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How International School of Indiana Raised $22K with Peer-to-Peer Fundraising
- Phil Sanger
- 4 days ago
- 5 min read
International School of Indiana ran a Slide-A-Thon in 2025 on HelloFund and raised $12,237.
Good result. Solid effort.
Then they ran it again in 2026. Same event. Same platform. Same community. They raised $22,011, beat their $20,000 goal by 10%, and nearly doubled what they brought in the year before.
The difference was not a new event format. It was not a bigger prize or a shinier campaign page. It was marketing. They pushed harder on email and social media, and their community showed up in a way they had not the year before.
Here is what the numbers looked like, and what other schools running peer-to-peer fundraisers can take from it.
What Is a Peer-to-Peer School Fundraiser?
Peer-to-peer fundraising is a format where individual students each get their own fundraising page. Instead of the school asking for a single donation from a family, every student becomes a fundraiser. They share their personal page with grandparents, neighbors, family friends, and anyone else in their orbit. Donors give to a specific student, which makes the ask feel personal rather than institutional.
It is the engine behind some of the most effective school fundraising formats around: Slide-A-Thons, Fun Runs, Color Runs, Read-A-Thons, Dance-A-Thons, and similar activity-based events. Students complete the activity. Families donate. The school tracks it all in real time against a single campaign goal.
The format works because it multiplies reach. One school sending one email to its parent list is limited by that list. One hundred students each sharing a personal fundraising page with their extended networks is something else entirely.
The Numbers
Metric | 2025 | 2026 | Change |
Total raised (net) | $12,237 | $22,011 | +80% |
Fundraising goal | $20,000 | $20,000 | — |
Total transactions | 133 | 226 | +70% |
Donors who covered fees | 92% | 89% | — |
Offline checks collected | $2,909 | $2,700 | -7% |
226 donors gave to this campaign. Of those giving online, 89% chose to cover the platform fees so more of their donation went directly to the school. On average, 90% of donors cover fees on HelloFund's fundraising platform. ISI's campaign came in right at that mark, reflecting a donor base that was genuinely invested, not just clicking through out of obligation.
$2,700 came in via offline checks, 8 transactions from family donations and local corporate sponsors. Even in a mobile-first campaign, some donors still write checks. Logging those offline gifts inside HelloFund means they show up in the campaign total alongside online donations, giving the school a clean, complete number at close.
Why the Numbers Nearly Doubled
International School of Indiana did not change the event format between 2025 and 2026. The structure, platform, and community were essentially the same.
What changed was how consistently and aggressively they promoted it. More emails to parents. More posts across social media. More touchpoints with the school community before, during, and after the campaign opened.
Peer-to-peer fundraising lives and dies on reach. A campaign page sitting quietly at a URL raises very little. The same page shared repeatedly across email, Instagram, and Facebook, with parents tagging each other and teachers posting updates, raises $22,000.
More people who knew about the campaign meant more people who gave. An 80% jump in revenue with no change to the event itself is what consistent, multichannel outreach actually looks like in the results.
What the HelloFund Platform Made Possible
The results did not happen in spite of the platform. HelloFund's peer-to-peer tools are built specifically for school A-Thon and activity fundraiser formats.
Individual student pages. Every participant gets a personal fundraising URL. Students share it with whoever they want. Donors land on a page tied to a specific child, which converts at a higher rate than a generic school donation page.
Live goal thermometer. The school can display real-time progress toward the $20,000 goal. Visible momentum creates urgency. Families who have not yet given are far more likely to act when they can see the campaign closing in on its target.
Student import. Bulk upload student names and grades via a simple template. No manual entry for each participant. Classes compete against each other, which adds energy to the event.
Offline donation logging. The $2,700 in checks did not live in a separate spreadsheet. It showed up in the campaign total alongside online gifts for a single accurate number.
Donors cover fees. HelloFund gives donors the option to cover the platform fees at checkout. At ISI, 89% did. On average, 90% of donors cover fees on HelloFund's fundraising platform, meaning more of each dollar goes directly to the school.
Automated tax receipts. 226 transactions processed without the office sending a single manual acknowledgment email. Here is what ISI's Kelsey C. had to say after running the campaign:
"It was such an easy experience to get everything up and running for our student fundraiser. Each student had their own fundraising page to keep track of their progress. HelloFund was very user-friendly, both front-facing and behind the scenes. It was easy to pull reports, and our team did not have to spend any time troubleshooting issues with donors, as everything worked great."
What Does HelloFund Cost for a Peer-to-Peer Fundraiser?
Free to get started. HelloFund charges no monthly or annual fee.
The only cost is a 5% platform fee plus Stripe's credit card processing fees of 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction. That is it. No setup fees, no contracts, no surprise costs at close.
And because over 92% of donors on HelloFund choose to cover those fees at checkout, most schools end up keeping nearly every dollar raised.
The Takeaway for Schools Planning an A-Thon or Peer-to-Peer Fundraiser
The International School of Indiana result is not a fluke and it is not magic. It is what happens when a school pairs a well-structured peer-to-peer platform with a genuine commitment to getting the word out.
If your school ran a Slide-A-Thon, Fun Run, or Read-A-Thon last year and the results felt flat, the platform is rarely the problem. The question to ask is how many times each family heard about the campaign before they gave, and through how many channels.
Once is probably not enough.
Three to five touchpoints across email and social media, spread across the campaign window, is closer to what drives results like this.
Frequently Asked Questions
What types of school fundraisers work best with peer-to-peer? Any activity-based format where students can be individual fundraisers. Slide-A-Thons, Fun Runs, Color Runs, Read-A-Thons, Dance-A-Thons, and Walk-A-Thons all map naturally onto the peer-to-peer model. Sports teams, booster clubs, and PTOs use it too.
How long does it take to get set up on HelloFund? Fast. Fill out a quick form and a dedicated HelloFund specialist builds and designs your fundraising page for you. Turnaround is 24 to 48 hours on business days. Then you connect a Stripe account and you are live.
Can donors give by check if they do not want to donate online? Yes. HelloFund lets you log offline donations so they appear in your campaign total alongside online gifts. The ISI campaign had $2,700 in offline checks from 8 donors, all reflected in the final number.
What does HelloFund cost? Free to start. No monthly or annual fee. HelloFund charges a 5% platform fee plus Stripe's credit card processing fees of 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction. On average, 90% of donors cover those fees at checkout on HelloFund's platform, so the net cost is close to zero for most schools.
Does HelloFund work for nonprofits and other organizations, not just schools? Yes. HelloFund serves private schools, Catholic schools, booster clubs, PTOs, sports teams, and nonprofits. Any organization running a peer-to-peer or activity fundraiser is a fit.
Start Your Peer-to-Peer Fundraiser on HelloFund HelloFund is free to get started. No contracts. No monthly fees. Just the tools your school needs to run a clean campaign and a real number at the end.
Questions about running a Slide-A-Thon or peer-to-peer fundraiser? Email phil@hellofund.com.