We're thankful for Facebook's fundraising tools, but know it can be an effort to thank your Facebook fundraisers individually - especially when there are hundreds or thousands of them!
Any fundraiser worth their salt knows they should be thanking people who donate or fundraise for their cause on Facebook.
However, there seems to be confusion around the best way to thank Facebook Fundraisers, with many nonprofits not doing any thanking at all.
The reasons for this vary but usually is a result of there being not enough resource as well as a lack of knowledge on how to find who has set up a Fundraiser for your nonprofit.
Through our work with a variety of nonprofits, here are tried and tested best practices for thanking your Facebook Fundraisers.
Four reasons to thank your Facebook fundraisers
With the right ‘thanking’ strategy you can ensure that the supporter feels valued and you can build a long term relationship with them, through your onboarding ‘welcome’ journey.
Here are four reasons to make saying thank you part of you Facebook fundraising strategy:
- A Facebook Fundraiser, particularly a Birthday Fundraiser is a pretty big gesture and implies a strong affinity to your cause.
- It will motivate them to raise more. When you say ‘thank you’, let them know how their money will help. Also offer tips and advice on how they can reach their target.
- It reassures the fundraiser that you know they are raising money for your cause and that you will receive the funds.
- It’s a chance to start a relationship as – from our research – most Facebook Fundraisers are new supporters to your nonprofit.
Thanking fundraisers vs. donors
It’s important to distinguish between fundraisers and donors. The fundraiser is the person who sets up the Fundraiser and has an affinity to your cause. The donor, in this context, is the person who donates to the Fundraiser.
These people are usually friends, family or colleagues of the fundraiser and are donating to support their friend, not necessarily your nonprofit. That’s why we recommend only thanking the fundraiser BUT empowering them to thank their donors.
If you are a nonprofit with a lot of Fundraisers, how do you prioritise who to thank? By using GivePanel you can start thanking new fundraisers as soon as they’ve had their first donation. Or perhaps you want to prioritise your top fundraisers?
If you don’t have time to thank everyone, decide who you will focus on first. With GivePanel, you can filter by Amount Raised so that you ensure you prioritise those who have raised the most.
The perfect messaging strategy
Our research shows that the best way to thank the fundraiser is by posting a message on their Facebook Fundraising wall as this means you’ve acknowledged their effort and you’re thankful for their support. It’s not best practice to thank them on Facebook Messenger.
Next, decide on your messaging strategy. This will depend on how much resource you have and how many Fundraisers there are for your nonprofit.
We’d recommend a strategy of a maximum of two messages. This is the most effective for thanking as it encourages them to raise more as well as providing an opportunity to encourage them to opt into communications with you (with GivePanel you can create data capture forms and include a link to these in your thanking), meaning potentially converting them into lifetime supporters.
Here’s our two message strategy:
- The first message should simply say ‘thank you’ and include a link to your data capture form (if this is part of your strategy) so you can start to build that all-important relationship with your new supporter. Here’s an example:
Hi (name), thank you so much for donating your birthday for (cause)! We are delighted and grateful for your support. We’d love to keep in touch to let you know the difference that your support has made so please do fill in this form so we can contact you. Thanks, (name).
- The second message is a final ‘thank you’ when the Fundraiser has ended and to include a reminder to fill out the data capture form IF they didn’t the first time. Here’s an example:
Hi (name), now that your Fundraiser is complete, we just wanted to say a huge thank you for raising (amount) to support our work! We couldn’t do (x,y,z) without amazing people like you. We’d love to keep in touch to let you know the difference that your support has made so please do fill in this form so we can contact you. Thanks again, (name)
How nonprofits are saying thank you on Facebook
Here are some examples of ‘thank yous’ from nonprofits on Facebook.
A top tip we've learnt is images actually reduce the conversion rate of data capture.
Keeping track of who you’ve thanked on Facebook
Whether you have three Facebook Fundraisers or 300, it’s important to keep track of them and who you’ve thanked. One way you could do this is by using a spreadsheet - although you’d need some Excel wizardry skills!
A simple way to keep track is through GivePanel, using the labels feature. The labels help you to log where you’re at with your messaging, ensuring that you don’t miss anyone, or any stage, out.
Need more Facebook Fundraising help?
Need more ideas and inspiration for how you can raise more on Facebook? Take a look at these bonus Facebook Fundraising resources from the GivePanel team:
