The 2026 Organization of the Year is Covenant House International, a nonprofit that has inspired tens of thousands of people to sleep outside to raise funds for homeless youth.

Covenant House’s Sleep Out program raised a record $18.9 million in 2025 by recruiting more than 3,000 supporters to spend a night sleeping outside at locations from balmy South Florida to frigid Anchorage, Alaska. Since 2011, the efforts by more than 65,000 advocates have brought the Sleep Out program’s total raised to more than $170 million.

Sleep Out’s unique format—for an organization fighting youth homelessness—has long made it a fascinating program in the peer-to-peer fundraising space, which has traditionally been dominated by walks and rides.

Collectively, peer-to-peer fundraising programs raised more than $1.7 billion dollars in 2025 for thousands of nonprofits in North America, according to the annual U.S. and Canadian Top 30 & Benchmarking Studies.

“The creativity that Covenant House has applied to its signature peer-to-peer fundraising program for fifteen years is an inspiration,” said Peer-to-Peer Professional Forum CEO Marcie Maxwell. “Expanding relationships with corporate partners, leveraging social media in new ways, and heavying up on personalized fundraiser coaching are just three of the strategies Covenant House successfully employed to grow revenue by 10% last year, triple the U.S. Top Thirty average growth rate.”

“Covenant House is thrilled to be recognized as the 2026 Organization of the Year,” shared Bill Bedrossian, President and CEO, Covenant House International and 12-time Sleep Out participant. “Sleep Out is a movement that invites community members to be in solidarity with the millions of young people who are navigating homelessness, exploitation, and injustice every single day. We are reminding them that they are not alone. Our Sleepers not only raise money to help keep our doors open 24/7/365, but they are also supporting our strategic imperatives for housing, workforce development, mental health, and alumni engagement. We hope that this recognition will breed curiosity and that we’ll see an even larger increase in participation and revenue this year.”

Some past winners of the Organization of the Year honor include the American Heart Association, Alzheimer’s Association, Children’s Miracle Network, Blood Cancer United, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, NAMI, Pan-Mass Challenge, and the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation.

The Organization of the Year awards stand alongside Peers of the Year and Fundraising Volunteer of the Year as part of our P2P Impact Awards program. These awards celebrate the people, programs, and organizations shaping the future of peer-to-peer fundraising. They recognize exceptional leadership, innovation, and community spirit, spotlighting those who inspire others to act, give, and make a lasting difference through the power of connection