Last updated May 2022
Fundraising on Facebook for nonprofits is becoming more and more popular. Just one Facebook fundraiser raised more than 20 million dollars. On Giving Tuesday, Facebook and PayPal donated 8 million dollars in matching funds. In the past, this amount was raised in a matter of seconds.
On top of their massive access to potential donors, Facebook and PayPal cover the donation processing fees for qualifying nonprofits.
Let’s repeat. There are no fees for qualified nonprofits. This should be one of the main reasons you consider fundraising with Facebook. Even on your nonprofit’s own website, you are usually charged a fee. On crowdfunding sites this fee can be even higher. Facebook is completely free.
So how do you qualify? And what else do you need to know about Facebook fundraising for success in 2022?
There’s no time like the present to be raising funds on Facebook. Billions of dollars have already been raised on Facebook – what’s your nonprofit waiting for?
Here’s the Facebook fundraising rundown:
How Do Facebook Fundraisers Work?
Facebook with Fundraising for Individuals
First off, in certain countries you can host a fundraiser on Facebook even if you’re not a nonprofit. This can be for something such as a personal emergency. In the personal cause case, Facebook requires you to pick a type of fundraiser from this list. Facebook does charge a processing fee for this.
Facebook Fundraising for Nonprofits
You can also of course host a fundraiser if you are a nonprofit or host a fundraiser on behalf of a nonprofit as an individual, such as a Facebook fundraiser for your birthday. If the nonprofit qualifies, the fees are waived. Facebook is also a lot less selective about the cause behind the fundraiser when the money goes to a nonprofit versus an individual.
You can only set up a Facebook fundraiser or donate in certain countries. The US is included on this Facebook fundraising list..
Facebook Fundraising Fees
Back to Facebook’s fundraiser fess – online fundraising can be done in many ways – but oftentimes at a cost. For qualifying nonprofits in certain countries fundraising on Facebook is free. Facebook has been taking care of the fees as of late 2017. Before it was 5%. Now, nothing.
You need to be registered as a nonprofit approved for donations for this. See more details below on how to apply.
This means fundraising on Facebook can be cheaper than using a donate form on your website. We can’t stress this enough. No processing fees is a big benefit for fundraisers. And it’s significantly cheaper than platforms like Go Fund Me. These crowdfunding platforms make money from promoting fundraisers. Facebook actually spends money to help nonprofits process donations. Granted, you still might be able to raise more funds on other platforms with fees. But Facebook does have a massive audience for your appeal like crowd-funding platforms.
Fees for individuals unrelated to a qualifying nonprofit vary per country. You can find more information on Facebook fundraising fees here.
How To Set Up A Fundraiser On Facebook
How To Qualify To Receive Donations As A Nonprofit On Facebook And Access Facebook Fundraising Tools
Charitable organizations based in several countries are eligible for Facebook fundraising tools and can apply for this on Facebook. At the moment, this is basically several countries in the EU and the US.
You do need a Facebook page and may need to edit your Facebook page’s category to apply. Make sure that the Facebook page category is ‘Nonprofit Organization’ or ‘Charity Organization’. Your address should also be included in your about section. You’ll also need to sign up for Facebook Pay and accept their terms of service. You’ll be asked to provide more personal information as well.
Getting approved to accept donations and for Facebook Fundraising Tools is not the same as launching a successful fundraiser on Faceboook. Read on for more tips.
Your Supporters Can Set Up Facebook Fundraisers To Benefit Your Nonprofit
This is a reminder that your nonprofit does not have to launch every fundraiser from its own Facebook page.
Instead of focusing on promoting one fundraiser, you could focus on asking supporters to launch their own fundraisers.
People can set up a specific page to share information about your nonprofit/how they relate to your nonprofit and get people to support their fundraising goal. Your nonprofit might actually automatically be eligible for these, but it’s worth going through the process of signing up anyway.
Once you are eligible, you can check your fundraiser tab on your Facebook page. There you can track the fundraisers created by your supporters.
6 Tips For Successful Fundraising With Facebook
1. Set A Good Fundraising Goal
Facebook requires you to not only include what you’re fundraising for specifically, but also set a dollar amount you’d like to achieve. Set a financial goal that is achievable but is not too easy to hit. Also, make sure the cause is specific too. Just saying “Hello Facebook, we need money” doesn’t cut it. Try to think of a particular project that would be inspiring to your audience on Facebook.
