Fundrasing on Facebook

I was asked about how a small charity could improve the success of its' Facebook fundraising and I remembered reading some great tips.

1) Cross-promote via multiple channels
Another way to work around limited organic reach on Facebook is to promote Fundraisers via your other communication channels (this approach also has the benefit of being free). Add a reminder to your content calendar to publish regular posts on social platforms beyond Facebook, be sure to include frequent reminders in your email newsletters, and don’t be afraid to send an email every now and then dedicated to social fundraising, like the example below.

2) Send direct invitations to past creators
As any good fundraiser knows, the most effective way to get something you want is usually to ask for it directly. Take advantage of the data Facebook collects to contact people who have run successful Fundraisers in the past. For starters, look at your highest-revenue fundraisers from 12 months ago, contact anyone who was celebrating a yearly event (birthday, anniversary, etc.), and make a gentle ask about whether they’re ready to fundraise again this year. Even if your outreach only results in one or two extra Fundraisers per month, the additional revenue will add up over time.
To export your fundraising data from Facebook so you can analyse it, go to Settings, click the Donations tab, and download a Multi-Day Transaction Report for the time period you want to look at. Hint: If you have some Excel skills, you can store all of your donation data in one sheet and use PivotTables to create a really helpful data dashboard.

3) Promote using targeted audiences
Organic reach for organisations on Facebook has been reduced to fairly bland levels, so paid promotion is an essential way to get your message in front of more followers. For Fundraiser promotion, in particular, consider targeting your followers based on their birthdays since it’s such a popular tie-in.
When you create a new Ads audience, search the Detailed Targeting field for either “upcoming birthdays,” which will target users who have a birthday within one week, or look for the specific birthday month you’re interested in targeting. Also, be sure to restrict your audience to countries where people can create Fundraisers for charities. You can reach your birthday-based audiences by boosting your organic Fundraiser promotion posts or by creating ads with a more direct ask to create a Fundraiser, using the Reach ads objective. Either way, be sure to include the setup link that you’ll find on your charity’s Fundraisers page.

4) Create urgency with deadline marketing
Use your charity’s account to set up an “official” Facebook Fundraiser at the start of your campaign that runs for its entirety. Plan to share this Fundraiser periodically along with reminders that highlight the approaching end-of-campaign deadline. Start slowly and increase the frequency of your reminders as the campaign goes on. The exact cadence will depend on the length of your campaign, but as an example, you might want to highlight “two weeks left,” “one week left,” “two days left,” and “last day to give!” If you reach your initial goal early, you can always raise it to a higher figure.
As with any organic posts, you can boost these deadline reminders to be sure they reach a significant portion of your audience. If you have a smaller Facebook audience, you may want to boost them to all of your followers; if your following is large or your budget is limited, consider boosting to a higher affinity group such as a Custom Audience of past donors, or followers who have recently engaged with your Facebook Page.

5) Take advantage of the matching donation feature
Another effective way to create a sense of urgency is by adding a match to your Facebook Fundraiser. You can add a match at any point while your Fundraiser is running; the best time is closer to the end so the motivating power of the match compounds with the urgency of the approaching deadline.

6) Invite your partners to create Fundraisers
As mentioned earlier, your average supporters may be more inclined to create Fundraisers around their personal life events, so campaigns are the time to call on outside allies as well as organisational insiders. If your charity has relationships with celebrity ambassadors or social media influencers, ask if they’ll create a Facebook Fundraiser in support of your campaign. The same goes for people on the inside – depending on what feels appropriate for your charity you can ask the management team, board members, staff, and even volunteers if they’re willing to create a Fundraiser as part of the campaign. This can be especially effective if a public-facing member of your team is popular with your supporters; the community may rally to their personal Fundraiser as much or more than an official charity one.