Sometimes, it can be hard to understand how it is possible to increase your revenue through an event/motivate your supporters to fundraise on your behalf. That is why we decided to share with you the story of Pieta House. Not only will you see the power of peer-to-peer fundraising, but also how motivated we are at Peerworks to help you reach your goal!
.01 THE EVENT
Every event is different…
Pieta House is an Irish charity who provides treatment to those who are in suicidal distress or who participate in self-harming behaviours…all free of charge. It operates a 24/7 helpline and runs 15 centres across Ireland. Pieta House also raises funds and awareness for the prevention of suicide and self-harm. They do this through their annual event Darkness Into Light, which is one of the world’s largest single day peer-to-peer fundraising events, with over 200.000 participants walking in 180 cities.
In 2016, Pieta House asked us to develop and execute a complete peer-to-peer fundraising strategy. Focusing on how to encourage their participants to not just register, but also confidently fundraise for the event.
Optimising the World’s Largest Single-day Peer-to-Peer Event!
Darkness Into Light (DIL) is Pieta House’s annual flagship fundraising event. Participants walk 5km from 4am until dawn. It’s a symbolic representation of Pieta House’s mission: to bring people out of the darkness and into the light.
In 2009, the inaugural event brought 400 participants together in Phoenix Park, Dublin. In 2016, we began working with Pieta House to help optimise Darkness Into Light’s revenue performance.
“We began working in Darkness Into Light in 2016 (the 8th year) to help Pieta House optimise the revenue performance of the event.”
In three years…
we doubled the fundraising revenue (twice!), increased registration revenue and decreased operating costs.
In three years…
we doubled the fundraising revenue (twice!), increased registration revenue and decreased operating costs.
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.02
The challenges we faced and how we tackled them!
The challenges we faced…
No fundraising culture
Historically participants paid a registration fee
but were never asked or encouraged to
fundraise.
Lack of fundraising tools & support
In 2015, Pieta House did not have an online P2P
fundraising platform linked to the event, and had an
offline donation form available upon request.
Lack of fundraising tools & support
In 2015, Pieta House did not have an online P2P
fundraising platform linked to the event, and had an
offline donation form available upon request.
Almost everything was offline
Nearly all registrations and donations
were collected on the day of the event (using paper
forms with no data entry.)
How we tackled them
Overhauled the event website
Created an online marketing experience that reflected the global nature of the event, while inspiring fundraising at every step in the process. (awarded best mCommerce campaign website in 2017!) Vetted potential P2P platforms each year to ensure Pieta House was getting the absolute best value and technology to support this growing event.
Created a comprehensive fundraising strategy
Implemented a segmented fundraising email strategy.
Designed a fundraising incentive & recognition program.
Produced a variety of fundraising tools and inspirational videos.
Created a comprehensive fundraising strategy
Implemented a segmented fundraising email strategy.
Designed a fundraising incentive & recognition program.
Produced a variety of fundraising tools and inspirational videos.
Analysed results
• Developed & deployed post-event surveys.
• Conducted segmented focus groups
• Crunched registration, fundraising and donation data
• Provided annual growth & optimisation strategy
.03
INSIGHTS
Transitioned the global movement online
Between 2015 (before our involvement with Pieta House)
and 2018, the total number of participants in Darkness Into Light
more than doubled. *
By combining a better online experience with regular messaging encouraging participants to register online prior to the event,
Darkness Into Light went from 10% online registration in 2015 to 90% in 2018.
*Due to the nature of the event, the number of registrations is an estimate based on the registration fees collected by volunteer organisers at the event.
2015
2018
Offline Registration
Online Registration
€100,000
Self-donated over 3 years
We also suggested to Pieta House that they implement a registration fee for children between 6 and 16 years old. Children registration was finally introduced in 2018. That year, 20,000 children registered at €5 per child resulting in €100,000 of additional revenue. (There was very little pushback on this decision and the post-event analysis confirmed that parents didn’t see this as a deterrent to bringing their children.)
Increased the number of activated fundraisers by 8x!
We developed segmented fundraising messaging to all registered participants and created a fundraising incentive to encourage activation.
Between 2016 and 2018 we increased the number of activated fundraisers by 869%
Overall, fundraising activation of all online registrants went from 1.08% in 2016 to 5.77% in 2018.
Optimised overall fundraising performance by nearly 4x!
Subtitle here
The fundraising emails, tools and incentives also helped participants raise more, on average, year over year. Between 2016 and 2018 the average raised participant rose from €2.30 to €11.49.
A total increase of 399%!
€750,559
Self-donated over 3 years
We also suggested to Pieta House that they introduce the option for participants to self-donate during the registration process. Making this option available resulted in an additional €750,559 self-donated over three years time (from 2016 to 2018.)
First activate, then optimise!
Subtitle here
The fundraising emails, tools and incentives also helped participants raise more, on average, year over year. Between 2016 and 2018 the average raised participant rose from €2.30 to €11.49.
A total increase of 399%!
In 2016, there was a two-step process to start fundraising. Only highly motivated participant completed this process, which meant that very few people did it. But, if they did, they raised a lot.
In 2017, fundraising pages were automatically created after registration, so more people activated as fundraiser, but they were less motivated than those who fundraised the year prior.
In 2018, fundraising pages were created automatically during registration. Even more people activated as fundraisers and we increased the fundraising performance by more than 28%.
Better platforms, lower platform fees!
Subtitle here
In 2016, Pieta House spent a total of €77,554*
on the registration & P2P platform fees using
Eventmaster (registration platform) &
JustGiving (fundraising platform).
In 2017 they moved to Primo (registration platform) and
everydayhero (fundraising platform) for better live
reporting and automatic fundraising page creation.
With the increase in fundraising revenue,
the platform service fees went up to €126,001*.
In 2018, we recommended that Pieta House move to Fundraisin (an all-in-one registration and fundraising platform) which enabled an even better user experience and more flexibility in customising and branding. But the best part was that the platform service fee when down to €0*.
*Service fees are actual costs to Pieta House. The reported feed exclude platform setup fees and bank transaction fees.
Subtitle here
In 2016, Pieta House spent a total of €77,554*
on the registration & P2P platform fees using
Eventmaster (registration platform) &
JustGiving (fundraising platform).
In 2017 they moved to Primo (registration platform) and
everydayhero (fundraising platform) for better live
reporting and automatic fundraising page creation.
With the increase in fundraising revenue,
the platform service fees went up to €126,001*.
In 2018, we recommended that Pieta House move to Fundraisin (an all-in-one registration and fundraising platform) which enabled an even better user experience and more flexibility in customising and branding. But the best part was that the platform service fee when down to €0*.
*Service fees are actual costs to Pieta House. The reported feed exclude platform setup fees and bank transaction fees.
Raised more than €3.4 million online in just 3 years!
Subtitle here
*The total offline fundraising in 2016 is an estimate based
on the reporting of volunteer committees. According to
Pieta House, the total offline fundraising in 2017 & 2018 is
assumed to have remained the same.
.04
Opportunities
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