2. Have A Marketing Plan
“Set it and forget it” doesn’t work with Facebook fundraising. Make sure you promote the fundraisers effectively. Outside of Facebook too – for example, you can include it in an email. Encourage people to share it. Share milestones.
See more tips about marketing your Facebook fundraiser below.
3. Choose Your Image Wisely
Your cover photo will be the biggest piece of info displayed about your fundraiser. A poorly chosen stock photo isn’t doing your nonprofit any favors. Think about what can convey your fundraiser’s powerful message best. Try to capture people’s attention and stop scrolling through their feed.
4. Write Powerful Copy
Use the description to share what these donations will help your nonprofit do and why it’s important. Spend some time coming up with a few ideas for this before you settle on one. You should have your audience in mind of course.
5. Be Thankful
You can thank your donors and generate more publicity. This can be done publicly and not just once you hit your goal. See more below.
6. Look For Inspiration From Other Fundraisers
Facebook keeps a list of fundraisers that are doing well. You can check them out for ideas on how to optimize your fundraisers.
How To Use The Facebook Donate Button
You or your supporters don’t need to launch a full-fledged fundraiser to raise money on Facebook. A donate button is another option.
Your nonprofit can use a donate button on your page to accept donations off of Facebook – on your website for example. However, as noted above, this usually involves fees. To avoid those, you can set up a donate button with Facebook’s Fundraising Tools. Basically, this is available to qualifying nonprofits in the US and EU.
Use The Facebook Donate Button On Your Page Headers
Adding a donate button to the top of your Facebook page is simple yet powerful. While it may not be so effective in and of itself, it’s a good reminder to people coming to your page that your nonprofit needs donations.
How To Add A Donate Button To Your Facebook Page
As an admin of your page you can easily set this up by adding a button, hovering over edit button and then electing donate through a website. Or, to avoid potential fees, donate through Facebook – to do that though, you need to follow the steps above to sign up.
Use The Facebook Donate Button On Posts
Don’t want to actually set up a fundraiser but still have an urgent need? You could post about it. Make the call to action at the end donate. It’s an easy way to make an appeal. Asking for funds in a post might be a good start to testing Facebook fundraisers. Be careful to not overdo this though. Once you’ve established your organization’s story and impact, it’s time to ask for donations. You can add a donate button to your post to make it easy for supporters to donate on Facebook when they are inspired to give.
How To Add A Donate Button To Your Facebook Posts
You have two options:
- When you are posting click What’s on your mind, then tag the nonprofit, click post, then add button and you can add a donate button.
- When you are posting click What’s on your mind, then click feeling/activity and select supporting. Then pick a nonprofit, click post and then add button to select the donate button.
For you to receive funds as a nonprofit need to follow the steps above to sign up as a charity on Facebook eligible to receive funds via Facebook Payments or the Network for Good.
Use The Facebook Donate Button On Ads
If you have some fundraising budget, it could be worth investing it in Facebook and directly appealing for donations. You might want to build up your Facebook audience first and/or add the Facebook pixel to your website so you can market to an audience who is already familiar with your nonprofit.
Keep in mind, people will be donating on your website or a payment system outside of Facebook. If you’d like to make it easier to collect donations right from your Facebook ads, you can add a donate button. Clicking on the donate button will take people to a website of your choice to donate.
How To Add A Donate Button To Your Facebook Ads
You need to set up your add and select “Send people to your website,” “Increase conversions on your website” or “Get installs of your app.” You will later add a call to action button and can select the option of “Donate” This donate button will open up to people who click on it a website of your choice for you to inspire and process their donations. There will likely be fees for this system that will be outside of Facebook.
How To Promote Facebook Fundraisers
You should encourage people to fundraise – perhaps for their birthday – see more below. There are hundreds of thousands of charities – the chances of someone randomly picking yours without you asking is not very high. Whether a supporter launches the fundraiser or you do from your nonprofit’s Facebook page, you should keep these marketing tactics in mind.
