In the three years since Facebook introduced fundraising tools, people on the social network have raised $1 billion for charities and for personal causes, such as family medical emergencies and tuition costs.
“It’s been really incredible to see how much it’s grown,” says Emily Dalton Smith, director of social good product at Facebook. “We’re more motivated than ever to keep building tools and help our community raise funds for the people and causes they care about.”
Last year, people donated $45 million through Facebook on Giving Tuesday. The social network and PayPal, whose Giving Fund processes charitable donations made through Facebook, will match up to $7 million during this year’s event on November 27. Contributions up to $250,000 per nonprofit and $20,000 per donor are eligible to be matched.
Big and Small Gifts
Facebook declined to say how much of the $1 billion raised went to nonprofits and how much went to individuals. It did say that the feature that lets users celebrate their birthdays by raising money for charity brought in $300 million in its first year.
Right now, more than a million nonprofits in 19 countries can receive contributions through Facebook, and the company is taking the fundraising tools to Canada and Australia.
No Kid Hungry has received more than $5 million from more than 200,000 donors in less than two years. The average gift size is $28.
“People are donating small and large sums,” says Clay Dunn, chief communications officer of the No Kid Hungry campaign. “We’ve just really, really been blown away.”
Over the past three years, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has received more than $4.4 million through Facebook from nearly 170,000 donors. The money seems to be a new source of revenue that’s different from the organization’s existing fundraising, says Luke Franklin, vice president for member communications.
The social network is also a great way to show people what the animal-welfare group does, such as rescue animals after natural disasters.
“We’ve been able to share all of that work on Facebook and put a donate button up there just to let folks see tangibly in the moment, Here’s the work that your funds can help to support,” Mr. Franklin says.
Sharing Information
No Kid Hungry estimates that roughly 1.5 percent of the donors who have contributed via Facebook have shared their email addresses with the campaign. At the ASPCA, the rate is roughly 10 percent.
To try to nurture more relationships, the ASPCA’s social-media team reaches out through Facebook to people who set up fundraising pages to benefit the group and comments on individual gifts when possible.
But that’s not a lot to go on for fundraisers trying to make connections with new donors. The company declined to say the overall percentage of donors who share data with the nonprofits they support.
“Some people just want to make the contribution to a friend and don’t want to opt in to share their information, and if that’s their choice, that’s OK,” says Dalton Smith of Facebook. “For other people, they’re really inspired by the cause and kind of have an ongoing relationship with the nonprofit and then they choose to share their personal information.”
