How To Use Facebook’s Free Fundraising Tools on #GivingTuesday

How To Use Facebook’s Free Fundraising Tools on #GivingTuesday

Julia Claire Campbell Facebook, Fundraising, Nonprofits, Online Fundraising 14 Comments

How To Use Facebook’s Free Fundraising Tools on #GivingTuesday #GivingTuesday is less than one month away!

On November 28th, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are matching up to $2 million in funds raised on Facebook for U.S-based nonprofits.

Also on #GivingTuesday, Facebook is waiving all fees for donations made on Facebook. (Before and after #GivingTuesday, charitable organizations that have signed up to use Facebook’s fundraising tools will pay a 5% fee.)

This could be huge for your organization if you are planning a large outreach campaign that includes a social media fundraising component.

(Not sure if you should carry out a campaign on November 28? Before you launch a #GivingTuesday campaign, be sure to make these 5 key decisions, and read my post with 10 tips for nonprofits as they plan their campaigns.)

Get your free Done-For-You #GivingTuesday Calendar template, and start creating your best campaign yet! 

The good news is that there is still time to create your strategy for using Facebook’s free fundraising tools on #GivingTuesday.

Here are 5 steps you can take to effectively incorporate Facebook tools into your #GivingTuesday campaign:

1. Register with Facebook.

Be sure that your nonprofit’s Facebook Page is registered with Facebook. If you are an administrator of the Page, click here to register.

Of note:

  • Organizations need to be a 501c3 organization based in the U.S. to raise money on Facebook at this time.
  • Your Facebook Page needs to be categorized as a nonprofit.
  • A best practice is make sure that your Guidestar nonprofit profile is up-to-date, as Facebook pulls vetting information from Guidestar.

2. Set up the Donate button.

The simplest way to start taking donations on Facebook is to set up the Donate button.

The Donate button is a quick way for Facebook users to donate to your campaign without leaving Facebook.

Once it’s setup, you can easily add the button in two places, making it easy for supporters to contribute in just a few taps:

Your Facebook Page cover photo – it’s called the call-to-action (see photo below) and your individual Page posts (see photo below). 

When people click the Donate button, they are easily able to donate in just a few taps:

3. Create a Facebook Fundraising Toolkit.

Getting people to raise money for you on Facebook is a little more challenging, but certainly worth the effort.

People prefer to give to causes that their friends and loved ones care about, and spreading the word about your #GivingTuesday campaign this way can secure more donations.

Benefits:

  • Ability to share updates directly with people who have donated to or indicated an interest in the Fundraiser Event with photos, stories, and even live video streaming.
  • Each time someone donates they are prompted to share and invite their friends.
  • Shares and re-shares also contain a Donate button making it easy to donate right from the News Feed.

Once you are registered, you can encourage your supporters to start a Facebook Fundraiser on your nonprofit’s behalf.

Give them the tools necessary to talk about your nonprofit, your impact, and share the stories of your work.

A Facebook Fundraising Toolkit can be as simple or as in depth as you desire, but make sure it has at least the following components:

  • Instructions on creating a Facebook Fundraiser: https://www.facebook.com/help/990087377765844;
  • Information about your specific #GivingTuesday campaign – what are you raising money for, what is the goal, why are you doing this;
  • Information about your nonprofit’s work and impact, including visuals, video, and success stories;
  • Words of encouragement and way for people to contact you with questions.

4. Promote the Toolkit to your fans and followers.

Of course, no one is going to make a gift via Facebook or set up a Fundraiser for you if they don’t know that this is an option.

You need to make a concerted effort to promote these tools and these donation options, both before and during your #GivingTuesday campaign.

Create graphics using free tools like Canva and Adobe Spark, letting your fans, followers, and supporters know that you will be using Facebook’s free fundraising tools to drive even more donations on #GivingTuesday.

I created this free instructional infographic using Canva:

How to Raise Money For Your Favorite Cause On Facebook

Encourage them to explore the tools, check out the Toolkit with step-by-step instructions, and get involved by spreading the word to their networks.

5. Fundraise during a Facebook Live broadcast.

Facebook Live videos get more engagement than any other type of content posted to Facebook.

Your nonprofit’s Page and your individual supporters can now add the Donate button to live streaming video on Facebook!

This can be a powerful way to raise awareness about your cause and connect instant with the people who care the most.

For more on the ways to use Facebook Live for your nonprofit, check out my post 5 Ways to Use Facebook Live In Your Next Fundraising Campaign.

Pros and Cons

Every nonprofit is different, and Facebook’s free fundraising tools may not be for you.

There are many pros and cons associate with fundraising using the social network.

Nonprofits need to take into account their capacity to manage a campaign, and their supporters’ comfort with the tools.  

However, when done well and in a strategic way, raising money on Facebook can be easier for the donor and eliminate obstacles to giving – which every campaign should take into consideration.

Watch this video where I walk you through the 5 steps:

Have you used Facebook’s free fundraising tools for your nonprofit? Leave your thoughts in the comments! 

Getting ready to dive into Facebook Live video? You need this checklist!

If you are exploring using Facebook Live for your nonprofit, you need my Essential Facebook Live Checklist for Nonprofits!

In this freebie download, I cover exactly what you need to do to plan, prepare, go live, and follow up afterwards.

Enter your email and then keep an eye on your inbox!

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Comments 14

  1. Dewan Akhtaruzzaman

    Fair is a Bangladesh based organization. Then how to get this opportunity? How Can We Make Free Facebook Marketing For Fundraising.

  2. Anuradha

    Tool of adding Donate button for live fundraising videos is there for all countries or for some selected ones

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  3. Alisoun Mackenzie

    Thanks for a great article Julia – that’s given me some ideas for some fundraising I was planning anyway but now may well try using Facebook live for too.

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      Author
  4. Devon

    Julia, I attended your webinar on this topic via CharityHowTo, and I found it to be a great primer on the Facebook fundraising tools. But now that our organization is set up on the platform, I’m finding that it has some serious flaws. The biggest is that while it is easy to track donations through fundraisers that supporters set up, it is NOT easy to track donations that come through Donate buttons on pages or posts. Currently, I have no way to see that someone has donated via a Donate button unless they tell me – or until Facebook releases a report several days later (supposedly 48 hours later, but mine took 7 days to show up). Have any other charities that you work with expressed this concern, and do you have any tips for workarounds on #GivingTuesday, when real-time reporting is incredibly important?

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      Julia Claire Campbell

      Unfortunately no one can figure out the inner-workings of Facebook except the people at Facebook… this is a concern that I have heard, and I will adapt my webinar to address this topic as a warning. One of the cons that nonprofits express about using Facebook is the lack of information they provide, but one of the biggest pros to using it is the popularity of the site. The people at Facebook have not responded to any requests for comment about real-time data on Giving Tuesday. Sorry I can’t give you more info! Facebook is often an enigma.

      1. Devon

        Understood. It’s good to know that I’m not alone, and I’m sure that if enough of us voice the concern, they’ll figure out a solution!

  5. Debbie Pudans

    I accidentally donated today/Friday and NOT Tuesday. Can I delete that & re donate on Tuesday?

  6. Mary Kinder

    Recently on #giving Tuesday the free ad popped up for non profits to receive donations . The non profit I work for is YSI Youth Science Institute. I assumed this site for donations was legit. Apparently, the donations did not go to YSI bc I received information that said more $ ws neede to meet the minimum requirement of $100 in order for YSI to receive the $$. I was totally unaware of this. I fee that this is a scam and I would like to report this to FB.

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