Facebook expands tools to leverage products, user base for social good

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/nba.30412
• Date: 01 February 2018
• Published date: 01 February 2018

FEBRUARY 2018 NONPROFIT BUSINESS ADVISOR

5

© 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company • All rights reserved

DOI: 10.1002/nba

Fundraising

Facebook expands tools to leverage products,

user base for social good

Ubiquitous social media company Facebook has

announced an expansion of its tools aimed at help-

ing nonprots—and the public at large—raise funds

and awareness for social challenges and programs

that address them. At the core of these efforts is

linking communities of Facebook users, nonprots

and others in ways that help them more effectively

affect social change.

Facebook announced at its second annual Social

Good Forum that it is launching all new offerings,

as well as expanding some existing programs. These

include:

• Expanded charitable giving. The company’s tools

for nonprots—such as Donate buttons and the

ability to create fundraisers for charities on or off

Facebook—can now be put to use in more places,

including the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany,

France, Spain, Italy, Poland, the Netherlands, Bel-

gium, Sweden, Portugal, Denmark, Norway, Austria,

Finland and Luxembourg. Personal fundraisers—

which allow people to raise money for themselves, a

friend or something or someone not on Facebook—

will also be available in more areas of the world.

• Fee waivers. From now on, 100 percent of do-

nations made through Facebook’s Donate button

feature to nonprots will go directly to those organi-

zations. Previously, the company charged a 5 percent

fee to cover credit card processing and other costs,

but now will waive that fee for nonprots. Personal

fundraisers will still be subject to a fee, however.

• The Fundraisers API. This will help people to

synchronize their off-Facebook fundraising efforts

with their Facebook fundraisers, making it easier to

tell friends and family about the causes they support

on and off the platform.

• The Community Help API. This will give disaster

response organizations like NetHope and the Ameri-

can Red Cross access to critical data about the needs

of people affected by crises, so that they can respond

more effectively.

• A new blood donations feature. This will make it

easier for individuals to donate blood to those who

need it most. With this tool, hospitals, blood banks

and nonprots can create voluntary blood donation

events on Facebook, and nearby donors are notied

of the opportunities to donate blood. The program

was rolled out in October 2017 in India, and some 4

million people have signed up for it already. It is set

to be expanded to Bangladesh in early 2018.

• A new Mentorship and Support program. This

program connects people who may need support and

advice to achieve their goals with people who have

the expertise and experience to help. According to the

company, the mentee and mentor will be matched by

a nonprot partner organization, and work through a

step-by-step program on Facebook developed by the

nonprot and tailored to the needs of the mentee. The

program is being rolled out through select nonprot

partners, starting with iMentor for education-related

programming and the International Rescue Com-

mittee for crisis recovery. It might be expanded in

the future to include other areas, such as addiction

recovery and career advancement.

In addition, the company has launched the Face-

book Donations Fund, a $50 million annual fund

aimed at helping communities recover from disaster.

Initially, the fund will match donations from individu-

als made through Facebook in response to disaster

events, thereby increasing the impact of the Facebook

community’s support during major natural disasters

and other events that are featured on the platform’s

Crisis Response page, which functions as a single

place for people to access Facebook’s crisis response

tools—such as Safety Check, Community Help and

Fundraisers—to support crisis recovery.

The new and expanded tools build on a years-long,

dedicated effort to put the company’s core business

services—and client base—to work making the world

a better place. Last year, it helped nonprots start

2017 off on good footing with a series of tips and

strategies for maximizing fundraising through the site.

For more information on the company’s suite of

tools for nonprots, visit https://nonprots.fb.com. ■

Have a nonprot question

or story idea you would like to share?

Contact Nicholas King, Editor, at

nkelwr@comcast.net