Introducing the most comprehensive guide to creating, managing, and scaling successful virtual challenges.
This updated playbook is packed with expert insights from GivePanel and our partners at Bluestep Solutions, Social AF and the Digital Fundraising Academy. It provides a rigorously tested framework to help you recruit more supporters, build lasting community, and maximize your fundraising revenue.
The world of fundraising has evolved. Have you?
Virtual Challenges are a powerful, platform-driven fundraising engine. They allow nonprofits to meet supporters where they are most active. From JustGiving to Facebook and Instagram, and other third-party tools, the opportunities are vast. But with more options comes more complexity.
The world of virtual fundraising has evolved and so has GivePanel. We go beyond social challenges to support your entire fundraising strategy. From flagship events to year-round DIY, and third-party event fundraising.
That’s why we created this playbook. We’ve distilled years of data and experience into a step-by-step guide that removes the guesswork. This helps you build a strategy that works.
To get your copy, fill out your details and hit ‘Get the playbook’.
Inside the Playbook, you’ll discover how to:
Build a high-converting funnel: Learn the secrets of the Virtual Challenge funnel. It’s designed to guide supporters from initial lead to long-term advocate for your cause. We cover everything from lead generation with Meta Ads to nurturing supporters through effective stewardship.
Design Challenges that inspire action: Find out what types of challenges work best. From distance-based activities like running and walking to fitness challenges like squats and push-ups. We’ll show you how to strike the perfect balance between achievability and sponsorship-worthiness.
Master acquisition with Meta Ads: Get expert guidance, in partnership with Bluestep Solutions. Learn how to create and manage Meta Lead Ads that drive recruitment. You’ll discover best practices for:
Ad creative and copy
Targeting strategies
Budget allocation to ensure strong return on ad spend
Leverage incentives for maximum impact: Discover the power of incentives, like t-shirts and welcome packs, that drive registrations and boost engagement from Bluestep Solutions. You’ll get strategies for fulfillment, including how to offer rewards only to active fundraisers to save on costs.
Master stewardship and build a thriving community: Learn how to turn your supporters into a powerful community with the experts at Social AF. You’ll get tactical advice on everything from:
Setting up high-engagement Facebook Groups with the correct technical settings
Deploying a proven content strategy that balances fundraising asks with community-building
Implementing powerful on-page messaging sequences to personally welcome and celebrate your fundraisers
Designing automated email journeys that deliver timely, personal communication at every stage
Monitor, optimize, and wrap up like a pro: Learn which KPIs to track daily to keep your campaign on track. Discover how to make data-driven course corrections when needed. Plus, our guide to off-boarding will help you turn one-time participants into lifelong supporters.
This Playbook is for:
Nonprofit leaders and fundraising managers
Digital marketing and social media teams
Anyone looking to launch or improve a virtual fundraising program
Ready to build your most successful Virtual Challenge yet?
Download the free playbook today and get the tools and strategies you need to thrive in the dynamic world of virtual fundraising.
Download the playbook now
Trusted by hundreds of charitable organizations across the world
Don’t just take our word for itā¦
⦠here’s what our customers say
āGivePanel works best for us because personal connection with the donor is what is most important, and GivePanel provides the tools and services to make that happen! I would recommend GivePanel on the fact that they really are the gold standard in terms of personal touches with the donor to engage them and make them feel like they’re involved, and not one of many.ā
Ashly Alberto
National Vice President of Development at American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
āAll of our Facebook Fundraising activity is through GivePanel. Weāve really focused on Challenges, so weāve done three of them so far and have learnt from each one. I like that GivePanel presents Facebook in a manageable way and it gives you options that when you look at Facebook, you wouldn’t even think are options to begin with.ā
Ben Youell
Senior Online Fundraising Officer at Alzheimer’s Research UK
“Trusted, reliable and it works! The team are also quick to respond and friendly. I wouldnāt hesitate in recommending their services – shout out to Jill and Tom for their first-class support.ā
Matthew Lawley
Senior Community Fundraising Manager – Acquisition at Diabetes UK
“One of our goals for 2024 was to improve processes and reduce staff time doing manual processes. We were desperate to have our registration data flow into our SMS platform through an API and this was only made possible by the amazing support from your team. They suggested ways to make it possible as well as working with us at every stage.”
