Online Fundraising Tools You May be Overlooking, Part 2 (Facebook Tools)

My last post took a look at some of Amazon’s tools that are available for nonprofits. This one is going to dive a bit into Facebook’s capabilities for your nonprofit.

Facebook Charitable Giving

What is it?

Facebook Charitable Giving is essentially the gateway to unlocking all of Facebook’s features exclusive to nonprofits.

What you need to know:

• Charities in the USA must be a 501(c)3, registered with the IRS, have a tax ID number and bank account.
• Charities in Europe must provide a VAT number, charity registration number, a charity registration document issued or approved by the government, and a bank account. You can check here to see if your country is available for Facebook donation and fundraising tools.
• Donation Buttons on Facebook page headers:
• A Donate button on Facebook page headers that points to pages (URLs) outside of Facebook (i.e. your nonprofit’s website or donation page) is currently available for nonprofits in the USA, UK on-boarded organizations, UK Paypal Giving Fund, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Canada, and Australia.
• A Donate button on Facebook page headers that obtains gifts directly into Facebook is currently available to USA and UK on-boarded organizations.
• Currently, recurring giving is currently only available to USA organizations.
• To enable donors the ability to donate directly through Facebook, you’ll need to sign up for Facebook Payments.
• You can add a donate button to your Page and Ads, which can point to external donations pages; however, to add a Donate button to a Post, you’ll need to set up Facebook Payments.
• Donations obtained directly through Facebook Payments collect a donor’s first name, last name, donation amount, and email (if donor chooses to share).
• Once an organization reaches $100+, payouts are disbursed every 2 weeks via ACH or direct deposit.
• Facebook charges 0% on transactions made through Facebook Payments. This is big!
• Once signed up with Facebook’s Charity Giving Tools, Facebook users can also select your nonprofit for peer-to-peer fundraising, such as giving money to your organization for your birthday.
• You can use Facebook to set up peer-to-peer fundraising within Facebook.
• Marketing tip: Once everything is set up with Facebook Payments, let your donors know. If your CRM is robust enough to capture donors’ birthdays, it might be a good idea to reach out a week ahead of time or on their birthdays and ask if they’d help raise money for your organization on their birthday.

Are you a nonprofit fundraiser? Check out Fundraisers Unite! This is a new online community that features monthly trainings, weekly Facebook Live Q&A sessions, a content library with fundraising templates, and more. Join today at FundraisersUnite.com.

How to set it up:

• To sign-up for Facebook Payments and/or Facebook Charitable Giving Tools, visit: https://business.facebook.com/donate/signup
• Your Facebook page will need to be verified by Facebook.
• You will need to submit your Page to be reviewed to ensure it follows Facebook’s community standards.
• You’ll need to submit the following all at one time: 1) your organization’s official name, address, contact info, tax ID, and nonprofit category 2) CEO or Executive Director’s name, date of birth, and business address 3) a bank statement or bank letter dated within the last 3 months.
• This sounds like a lot to submit, but Facebook walks you through each of these steps pretty easily.
• Learn more about Facebook’s tools for nonprofits at https://socialgood.fb.com
• Learn more about Facebook Fundraisers: https://socialgood.fb.com/charitable-giving/page-fundraiser/

Why you should do it:

It all goes back to the philosophy of “fish where there are fish.” Facebook has 1.56 BILLION people on it. There are many ways to obtain donations through Facebook including on your Facebook Page, within Facebook Ads, Facebook Posts, and Facebook Fundraisers. According to M+R’s 2019 Benchmark Report, Facebook Fundraisers averaged 7.4 gifts with an average gift of $31. I expect this to continue growing. The earlier you get in on this, the more you will have early advantage to acquire more gifts not just around holidays, but throughout the year. For the most part, after set-up, Facebook’s nonprofit fundraising tools are pretty simple and require low maintenance. Aside from adding a Donate Now button to some of your posts or letting donors know they can start a fundraiser on Facebook for you, there’s not much to it.

The next post will dive into Google for Nonprofits, so keep your eyes peeled for that post. In the meantime, if you have any success stories or tips for Facebook’s nonprofit tools, please leave them below in the comments!

If you haven’t already, join Fundraisers Unite! This online community is for fundraisers across the world to share best practices and tips to help make nonprofits have more impact in the world. Fundraisers Unite features monthly trainings, weekly Facebook Live Q&A sessions, a content library, and more. If you have anything to do with fundraising, it’s an invaluable resource. Join today at FundraisersUnite.com.