GoFundMe research: What drives someone to fundraise for a cause?

At GoFundMe, we’re working to better understand what motivates people to support nonprofit fundraising. Our research began with one central question: What motivates someone to fundraise for a nonprofit?

From there, we looked more closely at what makes a fundraising opportunity worth saying yes to, and what nonprofits need to successfully activate supporters around that opportunity.

We found that people fundraise when it feels personal, possible, and timely. The strongest motivation begins with a genuine connection to the cause. Then, it grows when the activity fits a supporter’s life and there’s a clear reason to act now.

Note: These directional findings draw on 20 one-on-one, 60-minute interviews with people who’ve fundraised for nonprofits, followed by 8 additional 60-minute interviews focused on activity-based fundraising campaigns (also known as fundraising challenges). The qualitative findings explain patterns and motivations, but don’t represent every nonprofit supporter or predict participation rates.

5 key drivers that turn passive supporters into active fundraisers

Across our interviews, people described that shift less as a single decision and more as a moment when personal connection, confidence, and timing come together.

5 forces drive that shift:

• Personal connection and shared values: The cause matters to the supporter or to someone close to them. Fundraising becomes a way to honor that relationship or express what they care about.
• Fit with existing habits and interests: Participation feels easier when the activity is already part of a person’s routine, such as walking, running, cycling, or another familiar pursuit.
• Impact that feels worth the effort: Supporters weigh the work required against the difference they believe they can make. Lowering friction raises the likelihood that intention becomes action.
• Emotionally meaningful moments: Birthdays, weddings, memorials, holidays, awareness periods, and milestones can create a natural opportunity for fundraising.
• Belonging and shared experience: Teams and group challenges add fun, accountability, and connection. Supporters aren’t just raising money. They’re participating in something together.

A direct invitation or sense of obligation can also prompt someone to act. However, the most durable motivation tends to come from a genuine connection to the cause and a personally meaningful reason to participate.

When someone has been personally touched by a cause—as a patient, caregiver, survivor, neighbor, or community member—they bring something invaluable to fundraising: authentic motivation.

They want to do something meaningful. They want to rally the people they know. And they want to turn that motivation into impact for your nonprofit.

3 core conditions of a high-converting fundraising challenge

Cause connection drives the motivation, habits make the action feel possible, and timing gives people a reason to begin.

Activity-based fundraising gives nonprofits a structured way to activate that supporter energy. Your organization can rally its community around a compelling moment, put your mission and brand front and center, and empower supporters to expand your reach through their own networks.

However, a successful campaign takes more than a good idea. It requires the right audience, resources, timing, and reason to participate.

3 conditions make that possible:

• Cause affinity: A personal or deep family connection makes the cause urgent and gives the organizer a specific person or story to honor
• Achievable activity: An activity already within someone’s ability or routine lowers the perceived commitment and makes participation feel credible
• Right timing: Available capacity or a timely social or seasonal context creates a realistic opportunity to participate and sometimes provides a ready audience

For nonprofit teams, organizer enthusiasm can also raise some practical questions:

• How much support will this person need?
• Will they know what to say?
• How will they promote their fundraiser?
• How do we support them alongside everything else we already do?

Organizers have questions of their own:

• Where do I start?
• What should I say?
• How do I share something this personal, or ask people for money?

Our guide, How to host a high-performing fundraising challenge, explores best practices for building and running your campaign using GoFundMe tools.

6 nonprofit readiness factors for activity-based fundraising

Drawing on our experience providing hundreds of nonprofits with the technology to run their activity-based campaigns—and seeing what worked well and what didn’t—we’ve distilled a list of six criteria to help you determine if and when your organization might benefit from this type of campaign.

Use them as a readiness check, not a rigid scorecard. These are patterns we’ve seen across campaigns, not requirements or a guarantee of results. Needs vary widely by cause, audience, and format.

You have an engaged supporter base

The size of your audience matters, but engagement matters just as much. Activity-based campaigns work best when supporters see your mission as something they can actively be part of. Look for signs that your community already wants to engage: active volunteers, high event participation, enthusiastic ambassadors, active local chapters, passionate beneficiaries and families, or strong social engagement.

You’re well positioned if:

• You have an established, engaged list of contacts with particularly strong engagement.
• You can identify likely organizers, not just donors.
• You have active supporter groups, such as donors, volunteers, event participants, advocates, alumni, beneficiaries, or families.

You can invest in marketing and campaign support

Activity-based campaigns need fuel to build momentum. Your organization should be prepared to recruit participants, amplify their stories, and keep your campaign visible throughout its run.

You’re well positioned if:

• You can dedicate a reasonable amount to paid marketing.
• You can invest in channels such as Facebook, Instagram, Google, and retargeting.
• You have resources for creative development and potentially influencer or community partnerships.
• You have a dedicated staff member or agency partner who can own the campaign.

You have the right technology

GoFundMe removes barriers between the moment someone feels inspired to help and the moment they can start making an impact. With simple setup, story assistance, intuitive sharing tools, and fundraiser coaching, GoFundMe helps supporters navigate many of the questions that might otherwise fall to your nonprofit team.

And with campaign creation, prebuilt templates, and reporting in GoFundMe Pro, your team will have the control and visibility they need throughout the entire campaign lifecycle.

You have enough time to plan

Strong activity- or goal-based campaigns build momentum well before launch. Give your team at least 8 weeks to plan and execute, with 12–16 weeks being ideal.

That runway gives you time to develop the campaign concept, create compelling assets, recruit your first fundraisers, build communications, test marketing, and align internal teams. Your campaign should also have a clear owner who can keep all those pieces moving.

You can activate your audience across channels

Your existing supporter communications can be one of your strongest recruitment tools. When you reach the right people with the right message and learn from their response, you can turn an audience into active participants.

You’re well positioned if:

• You use a customer relationship management software for data consolidation and an email marketing platform for external communication.
• You can segment supporters based on engagement, participation, or donor history.
• You can run recruitment, motivation, urgency, and follow-up communications.
• You track engagement and can optimize your approach based on performance.

GoFundMe also provides coaching and onboarding emails to help organizers along the way.

You have a compelling “why now?”

The strongest activity- or goal-based campaigns give supporters a reason to act now, rather than simply asking them to fundraise at some point. That moment could be an awareness month, organizational milestone, seasonal campaign, community event, urgent funding need, or another natural opportunity to rally people around your mission.

Ask yourself one question: Why should a supporter participate in this campaign today instead of another time?

If the answer is clear and compelling, you have a strong foundation for your campaign.

Is your organization ready to launch an activity-based P2P campaign?

The right conditions for an activity-based campaign come down to four things:

• An engaged audience
• A compelling reason to act now
• The resources to support the campaign
• A community excited to rally others around the mission

If that sounds like your organization, you may already have the ingredients for a powerful P2P campaign. The next step is turning those ingredients into a challenge supporters are excited to join, share, and make their own.

The network effect of P2P fundraising

When a supporter champions your mission, they bring the cause into a trusted network and tell the story through a personal lens. That can create generosity, awareness, and engagement far beyond a single donation. The opportunity isn’t merely to convince everyone to fundraise. It’s to help the right supporters act on the motivation they already have.

Instead of requiring every supporter to become a fundraising expert—or your staff to coach every organizer through every step—GoFundMe Pro helps people move from I want to help to I’ve started something with confidence.