How to Make Facebook Fundraising Work For You
Facebook announced in 2021 that the Facebook community has raised over $5 billion for nonprofits and personal causes through Facebook and Instagram fundraising tools. Since Fundraisers launched in 2016, more than 85 million organizers and donors have made a difference and unlocked tremendous amounts of generosity.
And, interesting tidbit, Facebook announced that in 2020, women created twice as many fundraisers on Facebook as men and made twice as many donations, with 64% of total funds raised coming from women.
Here at Media Cause we recommend including Facebook Fundraisers in Giving Tuesday, year-end efforts, and other special appeals. They are also a great way to engage your board or other influencers who want to help fundraise on your behalf.
Here are a few of our favorite Facebook fundraising campaigns we’ve had the pleasure to work on:
Stand Up to Cancer (SU2C)
We kicked off SU2C’s 2018 #GivingTuesday campaign with a Facebook fundraiser hosted by cofounder Katie Couric. SU2C’s Facebook fundraiser featured personal notes and videos from Katie Couric and brought in $60,450 in less than 8 days. In addition to numerous social media posts across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, the fundraiser was featured in an email blast that raised an additional $20k through the SU2C website.
Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric Aids Foundation (EGPAF)
EGPAF created its own fundraising moment during the middle of December among the HIV advocate community with the Jake and Rosa Facebook Premiere event. While this was largely geared towards engagement, it was the most successful Facebook fundraising effort after World AIDS Day (which fell on Giving Tuesday). We leveraged the Facebook Post Donate Button and saw average gift revenue more than double from Giving Tuesday benchmarks. The audience really appreciated the content as evidenced by the growth in average gift.
Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose (CDM)
A great way to get your board members involved in fundraising is to ask them to host a Facebook Fundraiser on your page. The Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose had two board members help kick off their Facebook Fundraising efforts when they first launched the giving tools on their page. This resulted in 41 gifts with an average gift of $61 compared to the Facebook fundraiser industry average of $28 for cultural organizations at the time.
The CDM also had success leveraging their 30th anniversary with a symbolic ask, “Give $30 in honor of 30 years.” The organization hosted the fundraiser.
If you’d like to learn more about how to fundraise on Facebook and navigate the different giving options like post donate buttons and fundraiser stickers for Facebook Stories, let us know. We’d love to make Facebook fundraising work for your organization.