Facebook Fundraising for Nonprofits: How It Works + Tips
Facebook fundraisers allow supporters to easily raise money for their favorite nonprofits. This platform has helped countless nonprofits raise crucial funds. If your organization hasn’t tried a Facebook fundraiser yet, it’s an easy way to meet your supporters where they are online. You may even reach new donors interested in supporting causes like yours.
Let’s explore Facebook fundraising, including how it works and best practices for raising more from this platform.
What is Facebook fundraising?
“Facebook fundraising” is an umbrella term that encompasses all of the social platform’s fundraising tools. Facebook fundraising includes:
- Individual fundraisers that users set up on your behalf, including birthday fundraisers
- Livestreaming event and donation tools
- The Facebook donate button
- Peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns and events
It’s essential for your nonprofit—not just your supporters—to understand Facebook fundraising so you can continue expanding your use of the platform with innovative fundraising ideas.
Why choose Facebook fundraising (and what it costs)
Why pick Facebook fundraising over a popular crowdfunding site like GoFundMe? While GoFundMe offers more customization, fundraising on Facebook offers lower fees, and there’s a host of charitable giving tools your organization can use. Over $8 billion has been raised on Facebook (and its sister platform, Instagram) from more than 100 million donors worldwide.
Facebook fundraisers vs. GoFundMe
| Feature | Facebook Fundraisers | GoFundMe |
|---|---|---|
| Fees | 1.99% + $0.49 per transaction | 2.2% + $0.30 per donation for charities |
| Customization | Low (standard Facebook layout) | High (custom stories, photos, and updates) |
| Audience reach | High (built-in social network effect) | Varies (relies on sharing external links) |
| Data access | Low (donors must opt in to share info) | High (organizer receives donor details) |
How does Facebook fundraising work?
The process of starting a fundraiser is as follows:
- A user navigates to the “Fundraisers” section of Facebook.
- They click on “Raise Money” and select “Nonprofit.”
- The user searches for the charitable organization they want to raise funds for and selects it.
- They choose a cover photo and write a message about their motivations for raising funds.
- The user sets a target goal amount, an end date for the fundraiser, and hits “Create!”
At this point, the fundraiser is shared on the user’s Facebook profile so their friends and family can donate.
Users create the fundraisers, but you still have work to do.
Your goal is to encourage supporters to start these fundraisers and give them the best chance for success. For example, you can tell your supporters that Facebook is another outlet for them to help contribute to your mission and encourage them to start their own efforts. Then you can provide a guide that walks them through the steps to create a fundraiser and shares your nonprofit’s recommended messaging. This is a great way to ensure fundraisers align with your organization’s existing brand and values!
Even further, you can provide answers to frequently asked questions about Facebook fundraising on your website’s FAQ page. This way, supporters who have never conducted their own fundraiser or are apprehensive about the process can have their questions answered up front. This also shows them that your organization is fully behind this fundraising channel.
It’s important to understand how users create fundraisers to better assist them with the process. However, as a nonprofit, you’re probably more concerned about how you will receive the funds raised by these supporters. Let’s break that process down in the next section.
How does your nonprofit get paid?
When it comes to Facebook fundraiser payouts, understanding the process is crucial for your nonprofit’s cash flow.
In the past, Facebook used a variety of processors, such as Network for Good and its own Meta Payments. However, as of late 2023, Meta partners exclusively with PayPal Giving Fund (PPGF) to process donations for nonprofits in the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia.
Because of this exclusive partnership, your payout timeline and experience depend entirely on one factor: whether or not your nonprofit is enrolled in PayPal Giving Fund.
Here is a quick breakdown of the two payout tracks:
| Feature | Enrolled in PayPal Giving Fund | Not enrolled |
|---|---|---|
| Payout timeline | 15–45 days after donation | Up to 90 days |
| Delivery method | Direct deposit to PayPal account | Mailed physical check |
| Data access | Full access to Meta Transaction Reports and PPGF dashboard | Limited tracking |
| Fees | 1.99% + $0.49 (US)—donors are asked to cover this | Same |
It is highly recommended that your nonprofit enroll in PayPal Giving Fund. If you are enrolled, payouts are consolidated and deposited directly into your PayPal account monthly (typically between the 15th and 45th day after the donation). Furthermore, enrolled charities can access robust data in their Transaction Reports, including the contact information of any donor who opted in to share it.
