A recent report released Facebook showcases the impact of their nonprofit fundraising tools last year on Giving Tuesday, and the results are encouraging.
If you have never heard of Giving Tuesday, it’s an international day of giving – on the calendar the Tuesday after we have a day of thanks (Thanksgiving) – and then two days of rampant consumerism and punching each other over HD TVs (Black Friday and Cyber Monday).
Facebook analyzed the activity on their platform on Giving Tuesday last year, and the statistics are surprising.
Nonprofits skeptical of Giving Tuesday and/or Facebook fundraising take note:
**15% of all donations made on Giving Tuesday 2017 were on Facebook;
**This is a dramatic increase from just 4% in 2016;
**$45 million in donations were processed;
**Over 46,000 different nonprofits received a donation that day;
**473,000 donors gave to nonprofits via Facebook fundraising tools;
**Three-quarters of these donors had not previously donated via Facebook.
Whoa!
With A Little Help From My Friends
It’s not surprising that most of the gifts to nonprofits via Facebook Fundraisers came from the creators and from their friends.
What IS surprising is that about 20% of those same donors gave AGAIN via Facebook within 6 months!
Something else that shocked me – the percentage of donations that came from people unconnected to the creator of the Fundraiser was DOUBLE what usually happens on a typical day.
Smaller Nonprofits Can Do This Too
We also see that nonprofits of many different sizes were able to raise a substantial amount on Giving Tuesday 2017.
Nonprofits of “moderate size” (meaning they have between 1K-10K Page Likes) raised the most as a group!
It’s not just the charity:water and Humane Society’s of the world that can succeed with these tools – your organization can too!
Get a step-by-step Giving Tuesday plan and Campaign Calendar when you join me for a LIVE webinar! Registration is now open. Click here for more details and to secure your spot.Don’t Ignore the Donate Button
Facebook also found that the Donate Call-to-Action button on Facebook Pages generated $6.4 million on Giving Tuesday – second place only to Fundraisers.
What Does This Mean for Giving Tuesday 2018?
This data shows the potential for nonprofits to use Facebook to reach new donors outside their existing community on Giving Tuesday.
It also shows that the popularity and pervasive social media presence of Giving Tuesday encourages people to donate to nonprofits and causes… even when there is not an clear personal connection to the nonprofit or person who created the Facebook Fundraiser.
This is exciting!!
The normalization of Facebook Fundraisers is good news for nonprofits, no matter how you feel about Zuckerberg and co.
Widespread adoption of these tools, expected to grow even more this November, indicates an overall growing comfort level with online giving and donating through social media platforms.
5 Actions to Take Before Giving Tuesday
1. Prepare to participate.
Take advantage of the public’s increased awareness of Giving Tuesday.
Visit their website and download their free resources to get ideas for your own campaign.
Sign up for Facebook fundraising tools (Facebook Payments), even if you aren’t 100% sure if you will use them.
2. Build relationships with Fundraiser creators.
The people who are willing to step up, create, and promote a Fundraiser for your organization are special, and should be treated as such.
Create a private Facebook Group for Fundraiser creators to share ideas, inspiration, and get advice and feedback from each other.
Thank them profusely and often – acwknowledge that they are putting themselves out there for your cause, and that it is making a difference.
Facebook also made it easier for fundraiser creators and benefiting organizations to thank their donors by launching the Thank You tool, which enables Page admins to post thank yous in Fundraisers as the nonprofit Facebook Page.
3. Educate your supporters.
Your email list, your social media followers, your donors, everyone that knows and loves your organization – let them know that creating a Facebook Fundraiser for your organization is super easy and impactful.
If you don’t ask them, they may not take the initiative.
I discuss 6 ways that you can encourage people to fundraise for you on Facebook in my post 6 Steps to Get Your Supporters Fundraising on Facebook this #GivingTuesday (and beyond).
GoodUnited wrote a useful post on this topic: How to Create A User Guide for Facebook Fundraisers
4. Create a Fundraiser from your Page.
While Fundraisers created from individual profiles tend to raise more money, there is an option to create a Fundraiser from your Facebook Page.
Here’s how to do it:
From a Desktop, go to facebook.com/fundraisers.
Click the grey Raise Money for a Nonprofit Organization button.
From your Page, click the Fundraisers tab from the left menu.
Create a fundraiser by clicking the +Raise Money OR click Create Fundraiser from the […] dropdown on Page under cover photo
More information on who qualifies and how to set up your Page Fundraiser is on nonprofits.fb.com.
5. Go live.
Follow the example from the Best Friends Animal Society:
They went live at various points during Giving Tuesday, showcasing their work, their staff, their volunteers, and of course, their beneficiaries, the animals.
All programming was off-the-cuff and taken with a smartphone.
Their videos really allowed supporters to make a deeper connection with the cause and with the people that do this work every day – as they put it, “real subject matter, in real time.”
You can see all of their Giving Tuesday 2017 videos on their Facebook Page in the videos tab – scroll down to see the videos from November 28, 2017.
Don’t Get Left Behind
Don’t forget that the report found that 75% of donors who donated on Facebook for Giving Tuesday were first-time donors (on Facebook).
To me, this shows that Giving Tuesday is spurring donations from people who otherwise may not have been inclined to donate.
5 Key Decisions Your Nonprofit Needs to Make Before #GivingTuesday [WORKSHEET]
#GivingTuesday is right around the corner, and it's never too early to start planning!
It’s tempting to see the astounding fundraising numbers from last year - over $380,000,000 raised online - and think that this day of giving will automatically work for your nonprofit.Before putting time and resources into #GivingTuesday, there are 5 key decisions to consider. Fill out this worksheet before planning your #GivingTuesday campaign!