The rise and fall of virtual fundraising events

Income from virtual challenges fell by 13% in 2024, according to The Massive Top 25 report. There were also less virtual challenges featured in the top 25 mass participation events for the second year in a row.

 

It’s a far cry from 2020 when Captain Tom Moore raised nearly £40m for NHS charities from walking 100 laps of his garden. “Whenever we look at reports that include 2020 we suddenly see this huge spike on the graph,” says Suzy Edington, Head of Partner Programs at JustGiving. That one event is so significant that JustGiving has to exclude it from any trends reports.

 

And it wasn’t just NHS charities that benefitted from the boom. London Marathon events set up a range of virtual events, including the 26.2 challenge which raised more than £50m for charities in 2020.

 

Some charities also set up their own challenges. Clara White, Challenge Events Team Manager for the Virtual and DIY Fundraising Team at Macmillan Cancer Support, says, “I think in that 2020 period where quite a lot of charities saw a huge boom…even a very simple concept with very simple marketing and a very simple journey could actually raise significant amounts of money.”

 

For Helen Alderson, CEO at Social AF, the boom shaped the future of her freelance business. “I was doing some freelance work for a charity, running an overseas track for them and that was delayed because of the pandemic. So instead we changed that event into a virtual challenge…We were originally set up as Alderson Fundraising, a fundraising consultancy…and it’s completely transformed…I ran a Facebook challenge for a relatively small charity and then was recommended to run the Facebook group moderation for Mind’s first big Facebook challenge. We continued to be recommended, so the business changed very quickly from a fundraising consultancy to a social media moderation agency.”

 

Five years on, in-person events have made a big comeback, but there’s also five years of learning about virtual events too.

 

 

What have we learned from virtual events?

 

Having a great proposition is everything

 

If the challenge is appealing, people who care about your cause will sign up. Macmillan Cancer Support’s Swim It challenge is a great example. Participants are asked to swim 21 miles over two months, the equivalent of swimming the Channel.

 

White says, “you wouldn’t necessarily think about swimming as one of the most profitable challenges, but if you’ve got a really good concept…It captures people’s attention...and you’ve got a platform that’s got really great features and gamification around hitting targets like getting 50% of the way across.”

 

 

Digital marketing expertise is essential

 

Strong and effective paid social campaigns are the foundation of most virtual challenges. Alderson says, “the cost per lead when charities are marketing these challenges has increased. Having said that, we’ve seen over the years the amount that will be raised…per person has increased. Which almost balanced out the boom.”

 

 

The supporter journey needs to be thoughtful and sophisticated

 

There may be less people taking part in virtual challenges now, but charities have doubled down on the supporter journey to increase the average amount raised.

 

White says, “we’ve had to be kind of more sophisticated with regards to the content that we put into our Facebook groups. Our email journeys are really tailored into getting click throughs and action.” They have also been “making sure that it’s a multi-channel journey: SMS, email, we’ve done some messenger journeys too.”

 

 

Fundraising truths hold firm

 

Having navigated a busy time for virtual events, Macmillan Cancer Support are trying to take stock of learnings and come back to fundraising basics.

 

In their 2025 benchmarks report, SocialSync, next generation fundraising tools, say, “a simple, powerful explanation of why support is needed drives action.” With a good proposition and powerful case for support, people with a connection to your cause will get involved and there is money to be raised.

 

Alderson says, “Supporters very well connected to the cause will raise a lot of money because what they’ve experienced is something very raw, very emotional, something that friends and family can empathise with and relate to.”

 

The SocialSync data also points to the fact that every virtual challenge needs to be tailored – there’s no one size fits all approach.

 

 

The future of virtual events

 

According to White, in-person and virtual events aren’t an ‘either/or’ situation. Virtual event participants at Macmillan Cancer Support are “a new audience that…perhaps never would have done a physical event, but now have this opportunity to do something in the comfort of their own home.”

 

And Edington doesn’t think they’re going away and time soon. She says, “virtual events have been around for 25 years or more. I think that they will continue to be part of the portfolio that charities have and there’s definite advantages to still having them in that they have a much lower cost associated with them and a lower risk as well.”

 

Craig Shackleton at GivePanel, an agency that has worked with hundreds of charities on virtual fundraising since 2020, says:– “What started as a quick pivot during the pandemic has evolved into a long-term strategy. Early on, most ’social challenges’ happened entirely within Facebook. Today, they’re being enhanced – or even replaced – by integrated experiences that combine social reach with integrated tools like GivePanel and JustGiving…The focus has moved beyond sign-ups and sheer volume – it’s now about delivering value and connection throughout the whole fundraising experience.” 

 

At JustGiving, “pages created via the GivePanel integration have increased by 50% since this time last year, with more charities choosing to use the JustGiving integration with GivePanel than ever before. Total donations to these pages have increased by 60% year on year.”

 

In person and virtual events aren’t a zero sum game, there’s evidence for growth in both areas. However, the market is still evolving and the route to success is continued investment in testing and innovation.