Peer-to-Peer Colorado Gives Fundraising Kit

Thank you so much for taking part in our peer-to-peer fundraising for the Colorado Gives campaign! This is our first year trying a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign, so if you have any questions, suggestions, or concerns, please don’t hesitate to let us know!

Colorado Gives Day is an annual statewide movement to celebrate and increase philanthropy in Colorado through online giving and is supported by a $1 Million+ incentive fund to boost the value of every donation.

This year, Colorado Gives Day falls on Tuesday, December 7, but donors can start scheduling their donations for Colorado Gives Day starting on November 1.

Included in this kit:

• How do I fundraise?
• Why peer-to-peer fundraising?
• How to set up your Colorado Gives Day fundraising page
• Graphics you can use
• Telling your compelling story
• Sample share calendar
• Communications tips and tricks

Need more help than what is in this kit? Email Chris at chris@rockymountainwild.org and they will help in any way they can!

How do I Fundraise?

Why Peer-to-Peer Fundraising?

Since the pandemic hit, we’ve seen a sharp decrease in the sum total of our individual giving. Some of our long-term supporters were hit hard and some were called to other causes for their generosity. What we’ve also seen is a sharp increase in the number of new donors! This is a place where we can try and meet our funding needs.

Fun Fact: 41.5% of donors cite that word of mouth was their main method of finding new nonprofits to support!

We’re so glad you’re here and thank you for donating your time to help us fundraise!

How to Set Up Your Colorado Gives Day Fundraising Page:

Login or create a donor account on Colorado Gives, here: https://www.coloradogives.org/index.php?action=userLogin 

Navigate to https://www.coloradogives.org/RMW/overview, scroll down to the bottom of the page, and select “Start a Fundraiser”

You can create any campaign details you like to encourage people to donate to your campaign. See “Talking points/programs you can write about” under “Telling Your Compelling Story” below if you need suggested language.

While you don’t have to, fundraisers with a campaign goal raise 46% more funds than those without one. Pick an aspirational goal that is also achievable, and then tell everyone you know!

Fun Fact: Campaign pages with personal videos raise 150% more than those that don’t have videos! You can include a video in the section “Multimedia Content” at the bottom of your fundraiser registration page.

View our Super Campaign here. Your fundraiser would be included on this page!

Here’s a video that Colorado Gives made on setting up your page (opens in YouTube).

Telling Your Compelling Story:

Fun Fact: 68.8% of donors said they were more likely to give after receiving a compelling request!

How to Tell Your Story:

Here are some tips for writing that compelling request.

• Talk about the work Rocky Mountain Wild does that inspired you to fundraise and explain how the money you raise will help. While negative (or deficit-based) messaging has proven results, Rocky Mountain Wild likes to focus on positive (or asset-based and aspirational) stories — stories that explain an issue, but focus on what we can achieve together. You are welcome to frame your story as you like, afterall, it is your story.
• Explain how their donation will make a difference. Tell the story of what we hope to achieve together and any success stories there may already be.
• Add photos or a video. Remember 88% of donors are inspired to give when a compelling story is accompanied by a picture of someone the organization helped.

Talking points/programs you can write about:

Rocky Mountain Wild

• I am fundraising for Rocky Mountain Wild because [your top reasons for supporting Rocky Mountain Wild or favorite program].
• Rocky Mountain Wild protects, connects, and restores wildlife and wild lands in the Southern Rocky Mountain region.
• Rocky Mountain Wild uses research, community science, legal action, and advanced geospatial analysis to offer solutions for conserving our most at-risk species and landscapes.

Colorado Bat Watch

• Colorado Bat Watch engages community scientists to collect data that will enable state agencies to monitor bat species over time and better understand the threats they face.
• Colorado is home to 18 bat species, but relatively little is currently known about the population status of most species of bats in Colorado. Rocky Mountain Wild’s Colorado Bat Watch aims to fix that!

