Dream on 3: How Mission-Focused Gamification Fueled Virtual Peer-to-Peer Success

Background

Dream On 3 is a non-profit organization that creates sports-themed experiences for those, ages 5-21, who are living with a life-altering condition.

By customizing V.I.P. experiences with a favorite athlete, sports team, or sporting event Dream on 3 ignites faith, hope, love and joy into the lives of their recipients.

In a typical year, Dream on 3 held one annual gala to support their mission year-round. This in-person event was crucial to their survival as an organization.

With such an amazing mission to support, they had their 2020 Annual Gala planned and ready to bring them into 2021 strong. But—COVID-19 had a different plan.

With some uncertainty mixed with a will to keep their mission alive, they decided to cancel their in-person gala and empower their supporters by creating a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign with OneCause.

Challenge

With little experience in the peer-to-peer fundraising world, Dream on 3 was learning as they went.

We weren’t meant to survive COVID-19. Think about it—our mission relies on being in person. In-person annual gala, in-person experiences for the kids, and in-person sports events to have these experiences. Pivoting to peer-to-peer fundraising was our saving grace to keep our mission alive throughout this pandemic,” said Mary Beth Taylor, Special Events Coordinator at Dream on 3.

With OneCause Peer-to-Peer, they were able to create an environment of competition (important to their nonprofit and donors in the world of sports) while also keeping their mission at the center of everything they did in the campaign.

Solution

They put together their campaign, Stronger Tomorrow 5k, in less than 3 weeks.

We’ve used OneCause Mobile Bidding for our annual gala, but we had never thought about executing a peer-to-peer fundraising event. The opportunity presented itself, and OneCause Peer-to-Peer had all the features that would excite our donor base and reach them in a virtual world,” said Taylor.

Accompanied by marketing and communication to donors, these 3 features of OneCause Peer-to-Peer software allowed Dream on 3 to keep their mission at the center of their campaign with some competitive fun:

• Dream Kid Challenges
• Point Competition & Leaderboards
• Team Fundraising

Dream Kid Challenges

Dream on 3 needed to connect supporters to their virtual 5k. But how?

They pulled their team together and crafted up a creative way to weave their mission into the competitive fundraising within their peer-to-peer campaign.

Using a customized page on their peer-to-peer software, they created 4 “Dream Kid Challenges” for participants to earn points over the 4 weeks leading up to the 5k.

Dream Kid Challenges

We were so excited to do the challenges to bring our mission into focus in our virtual campaign. People would post photos and videos and then challenge other participants to accept the challenge. People could see the enthusiasm around our mission,” said Taylor.

The challenges included:

• Dream Kid Maggie’s Cheer for a Stronger Tomorrow Challenge
• Dream Kid Noah’s Push Up Challenge
• Dream Kid Will’s WWE Post Challenge
• Dream Kid Zane’s Wear Your Favorite Fan Gear Challenge

Dream Kid Noah’s Push Up Challenge

Participants would accept the challenge and then share on social media using the campaign hashtag, #StrongerTomorrow5k, in hopes of passing the challenge on.

When they shared to social media using the campaign hashtag, their post automatically was added to the photo gallery page on their peer-to-peer site.

Point Competition & Leaderboards

Motivating participants is core to building momentum and hitting fundraising goals. Because the OneCause software allows for challenges, Dream on 3 took advantage of leaderboards and the built-in point system to keep the competition hot throughout the campaign.

Participant Leaderboard

Customized Point System

Leaderboards are especially key in displaying the top fundraisers and how much they’ve raised or how many points they’ve earned. Donors will be more motivated to fundraise when they see their name on the top of your list.

By motivating and rewarding social media reach and recruitment, the focus wasn’t solely on dollars raised. Dream on 3 encouraged participants to amplify the cause, creating a viral fundraising network online.

This virtual fundraising network even reached outside of Dream on 3’s traditional geographical donor base. Donations were rolling in from out West—a long way from their home in Charlotte—all thanks to their online supporter network and new donors.

Harnessing the power of peer influence keeps a peer-to-peer campaign rolling, and Dream on 3 did just that!

You are managing people’s excitement over the friendly competitive fundraising, virtual fundraising successes, and their Dream on 3 networks. Once you set your peer-to-peer campaign up, it runs itself on the features of the OneCause software,” said Taylor.

Team Fundraising

Dream on 3 took advantage of (arguably) the biggest strength of peer-to-peer: team fundraising.

20 teams formed with easy registration, and the energy and momentum spread like a wildfire as teams engaged their social networks.

The teams battled it out, seeing whose networks can bring in the most dollars (earning points), all the while creating a fun, competitive and socially motivated giving experience.

The success of team fundraising is all about the drive of friendly competition. This is where the leaderboard exclusive to teams comes in handy.

Team Leaderboard

Being a nonprofit organization with a love for sports, competition feeds right into the mission of the organization. Team fundraising and friendly competition brought all supporters closer to the spirit of the Dream on 3 mission.

Results

For their first dive into virtual peer-to-peer, Dream on 3 wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Let’s just say they were pleasantly surprised:

• 156 participants
• 20 teams
• 288 Donations
• 148% to goal

Going virtual in the peer-to-peer space taught us that we can reach so many more people this way. We actually incorporated the peer-to-peer model onto our website to offer participants to create their own DIY fundraiser at any time. That’s how much we believe in virtual peer-to-peer,” said Taylor.

Connect with a Cause

To learn more about Dream on 3 and the mission they work for day in and day out, check out their website.

Wrapping Up!

More fundraising resources are just a click away.

• 2024 Fundraising Outlook Study: Learn where nonprofits plan to invest their time, effort, and technology budget in the coming year.
• 9 Tips for Recruiting Peer-to-Peer Participants: Proven tips to help your nonprofit recruit and retain more peer-to-peer participants.
• 12 Tips to Rock Your Next Run, Walk, or Ride: By following these tips, you can make a profitable impact for your nonprofit and create lasting memories for your supporters.