This week on the Nonprofit Jenni Show, play a round of Nonprofit Trivia with Becca Schollaert from Room Redux Denver to test your knowledge about Facebook’s fundraising tools. (Note: We think it’s most fun to play along while listening to the podcast, but keep reading for a written summary of this week’s trivia game…)
Question 1: What info can you learn about donors from Facebook’s payout reports?
A lot of nonprofit leaders are reluctant to use Facebook's fundraising features because they aren't sure how to find donor information. But when you visit Facebook's payout reports, you can learn info about your donors including:
Donor’s first and last name
Donation amount
Email address, if the donor chooses to share
Fundraiser title and type
Where the donation was made (such as through the main donate button, through another person’s donate button in a post, through a Facebook Stories sticker)
Question 2: Name three ways your nonprofit can fundraise through Facebook.
As of August 23, there are nine different ways your nonprofit can fundraise through Facebook. I asked Becca if she could name at least three... And she nailed it!
Here are all 9 ways to fundraise through Facebook:
Set up a “Donate” button that lives on your organization’s main Facebook page. People can donate at any time, and they can choose between giving a one-time or monthly recurring gift.
Set up a page fundraiser, where you can set a specific fundraising goal and give details about how those funds will be used.
Include a fundraiser sticker on your Facebook Stories so people can tap the sticker and donate right through Facebook Stories. Your supporters can also share that sticker in their own Facebook Stories to spread the word to their friends.
Set up live video donations, where you can stream live and include a donate button for viewers to contribute.
Invite supporters to set up fundraisers on their personal profiles, such as for their birthday or in honor of another big event.
Invite supporters to include a regular donate button to your nonprofit in any post or live video on their profile.
Invite supporters to pledge a matching gift through Facebook fundraisers.
Create a unique URL that can be emailed, texted, or shared anywhere else to allow anyone to donate or fundraise on your behalf.
Sync outside fundraisers to Facebook fundraisers so your supporters have another way to invite Facebook friends to donate.
Check out Facebook's resources to learn how to set up any of these fundraising tools.
Question 3: Are donations made through Facebook restricted or unrestricted funds?
Generally, donations made through Facebook are unrestricted funds, meaning your nonprofit can allocate the donations to any part of its budget.
However, it’s important to remember that you might restrict your funds through the messaging you use to promote a particular fundraising campaign, whether the campaign exists through Facebook or any other medium. For example, if you tell donors that all donations made on a Facebook fundraising page will be used to support a specific program, your nonprofit must follow through on that promise. Those funds have become restricted.
If you want to make sure Facebook donations are unrestricted, you may instead want to use language like, “All donations made through this Facebook fundraising page will directly benefit our mission to support children in need.”
Listen to the Full Episode
Listen to my full conversation Nonprofit Trivia for even more tips about fundraising through Facebook:
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Jenni’s Favorite Resources This Week
Every week on my blog, I collect my top favorite resources for nonprofits to check out! Many of these relate to the topics covered on the podcast that week, but they’re great to check out any time:
Social Media for Non-Profits Summit — Coming up September 22, I’m speaking at this virtual summit to help you make a social media content calendar. Other speakers will present on a wide range of social media topics as well! Use the code “JENNI10” to get 10% off your ticket price. (Full price tickets are $39-47 depending on whether you purchase an early bird ticket.)
Facebook’s Fundraising Tools — Check out all of Facebook’s most up-to-date articles about how to set up fundraising campaigns through their platform.
Stock Donator — Interested in other creative fundraising ideas? Check out Stock Donator’s free guide to soliciting and accepting donations of stock.
Visionary Accounting Group — I also highly recommend Visionary Accounting Group’s free webinar about 3 tips to strengthen your nonprofit’s financial foundation.
My once-per-week email newsletter — Get a short summary of every podcast episode plus free marketing and fundraising resources!