MENLO PARK — Looking to strike an emotional chord with potential donors, some nonprofits are turning to Facebook users to help them raise money for worthy causes.
On Thursday, Facebook will start testing a tool that allows people nationwide to create fundraisers for some U.S. nonprofits. About 100 nonprofits have signed up and been approved by Facebook to participate. “Raising awareness plays into the fundraising mix so we think this new tool will be very impactful,” said Lisa Blaney-Koen, senior associate director of e-strategy for the Alzheimer’s Association, which is part of Thursday’s launch. “If people are telling their own personal story about how Alzheimer’s has affected them and are fundraising for the cause that resonates in a very potent way.”
As online donations rise, social media sites have been playing a bigger role in how nonprofits spread the word about a cause. But with direct mail, annual events and other ways to give money, Facebook still makes up a small part of how charities rake in donations. Nonprofits also have to compete with other stories, videos and photos on the site’s News Feed. Peer-to-peer giving is growing though, increasing by 6 percent from 2014 to 2015, according to Network for Good’s Digital Giving Index.
Occasionally, a nonprofit sees big success from fundraising on Facebook. In 2014, The ALS Association raised more than $100 million to help combat the neurological disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis after videos of people dumping buckets of ice of their heads went viral on Facebook.
Meanwhile, the company has been trying to do more to make it easier for nonprofits to raise money. In 2015, Facebook began testing improvements to the donate button and a new campaign tool.
“The vision has always been that we want to empower people to use these tools,” said Naomi Gleit, Facebook’s vice president of product management for social good.
And with 1.6 billion users on Facebook, nonprofits don’t want to be left behind.
“It’s really important to be where our supporters are and where they’re spending their time,” said Amy Ganderson, director of digital engagement at The Nature Conservancy. “We realize that this is just getting started so we’re excited to see where this goes.”
About 1 percent of Facebook users in the United States will be able to create fundraisers on Thursday, but the company plans to roll out the tool to all U.S. users in the coming weeks. Facebook users in 39 countries will be able to donate to these fundraisers.
Contact Queenie Wong at 408-920-2706. Follow her at Twitter.com/QwongSJ.
Fundraising on Facebook
Nonprofits that are interested in allowing people to fundraise on Facebook need to have a verified Facebook page, be a 501(c)(3) U.S. nonprofit and agree to Facebook’s page terms. To sign up, visit www.facebook.com/donate/signup.
Money from these fundraisers will flow straight to the nonprofit. A small percentage of the donations will be used for nonprofit vetting, security, fraud protection, operational costs and payment processing, Facebook said.