If you do not enroll, you will still receive funds raised on your behalf, but they will be distributed as a physical check mailed out every 90 days.
What donor data do you receive?
Unfortunately, your nonprofit has limited access to information about users who donate to fundraisers benefiting it due to Facebook’s privacy policy. However, donors can opt in to share their email address with your organization. When that happens, we recommend emailing a thank-you letter to each donor to begin building that relationship. Fundraising Letters has a few great templates to get you started!
Get signed up to fundraise on Facebook
Just because you have a nonprofit page on Facebook doesn’t mean you get instant access to Facebook’s fundraising tools. Your first step in starting a Facebook fundraising campaign is to verify your nonprofit status with Meta and apply for their Charitable Giving tools. Give yourself plenty of time, as the review process can take up to three weeks before you’re approved.
Your Facebook nonprofit application walkthrough
Applying is straightforward, but you’ll want to have your paperwork ready. Here is how to navigate the application process:
- Prep your Facebook Page: Ensure your Page category is set to “Nonprofit Organization” or “Charity Organization,” your physical address is listed in the About section, and you have at least one published post.
- Gather your documentation: You will need your IRS 501(c)(3) tax ID (for US nonprofits), official bank account details, and the name, address, and date of birth of your CEO or executive director.
- Submit via Meta: Navigate to the Facebook and Instagram fundraising tools application page to submit your details.
- Enroll in PayPal Giving Fund: Since late 2023, Meta has processed all North American charitable donations exclusively through PayPal Giving Fund (PPGF). Ensure your organization is enrolled in PPGF to ensure your payouts are securely routed to your bank.
Managing campaigns with the Nonprofit Manager dashboard
Once you’re approved, you unlock access to the Nonprofit Manager dashboard. This is Meta’s centralized hub for managing all of your on-Facebook fundraising operations. Rather than bouncing around your Page notifications to find user-created fundraisers, the Nonprofit Manager dashboard lets your team do it all from one place.
From the dashboard, you can:
- View and download detailed transaction reports to analyze campaign results.
- See all fundraisers created on your behalf and comment directly on donation posts to thank supporters.
- Access key donation metrics, including recurring giving trends.
- Turn on the Donate button for your page and posts.
In addition to these management tools, your approval grants you the opportunity to run targeted donation ads and potentially participate in Facebook’s Giving Season, where Meta may match eligible gifts. Using the Nonprofit Manager dashboard and these broader tools is an easy way to reach new audiences and help your fundraisers earn more.
Share your Facebook fundraiser
Just setting up a fundraiser isn’t enough. You need to share your fundraiser with your supporters to receive donations and reach new audiences. An easy way to accomplish this is to create a post linking to your fundraiser on your organization’s Facebook Page. Go the extra mile and pin your fundraiser post as the top post on your Page until the campaign ends. You can also pay to “boost” your fundraising posts to have them reach a larger donor base.
Another best practice is to encourage your supporters to use your organization for their Facebook Birthday Fundraiser. That way, their friends will see your cause and be motivated to donate as a birthday gift.
Ask your staff and supporters to share the link to your fundraiser (and donate too, of course!). Having your followers share your fundraiser helps put it in front of people beyond your immediate social network. When donors share a campaign they’ve given to, it provides social proof that helps convince others to give too.
Make sure you’re also linking to your organization’s fundraising page on your webpage. This way, visitors to your website can easily find and give to your Facebook page. Sharing your fundraiser is key to getting the most out of your campaign.
Post regular updates to your Facebook fundraiser
Keep your fundraising campaign top of mind by posting regularly. This best practice keeps your fundraiser from disappearing from your supporters’ feeds. Keep these best practices in mind when sharing updates:
- Posts about your fundraiser can share fundraising milestones or motivate your supporters to give.
- Encourage your audience to reach out to you on Facebook if they have questions.
- Communicate with your supporters who have given or commented on your fundraiser.
- Make behind-the-scenes videos for your organization to use as Reels, with a donate button you can add.
- Add your donation button to a Facebook Live event, which is an effective tool to connect with your donors and receive immediate feedback on your campaign.
Additionally, images and short videos get great engagement on Facebook. It’s helpful to share images or short video clips showing the work your nonprofit does and what your donors are supporting. If you don’t have many recent images, now’s the time to make taking new photos a priority!
