Starting Thursday, some Facebook users in the United States will be able to create campaigns to raise money for personal causes from their friends. They can share their personal story and set a fundraising goal on dedicated pages so that friends can donate to 501 (c)(3) non-profits in a few taps or clicks without leaving Facebook.
Facebook, which began allowing non-profits to raise money on the giant social network late last year, has signed up some 50 non-profits and will continue to enroll more.
The initiative comes from the "Social Good" team run by early Facebook employee Naomi Gleit. Gleit says Facebook noticed that people were raising money on Facebook for causes they care about, from breast cancer walks to climate change and wanted to make it easier.
"The inspiration for this is that it was already happening on Facebook," says Gleit, Facebook's vice president of product management for social good.
For years the promise of harvesting donations on social media has dangled out of reach, lagging direct mail, events and other more traditional ways of soliciting donations. Three-quarters of visitors to charity websites came via a search query or by typing in the URL, with only 3% hailing from social media, according to Adobe Digital Index.
In 2007, Internet entrepreneur Joe Green and Facebook billionaire Sean Parker created a Facebook app called Causes. Their theory: People are more likely to donate money to help a cause that is important to someone close to them. Friends who respond to that social pressure receive something in return: social recognition.
Yet charitable giving on Facebook ran into challenges. By and large, people swiping through their News Feed were not so easily lured away from Facebook to donate on a non-profit's web site.
What is emerging as a potentially powerful force: peer-to-peer fundraising, appeals for small sums directly from friends.
One notable success hints at the potential for this type of fundraising on Facebook: the 2014 Ice Bucket Challenge in which friends and celebrities dumped buckets of ice water to raise $115 million for ALS research. In fact, that campaign so successful that The ALS Association, convinced it could have raised even more money directly on Facebook, asked Facebook for the ability to do so.
People will be able to share their fundraising campaigns
People will be able to share their fundraising campaigns on Facebook. (Photo: Facebook)
In testing personal fundraising campaigns on Facebook, Gleit says Facebook learned that friends are moved to open up their wallets by personal stories and photos.
"Giving is really personal. It's one thing for American Red Cross to raise money for American Red Cross. It's another for a friend to raise money on behalf of American Red Cross," Gleit says. "We tend to give to people that we care about."
With the fundraising campaigns, Facebook users can make their appeal on Facebook, Facebook Messenger and by email. Each time someone donates to the campaign, they are prompted to share the campaign and invite friends. Shares and re-shares also contain the "donate" button.
Initially, 1% of U.S. users will be able to create the fundraising campaigns and people in 39 countries can donate to them. In coming weeks the tools will roll out to all U.S. Facebook users, Gleit says.
Any U.S.-based nonprofit that has 501 (c) (3), status a verified Facebook page and agrees to the Facebook Pages Terms can sign up for the program. Not all of the funds raised go to the non-profits. Two percent will cover the cost of running the service, such as vetting non-profits and protecting against fraud, 3% will go to payment processing. Among the nonprofits taking part are The Nature Conservancy, Alzheimer's Association, Girls Prep Campaign and Oxfam.
Ken Mallette, who has traveled to Senegal, Cuba and
Ken Mallette, who has traveled to Senegal, Cuba and Ecuador to see first-hand how his non-profit helps people overcome poverty, hunger and injustice, has set up a personal fundraising page for his 30th anniversary with Oxfam. (Photo: Oxfam)
Mason Weintraub, director of digital engagement with Oxfam America, says she's excited but maintains some "healthy skepticism."
"It's early days but I think there is a lot of potential," Weintraub says.
Oxfam has worked with peer-to-peer fundraising services for several years and seen promise.
"The exciting part about Facebook is that 1.6 billion people are already using it. Having that built-in network and having people with their own personal networks on there should help expose more people to Oxfam's mission just because of the ease and the reach. We will be meeting audiences where they are," Weintraub says.
To mark the launch, Ken Mallette, who has traveled to Senegal, Cuba and Ecuador to see first-hand how his non-profit helps people overcome poverty, hunger and injustice, has set up a personal fundraising page for his 30th anniversary with Oxfam.
"Thirty years ago, I joined up with Oxfam America to attract support for their vitally important work helping people overcome poverty, hunger, and injustice," he wrote. "I’m still as committed as ever to this work and today I’m inviting you to join me."
