Top insights on Instagram Donate from WWF UK
This is valuable, frank feedback on the early days of Instagram’s donation tools. I will revise the text to meet all your editing instructions: I’ll reduce passive voice, significantly shorten sentences, and add necessary subheadings to enhance readability.
📸 WWF UK on Instagram Donate: Early Findings and Future Tests
Nicola, Senior Social Media Manager at WWF UK, shares her experience using Instagram Donate.
Like many social media teams, we at WWF UK were excited to try Instagram Donate. This feature added to one of the fastest-growing social platforms. We wanted to see how it aided our Facebook fundraising. Specifically, we aimed to get closer to our audience. We wanted to understand their motivations and help them join our mission.
It’s widely known that younger generations typically give lower donations. Our own research at WWF-UK confirms this. Younger demographics are more likely to give one-off donations. They are less likely to sign up for a monthly direct debit.
Are Instagram Donations Rolling In?
Our experience at WWF-UK shows this feature is still in its infancy. This applies both technically and from a supporter perspective. Simply put, it isn’t a well-known feature. It is not the obvious choice for a supporter who wants to raise money. It competes with platforms like JustGiving, Virgin Money Giving, and Facebook fundraisers.
The sticker’s design is good. It clearly shows what you want supporters to do. We love the ability to customize the heading! However, the supporter donation journey is clunky. After hitting the donate button, supporters choose an amount. Then, they face multiple forms. This does not even include the Gift Aid form if they choose that option!
This clunky process is a big barrier for supporters. Even if this were resolved, the sticker will take time to gain recognition. Facebook predicts the donation sticker will take at least six months to gain traction. However, they did pair this with a key insight: in the US, thousands of donations have been raised through this feature for international crises.
The Amazon Crisis Test
Three weeks after the sticker launched, the Amazon rainforest fires made headlines. Soon after, our tweet and Instagram post on this devastating story went viral. Hundreds of people asked how to donate. In response, we launched an emergency appeal. We also gave supporters the option to donate directly on the platform.
However, the donation sticker only raised about $\text{£4,000}$. Facebook fundraising on our channel posts brought in tens of thousands. This includes Facebook birthday fundraisers and donations through our website. Most influencers, both known and new to WWF-UK, avoided the sticker. They preferred sending followers to our website link in bio.
💡 Should Charities Use the Instagram Donation Sticker?
Testing and Outreach
Use this time to test, test, test!
We are currently testing the feature on awareness days. This helps us see if our audience prefers a one-off donation over our popular animal adoptions. Furthermore, when influencers ask how to support us, we recommend the sticker. We ask them to set up a donation sticker and tag us. This ensures we don’t miss it.
As with all new features, it takes time for them to catch on. For example, remember the days of Google+? They might not even last. But if they do, like Instagram Stories and IGTV, charities must create familiarity. Instagram rolled out the donate button to all charities in Europe. WWF-UK currently tests this on our profile. Who knows what the next charitable giving tool will be!
Technical Challenges and Thanking
Before launch, Facebook informed us that a direct message would notify charities when a supporter used the sticker. This was supposed to happen regardless of whether they tagged the account. Unfortunately, this element was dropped due to technical issues.
Facebook is working on a fix as a top priority. The timeline for this is still unknown. But once it’s in place, charities will certainly be happier.
For now, we only thank supporters who tag our profile. We use our branded thank you $\text{GIFs}$. We also share a certificate they can screenshot and share. We use this tactic when supporters donate through WWF-UK’s stories. This works because Instagram details which accounts donated. It also provides the direct message function.
Duration and Reporting
How long does an Instagram donation sticker last? Donation stickers last $\text{24}$ hours. They can last longer if the user adds the story to their highlights section. This is useful for supporters fundraising for a Challenge event. At WWF-UK, we added our Amazon emergency campaign stories to our highlights. However, we only gained a few donations after the initial $\text{24}$-hour period. We plan to create a slick “what we do” evergreen story with the sticker as the main call to action. Watch this space!
How do you work out the total amount raised? When you use the donation sticker on your charity’s stories, the total is available in the stories archive. You also see this detailed on the downloadable transaction report from Facebook.
The source name for sticker donations appears as ‘ig_donation_sticker’. However, the permalink appears as $\text{instagram.com}$, which is unhelpful. Facebook fundraisers, by contrast, reveal a direct link to the fundraiser page.
Best practice tip: Change the headline of your donation sticker every time you use it. This helps you identify where donations originated on your transaction report.
Data Opt-In
This report only provides donor details, not the fundraiser’s. Without the fundraiser details, you cannot thank the fundraiser or the donor when the donation takes place outside of your own stories.
Can Instagram fundraisers or donors opt in to charity marketing? There currently is no option for fundraisers or donors to opt-in via Instagram Donate. Our experience with Facebook fundraising shows most supporters do not opt-in anyway. Instead of focusing on changing this, we accept it.
If someone chooses to engage with your charity on a social media platform, they will likely keep doing so. Therefore, our job is to keep our channel fresh, exciting, and worth our supporter’s valuable scrolling time!
🔗 Other Blogs That May Be of Interest
- What’s a Virtual Challenge?
- When to use Facebook’s donate button vs a page fundraiser