An easy way to post images or video content regularly is to take a photo or short video of your development staff filling in an analog fundraising thermometer as gifts come in. If you’re using a digital thermometer, try posting screenshots of your thermometer’s progress toward your goal! Another easy option is to post thank-you messages to individuals who donated to your fundraiser. An added benefit of the latter option is that you get to make individual donors feel seen and appreciated (so long as they don’t wish to remain anonymous).
Publicly thank Facebook fundraiser donors
One really great thing about Facebook Fundraisers is having the ability to comment on your fundraiser. As donations come in, take note of which supporters gave to you and publicly thank them on your Facebook Fundraiser. Engage your donors in conversations centered on your gratitude for their support. This makes your donors feel great, and these expressions of gratitude can also make others feel great about choosing to support you.
When you’re thanking your donors, use inclusive language. This means letting donors know what they accomplished. Rather than saying “This fundraiser helped us provide 200 lunches to kids who wouldn’t otherwise get a lunch,” make it the donors’ accomplishment! For example, a phrase like, “Thanks for donating! You helped us provide 200 lunches to kids who wouldn’t eat otherwise,” better highlights what donors made possible. Using “you” language more than “we” language makes your donor the hero. More importantly, this language expresses the importance and value of their continued giving.
How nonprofits can make the most of user-created fundraisers
While users start these fundraisers, that doesn’t mean that your organization takes a completely hands-off approach. In fact, we recommend quite the opposite! There are a variety of ways that you can be an active participant in fundraising to give your supporters the best chance of success:
- Thank every user who starts a fundraiser. You can view the fundraisers started on your behalf on your nonprofit’s Page. Using the platform’s “Sort & Filter” tool, view the most recently created fundraisers. Make it a habit to comment and say thank you on every fundraiser soon after it’s created, so they know you notice and appreciate them!
- Share tips for success. You’re a professional fundraiser, but your supporters may not be! Use your expertise to share a few tips that they can use to raise more funds. For example, you could share examples of effective fundraising appeals or remind them to make the first gift to their campaign—a great way to position it for success! You should also make resources available to them on your website or in your email newsletters so they can promote their fundraisers.
- Communicate with users throughout the fundraising process. Keep in touch with fundraisers via Facebook Messenger throughout the campaign. Collect information about the supporter and share tips and encouragement along the way.
- Share additional opportunities to connect. When you thank the user (and ideally, as you continue communicating with them), share opportunities for them to engage with your nonprofit after the campaign. For example, you could share links directing supporters to volunteer information on your nonprofit’s website. You could even use targeted Facebook ads to connect with users further down the line!
Tie your Facebook fundraiser to your virtual events
With Facebook Live and Facebook Events, hosting a virtual event has never been simpler. You can offer your supporters a one-stop shop for ways to support your organization! First, you could use Facebook Events to create an event that donors can sign up for. After that, reach new supporters by promoting the event via Facebook ads or by sharing it and asking others to share it as well.
Your event could be a live performance, a Q&A session with a member of your staff, a facility tour, a virtual auction—the possibilities are limitless! While you’re broadcasting using Facebook Live, you can refer to your Facebook Fundraiser or provide another way for those who tuned in to support your organization. You can share a simple URL to your donation form or incorporate text fundraising by sharing your keyword and the number to text to make a gift.
Alternatively, ask for support for your fundraiser and share how to find it with your supporters. When asking for support, know who you’re asking and what messaging they’re most likely to respond to.
Fundraising on Facebook also allows your organization to use Facebook’s recurring giving feature, which encourages donors to give more. There is also a default opt-in option for supporters to stay connected to your organization and receive updates from your nonprofit.
Once your fundraiser is over, use Facebook’s transaction reports to track how well your campaign did and collect donor data.
Integrate your virtual peer-to-peer events with Facebook
Bloomerang integrates with Facebook fundraisers! Virtual event participants can fundraise on Facebook and apply those donations to personal and event fundraising goals. Encourage your supporters to take advantage of the integration to more easily maintain consistent fundraising progress across platforms!
