Good news! Based on a mid-year check-in with a variety of programs, 2019 could be the year when the top thirty programs break a six-year streak of collective decline.
Here are some important data points for programs that have all or much of their fundraising activity in the first half of the year:
Cycle for Survival completed its 2019 season with record revenues of $42 million, up 8 percent over a year ago.
Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals reports both its top 30 P2P programs are on pace for increases. Dance Marathon is tracking for a year-over-year revenue increase of 3 percent while Extra Life, its video gaming campaign, is on pace for a bigger jump, says Elyse Meardon, CMNH’s vice president of revenue.
Another top 30 staple, the Pan-Mass Challenge, is tracking quite well — buoyed by the fact that its Facebook fundraising increased by a whopping 2,300 percent through May. We should have a clearer picture of its overall results in the coming weeks.
And the growth isn’t just happening among the largest programs. We’ve also seen positive reports from the following:
- Nonprofits who had runners participate in April’s Boston Marathon raised a record $38.7 million, up $2 million, or 6 percent compared with 2018.
- St. Jude’s Play Live streaming campaign reports revenues of $4 million, surpassing its goal for the second-straight year.
- CureSearch for Children’s Cancer reports revenues for its peer-to-peer programs is up 43 percent year-to-date — a jump that is fueled in part by a surge in revenue from DIY fundraising campaigns and from integrating Facebook into its personal fundraising pages.
Of course, there’s still a long way to go in 2019 — and the ultimate results will be determined, in large part, by the performance of the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life and other large programs that have yet to report their results.
How is your campaign tracking? Shoot me a note to share your year-to-date results.
Peer-to-Peer Fundraising in the News
- Blackbaud’s annual peer-to-peer benchmarking survey includes some interesting new data about Facebook fundraising. Check out my recent post on Forbes for a summary of the highlights.
- The UK’s version of the Peer-to-Peer Thirty is now available — and the trends bear a striking resemblance to what we’ve been experiencing in North America. We’ll be offering a more detailed analysis shortly, but, in the meantime, you can check out the results here.