BLUE Missions went all in on peer-to-peer and unlocked $2M in online fundraising

BLUE Missions exists to provide access to clean water and to connect young people to the front lines of water access work, helping them find purpose through action while protecting the water resources their communities depend on.

The Challenge

Youth-focused mission trips are the engine of BLUE Missions' work, which means peer-to-peer fundraising is a core part of organizational operations, not a nice-to-have campaign tactic.

That dependence raised the stakes on platform needs considerably—think about it: a complicated peer-to-peer experience can put the trips themselves at risk. BLUE Missions needed a peer-to-peer solution that participants could feel confident in and that the development team could integrate into the rest of their fundraising strategy.

“You guys were really top of the line when it came to peer-to-peer fundraising.”

Gabriela Neville

VP of Development, BLUE Missions

The Solution

Funraise's peer-to-peer platform gave BLUE Missions exactly what they needed: a simple, straightforward fundraising experience for trip participants and straightforward management tools for the team behind the scenes. …but they didn't expect everything else they got with Funraise.

As BLUE Missions' development team began working more deeply inside the platform, they discovered that Funraise wasn't just a peer-to-peer tool, and the interconnected fundraising system changed how they thought about the platform.

On top of the event management, wealth screening, text messaging, reporting, donor profiles, and integrations, the ability to reach a real person who was already familiar with BLUE Missions was a gamechanger, especially in contrast with Gabriela’s experience on other platforms, where specialized knowledge lived inside her team, not with the vendor.

​"I've done Blackbaud, I've done Salesforce. They're not as personable. With Funraise, the people who run the software are the experts—and they know your organization."

Gabriela Neville

VP of Development, BLUE Missions

Today, Funraise is no longer just BLUE Missions’ development platform; Gabriela is expanding Funraise training to their trips department and marketing team.

"…now I'm training not just Development—I have Trips being trained on Funraise, I have Marketing being trained. I don't want to be the keeper of this. I want everyone to use it."

Gabriela Neville

VP of Development, BLUE Missions

The Result

Since joining Funraise, BLUE Missions has built an active, successful peer-to-peer fundraising program— and grown their partnership with Funraise beyond P2P.

• Since joining Funraise, BLUE Missions has raised $2M+ online from 13,300 individual donors
• BLUE Missions’ large peer-to-peer program sends youth on service trips. 2,700+ P2P fundraisers have raised $1.25M through this ongoing campaign
• They’ve hosted 16 events, which raised more than $600K through online ticket sales
• In 2025 alone, they activated 1,700 new online donors
• Over the last three years, they’ve averaged $438K each year in annual online revenue

What's Next

BLUE Missions already has a head start at getting new donors in the door. With 1,700 new online donors in 2025 alone, their acquisition engine is running smoothly. The challenge—or opportunity—is what happens after that first gift.

That next opportunity is retention. BLUE Missions has an active, recurring donor base of 90, a great foundation with lots of room to grow. Adding to the challenge, peer-to-peer donors are some of the hardest to retain. Converting their relationship with their original fundraiser to a relationship with the mission requires intentional cultivation, and it's exactly where BLUE Missions has the most room to grow.

Funraise customers retain 78% of monthly donors after 12 months—10% better than the industry average. For BLUE Missions, upgrading their 13,300 online donors into recurring supporters would represent a transformational shift in their fundraising stability.