Facebook Fundraisers bring about a lot of confusion when it comes to nonprofit donor data ownership. Does Facebook own the data or do you? Should you contact your Facebook fundraiser donors?
Whether or not you want to be fundraising on Facebook, the growing use of Facebook Donations for birthday fundraisers and Giving Tuesday has made these questions necessary to consider for all nonprofits. The good news is that you do own your Facebook donor data and you should definitely use it.
Facebook, Fundraising, and Nonprofits
Let’s start by looking at how Facebook created a new avenue for a well-known type of online giving: peer-to-peer fundraising. The nature of Facebook is word-of-mouth, peer-to-peer, genuine, social interaction. So your nonprofit’s approach to Facebook fundraising should also center on this concept.
Your nonprofit’s online fundraising strategy should include Facebook as a tactic to build your larger donor community through peer-to-peer fundraisers, not for all online giving.
It’s wise for you to enable donations on your nonprofit’s Facebook page so your followers can host their own birthday fundraisers or ask their friends to give to you on Giving Tuesday in a way they’re more comfortable with. Allow people to give how they want, but do your best to capture all donor relationships in the process.
Yet, just because you allow people to raise money for you on Facebook, doesn’t mean you should use it for general giving. The “Donate” button on your Facebook page should always lead back to your on-site donation forms. Your website gives you more direct control over and ownership of your donor experience and the resulting relationship.
Keeping this in mind, let’s dive into the five reasons you should contact your donors from Facebook Fundraisers.
1) They are YOUR Donors
The truth is that you (the nonprofit), Facebook, and their partners all share the donor data for Facebook Fundraisers. That’s why we’re adamant that WordPress is the best platform for online fundraising. On WordPress, you own everything from the design to your donor’s contact information. That’s almost never the case with third-party fundraising platforms like Facebook.
Even though you share your donors’ information with Facebook and its charitable payment processing partners, you still have the right to contact them. They are your donors.
2) They Opted-in Already
Gaining access to your donor data doesn’t automatically give you the right to enroll them into your marketing email lists. In fact, that would most likely have a negative impact overall. However, you can email them to say thank you with an invite to your supporter community.
It’s important to thank Facebook donors as soon as Facebook makes the information available to you. The platforms, like PayPal, that you share your donor data with will also start using the opt-ins they received. It’s better to be first than last so you’re not the one fatiguing your donors.
3) It Turns Facebook Donors Into Sustaining Supporters
You can use your thank you email to initiate a larger long-term strategy. Include an invite to become part of your support community. Don’t ask for another donation but use this chance to ask your Facebook donors to give something else, like:
- Following or liking your social media profile.
- Asking others to support your cause in a post with a tag to your page.
- Joining your social media group on LinkedIn or Facebook.
- Sharing their reason for giving in a Facebook Recommendation or Google Review.
4) You Can Strengthen the Relationship with Your Facebook Fundraisers
Make sure that you thank your fundraisers before you thank the people who gave through their campaigns. Contacting your Facebook fundraisers and their donors tells everyone you care about their peer-to-peer fundraising efforts.
You can also import donation data from your your Facebook fundraiser transaction records to your GiveWP database. That would allow you to keep track of your Facebook fundraiser contributions with a progress goal bar alongside all your other on-site fundraising forms.
Our donation plugin provides you with a few ways to show off how much your supporters have given to your cause through peer-to-peer fundraising. How you implement it is up to you, but the result is the same. It will strengthen the relationship with your peer-to-peer Facebook Fundraisers.
5) It Will Increase the Number of Facebook Fundraisers for Your Cause
Did we mention that social proof is powerful for nonprofits yet? When you choose to contact donors of Facebook Fundraisers, you generate more social proof and positivity around your organization. Positive sentiment and social proof alongside intentional, continued relationships with donors will inspire more people to dedicate their Facebook Birthday Fundraiser to your nonprofit.
How Do You Find Contact Information for Donors of Facebook Fundraisers?
Your nonprofit needs to be approved by Facebook to allow people to host a fundraiser for your cause. Once you are registered, then you have access to fundraising tools on your Facebook Page. To find your donors’ contact information, download the transaction report.
If you need help with Facebook Fundraising, the GiveWP community is filled with Givers of all kinds. Join in and reach out to see how others have implemented Facebook Fundraising with their regular online giving forms.
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