The Facebook fundraising tool is a fantastic way for people to easily donate to your organization right off of their social media. Not only can you start your own fundraisers, you can register your nonprofit into a database for people to choose from to post on their timelines. With Birthday fundraisers growing in popularity, having your nonprofit easily accessible on Facebook will not only help you raise money but also awareness of your organization.
How Do You Get Started?
US Based Organizations
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Have your 501(c)(3) and are registered with the IRS
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Need to have your own tax ID number, unfortunately if you are operating under a fiscal sponsorship your organization will not be able to apply
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Have a bank account registered with a licensed financial services institution. And have details ready like your bank’s name, the bank account holder's name (organization's name), and an official bank letter or statement dated within the last 3 months.
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Your CEO or executive director’s date of birth and address
Canadian Organizations
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Your CEO or executive director’s date of birth and address
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A VAT number and a charity registration number both when applicable
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Have a bank account registered with a licensed financial services institution. And have details ready like your bank’s name, the bank account holder's name (organization's name), and an official bank letter or statement dated within the last 3 months.
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After registering your donation you and your supporters are now able to post fundraisers and ask for donations on behalf of your organization. Simply go to your page settings and click donations and check the boxes allowing users to fundraise on their own pages. Once that is completed there are a few different ways you can begin to fundraise through Facebook.
Donate Button
This is a button that can be added to your organization’s Facebook page that allows supporters to give donations directly through Facebook. You can add this into posts as well, making it even easier to ask for donations online. This is something that you can set up so it is always on your page and post about periodically. If you are fundraising for a specific campaign or event there are a few other options that might work better.
Facebook Live
Another great feature is having a Donate button appear on your Facebook live stream. This is a fantastic feature that can help you and your team get creative with fundraising initiatives. You can do live streams of large events so that even those who live far can attend and support your cause, you can live stream tutorials or informational videos. Think about what your organization’s mission is and what skills you can share to your followers in a way that will also encourage donations.
For example, a humane society introducing their animals on a live stream and also asking for donations in order to purchase the supplies needed to house them. Or you can do an interactive live stream with questions from your viewers.
Page Fundraiser
This works best if you have a large campaign or fundraising initiative going on that you want to raise a certain amount of funds for. You are able to dedicate a whole page that not only asks for donations but gives information on the fundraiser and how it supports your cause. Like any other Facebook page you can link back to your site for more information and post on your progress.
Facebook Stories
Facebook stories are a new trend that came to Facebook within the last few years. If you are familiar with instagram or snapchat you know what it takes to make a good story. Similar to those platforms you can post quick pictures from events or day to day activities within your organization while also being able to insert the donate button directly into the post. Your supporters are able to add donate buttons to their stories, so it would be a great feature to promote at events, galas and fundraisers!
There are currently so many different ways for nonprofits to use social media in order to market themselves and raise donations for their cause. Facebook has always been ahead of the game and using their technology will make it easier for your nonprofit to come up with fun ways to fundraise on social media.