Olivia Moore
Senior Events Officer at Pancreatic Cancer UK
“Tools like automated email journeys, high-level dashboards and detailed report builder functionality have streamlined event management and made it easier to access the data we need to make timely, informed decisions.”
Lauren Muldowney
Fundraising Project Lead at Samaritans
“GivePanel has absolutely transformed the way we do Facebook Fundraising at Cerebral Palsy Cymru. It has meant digital fundraising now has its own line in our budget, and we can engage with both new and existing supporters via Facebook Fundraising in a way that we didnāt even realise was possible before!”
Emily Anthony
Marketing & Communications Manager at Cerebral Palsy Cymru
The constant evolution of the feature in the last 12 months has really strengthened our fundraising. Digital Fundraising is ever-changing and unfortunately there is always an element of riding the rough with the smooth wave. Introducing new features offered by GivePanel which has helped better our results, instills more confidence in digital fundraising as a whole and itās potential for the coming year allowing us to really invest in our portfolio for the new year with confidence.”
Michelle Batson
Digital Platform Fundraising Manager at Brain Tumour Research
āIt’s hard to sell that vision (of Facebook Fundraising). As soon as we got GivePanel, everyone was like, āthis is awesome, I can see everything that’s happening.ā And that’s when everyone started to get truly behind it because they could see what was happening in the background and it was really visual for them. So I think that solved a lot of problems by taking people through that journey.ā
Jesse Lewis
Social Media Lead at Heart Foundation Australia
āGivePanel was integral. We simply wouldn’t be able to do it [Facebook fundraising], if weāre being honest. Not from a data capture point of view, not from a fulfillment point of view, not from a stewardship point of view because all of that is linked in with the capability that GivePanel gives us.ā
Emily Higgins
New Product Development Manager at Stroke Association
“Thank you for making life easy. GivePanel made managing Facebook Challenge events easier. Being able to see at a glance how performance is going and being able to easily manage supporters email journeys is key. [GivePanel] saves us time. I can do everything in the one place. Furthermore, the continuous improvements such as the addition of lead gens makes the experience much more enjoyable and user friendly. “
Kyle Boggie
Digital Income Manager at Scottish SPCA
“GivePanel is easy to use and does the job. It is also well-priced and is always launching new things to make stewardship better and more focused. It’s really great how helpful and swift responses are from the team, especially if something goes wrong with Facebook or otherwise. Really great team.ā
Natasha Day
Fundraising Executive, Virtual Events at Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity
“GivePanel makes Facebook fundraising so much easier and has enabled us new digital fundraising products in the form of virtual challenges which covers a previously untouched market of fundraisers who prefer to take part in challenges on their own, rather than mass-participation. I have recommended GivePanel to many other Hospices!!”
Jessica Behenna
Digital Marketing Lead at St Lukes Hospice
“GivePanel has enhanced our connection with fundraisers by providing real-time, accessible data that enables us to create personalised supporter journeys. This is informed by factors such as where participants choose to fundraise, how much they are raising and when they begin during the challenge cycle.”
Lauren Muldowney
Fundraising Project Lead at Samaritans
The whole team felt like an extension of our team and no task felt too big. We couldn’t run our virtual challenges without the knowledge and guidance from GivePanel and value their support so highly.
Olivia Moore
Senior Events Officer at Pancreatic Cancer UK
“Without a doubt the JustGiving integration has been a gamechanger for us. We introduced this some time ago, however each challenge we use it for, seems to produce results even better than the last. Itās significantly helped our average page values as well as being the chosen choice for the majority of supporters.”
Michelle Batson
Digital Platform Fundraising Manager at Brain Tumour Research