​In 2021, gaming fundraisers raised millions for nonprofits. And the amounts are growing every year!

​As a professional fundraiser, do you believe you have a duty to learn about this brand-new way of fundraising?

​Whether you’re a gamer or not, learn how to raise funds for your organization with this practical, hands-on course.

​Join gaming experts April Stallings, Kirk Schmidt, Diego Scharifker, and Marcus Howard and the Donor Participation Project community over four weeks to learn to leverage gaming as a powerful engagement, community-building, and fundraising tool for your nonprofit.

​As part of the course, you will be playing a real gaming tournament with your colleagues!

​Scholarships are available. Please apply here.

​Team signups and invoicing. Please contact louis@marktlab.com if you want to register more than one team member at a time and for other billing/invoicing needs.

Reserve My Spot Now

​Week 1 – The Basics of Gaming and the Esports Industry

​September 9, 2022 at 1pm ET

​with April Stalling, Gaming and Influencer Community Manager at Make-A-Wish International

​Learn the basics of gaming and the gaming/esports industry. Who plays video games? How many people? Are there constituents in your community that are gamers?

• ​Get practical tips and sector-wide knowledge to evaluate gaming engagement and fundraising as a tool at your nonprofit.
• ​Learn about the gaming ecosystem and different types of games.
• ​Understand the different platforms.
• ​Set up to start playing video games with others!
• ​Gain familiarity with the tournament game 
• ​You will be asked to play one game before week 2. This can be done on many platforms, including PC, Mac, Android and iPhone.

Reserve My Spot Now

Week 2 – Streaming and Community Tools

​September 16, 2022 at 1pm ET

​with Kirk Schmidt, Product Manager, Wisely

​This session will teach you how to share your game with others and enjoy safe group conversations with your community.

• ​Stream your game to the Internet (Twitch, Facebook, and many other platforms!).
• ​Streaming tools: Restream, OBS, Stream Elements.
• ​Discord: your gamer community’s gathering place.
• ​Moderating your stream. Make sure your community has a safe, enjoyable time playing together.

Reserve My Spot Now

​Week 3 – Engagement and Fundraising through Gaming

​September 23, 2022 at 1pm ET

​with Diego Scharifker, Corporate Development Officer – Gaming Partnerships at The USO

and Dan Long, Community Manager, Content Creation, St. Baldrick’s Foundation

​Fundraise with your gaming community. Learn fundraising strategies and tactics for peer-to-peer, corporate, and celebrity streamer fundraising.

• ​Fundraise with your gaming community. How to set up and leverage Tiltify and other donation platforms
• ​Fundraising tactics (i.e. stretch goals and special tasks) and incentive design for both streamers and donors
• ​How to plan a gaming peer-to-peer campaign
• ​Recruiting (popular) streamers that will activate YOUR community
• ​Leverage corporate partnerships

Reserve My Spot Now

​Week 4 – Game Time!

​September 30, 2022 at 1pm ET

​with Marcus Howard, CEO at MetArena

​It’s game time! Compete with fellow fundraisers all over the world in an esports tournament.

​If you win, you obtain glory and a chance to designate donations from our sponsors to the nonprofit of your choice.

​Everybody else will join the official DPP stream and cheer their favorite fundraiser to victory.

Reserve My Spot Now

​With thanks for the support of these forward-looking organizations

​Regroup Media

​

​GoldRush RP

​

This session has passed. DPP members can access a video recording, slides, and other materials shared by the presenter. We also hold a small group discussion the week after every presentation for further discussion and networking! Make sure to sign up here to get access.

Join DPP member Dan Lombardi, Director of Donor Innovation at Grand River Hospital Foundation, to discover what a “donor innovation director” does.

What does “donor innovation” mean? What do they focus on? How do they apply the concept of innovation silos?

Specifically, you’ll learn how this position goes beyond database management or engagement officer activities to promote holistic improvements to the donor experience across the organization.

