Support Your Favorite Causes Using Facebook Live’s New Fundraising Features
You don’t need to be a celebrity to drive change for your favorite causes. With Facebook’s new fundraising feature, you can now raise funds for charities and causes that are close to your heart.
I’d like to believe that deep down, each of us has genuine care and concern for the world and that there are still a lot of good people out there. And this belief is more than just wishful thinking, it can be proven by the massive number of likes, reactions and social shares for videos related to socially relevant issues – particularly those from known charities.
Admit it, you’ve hit that like button once or twice before. People feel the need to share these videos, not just because they want to, but because they feel that they’re promoting awareness and making that small step for change with each share. Which is really not a bad thing at all.
The Rise of Personal Fundraisers
Facebook launched a series of tools in March 2017 to empower personal fundraising. Simply put, you no longer need to be a celebrity, an influencer, or someone extremely popular to raise funds to support your favorite cause or create your own cause in support of someone in need.
“Personal fundraisers allow people to raise money for themselves, a friend or someone or something not on Facebook, for example a pet,” explained Naomi Gleit, Facebook’s VP for Social Good in an announcement that was released in the Facebook Newsroom.
Yes, that’s right. You can raise funds even for your pet!
Am I eligible to be a Personal Fundraiser?
If you’re located in the USA and are 18 years old and above, then, yes, you can be a personal fundraiser. Facebook has rolled out these new features in the USA alone as they continue to work out the kinks and improve it further before rolling it out to the rest of the world.
Through Personal fundraising, you can raise money to cover costs related to these 6 initial categories: education, medical, pet medical, crisis relief, personal emergencies, and funeral and loss. We can expect more categories to be added as Facebook continues to improve these new features.
What happens next?
You can share your personal cause to your immediate friends on Facebook, which they can share to their own personal networks. This will improve your reach and help you raise funds beyond your own network. Donors can send their donations without leaving Facebook through its secure payment channels.
New Donate Button for Facebook Live (For Facebook Pages)
Facebook also announced that Donate Buttons will now be available in Facebook Live Broadcasts and posts. This will allow brands, businesses, and public figures a means to promote their favorite charities and causes through their verified Facebook pages.
Putting Social in Social Responsibility
Facebook’s new fundraising features gives us new ways to be socially responsible. These features allow different types of users – personal and business – to have an active way to support their causes. Your help will no longer be limited by a like or a share and you can be a catalyst of growth or change straight out of your Facebook account.