Colorado Corridors Project (East Vail Pass)

• East Vail Pass between Copper Mountain Resort and the top of Vail Pass has long been identified as one of the most important wildlife movement corridors in Colorado.
• Rocky Mountain Wild has been working with a coalition of organizations to restore connectivity in the area by advocating for three wildlife crossing structures to allow wildlife to safely cross I-70.
• East Vail Pass is home to one of the few known breeding populations of Canada lynx outside of southwest Colorado. Vail Pass provides summer and winter habitat for lynx as well as their primary prey, snowshoe hare.
• Vail Pass provides important summer habitat for Rocky Mountain elk. Reconnecting landscapes that are otherwise intact, like Vail Pass, is key to ensuring these animals have access to the resources they need to survive.
• I-70 sees, on average, 23,000 vehicles a day. This much traffic is a significant barrier and many animals no longer attempt to cross. Those that do are often unsuccessful.
• Rocky Mountain Wild community scientists help monitor wildlife along East Vail Pass using remote triggered cameras. This helps us understand what species are impacted by traffic along I-70.
• During the 2021 field season, the Colorado Corridors Project expanded their monitoring of the site, collecting more than 150,000 photos of wildlife near the road (including their first photo of bighorn sheep) and began positioning the project for future funding.

Colorado Pika Project

• The Colorado Pika Project is engaging community scientists to conserve the Aemrican pika and safeguard the health of alpine ecosystems in Colorado.
• The Colorado Pika Project documents and collects key information about American pikas and their habitat in order ot use that information to better understand how climate change could be threatening the survival of certain pika populations.
• Through the dedication of Colorado Pika Project community scientists, we can not only track how climate change is impacting pikas, but find solution to any potential threats!
• The Colorado Pika Project was recently featured in National Geographic. Learn more about the project here: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/american-pika-sounds-alarm-for-global-warming
• During the 2021 field season, over 400 community scientists contributed 1,640 hours conducting 205 pika surveys (so far; they’re still receiving data)!
• The Colorado Pika Project saved an estimated 2.4 tons of CO2 emissions from travel by moving all of our new volunteer training to an online format.

Go Big! Central Colorado Bighorn Sheep Survey

• The Central Colorado Bighorn Sheep survey engages communities in recording observations of Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, domestic sheep, and domestic goats in Central Colorado to inform the conservation strategies.
• Bighorn sheep are highly susceptible to contracting respiratory disease from domestic sheep and goats. Researchers need more information on where bighorn sheep are likely to come into contact with domestics to inform efforts to prevent disease outbreaks that could devastate bighorn sheep herds.

Oil and Gas

• Rocky Mountain Wild monitors and screens oil and gas leasing in Colorado, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming and provides individuals and organizations with resources to challenge lease sales.
• Oil and gas development compromises our public lands and waters, changes and fragments wildlife habitats, threatens irreplaceable cultural resources and sacred sites, and risks our health and outdoor legacy.
• Rocky Mountain Wild works to stop oil and gas leasing that would harm wildlife and wild lands.
• Rocky Mountain Wild has created the Assessment of Biological Impact (ABI) screen, spreadsheets that show conflicts between proposed parcels and important wildlife, wilderness, and other resource values. RMW provides these spreadsheets, along with geospatial data, to help individuals and organizations send comments to get affected areas removed from the proposed parcels list.
• This year, Rocky Mountain Wild and partners mapped and analyzed all of the low producing and abandoned oil wells in Colorado  – a problem that may cost our state more than $8 billion to clean up. You can check out the story map for the project at the website wellwellwellcolorado.com.
• Rocky Mountain Wild has been directly involved in the deferral of over 2.5 million acres of public land from oil and gas development.

Communications Tips and Tricks:

Social media will likely be the easiest way to connect with your networks to fundraise. Here are some tips and tricks for amplifying your fundraiser on social media:

• Tag Rocky Mountain Wild in your posts (@RockyMtWild on Twitter and Instagram, @rockymountainwild on Facebook)
• Use the hashtags #COGivesDay #GiveWhereYouLive
• Share inspiring and positive anecdotes about RMW (not every post needs to be an ask)
• Tag your friends who have donated to say thank you!

Note: Be aware that Facebook will prompt you to “Add a Donate Button” to your Facebook posts. If you do, the donors will be donating through Facebook, not ColoradoGives. That means none of those donations are eligible for a boost from the Incentive Fund. To disregard the “Add a Donate Button” prompt, click the “x” in the upper right corner.

Fun Fact: 39.5% of donors cited Facebook as a form of discovering new nonprofits to support!

Fun Fact stats came from “The Data Backed Guide to Nonprofit Marketing.”