Something Facebook Gets Right – Fundraising

Facebook gets a lot of blame for the bad things we do as people (bullying, fake news, tilting at politics, etc.). Facebook should also get a bit of credit for when they help facilitate the positive actions people take as well.

I’m talking about Facebook Fundraising. Facebook has made it very easy for nonprofits to enable their supporters to create personal fundraising campaigns – you’ve probably seen friends asking for a donation to a nonprofit instead of a gift this year on their birthday. And they have made it free – they are eating the processing costs for all of this. That is a triple win – donors and fundraisers are doing good things for nonprofit organizations.

Now Facebook is trying to go to the next level with offering an API that nonprofits and technology platforms like RunSignup can proliferate even beyond Facebook. RunSignup is an early adopter, and we just announced our Facebook Fundraising API integration.

Semper Fi Fund is an early adopter of the RunSignup – Facebook Fundraiser API Integration. Kathy Wise, Deputy Director of Community Sports at Semper Fi Fund, says, “We use RunSignup for our charity bib fundraising campaigns, such as the Marine Corps Marathon, because of the low donation processing fees and ease of use for both our team and our fundraisers. The RunSignup – Facebook Fundraiser API lowers our processing fees even more, empowers our fundraisers to exceed their fundraising goals, and gives us a broader reach to find new supporters.”

Combining the power of Facebook Fundraising with a nonprofit’s ability to create active campaigns (like fundraising for a marathon) is a perfect combination. The integration makes it simple for fundraisers to have their own fundraising pages provided by a nonprofit thru technology vendors like RunSignup, as well as leverage the ease of use and free fees of Facebook donations.

The API overcomes some of the issues raised by vendors like Classy (who might also prefer the donations run thru their platform :-)) in that donations on RunSignup and on Facebook are synced bidirectionally. Fundraisers and nonprofits have nice consolidated reports that show all donations across both platforms in real time. The little goal thermometers on Facebook and the RunSignup fundraising page are even in sync! No, nonprofits do not get the email addresses of the donors on Facebook, but maybe that is what that donor prefers. Who could imagine Facebook providing some anonymity – that is kind of a nice change of pace from the usual article you read about Facebook!