A Crash Course on Facebook Fundraising Donation Pages
If your nonprofit hasn't yet set up a Facebook page, or if your Facebook page isn’t optimized, or if you don't have Facebook Fundraising enabled, or if you don't have a great Facebook strategy... You are missing out on an opportunity to connect with potential donors, volunteers, and supporters.
In this article/video, we are doing a full Facebook fundraising tutorial.
We cover optimization, strategy, content, Facebook Charitable Giving Tools, and analytics.
Optimizing Your Facebook Profile for Fundraising
The first step to improving your nonprofit's Facebook presence is to create a strong profile.
Your profile is a representation of your nonprofit. So, it is vital to ensure that you have a profile picture, cover photo, and a description that reflect your organization and its values.
For your profile picture, it is best to use your logo. Make sure it fits well in the little box and is still recognizable.
Your banner is where you can display a visual representation of your organization, like your clients, your programs, your team, or your volunteers in action.
The about section is also critical because Google grabs information about your organization from your bio. Ensure that you are filling it out and including a keyword-rich description. Include your web address, physical address, hours of operation, and contact information.
You can utilize Facebook reviews. They can help you increase organic reach, boost credibility, gain stakeholder trust, and promote positive experiences. It can also help earn you a top spot on Facebook professional services.
You can also turn "Similar Page Suggestions" on so people who view similar pages can find your profile.
Lastly, remember to keep your profile updated and current.
Creating a Facebook Fundraising Strategy
According to Sprout Social, here is how you should be allocating your time on social media.
Thirty-five percent of your time on social media should be spent engaging with your audience. Twenty-five percent of your time should be on researching and planning your social media strategy. Twenty percent on creating and curating content to post, ten percent on collaborating with your Facebook marketing team, and the last ten percent of your time spent analyzing past posts' performance.
When starting, part of the research and planning is creating a marketing strategy specific to Facebook. This means you must define what you are trying to achieve on the platform, your mission, and your goals.
Think about things like how Facebook fits into the rest of your marketing strategy. Are you trying to raise awareness, fundraise, recruit volunteers, or all other above? Who is your target audience? What are their passions, interests, and motivations? What are your main message and values as an organization? What are you trying to say?
Set clear, attainable, and measurable (or trackable) goals. We will go over the best ways to track the success of your plans later in the video.
Creating a Facebook Content Strategy
Twenty percent of your time on Facebook should be spent creating and curating content.
You should avoid just posing randomly. Consistent posting will help with the algorithm and improve your reach. Post relatively frequently, depending on how much you and your team can manage. Remember to start slow until you can get the hang of things, but ideally, the goal would be to post something every day.
Your posts must be high quality, relevant and compelling. Do not sacrifice quality for quantity. You want your posts to be valuable, engaging, entertaining, or informative.
If you're having trouble figuring out what to post, switch up the types of posts you are sharing. You can share links; this could be of your blog, donation page, or repost an article that is relevant to your organization or mission.
You can post photos and videos of your services and programs. Create an appreciation post for your donors and volunteers. Share some updates on your cause and/or mission. If you have an idea for a text post, always try to pair it with some visual content, like a photo, gif, quote image, short video, infographic, or a 360 photo.
Don't be afraid to ask for engagement. Give people a reason to interact with your posts. For example, ask them to comment on why they volunteer or ask them to 'like' if they agree with what you are saying. That extra engagement will also help increase your reach by working with the algorithm.
Use the 70/20/10 rule to make the most out of your posting to keep things simple.
This rule states that 70% of your posts should be valuable content. This would be any posts adding value to your community, engaging, informative, entertaining, or inspiring posts.
Twenty percent of your post should be shared content. These would be curated posts from other Facebook accounts or uplifting other people's voices from within or outside of your community.
And the last ten percent of your content should be promotional content. This is where you can promote your program's events, campaigns, blog, or anything that could be considered promotional. It's a good idea to keep this sort of content to a minimum because people generally don't like to be sold all the time. Users are more likely to engage with the other two types of content.
The largest portion of your social media marketing time should be spent engaging your audience.
This mean means should be using your time to thoughtfully be responding to questions, answering direct messages, replying to comments, and your posts or posts tagging your organization. You could also use this time to find relevant hashtags, join new communities, and reach out to your supporters.
Engaging with your audience in this way helps you 'humanize your organization and builds trust within your community. It also helps distinguish your organization's voice and brand identity.
Setting up Facebook Fundraising with Facebook Charitable Giving Tools
So, how to get donations on Facebook?
There are several free Facebook fundraising tools nonprofit organizations can use to fundraise on Facebook. Facebook must verify your organization to access these tools. This eligibility depends on which country or region you are located.
The first step is to apply by visiting https://socialimpact.facebook.com/get-started/fundraise-with-facebook/ and clicking ‘Apply to use Facebook’s Charitable Giving Tools.’ It is as simple as just following the direction. It takes about 2-3 weeks to get your approval, but once you do, you have access to a TON of great features.
Tip: You must be listed on Facebook as a nonprofit or charity.
