It’s not official, but it’s obvious that Facebook is ramping up promotion of its native “Donate” buttons and Fundraisers in its News Feed. Even before Facebook helped raise $10 million dollars for the Center for Disaster Philanthropy for Hurricane Harvey relief, Facebook “Donate” buttons and fundraisers created by Facebook users were popping up in the feed with increased frequency.
Donors and peer-to-peer fundraisers have been slow to adopt donating and fundraising through Facebook, but that might be changing. Large nonprofits are beginning to boost posts with “Donate” buttons embedded in the post and asking their followers to create fundraising pages for their birthdays or special campaigns. In recent months, more Facebook users are donating through Facebook for the first time and when these donors discover that subsequent donations only require two taps or clicks, donating through Facebook could stick.
According to the 2017 Global Trends in Giving Report, of those donors who say that social media inspires their online giving, 62% said Facebook inspired their giving the most. 14% said Twitter. 10% said Instagram. Facebook also owns Instagram, so it’s likely that in the future “Donate” buttons will come to the Instagram feed as well.
Facebook shouldn’t be your nonprofit’s primary fundraising service, but you may regret not being an early adopter. As we know with Facebook, News Feed exposures declines over time for new products and it’s clear that Facebook is currently making a concerted effort to get their users to donate through Facebook. That said, it’s worth noting that Facebook Fundraising Tools are only currently available to nonprofits in the United States and the United Kingdom.
1. Increased Reach for Pages that share Fundraisers.
2. Facebook alerting users when friends donate to a Fundraiser.
3. New Facebook prompts for users to finish donating (if they tap a “Donate” button and do not compelte the donation).
4. Facebook suggesting Sponsored Posts that have a “Donate” button.
2017 Global Trends in Giving Report
Based upon the survey results of 4,084 donors worldwide, the 2017 Global Trends in Giving Report explores the impact of gender, generation, and ideology upon giving and volunteerism.
