Hi folks, Simon here – GivePanel's Head of Growth.
In this article, I want to answer the two top questions I get asked whenever I'm speaking to nonprofits and charities in Australia:
- Why should I be fundraising on Facebook?
- How the heck do I go about fundraising on Facebook in a way which is smart and scalable?
I'm going to answer these questions and more, with some brilliant statistical nuggets of info thrown in for good measure. Here’s what we'll cover:
- Why should Australian nonprofits use Facebook Fundraising tools?
- The 3 downsides of Facebook Fundraising
- How GivePanel helps solve Facebook Fundraising issues
- How your nonprofit can grow Facebook Fundraising
- How your nonprofit can register for Facebook Fundraising
Make sure you read to the end, as we're going to show you how you can significantly, and I mean significantly, increase your income tenfold through Facebook, just by following a few simple steps. But first, let’s talk about the growth of Facebook fundraising.
Did you know that Facebook fundraising is growing 70% per year?
I want to tell you the truth about Facebook fundraising – as it’s definitely not all sunshine and rainbows. But fear not – because the upsides massively outweigh the downsides. And actually, GivePanel basically exists to solve whatever downsides come your way.
So, back to the stats – there really is no other type of fundraising that is growing at 70% year-on-year. What we saw is that in the 12 months from April 2020 – April 2021, 2 billion US dollars were raised through Facebook Fundraising – which is a pretty awesome stat.
The platform's only been around for five years, so the mass adoption curve really is just kicking in, boosted by all the new tools Facebook launches. And hey, guess what? If you're not in it, you're not going to win at it. So get on Facebook, start using it as a fundraising platform, and access this incredible community of new supporters for your cause.
What’s cool is that this is the first time a community social network has said: we're going to build a fundraising platform and give you access to our audience with your nonprofit. So – ask your donors and fundraisers where they are, communicate with them where they are in the digital space, and ask them to fundraise and support you.
Why should Australian nonprofits use Facebook Fundraising tools?
There are tons of reasons why Australian nonprofits use Facebook fundraising tools – which I’ve neatly summed up for you:
- The incredible reach: There are around 3 billion active users on Facebook. And despite popular belief, that is growing month-on-month.
- Powerful network effects: Just by creating a fundraiser and by making a donation, that’s going to appear in your newsfeed – it’s out there for the community to see, seamlessly.
- Speaking of seamless: No new usernames, or password. If you’re on Facebook and your profile is already set up, you’re ready to make a donation.
- Acquisition: 9/10 fundraisers will be brand new to your nonprofit. Now that’s one heck of a stat!
The 3 downsides of Facebook Fundraising
Well, this all sounds great. So what’s the catch? There are three main problems…
#1 You get limited data
We need more supporter records! Facebook passes on limited details for fundraisers to the nonprofit – and the data that you do get is provided in a complex format, making it time-consuming and confusing to pick apart – which makes it difficult to know where the real gems are.
#2 Difficult to get MORE fundraisers
Most organizations don’t get nearly as many birthday fundraisers as they might like – and on the flip side, there are organizations out there raising millions each month just from birthday fundraisers. But what if you don’t get ANY birthday fundraisers?
Some have experimented with birthday ads, which try to capture people whose birthday was in 4-6 weeks – but the ROI on this was limited, if not negative. We’ve cracked many fundraising models, but this one’s proving a difficult nut to crack.
In contrast, Facebook Challenges can really dial up your fundraising on Facebook – so is well worth looking into. And if you need help getting started, check out our blog post on how to do just that.
#3 Nonprofit admin tools and support are lacking
It goes without saying, but it’s hard to build on a platform which isn’t yours. The nonprofit admin tools are ever changing, and support can be lacking – in that it’s hard to get in contact with Facebook directly.
We’ve been going on about this for years in the digital fundraising community – the need for notifications when someone starts a new fundraiser, for example. When said fundraiser is complete, we can thank them for their support. This makes community management particularly difficult and time-consuming.
How GivePanel helps solve Facebook Fundraising issues
The good news is that though there are some cons to Facebook fundraising, GivePanel are solving problems left, right and center – making it very easy to support your fundraising on Facebook – and we’re constantly building new incredible tools on top of that to help you along the way.
So if you're still not convinced that fundraising on Facebook is for you, the rest of this blog might just sway you…
How your nonprofit can register for Facebook Fundraising
Australian charities can now use the full suite of Facebook Giving tools.
Three years ago, Facebook and PayPal rolled out a partnership, allowing Australian supporters to fundraise on Facebook using PayPal – making life so much easier!
To get registered, simply head to this link. It takes five minutes to fill an application and typically about two or three weeks to process, and you'll have full access to this suite of tools. It really is as easy as that!
So, what exactly is this suite of tools, and how are they going to help me, I hear you ask?
Let’s use WWF UK as an example. If you take a look at their Facebook page, their fundraisers are prominently displayed, very easy to click and donate and raise money for them directly.
Once you have this tab all set up on your own page, you can engage directly with folks who have donated to you and your cause. You can thank your supporters personally, which is hugely powerful. From here, you can even ask for additional data from your new supporters.
The essentials here really are: make sure you thank everyone who donates, retain your supporters, catch their data and take them on a journey with you.
How your nonprofit can grow Facebook Fundraising
Right, now we’ve got those foundational pieces in place… How can we grow Facebook fundraising? How can we make this platform unlock as many new opportunities as possible for your organization? And what could the future look like?
Once you’re thanking your supporters, you’ll see a 23% increase on your month-on-month income – with one in three of those supporters taking the next step to give you their details. It’s as simple as making that human-to-human connection to nurture and grow your fundraising community – which is what we’re all about here at GivePanel.
With excellent community management in place, you can see here just how much this helps scale up, and achieve some significant income driven for free on Facebook. It doesn’t get much better than that!
Now it’s over to you. Take these steps – get registered on Facebook, and turn on those fundraising tools!
About GivePanel
We’re a fundraising power tool that helps you unlock Facebook by giving you a proven way to thank all your fundraisers, collect contact details, track results, and drive new fundraisers. With GivePanel, you can raise more, build long-lasting relationships, and run Facebook Challenges all in one place.
We are proud to work with 300+ charities in over 15 countries, helping them acquire new supporters, increase their income, and learn more about social fundraising.
If you’d like to learn more about GivePanel and how best to turn up that dial with your Facebook fundraising, book a demo with me today.
