Facebook Unveils Dedicated Fundraisers for Charities
19 November 2015 at 11:47 am
Social media giant Facebook has continued its push to become the go to place for raising money and tackling social issues, launching dedicated pages, where Not for Profits can raise money for specific campaigns.
The move comes just two months after the company launched a Social Good Team with the purpose of building features to connect users with social issues.
On Wednesday morning Australian time, Facebook’s Vice President of Product Management, Naomi Gleit, unveiled Fundraisers – a dedicated place to raise funds from a NFPs page for a specific campaign.
Gleit said it was hoped Fundraisers would help NFPs reach new supporters, engage their community and get the valuable funding they needed to continue their work.
“Nonprofits can tell their campaign story, rally supporters, collect donations and visibly track progress toward a goal for year-end drives, themed campaigns and special projects such as building a clean water well or funding a clothing drive,” Gleit said.
“People will be able to donate in just a few taps and share their donations with friends. All shared posts will also include a Donate button, making it easy for anyone who sees it to donate and join the fundraiser directly from News Feed.”
Introducing New Tools for Nonprofits from Facebook on Vimeo.
While the new tool is currently free for Facebook’s 37 chosen partner organisation, including Mercy Corps, National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the World Wildlife Fund, Facebook said it will start to charge a fee to cover costs at a later date.
Gleit said following a trial phase Fundraisers would be expanded US-based NFPs, before releasing it to the rest of the world.
It is the latest strategic push from Facebook, which started testing different ways for charities and NFPs to fundraise on the site in 2013, to control more than 150 million people around the world connected to a cause through it.
Also on Wednesday, Gleit revealed changes to Facebook’s donate button, to allow people to give to charities without leaving the site at all.
“To help nonprofits increase donations, we’re improving our Donate button and making it available on Pages and posts,” she said.
“Adding a Donate button to a Page will give a [Not for Profit] a consistent place to collect donations, even as they update their page’s content. Including a Donate button on a post will give people an easy way to donate directly from the News Feed.
“Both of these buttons will make it easy for supporters to contribute using a one-page form without leaving Facebook, and share that they donated with their friends.”
In September Facebook announced it would be launching a Social Good Team, focusing on creating more features that will make the connections between social issues and users easier.
