The Pros And Cons Of Facebook Fundraising

Facebook has been around for quite awhile now and has over 2 billion users. When a social media platform has that many users, it makes sense to try and use the website for producing good in the world, such as fundraising for those in need. You may have begun seeing many people holding birthday donations for a non profit of their choosing on the platform as a way of giving to those less fortunate than ourselves. While this is great, there are a few downsides to Facebook’s fundraising platform. Here are a few of the pros and cons of Facebook Fundraising.

Pros

Easily Donate On Your Page

If you’re the owner of a non-profit, one way Facebook benefits you is by allowing you to set up a donation button on your organizations Facebook page. In order to sign up to use Facebook’s fundraising tools, you have to make sure your organization is registered US-based 501c3. This allows Facebook to inspect the standing of your organization as a validated non profit. Once you have the donate button, it’s as simple as one click. This is great because it involves minimal effort on the part of the donor by allowing them to find out most things they may want to know about your organization as well as easily contributing all without having to leave Facebook.

Sharing Means More Contributions

One of the reasons Facebook has become such a great platform for fundraising is because it’s extremely easy to spread the word. When somebody goes onto your page to donate, they’re usually given the option to share the fact that they donated to their cause to all of their own Facebook friends and followers. People will sometimes also form their own fundraising campaigns, which they’re able to advertise on their own Facebook page and then can be shared by anyone who follows that page. This allows your organization to gain more attention, which typically leads to more donations.

Cons

Donation Links

When you add donation button to your organization’s page, you usually get two options as to what the button does. One option involves a form that appears directly on the facebook page, meaning the donors never have to actually leave Facebook. The other option usually involves sending them to a third party website, such as your organization’s own website. What you choose is usually based off of your organization’s goals, and while neither is a bad option, they both have obstacles such as difficulty tracking donation rates that are through Facebook’s internal donation page or people being deterred because they’ve been taken to another website that they’re not familiar with. 

Difficulty With Relationship Building

One of the downsides of donating through Facebook is that it’s hard to build potential relationships with the people who give to your cause. Facebook does not require that donors add their names or their email address, and while some donors may actually prefer that, the organizations who run the fundraisers usually like having that information. Having that information is great because it can allow organizations to reach out in order to show gratitude, and potentially build a relationship where they will come back and donate more.

While there may be some downsides to Facebook fundraising, it’s still a wonderful option. Facebook is able to promote a cause to millions of people around the globe and that alone makes it worth it. It might not be the perfect fit for your cause though, so do some research before deciding if you want to invest in Facebook Fundraising.