1. Make Sure You Optimize Your Nonprofit Facebook Page
People like to donate to organizations they trust. It does not take much time to set up a quality Facebook page. Put some effort in so your Facebook presence is professional and inspirational. You might also want to focus on getting some followers first for social capital. Check these tips on growing your nonprofit Facebook page.
2. Promote Fundraisers Organically On Facebook
This is a given. But make sure you have good quality pictures and compelling copy. You can update donors with photos and videos similar to you might with events. Don’t be afraid to send out a few posts, as long as you’re balancing it out with other content.
Pro tip: This is not available to all pages. But you might even be able to segment your audience a bit and only target certain posts to people in a certain geographic area. If your campaign is relevant to people only in one city, you can post to them a few times without annoying others in your audience.
3. Try To Promote Your Fundraiser Using Your Other Channels
This article has been written more for generating traffic to your nonprofit website, but it can still be a helpful read. Maybe you can generate some PR around the campaign or use your mailing list or other social networks outside of Facebook to promote the fundraiser.
Again, Facebook charges no fees – so promoting a fundraiser there can potentially bring in more money than promoting your donation page. If you’re paying attention to the right nonprofit social media metrics, getting a new donor can be well worth using some real estate on other social media channels.
4. Test Out Facebook Ads
Sometimes it takes money to make money. You can target people who have been to your website on the donation page. You can target different interests groups, local people, sometimes even people who like similar nonprofit pages. Read this article to think about whether it’s time for a nonprofit marketing budget.
Inspire Birthday Fundraisers On Facebook
If you are a qualified nonprofit, you can take in donations when people set up a fundraiser for their birthday.
This might be something you might even want to ask your biggest supporters to do and try to help them to promote. Not only can it help you raise funds, but they can do it in a pretty public way.
Facebook in the past has even offered people a small extra incentive and donates themselves if they set it up.
How Do You Get Your Money From A Facebook Fundraiser
And More Specifically: Wen Will You Get The Donations From Facebook?
This is an important point. Unlike linking your donations to many other types of donation forms for example, you won’t get the donation immediately.
You’re eligible to receive funds after 6 days according to Facebook. However, it’s a bit more complicated than that.
To note – you do need to raise $100 though to start receiving donations. This is overall not per fundraiser. Learn more about receiving donations from Facebook. They have put together a helpful chart detailing when you can expect payments. Rest assured, the money is coming.
Matching Donations On Facebook
Creators of Facebook fundraisers, verified profiles and verified pages can set matching donations up. You can pledge to match between $5 and $2500. This is only in the US currently. Facebook has more info on matching donations. This can be a powerful incentive for generating more donations.
If you do set up matching, make sure to let people know. Plus, keep an eye on when Facebook might offer matching donations themselves again.
The Facebook Fundraising Thermometer
By setting a goal for your fundraiser, there is a built in thermometer of sorts at the bottom of a campaign you put together. It will automatically update.
If this isn’t enough for you, or you really want to stand out, you can put together your own fundraising thermometer graphics. You can then share them as individual updates on Facebook. It’s a bit more work, but using a fundraising thermometer on Facebook does add a powerful visual to your updates about the campaign.
The Facebook Mobile App For Fundraising
If you want to test out generating mobile donations, the Facebook app can be used for fundraising. People can donate via their Facebook app – and many will. You can also add a donation button to live videos on Facebook’s mobile apps.
Thank Donors On Facebook
When someone donates, you can like or comment on that individual donation if you think that’s appropriate.
You can also do a shout out on your Facebook page during the fundraising campaign. Don’t overdo that as it can get spammy. But a well-timed thank you to donors can encourage more donations – and it’s just a nice thing to do.
You should of course also follow up with donors outside of Facebook as well.
Facebook Fundraising Conclusion
There’s a lot of aspects to Facebook fundraisers. But you shouldn’t be overwhelmed. It’s not very time consuming to set them up and it’s free to take in donations via Facebook. You can start with one small fundraiser or even a post and build from there.
Also, stay up to date with Facebook for nonprofits via the Facebook’s page created for nonprofits. You never know when they might launch a matching campaign again or launch a new product.
If you need help registering your nonprofit or promoting your Facebook fundraiser, please contact us.
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