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Blog Header Image - How to plan the perfect Facebook Challenge in 2023

Mike Morris
October 13, 2022

How to plan the perfect Facebook Challenge in 2023

I understand. I will apply all the requested changes—reducing passive voice, shortening sentences, boosting transition words, and adding subheadings—to make this guide clear, actionable, and engaging for your fundraising audience.

🗺️ Your Guide to Planning the Perfect Facebook Fundraising Challenge for 2023

Like many non-profits, your charity plans its fundraising mix for the year ahead. You decide what campaign or activity to include. But if you haven’t tried Facebook Challenges, the idea might seem daunting.

How do you find the right Challenge activity? It must suit both your non-profit and your supporters. How do you keep people engaged throughout the whole event? What should you budget? Finally, how do you convince decision-makers that Challenges are the way forward?

The answer: this comprehensive guide to planning your $\mathbf{2023}$ Facebook Fundraising Challenge!

Who This Guide Is For

This guide is for you if you are a fundraising lead or manager. It assists you in deciding your $\text{2023}$ suite of campaigns. It tells you everything you need. You learn how to plan and scope Challenges. Furthermore, you learn how to pitch the idea to your $\text{CEO}$ and board. We also cover planning amid the current cost of living crisis.

The guide is also useful if you are a digital lead in a charity. Use it to innovate with your digital fundraising. Collaborate with your fundraising team. Together, you can test this highly effective format.

And, of course, this guide is for those in community or event fundraising. We provide implementation details. You know exactly what these social fundraising Challenges mean for your budgets and work plans.

💡 First Up: What Is a Facebook Challenge?

A Facebook Challenge is a virtual fundraising event. It uses multiple Facebook features to sign up participants, provides an online community and also makes online fundraising easy. Because everything happens within the Facebook platform, Challenges create a seamless and enjoyable supporter experience.

Here’s how the Challenge works in $\mathbf{12}$ steps:

  1. A Challenge concept is developed, such as ‘Walk $\mathbf{100}$ Miles in May’.
  2. A free incentive is offered to attract people. T-shirts are a popular choice, but you can try other options.
  3. Facebook Lead Ads acquire participants. People see the ads and sign up instantly.
  4. Once signed up, supporters are directed into a Facebook Group. They join the Challenge community there.
  5. They receive a call-to-action to set up a Facebook Fundraising Page. Your charity must sign up for Facebook’s Giving Tools for this to happen.
  6. Participants do the Challenge activity in their own time. This suits their schedules. Consequently, it means much fewer logistics for charities than an in-person event.
  7. The group encourages and motivates each other daily. Your team must oversee and moderate the group. This ensures high engagement.
  8. Facebook’s Charitable Giving Tools rely on PayPal Giving Fund to handle payments. This ensures a seamless fundraising experience.
  9. Sharing Fundraising Pages with friends and family is easy. Facebook builds prompts and reminders into the platform to help spread them.
  10. Because everything happens on Facebook, Challenges see much higher activation and conversion rates. Participants do not have to set up new accounts.
  11. In the backend, GivePanel allows charities to track funds and thank all fundraisers.
  12. After the Challenge, you have an opportunity to gather opt-ins for ongoing consent. Therefore, you build longer-term relationships with participants. Facebook Challenges are a fantastic model for attracting completely new audiences.

There’s obviously much more detail involved, but this gives you a broad overview.

📊 What Results Are Charities Seeing?

Our $\mathbf{2021}$ Facebook Fundraising Benchmark Report covers exactly this! Income from Facebook Challenges increased by $50\%$ between 2020 and 2021.

From the top $\mathbf{40}$ Challenges measured, these were the average results:

Should Our Non-profit Do a Facebook Challenge?

A diverse range of charities run successful Challenges. Concepts range from simple walking to quirky craft activities. However, they are not for every single kind of organization.

Ask yourself these initial questions:

Take our quiz to evaluate your non-profit. Figure out if a Challenge fits your organization. It will only take a few minutes to complete!

📉 Planning Amid the Cost of Living Crisis

It’s important not to panic about the cost of living crisis. Do not talk yourself into a crisis. Many organizations made a huge mistake by slashing budgets and targets at the start of the pandemic.

Fundraising strategy expert and consultant, Tom Hickey, offers this advice:

What About Competition in the Market?

There will always be competition in fundraising. This is true regardless of the format you use! There is competition in the Challenge space. However, there is still much potential. You can achieve a strong combination of cause, concept, and message. This can activate a new audience who has never done a Challenge.

Given the competition and the cost of living, the fundamentals are more important than ever. Invest in training your team. They must plan and deliver the Challenge effectively. Also, remember to know your audience. Design your Challenge with them in mind. Ensure the messaging connects with them.

The GivePanel Academy provides the training, resources, coaching, and peer support your organization needs.

📝 How Do I Get Started?

I recommend three steps to start getting your idea together:

  1. Use our free planning calculator tool to work out costs. It shows what kind of return you can expect to see.
  2. Review your calendar and find a space for a month-long Challenge. Alternatively, identify an existing, underperforming campaign to replace.
  3. Make the case to senior management. Get the buy-in, resources, and budget.

Getting Buy-In from Senior Management

We have several resources that help you get buy-in from your team:

It’s crucial that your fundraising director understands how Challenges work. They must see the potential for acquisition. Crucially, they must recognize the synergy across different forms of fundraising. Challenges are a great lead generator for regular giving. They also lead to a serious uplift in birthday fundraisers. Challenges should be a key part of the overall fundraising mix.

What Kind of Budget Do I Need?

Plan now for next year. You will need a substantial budget for a Challenge. Ensure you allocate and lock down this budget well in advance.

The main costs are incentives and ads. Use our free planning calculator tool to work out your spend. Play around with the numbers. See what you get with a bare minimum budget. Then, explore the return projected with a more ambitious spend.

Mistakes to Avoid When Starting

Challenges have many ingredients. It’s easy to mess things up if you don’t understand the user journey (funnel). Think through all the following points to stay on the right track:

Next Step: Download the Tool!

First, download our free Challenge calculator tool. Enter what you think you can spend on ads, t-shirts, fulfillment, and external support. It will generate projections for you. You can tweak the numbers until you get appropriate results.

Once you’ve done that, you can start planning your first Challenge. GivePanel has resources to help:

Download the free Facebook Challenge calculator tool!

Simply fill in the form below to download the tool. You will receive a link to access the Campaign Budget Calculator.