Facebook Tests Donate Button, a Mixed Blessing for Charities

A holiday gift from Facebook just landed on the doorsteps of some of America’s biggest charities to help boost their year-end fundraising.

Nineteen nonprofits, including the American Red Cross, Livestrong Foundation, and Unicef, now have the ability to receive donations through their Facebook page with a donation feature that Facebook made available to them on Monday.

When supporters land on a charity’s Facebook page, they can select the “donate now” button (on the top right of the page), enter the amount they want to give and their payment information, and share the fact that they gave through their news feed. Facebook says 100 percent of the online contributions will go directly to charity.

The donate feature was the brainchild of several employees who worked on the project during downtime, says Libby Leffler, strategic-partner manager at Facebook. The 19 charities now testing the idea were chosen because they have a history of running active appeals on the social network.

Facebook plans to offer the donate button to all nonprofits soon, though Ms. Leffler would not say when.

But, she adds, “we completely get the urgency and are hearing that.”

Critics Chime In

This is not the first time this year that Facebook has unveiled a new feature to help nonprofits raise money.

Last month, after Typhoon Haiyan wreaked havoc in central Philippines, Facebook took the unusual step of posting a fundraising appeal on its News Feed function. The campaign urged people to donate $10 to the American Red Cross for emergency relief. Neither Facebook nor the American Red Cross will say how much was raised.

Some nonprofit observers say that while they appreciate Facebook’s move to make it easier for nonprofits to raise money, the donate function can make it tough to develop relationships with donors: Nonprofits don’t get the names or email addresses of people who use the donate button, so it’s impossible to follow up to seek more gifts. Facebook says it won’t provide that information out of concern about the privacy of its members.

Some critics also think Facebook could have done more for charity by awarding them free online advertisements like the Google Grants program does. That would allow nonprofits to spread their messages across the social network.

Writes Beth Kanter, an author and social-media consultant, in her blog: “Nonprofits need a Facebook ad grant program much more than a donation button.”

Send an email to Raymund Flandez.