Peer-to-peer fundraising is powerful on its own — but when you add fundraising teams, the impact multiplies. Teams create connection, friendly competition, and momentum that help organization raise more while giving supporters a more engaging experience.
In this guide, we’ll break down fundraising teams:
- What are fundraising teams are and how they relate to individual fundraisers
- Why teams consistently boost fundraising results
- How to set up fundraising teams
- Bonus features that make fundraising even more effective (and more fun!)
What Are Fundraising Teams?
Fundraising teams are groups of individual fundraisers working toward a shared goal. Each team member has their own personal fundraising page, but their efforts roll up to a collective team total.
Common examples include:
- School classrooms fundraising together
- Families, clubs, or community groups supporting a cause
- Corporate teams participating in a charity walk/run
- Departments competing internally
Each individual fundraiser still has their own personal fundraising page with their story, outreach, and donor relationships – but the team structure adds collaboration, motivation, and visibility.
How Fundraising Teams Relate to Individual Fundraisers
Fundraising teams don’t replace individual fundraisers — they enhance them.
Here’s how the relationship works:
- Individuals fundraise as usual, sharing their personal pages and collecting donations
- Every donation to an individual also counts toward their team total
- Teams create shared goals and leaderboards that motivate members
- Team captains can rally members, track progress, and encourage participation
This structure allows supporters to fundraise in a way that feels personal while still contributing to something bigger. It’s especially effective for people who might feel hesitant to fundraise alone but are energized by being part of a group.
Why Fundraising Teams Can Boost Fundraising
Fundraising teams consistently outperform solo fundraising — here’s why.
Teams Create Built-In Motivation
People are more likely to participate when they feel accountable to others. A team goal gives fundraisers a reason to keep going, even after they’ve reached their personal target.
Friendly Competition Drives Results
Leaderboards and team totals spark healthy competition:
- Between teams
- Between members of the same team
- Between returning teams year over year
Competition turns fundraising into a game — and games raise more money.
Teams Expand Your Reach
Each team member brings their own network of donors. When those networks combine, your campaign’s reach grows exponentially.
Teams Make Fundraising More Enjoyable
Fundraising doesn’t have to feel like work. Team milestones, shared celebrations, and collective progress make the experience more social and rewarding.
With GiveSignup, team fundraising is designed to maximize all these benefits through features like:
- Team leaderboards
- Team captain reporting tools
- Team milestones and progress tracking
- Custom team fundraising pages
Team Fundraising Features That Make an Impact
GiveSignup makes it easy to configure team fundraising in ways that fit your event or campaign.
Organizations can:
- Allow or require fundraisers to create or join a team during registration
- Set default content for team pages, while still allowing captains to customize
- Support multiple team captains for shared leadership
- Roll up individual donation to team totals, with the option to allow or prevent donation made directly to the team
- Create umbrella fundraising teams for large organizations, schools, or multi-location events
These option give you flexibility — whether you want light team participation or a fully team-driven campaign.
How to Set Up Team Fundraising
Setting up team fundraising is straightforward and flexible.
At a high-level, you’ll:
- Enable team fundraising for your event
- Choose whether teams are optional or required
- Configure team page settings and defaults
- Decide how donations roll up to team
- Customize team-specific reports and leaderboards
Please note: You must enable donations and individual fundraising before you can enable team fundraisers.
For step-by-step instructions, check out the full help guide here.
Bonus Features
Bring Back My Fundraising Team
One of the most powerful tools for repeat success is letting fundraisers re-form past teams.
The Bring Back My Fundraising Team feature allows returning participants to easily recreate their previous team, re-invite members, and build on past momentum instead of starting from scratch.
Fundraising Rewards, Gamification, and Social Tools
Team fundraising gets even stronger when paired with rewards, gamification, and sharing tools.
GiveSignup supports:
- Milestones and badges for individuals and teams (learn how to set up milestone notifications)
- Recognition for amount raise and number of donors
- Team and individual leaderboards fuel competition
- Fundraising refunds or swag for fundraisers when they reach a specific milestone
- Social share tolls and auto-join team URLs
Fundraising teams turn individual effort into collective impact. By combining personal storytelling with shared goals, friendly competition, and built-in motivation, teams help organizations raise more — while creating a better experience for fundraisers.
Whether you’re running a small community campaign or a large-scale event, team fundraising is one of the most effective ways to grow participation, engagement, and results.