Your nonprofit will benefit from this, as will your donors. Their fundraising campaigns will be applied to your overall event fundraising goal, so you can easily track the progress of your virtual fundraising events. In addition to tracking your progress toward your fundraising goal, the integration gives your virtual peer-to-peer events even greater portability. You can set up a peer-to-peer page in Bloomerang and host it on your website while simultaneously supporting the same campaign on Facebook. This increases the odds your virtual event will get noticed and be supported.
Use Facebook fundraising with a fun virtual peer-to-peer event to inspire your donors. From virtual walkathons to geocaching to online games, there are easy, interesting virtual events that can be integrated with Facebook to better communicate with participants throughout the event. Create a challenge for participants with a unique hashtag to share with their friends, and link your Facebook account to your Instagram to further grow your audience.
Facebook and Meta tools beyond fundraisers
When we talk about Facebook campaigns, we are really talking about the broader ecosystem of Meta fundraising tools. Because Facebook and Instagram operate under the same parent company, they share the exact same charitable giving infrastructure.
Once your nonprofit is approved to accept donations on Facebook, you automatically gain access to Instagram’s powerful companion features. Since both platforms process payments through the PayPal Giving Fund, your team only needs to manage a single centralized backend for payouts and reporting.
Expanding beyond traditional Facebook fundraisers allows you to tap into these interactive Meta tools:
- Instagram donation stickers: Easily add interactive donation stickers to your Instagram Stories. This allows supporters to give in just a few taps without ever leaving the app—ideal for urgent appeals and visual storytelling.
- Profile donation buttons: Turn casual scrollers into donors by adding an “always-on” Donate or Support button directly to both your Facebook Page and your professional Instagram profile.
- Reels and feed fundraisers: Attach fundraisers directly to your short-form Instagram Reels or standard feed posts. This helps you capture the attention of new audiences as they scroll through the algorithm.
- Live stream giving: Both Facebook Live and Instagram Live allow you to pin a donation button or fundraiser during a real-time broadcast. This is a fantastic way to drive engagement during virtual events, Q&As, or on-the-ground tours of your programs.
By activating these companion tools, your nonprofit can reach different demographics across multiple platforms without adding any extra administrative heavy lifting for your team.
Frequently asked questions about Facebook fundraising
Who actually issues tax receipts to donors for Facebook contributions?
Because Meta processes charitable donations through the PayPal Giving Fund (PPGF), PPGF acts as the donor-advised fund and issues official tax-deductible receipts directly to donors via email immediately after checkout. While your nonprofit isn’t legally required to issue a tax receipt for these gifts, you should always send a personalized thank-you message whenever donor contact information is provided.
Are Facebook donations eligible for corporate matching gift programs?
Yes! Donors can submit their PayPal Giving Fund receipts to their employer’s corporate matching program. Because the initial tax receipt names PPGF on behalf of your charity, donors should be instructed to provide your nonprofit’s legal name and EIN when submitting their match request to ensure the corporate matching funds are properly directed to your cause.
Can international supporters donate to a U.S.-based Facebook fundraiser?
In most cases, yes. Meta allows international donors to contribute using major credit cards or PayPal, automatically converting foreign currencies at checkout. However, donors should be aware that tax deductibility depends on regional laws; while a U.S. donor receives a tax write-off for giving to a 501(c)(3), an international donor may not receive a local tax deduction.
How can we steward donors who choose not to share their email address?
When donors opt out of sharing contact information, focus your stewardship directly on Meta platforms. Leave customized thank-you comments on individual fundraiser pages, publish video updates celebrating milestones, and pin posts on your main page inviting followers to subscribe to your newsletter. Public appreciation shows gratitude while encouraging anonymous donors to voluntarily join your email list.
What happens to raised funds if our nonprofit hasn’t enrolled in PayPal Giving Fund?
If your nonprofit isn’t enrolled, PayPal Giving Fund still collects funds raised on your behalf and attempts to deliver them via a physical check mailed every 90 days. However, if checks remain uncashed or an organization remains unregistered after an extended period, PPGF policies state that funds may eventually be reallocated, making active registration crucial for protecting your revenue.
In conclusion
Facebook fundraisers are a great complement to existing online fundraising tools. By adhering to these best practices for fundraising on Facebook, nonprofits can raise significant funds. Nonprofits need to know how to get their Facebook fundraiser in front of their supporters and their supporters’ social networks to be successful. Incorporating these Facebook fundraising best practices will get more eyes on your campaigns, live broadcasts, and events.
