Facebook fundraising is an exciting new venture in the fundraising industry!  Find out how easy it is for you to start fundraising on Facebook.

John has invited you to join his fundraiser.  20 of your friends are already supporting John.  John is grateful to everyone who’s reached out in support of his cause!  John is so close to his fundraising goal! 

Don’t you want to join John’s fundraiser now too?

If you’re one of the millions of people using Facebook, the above narrative is undoubtedly familiar to you.  In fact, you’re probably scanning your Facebook news feed right now in between reading fun and informative USA Fundraising articles.  You’re probably checking to see who has an event coming up, who’s posted new pictures, and if any of your friends have upcoming birthdays so you can be the first to post a “Happy Birthday” wall post! 

Wouldn’t it be great if you could harness the power of this remarkably engaging (and slightly addictive) network for fundraising?  You can!  Using the “Groups” and “Events” applications, you can boost your fundraising results, and raise awareness about your organization.

Groups and Events

The Events and Groups applications are both automatically supplied for you by Facebook.  They can be found listed under your profile picture.

Setup is the same for both:

- Click on the application
- Fill in the required information and choose your preferences
- Click “Create Event/Group”
- Follow the steps to invite your Facebook friends to join your Group or Event
 

Choosing Between a Group and an Event

Events provide a date, time and location.  Events are temporary and are removed from Facebook once the event is over.  If you’re having a bake sale, dinner, auction or other one-time fundraiser, this is the ideal choice.

Groups are great for using Facebook to start a network for your organization.  Through your Facebook Group, you’ll be able to post updates about ongoing fundraisers and other group events and notices.

Using both is a great idea.  Create a Group, then use Events for your fundraisers and other events.  You can invite everyone in your Facebook Group to also join your Events and post updates about them on your Facebook Group page.

Using Your Group or Event to Promote Your Fundraiser

So you’ve created your Group, Event or both.  You’ve invited everyone you know, and many have joined.  Now it’s time to promote.

As the date of your fundraiser approaches, use the Event or Group tools to send reminder messages, and encourage everyone to participate or attend.  Provide information like news, goals you’ve reached and exciting fundraiser updates.  You can even post pictures or videos of your organization or from past events.

Using Your Group or Event to Promote an Online Fundraiser

Another great way to use these applications is to promote an online fundraiser. 

Let’s use MagFundraising’s online magazine fundraiser as an example.  When you register with MagFundraising, you get a free online magazine store with a unique URL exclusively for your organization.  You can post this URL on your Facebook Group page, and on your profile page and send emails to your Facebook contacts encouraging them to visit your online magazine store.  You can even create an Event for your online fundraiser and set a deadline for your goal to be reached.

Learn more about MagFundraising >>

Using Fundraising Applications

There are a variety of applications on Facebook designed specifically for fundraising, such as the Causes application created by Project Agape.  These are primarily donation fundraisers, and are as easy to set up as the Groups and Events applications.

Why Facebook?

- Facebook makes it fast and easy to get the word out to an entire network of people. 
- It’s a great addition to other promotion tactics like flyers, notices, letters, posters and emails. 
- You can engage supporters and participants by adding photos or videos, and posting regular updates.
- Every time you change or update something, it will be posted in your friends’ news feeds for extra exposure. 
- Friends can check in on your fundraiser to see the progress and see what other people are doing for the fundraiser, which could encourage them to participate.
- It’s a great way to share your fundraising experience with friends and family.

Think of John’s fundraiser at the beginning of this article.  Getting all those updates sure generated some interest, didn’t it?  You could have the same effect with your fundraiser!  Your friends will see that you’ve started something new.  They’ll want to join too and when they do, all of their friends will see that they’ve added something new and they’ll want to join in as well. 

And all that hype isn’t just good for your bottom line – it’s also great for getting the word out about your organization!