File under #AboutTime!
Facebook recently announced a new tool designed to give individual users the power to fundraise on Facebook for their favorite verified US-based 501(c)3 nonprofits, directly within the platform!
According to Facebook officials, this has always been their intended vision.
They want to give their users more control in setting up and promoting individual fundraising pages for the causes they care about, as well as an easy way to spread the word and solicit donations from friends, family, and other connections.
Inspiration for the new tool came from the viral success of 2014’s ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, which took Facebook by storm with over 17 million challenge videos uploaded.
Facebook’s announcement is below:
Facebook has been releasing a slew of products aimed at helping nonprofits fundraise directly on the platform, including the “Donate Now” call-to-action button on page posts and ads, as well as the Donate button and the Fundraisers tool.
What nonprofits need to know about individual fundraising pages:
**You have to verify your 501(c)3 nonprofit to be able to collect donations within Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/donate/signup
**During this intial testing period, it appears that only 1% of people in the U.S. will be able to create fundraisers. According to TechCrunch, setting up fundraising pages will be available to everyone in the “next few weeks”.
**While they currently cannot set up their own individual fundraising pages, Facebook users in over 20 countries (including Italy, Australia, Canada, France, South Africa) will be able to give money to these individual campaigns.
**When people share their fundraising page posts, they automatically include a donate button, and users can give directly from their News Feed.
**Just like other peer-to-peer fundraising and crowdfunding campaigns, individual Facebook users will never see or collect the funds raised themselves, the nonprofits will receive these funds directly. According to Mashable, “Facebook takes 5% of money raised — 2% to cover fraud prevention and security costs, and 3% for payment processing. The remaining 95% goes directly to the chosen charity.” (This fee is pretty standard in the online fundraising software industry.)
A sample individual Facebook fundraising page looks like this:
Features:
**A prominent blue DONATE button
**An Invite button where you can invite specific Facebook friends, share the page on your timeline, or copy a direct link to the fundraising page
**Update on the amount raised and progress towards the fundraising goal
**Donation amount suggestions
**A link to the nonprofit’s website
Pretty exciting!
What do you like best about this feature? Can you see your donors and supporters using it to raise money on Facebook for your nonprofit?
Comments 2
Good idea! We are a small nonprofit who’s purpose is to support & promote economic development & social well-being in our unincorporated community. We are all volunteer group working to provide a better community for children, seniors & all people of our community.
Author
Thank you! Sounds like a fantastic mission!