Simply login into Facebook, click and “Sign up for Charitable Giving Tools,”
You will need to enter your organization’s info, including tax ID. You will also need to upload a verification document, such as a utility bill, business license, or tax filing.
Facebook Fundraiser Page
Once you have been verified and approved, you can set up your Facebook fundraiser page. Here are some of the instructions provided by Meta.
How to Create a Facebook Fundraiser
From a desktop, go to your nonprofit Page and click on the 'Fundraiser Tab.'
Look for 'Create a Fundraiser' and click 'Raise Money.'
Add a fundraising goal, currency, and deadline, then click 'Next.'
Fill in the title and description of your Fundraiser and click 'Next.'
Pick a cover photo and click 'Create.'
Donate Button
The Donate button is a quick way for people to give funds to your organization without leaving Facebook. You can add the Donate button to your Facebook Page and posts, making it easy for supporters to contribute in just a few steps. Before adding a Donate button, you'll first need to sign up for Facebook Pay.
One of these tools is the donation button. This tool will add a donate button on your Page, posts, and live videos that allow people to donate directly to your cause.
How to add the Donate Button to your Page:
Go to your nonprofit Page.
Select (+) to add a button. If you already have a CTA button, hover over it and select the ‘Edit’ button.
Select ‘Donate’ to let people donate directly through your Facebook Page. You’ll need to sign up for Facebook Pay.
Select 'Finish.'
Facebook Live with Donate Button
Live videos are an easy and powerful way for you to reach, engage with and inspire your supporters.
Your live video can be as long as 8 hours (for example, if you're broadcasting a live event). It will appear on your Facebook Page, where your supporters and followers can see it. You can include a Donate button or link to your Nonprofit Page Fundraiser from your Facebook live video to raise money for your cause in real-time. Get creative and make your videos more fun and engaging with tools like filters, themes, and effects.
Supporter Fundraisers
People create supporter fundraisers on behalf of a nonprofit. For example, someone could set up a fundraiser instead of asking for gifts to celebrate a birthday or make a difference in a time of crisis such as a natural disaster. As part of the Fundraiser, they can tell others why they support your cause to amplify its impact.
Follow the same instructions for the Facebook Fundraiser page but click on Support Fundraisers and get a link that can be shared.
Use the Thank You Tool.
The fundraising Thank You tool is a simple and effective way for nonprofits to express gratitude toward nonprofit supporters.
On your nonprofit Page, click on the 'Fundraisers' tab to see the list of fundraisers created on your behalf.
Below any supporter fundraiser, click the button 'Say thanks.'
Enter your appreciation note and then click on 'Post.'
The Thank You post will appear on the Fundraiser's Page.
There are also tools for drives, blood donations, volunteering, and so much more, including Instagram.
Facebook Ads for Donations
Facebook ads can be a valuable tool for nonprofit organizations. They allow you to target specific demographics and interests and effectively reach your target audience. However, it's important to remember that Facebook ads are not a magic bullet. Facebook ads require careful planning and execution to be successful.
There are two ways to create an ad on Facebook. One is to 'boost' a post. Boosting is a simple way to take an already existing post and turn it into an ad that with show up in more feeds. Remember that boosting will not give you the same customization options as creating an ad from scratch.
Creating an ad campaign without an existing post is a little more complicated as you have to make it in the Facebook business manager. However, this will give you more freedom and options for how you would like your campaign to run.
When creating a Facebook ad or boosting a post, remember to keep the following things in mind:
1) Make sure your ad is relevant to your target audience
2) Keep your ad copy short and to the point
3) Use strong visuals that will grab attention
4) Include a call to action in your ad
5) Use analytics to test different ad versions and see what works best
Following these tips can create an effective Facebook ad campaign to help you achieve your goals. And remember, you don't need to spend a lot of money on ads - even a small budget can be successful if used wisely. So don't be afraid to experiment and test different approaches.
Analyzing Results
You can use the Insights Dashboard to get info on fundraisers created for your nonprofit and donations made to your organization. The Fundraiser Insights Dashboard is only available for nonprofit organizations that have enrolled to use Facebook's Charitable Giving Tools. Personal fundraisers, Instagram fundraisers, and fundraisers for nonprofits not enrolled will not have a dashboard.
When you create your Facebook marketing strategy, you define your goals, so using analytics is the best way to measure your progress and success.
· There are a few different ways to measure, based on your goals
· Awareness – which is impressions, views, and reach
· Growth - which is followers, likes, and subscribers
· Engagement – which is reactions, clicks, comments, and shares
· Conversation – which is event registration, donations, etc.
Using these tools can allow you to evaluate your progress and determine the best strategy to reach your goals.
They will also help you distinguish what posts are working and which are not. Making this distinction allows you to figure out where to focus your efforts and how you can adjust your strategy to see a better result.
Facebook can be a powerful tool for nonprofits if used correctly. By prioritizing your time and creating a solid market strategy, you can make the most of this social media platform to reach your target audience and drive donations. We hope these tips have been helpful.
We look forward to hearing about your success in using Facebook for nonprofit marketing.
Want to watch instead of read, check out our YouTube video on Facebook Fundraising:
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