Making Meta Fundraising Work for You

Social media is an incredible tool for nonprofits to communicate with their audience and reach supporters they normally wouldn’t with traditional media. In addition to increased communications, nonprofits can raise funds to support their causes, especially on platforms like Meta. 97% of all revenue for nonprofits generated on Meta comes from peer-to-peer fundraising pages, and organizations have used the platform to raise more than $7 billion to date, making it one of the best platforms to raise money for your organization or cause. 

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There are countless reasons why Meta is a great platform for nonprofit fundraising. Meta fundraising campaigns are quick to launch once your nonprofit is verified. It only takes a few steps for organizations to get their feet on the ground and start fundraising. 

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In addition, Meta fundraising campaigns are easy to use for your donors. Users can link their payment information right to their account for fast giving. Meta is also equipped to reach new supporters: Roughly 7 in 10 U.S. adults use Meta, which means that’s 190 million potential donors, volunteers, and champions for your nonprofit.

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There are plenty of different ways to ensure that your Meta fundraiser is working for your organization and is as productive as possible! Some tips are:

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Create a Nonprofit Page Fundraiser

One of the first steps to enabling all the fundraising tools that Meta offers is to add the fundraising section to your organization's Facebook page. This is a section on your page, just like ‘photos’ or ‘about’ or ‘reviews’. By creating a fundraiser, your organization can use all other Meta fundraising tools, gain access to Meta’s detailed analytics on your donations, and allow people to easily fundraise for their organization in their own posts. You don’t have to have a fundraiser page to gain access to all of Meta’s fundraising tools (keep reading to learn more about donation buttons), but this is one of the most popular ways for nonprofit organizations to raise funds on Meta. 

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To create this page, you will follow simple steps from the fundraising tab on your nonprofit page and provide some basic information about your fundraiser. The stronger the description of your fundraiser is, the more likely your audience is to connect with your message and mission and want to donate. One specific piece of information you will have to provide is a deadline. Because of this, your fundraiser theoretically has a time limit and isn’t an ongoing space for your audience to return to to support your organization. However, you do have the ability to consistently update the deadline and end date of your fundraiser if you wish to continue raising funds on that specific page. 

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Use a donation button on your Facebook page or post

Using a donate button is a quick way for people to give funds to your organization without leaving Facebook. You can add the donate button to your Facebook page and posts, making it easy for supporters to contribute in just a few steps. 

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When you add the donate button, there is no specific fundraising page for your audience to see what exact cause they are donating to. Rather, they will look at the information on your official page or the information in the post to be persuaded to donate. A benefit of using the donate button over creating a fundraiser is that you don’t have to set a deadline for people to donate. Rather, it is a permanent space for your audience to return to keep some consistency with your donations. 

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While both ways of setting up nonprofit donation spaces on Facebook are effective and have pros and cons- at Data Genomix, we recommend using both strategies to maximize your organization’s fundraising efforts!

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Support users that are holding their own fundraisers in your name

Once you have fully configured fundraising for your nonprofit, individual Facebook users will be able to hold their own ‘mini fundraisers’ to support your organization. This enables your audience to use their own voice to speak about why they support your organization and cause and creates a personal connection for others to see and engage with. It’s one thing to have an organization (even a nonprofit) ask for money, but it means much more when it's coming from a user who loves the organization. You can allow other users to add donate buttons to their own posts, enabling them to raise money on their own for your organization. 

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Meta users will hold Facebook fundraisers on their birthdays which are among the most successful fundraisers on the platform. In the last year alone, Facebook birthday fundraisers raised more than $300 million in donations to nonprofit organizations. 

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With these fundraisers, it’s always important to acknowledge and thank the individual user who is raising and donating money to your organization. When you follow up and thank your audience, they are more likely to support you again or recommend their friends to support your cause. 

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Take advantage of Meta Giving Season

We know that timing is everything when it comes to nonprofit fundraising, and Meta knows it too. Some typical times to take advantage of the spirit of giving are Giving Tuesday, the holiday season, and any big anniversary milestones that your organization may have. All these time periods incentivize your audience to give more, and Meta takes time to match donations during certain seasons. That’s why Meta’s Giving Season is so important to maximize your fundraising efforts.  

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Giving Season is six weeks each year, where Meta will match up to $7 million of donations to eligible nonprofits on Facebook. To be eligible, donations must be made to US-based nonprofits that are approved to fundraise on Facebook. Advertising your fundraiser to your audience during this season creates even more of an incentive for your audience to give to your organization. 

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Meta is a great platform to connect with your audience and raise funds to support the mission of your nonprofit. To learn more about how to make Meta fundraising work for you, contact the Data Genomix team.

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