The New Facebook ‘Donate’ Button – What You Need To Know

On December 15th, Facebook announced a new feature: the “Donate Now” button, which allows donors to contribute directly to a nonprofit without ever leaving Facebook.com.

The button will be visible on posts  from the nonprofit in a user’s News Feed, as well as at the top of the nonprofit’s Facebook page. Users can pay via a debit or credit card, or a PayPal account.

Currently, this feature is only available to 18 or so nonprofit partners, although Facebook expects to roll it out globally sometime in the near future. Nonprofits who are interested in using the “Donate Now” button can click here.

Game Changer?

Nonprofits with a strong Facebook presence will be able to quickly take advantage of this new feature, especially if they were already soliciting donations via a third-party app. Those who haven’t put Facebook near or at at the top of their outreach efforts may struggle to generate a lot of donations through this new feature, in light of recent data showing that Facebook brand pages have suffered a 44% decline in reach since December 1st, 2013. Promoted posts and other paid ads on Facebook may be the only way to get your “Donate Now” button seen widely.

We’ll be keeping a close eye on this feature as it becomes available to all nonprofits.