Facebook Expands its Charitable Fundraising Tools to Europe

Facebook is making its suite of charitable fundraising tools available to nonprofits based outside the United States.

Verified nonprofits in 16 European countries will soon be able to use the tools, including donate buttons that can be placed on page headers, individual posts, and live video feeds. European nonprofits will also be able to receive dollars generated by fundraising efforts created by individual Facebook users. (Earlier this year, for example, Facebook rolled out something called “birthday fundraisers,” in which it invites users to mark their special day by raising money for a favorite group.)

The expansion outside the United States will begin in late September, when Facebook will test the tools with nonprofits in Britain, France, Germany, Ireland, and Spain. In early October, the company will expand their use to Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, and Sweden.

Emily Dalton Smith, head of social-good partnerships at Facebook, said the tools have been a success in the United States, and the goal now is to get them into the hands of as many people as possible.

Facebook said it is testing the tools with nonprofits including Oxfam Great Britain, Unicef UK, Movember UK, Save the Children Spain, and Aktion Deutschland Hilft. Facebook created a dedicated website where nonprofit leaders can find more details.

Organizations must submit formal documentation proving they are registered nonprofits, which Facebook’s operations team will verify before it grants access to the fundraising tools.

Nonprofits pay a 5 percent fee on donations made via Facebook, which covers the costs of verifying the nonprofits and processing the financial transactions. The company says it does not aim to make a profit from the fundraising tools.

Hurricane Giving

Facebook has been experimenting with charitable fundraising tools for several years. In November 2015, it began allowing nonprofits to create stand-alone fundraising pages for specific campaigns. In June 2016, it expanded that to allow individual Facebook users to raise money on behalf of nonprofits.

Last week, Facebook said it had processed more than $10 million in donations for relief efforts for Hurricane Harvey in Texas and Louisiana.

On Giving Tuesday last December, the company said it processed $6.79 million in donations.

In April and May 2015, 754,000 people donated more than $15 million via Facebook in response to the deadly earthquake in Nepal. The company kicked in $2 million more, with the money going to the International Medical Corps.