impact of your cause. 
• Reaching out to donors via phone calls or personalized emails to update them on how their specific contributions are driving social good. 

When involving volunteers in your stewardship efforts, make sure to provide support through staff presence, guidance, and encouragement. While donors appreciate hearing how their donations contribute to your volunteer initiatives and overall impact, their primary point of contact is ultimately your staff. 

Once a month, hold a joint volunteer-staff meeting to align on your fundraising goals, organizational priorities, and upcoming initiatives. This keeps your primary supporters in the loop and generates excitement for upcoming initiatives. 

Including volunteers in your fundraising initiatives can help you reach new donors, generate excitement about new initiatives, and provide staff support when launching large-scale campaigns. Capitalize on your volunteers’ excitement and dedication to your cause to organically spread the word about your newest initiatives, fundraising campaigns, and mission to new audiences. 

Campbell drives Orr Group’s marketing and communications efforts as a member of the Growth Team. She plays a key role in expanding the company’s brand presence by creating content, managing social media accounts, preparing marketing materials, planning events, and more. Campbell joined Orr Group as an intern in January of 2021, where she gained client-facing exposure through her involvement on client teams, including Girl Effect and Guide Dogs for the Blind. Campbell’s nonprofit experience includes an internship with the Thousand Islands Land Trust in the upstate New York St. Lawrence River region in the summer of 2019. She served as the organization’s Education and Outreach Intern and assisted with marketing, outreach, and events efforts during their peak season of operation.