In the beginning of december we did a little happy dance. Not just because Christmas was coming up, but because Facebook added some new charity functionalities for Facebook donations, and that we, afterquite some administration, got them activated for SOS Children Villages Belgium. We’re talking about two different aspects: first of all people can directly through Facebook, do an one time donation. Next to that people (with a heart of gold) get the ability to launch their own fundraising project. Let us walk you through it.
1. Donations within Facebook
A page can add a call-to-action button, and choose for the option: donate. That isn’t new, but what is, is that the donation happens completely within Facebook. Before that the button redirected you to the website of the organisation to make your donation on their site.
When someone clicks ‘donate’ they get a pop-up:
There the person who wants to donate can fill in the amount he wants to donate and his payment information. Considered it’s a charity function Facebook takes into account that as a business you need to be able to get a tax receipt, since from a certain amount a year it’s tax-deductible.
When you choose to add your address in order to receive a tax receipt, you get a second pop-up:
When all the information is filled in you receive a thank you message, and your donation is completed!
The person who donates can choose to share his donation. Next to that there’s also the possibility to subscribe to the newsletter of the organization you supported. Doing this gives the organisation the right to add you to their mailing list. After that you get to see a small summary, which you can choose to print.
As a page-admin you also get the ability to see the Facebook donations. You do this by going to settings > donations. There you get the option to download the rapport from the donations.
Do you want to use Facebook donations as a NGO? It’s possible through this site. Take into account that this can take a while as Facebook wants to be absolutely sure that only charities apply.
2. Facebook fundraisers as fans or followers
A second new possibility thanks to Facebook donations is the fact that fans or followers can start a fundraising. When you activate this functionality and additional tab will appear in the navigation menu on the left.
When someone wants to start a fundraising, they get a pop-up to get them started:
When there’re multiple fundraisings, it looks like this on the Facebook page:
We’re really happy with these new functionalities for Facebook donations, and our first experience is positive! Did you already use this new feature or are you planning to do so? Let us know!