Comments on: A Foretelling of the Birth of Peer-to-Peer Fundraising

By: loseweight

loseweight — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 03:18:41 +0000

Fundraising for non-profits is a great idea, this is a great help. Great article found here and I truly learn a lot. Thanks!

By: loseweight

loseweight — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 03:18:41 +0000

Fundraising for non-profits is a great idea, this is a great help. Great article found here and I truly learn a lot. Thanks!

By: Jennymeyer

Jennymeyer — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 12:15:37 +0000

Good reading, gives even more for thinking… Thanks!

By: Jon Hearty

Jon Hearty — Thu, 05 May 2011 18:32:08 +0000

Online fundraising is definitely on the rise. I completely agree with you on this:

But the real power is going to come when every day people start realizing the wealth of their personal networks.

This is where things are changing, and hopefully technology utilized more and more to take advantage of this paradigm shift.

By: Lionel Thompson

Lionel Thompson — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 21:18:51 +0000

Jason, thank you for your post on peer to peer fundraising. We started a site back in 2007 that facilitates peer to peer philanthropy. Slightly different than traditional fundraising as it’s donor initiated.

One deterrent of peer to peer philanthropy is something you mention in your post, feelings of obligation: recipients feeling obligated to the donor and because of this friendships are strained. Because of this, we facilitate anonymous giving, but it’s still very intimate and relational, only in a safe way.

As Stacey said, giving is for everyone. Our concept is that everyone is a charity of and in themselves able to look around their communities for people in need. Our organization, Giving Anonymously, facilitates this type of giving thus multiplying our efforts by recruiting everyone to find and meet those in need.

By: E-enabled Micro-philanthropy Adds Up In a Big Way - Internet Entrepreneurship

E-enabled Micro-philanthropy Adds Up In a Big Way - Internet Entrepreneurship — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 21:24:34 +0000

[...] way that e-enable micro-philanthropy is conducted is through person-to-person fundraising. “Person-to-person fundraising” refers to the social media tools that permit individuals to raise money on behalf of nonprofits, [...]

By: Stacey Monk

Stacey Monk — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 00:02:34 +0000

I too have read of the supposed demise of peer-to-peer fundraising and, from where I sit, it couldn’t be more clear: e-enabled micro-philanthropy works. So far, friendraising primarily through online tools has enabled Epic Change, my very new organization, to raise nearly $40,000. While we’ve had about five “outlier” gifts over $1K from founders and ardent supporters, we’ve also had over 350 individuals from various economic background “pitch in” smaller contributions. During America’s Giving Challenge, for example, our average gift was $25.34.

What I know for sure is this: four classrooms in Tanzania built in about 3 months that already serve over 100 children are the DIRECT result of person-to-person fundraising, almost exclusively online. The school we’re funding still exists because so many “average” people have acted in whatever capacity they’ve been able.

To me, that speaks volumes. I hope examples like this remind people of the power we have when we all work together; we can create miracles. Once people realize that their small contributions really make a difference, I believe encouraging these gifts will become easier.

For so long, people have believed that philanthropy is for the “rich and powerful.” Giving is for everyone and together, we are all powerful.