About: The Donor Participation Project (DPP) convenes fundraising professionals who are concerned about the nationwide decline in donor participation (20 million US households lost between 2000-2016). 

We believe this can be solved by changing our fundraising practices and want to learn from peers who are moving the participation needle.

Discuss this Topic and Learn with Your Colleagues During our October 13 Lunch Analysis

• Check out Dan’s interview on Linkedin Live
• This event will take place over Zoom.
• The session will be recorded and accessible post-event for DPP members only.

Sign Up

Enter your email now to join any of our learning & discussion sessions and access past materials:

We will only use your email for information about the Donor Participation Project and will never share your information with anyone else. Consult our information-sharing practices.

This session has passed. DPP members can access a video recording, slides, and other materials shared by the presenter. We also hold a small group discussion the week after every presentation for further discussion and networking! Make sure to sign up here to get access.

​June 23 (12:00 pm EDT) – INFO session – Marketing Automation Study Group

​What is marketing automation? How can it help you provide a better donor experience and save time with reporting/analysis? Join this DPP Breakout session for a brief introduction to marketing automation strategies and software tools.

​June 30 (12:00 pm EDT) – Automate Your Donor Experience Workflows with ThankView

​Join JD Beebe, CEO of ThankView, and his team to build integrations that will take your donor experience to another level. Trigger a video message after getting a phonathon call? Add donors who watch a video message to a personalized outreach list? No problem! We’ll learn together how to build these workflows and others using Zapier and the ThankView API. (Free trial of ThankView included for DPP participants who schedule a training session.)

​July 14 (12:00 pm EDT) – Automated Solicitation and Upgrade Strategies with Nic Prenger

​Learn how to use MS Power Automate to integrate with your CRM and customize donor stewardship messaging, We will work through examples of building personalized chaser messages and upgrade invites to one-time donors over to monthly/recurring.

July 21 (12:00 pm EDT) – Final Project Presentation

​Each participant will build their own workflow and share it with the group! We’ll then ruthlessly criticize each other’s work (just joking!) and celebrate our progress.

About: The Donor Participation Project (DPP) convenes fundraising professionals who are concerned about the nationwide decline in donor participation (20 million US households lost between 2000-2016). 

We believe this can be solved by changing our fundraising practices and want to learn from peers who are moving the participation needle.

Discuss this Topic and Learn Marketing Automation with this DPP Study Group

• All sessions will take place over Zoom. Register to get the link.
• All sessions will be recorded and accessible post-event for DPP members only.

Sign Up

Enter your email now to join any of our learning & discussion sessions or access past materials:

Register for Event

We will only use your email for information about the Donor Participation Project and will never share your information with anyone else. Consult our information-sharing practices.

This session has passed. DPP members can access a video recording, slides, and other materials shared by the presenter. We also hold a small group discussion the week after every presentation for further discussion and networking! Make sure to sign up here to get access.

In this Donor Participation Project session, we’re honored to welcome Jim Langley, President of Langley Innovations, for a Live Q&A session.

James Langley is the President of Langley Innovations, a strategic consulting and training firm, which he founded to help institutions advance a philanthropic revolution. Over his career, James has worked with institutions across the country at different levels to help raise over $3 billion.

The Donor Participation Project (DPP) convenes fundraising professionals who are concerned about the nationwide decline in donor participation (20 million US households lost between 2000-2016). 

We believe this can be solved by changing our fundraising practices and want to learn from peers who are moving the participation needle.

Discuss this Topic with Jim Langley and Ask Questions During our February 10 Live Q&A

• Please bring 2/3 questions prepared.
• This event will take place over Zoom.
• The session will be recorded and accessible post-event for DPP members only.

Register Here

Enter your email now to join any of our learning sessions or access past materials:

We will only use your email for information about the Donor Participation Project and will never share your information with anyone else.

Learn more about the Donor Participation Project.