In-Memory Fundraising: How to raise more on Facebook during Awareness Months

As the summer starts to fade away and the leaves begin to fall, we mark our calendars with special awareness moments, days and months. 

Whether it’s remembering a child during Child Cancer Awareness Month, setting up a fundraiser in memory of a friend on World Suicide Prevention Day, doing a sponsored run for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, or donating to a local cause for Black History Month, awareness moments provide a time for reflection and remembrance for millions of people around the world. Personally, I have always thought of September as Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, and raised money by taking on an annual swim north of Dublin.

If you want to provide your supporters with an outlet for their grief and memories, whilst advancing your charity’s mission, then why not plan an In-Memory Campaign during an awareness month, and make it social.

Why Facebook Fundraising for your next In-Memory campaign?

According to UK Fundraising, Legacy and In-Memory giving to UK charities will be worth twice as much in real terms in 25 years' time, reaching £10 billion by 2045. Not only this, but this type of fundraising is incredibly powerful on social media platforms, and Facebook specifically, as people are already connected to a network of individuals who want to support them during their difficult time and honor their loved ones’ memory.

In-Memory campaigns depend on social networks, especially those planned for awareness months. Even before Facebook invented its charitable giving tools, people were sharing photos, videos, and links to their fundraising pages with their networks. Social fundraising allows people to set up those fundraising pages directly on their social networks, where they’re already surrounded by family and friends. This naturally means higher engagement for their In-Memory fundraiser with more reactions, comments, and support.

What would this type of campaign look like?

This campaign has a simple, straightforward structure which you should look to build 2 weeks to 10 days prior to your charity’s awareness month, depending on your budget.

The 5 steps you'd take are as follows:

1. Create Facebook Lead Ads with caring copy and poignant imagery.
2. Set up a Facebook Group for your leads to join as a next step.
3. Make that Group into a space for sharing memories and taking action.
4. Build unique, pre-set In-Memory Fundraisers that your Group can easily activate.
5. Share that activation link and tell them how they’ll be making a difference.

How to advertise your In-Memory campaign

Advertising your In-Memory campaign may appear difficult, and it is certainly harder than advertising a fun run or a bake sale, but you can do it authentically and sincerely if you follow our advice.

First, begin by stepping into the shoes of your supporters. If you lost a parent to prostate cancer, and Prostate Cancer Awareness Month was approaching, what kind of offer would speak to you? And what approach might put you off? Start with the point of view of someone who is living with a loss, rather than with the need of a charity to raise funds. Speak directly to the people who may find this month painful, and provide them an opportunity to express their grief through fundraising.

By doing so, your ads should look something like the one below.

For concrete steps to building the advertising campaign, here is what we recommend specifically:

• Start your advertising campaign 2 weeks before your awareness month.
• Set the budget to between $500 to $1000 if this is your first time.
• Pick an audience aged from 26 – 55 for maximum relevance.
• Create copy that acknowledges feelings of loss and the need to remember.
• Use evocative imagery around a central, missing figure for the supporter.
• Ask only for first name and email to begin the supporter relationship.

How to build a community for your campaign

We recommend linking your Facebook Ads to a specially created Facebook Group. Building a Facebook Group is about providing a better journey for your supporters, and giving to them in return for their fundraising. It requires a bit of effort, but makes for an improved experience.

You might be hesitant at the idea of a community built around shared loss, and that is understandable, but step back into the shoes of your supporter, and compare the following two journeys:

Journey without Group:

1. You see a charity ad that speaks to your feelings of loss.
2. You click on ‘Learn More’ or ‘Sign Up’.
3. You receive an Automated Email Journey (we can all tell).
4. You are invited to fundraise.

Journey with Group:

1. You see a charity ad that speaks to your feelings of loss.
2. You click on ‘Learn More’ or ‘Sign Up’.
3. You are invited to join a Group full of individuals who understand what you are going through.
4. You share how you feel and why you joined.
5. You are invited to fundraise.

Building an engaged Group is a skill. But here at GivePanel, we have a lot of experience helping charities with this task. Here are key tips for building the right kind of Facebook Group:

• Give the Group a simple title, such as the one pictured below.
• Write a short and clear 'About' section that gives viewers a reason to choose to join. 
• Pin a Welcome Post to Featured Posts with a clear call-to-action.
• Share personal stories from your own team or from volunteer ambassadors.
• Bring people together around a tangible goal with a clear impact.

How to build custom Facebook Fundraising pages for In-Memory

Once you’ve built an engaged In-Memory Group, your supporters will be ready to fundraise for your charity.

Here at GivePanel, we have an In-Memory feature which allows charities to build custom Facebook Fundraising pages for this kind of campaign. In a matter of minutes, you can pre-set the look and style of the entire campaign and give each supporter page a dynamic title to match the name of the deceased.

All your supporters need to do to create their page is click on a link in your Facebook Group, or in an email.

Here’s how to build the right kind of fundraising pages:

• Use GivePanel’s custom In-Memory pages so they don’t look generic.
• Choose a title that is written in the first person, as if you were the supporter.
• Write an About section that immediately references the Awareness Month.
• Set an initial target that’s reasonable but not too low, such as £200.
• Encourage the supporter to customize further in the fundraiser success message.

How much could you raise for your charity?

GivePanel recently released our 2021 Facebook Fundraising Benchmark Report, which includes trends for In-Memory fundraising on Facebook. It found that people who choose to raise funds in memory of a loved one on Facebook raise six times more than other, self-organized fundraisers on Facebook. They also raise two times more than event fundraisers on the platform.

Even assuming a cost-per-lead of $15-20, given this high average gift your supporters would help you raise over 4 times your ad spend.

Book a GivePanel Demo

If you would like more help from GivePanel on assessing whether In-Memory fundraising on Facebook would work for your cause, get in touch!

Book your 30-minute demo with one of our awesome Facebook Fundraising specialists today to see if GivePanel could help you supercharge your Facebook fundraising.

Related Resources

• Key Findings from the 2021 Facebook Fundraising Benchmark Report
• How to run an In-Memory Facebook Fundraising campaign for Father's Day
• New GivePanel Feature: In-Memory Facebook Fundraisers