Facebook GivingTuesday Guide For Nonprofits

Planning A Facebook Strategy For GivingTuesday

Attack GivingTuesday by planning a multi-channel  digital marketing strategy. A multi-channel marketing plan can make a huge impact on the success of a Giving Tuesday campaigns. Start the planning process 3-6 months early. Use social media, such as Facebook, wisely as part of your nonprofit’s plan.  During this time you will be able to develop creative methods to get your nonprofit’s story across to the right audience.

I wrote a Twitter Guide  for #GivingTuesday for nonprofits.   However, I thought I should give Facebook a closer look too.

The contrast between Twitter and Facebook are obvious.  Instead of writing about both together, I decided to discuss both social media platforms individually.  We are not here to debate the strengths and weakness of either social media platform.  The intent today, is to give you a broader  understanding of how to use Facebook as a tool for Giving Tuesday.

Facebook offers a slew of tools for nonprofits to work with verse Twitter.  You have the opportunity to connect with an already engaged audience and create  targeted donation strategies. If you don’t have plans to use a crowdfunding platform for Giving Tuesday, make Facebook your alternative.  Your audience can easily create personalized individual fundraisers for your organization via Facebook.

Facebook GivingTuesday Match Campaign

In 2018, Facebook did something great for Giving Tuesday. They partnered with PayPal to match donations totaling $7 million. The match was reach in under in four hours! Overall, users helped nonprofits raise a whopping $125 million. Those numbers are staggering!! The year before, in 2017, Facebook partnered with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to match donations. I am hoping to see the same trend continue. In 2022, Facebook did the GivingTuesday match again, but put stipulations on the donations.

Facebook #GivingTuesday: Pages & Post

Facebook is not like Twitter. Twitter  encourages continuous engagement.  Facebook’s platform offers a more latent conversational style. Your core audience (the people who like and engage with your  nonprofit on Facebook) may eventually see your post, depending on several factors  (number of likes and shares). However, Facebook does not encourage a real time conversation atmosphere. Nonprofits can counteract this by using Facebook Messenger and custom bots for rapid response for a Giving Tuesday campaign. Remember, Facebook users primarily use the platform to connect with  friends and family more than anything.

Tools to use for Facebook Page and Post Fundraisers:

• Page Fundraisers
• Donate Button on pages and post

Facebook Ads – Targeted  Audiences For GivingTuesday

Unfortunately, Facebook is now a Pay-To-Play advertising platform.  There are ways to use Facebook by combining a few  free services along with paid Facebook Ads. If your nonprofit does not have a highly engaged audience, Facebook Ads can assist with delivering your  Giving Tuesday message.

Facebook Ads offers awesome audience targeting, so you  don’t have to worry about wasted ad spend.  If your nonprofit has never used Facebook Ads, make sure you read the documentation on audience targeting  and setting budgets. Create highly targeted ads to reach a new audience or re-target individuals who make have disconnected with your nonprofit.

If you have a budget in mind with a few campaign goals, you are on the right track. If you have a strong Facebook following, then it may  be more beneficial to get your current audience involved with your Giving Tuesday campaign verses paying for advertising.

One last note about using Ads. Don’t forget to setup your tracking pixels on your website to understand how Facebook Ads impact your Giving Tuesday campaign. There also may be data from previous years to gauge your Giving Tuesday campaigns goals for this year.

Here are a few tools to use for Facebook Ads Platform:

• Audience Insights
• Facebook Analytics

Facebook Fundraisers For GivingTuesday

Facebook offers nonprofits the ability to fund raise in several ways. Individuals (Personal Fundraisers) can setup their own campaigns, and encourage their friends and family to donate to a cause.  The other method available to nonprofits is Facebook donate buttons. Think outside the box for GivingTuesday. Tap into your existing audience for donations. If you plan to use Facebook Ads, the end of the year is the most expensive time to run ads.

You first need to enroll  in the Facebook payments program. There are complete details to sign-up available. I suggest you read all the help sections to get a grasp of all the rules, dos, and don’ts. Note that the program is not offered in   every country. I don’t know how nonprofit validation is done, but my guess is that you need to be a registered nonprofit with tax exemption to receive funds. They also have a Personal Fundraiser in which people can  raise money for friends. There are stipulations on how Personal Fundraisers are done.

Read Facebook Frequently Asked Questions

Here are a few pluses to using  Facebook Fundraising Tools:

• Transaction & processing fees  are waived (usually 5.85%). This means more of the funds raised go towards your nonprofit.
• Donations are also wholly unrestricted.
• Announced for 2019, Facebook will match donations up to $100,000 per nonprofit and $20,000 per donation. A total of $7 million will be donated this year. The match for #GivingTuesday 2019 starts at 8:00 AM EST/ 5:00 AM PST December 3, 2019.

Facebook also offers several advanced fundraising tools:

• Fundraising API
• Facebook Live with Donate Button (requires you to do a live  streaming feed (think YouTube, in real time). Draw examples from other nonprofit’s YouTube and Facebook videos.
• Fundraising match allow individuals to  create a “matching” campaign, which could be a positive for those hesitant about donating on Facebook.

Give users a choice in how they donate. Use the Facebook Fundraiser API to let users create unique fundraisers right from your website. Create a custom landing page that allow  you to control the flow of the donation process. You can also connect with the Fundraiser API to create custom donation campaigns throughout the year.

But here are a few of my thoughts and suggestions on using the Facebook Fundraiser API:

• Connect the information from the Facebook Fundraiser API with your Google Analytics or other data warehouse platform to analyze data for better Key Performance assessment.
• If your nonprofit has a Google Ad Grant account, target ad campaigns to a custom landing page.
• A/B test marketing message to determine which converts users.
• Use Facebook Fundraising API webhooks to sync data with Customer Relationship Management programs, email marketing platforms, and more. The possibilities are endless. These extra integration steps will have an impact on future campaigns.
• You can also use the Facebook API to get the a list of donations made on Facebook from an existing fundraiser and sync that information with account programs. The API requires a  developer to setup the custom integration, however I think nonprofits should really use the  technology that’s available.
  

Non-fundraising Related Tools For GivingTuesday

Below are a few ideas on how to set up a Giving Tuesday campaign on Facebook. Many nonprofit forgo the traditional fundraising because of high competition and increase in marketing cost. Engage the audience that you already have to deliver impactful messages.

Live Streaming Videos

Facebook Live Videos are one  way to connect with your audience. Create something memorable that reflects your nonprofit’s missions and theme for GivingTuesday.  There are a ton  of ways to create a Facebook video from using a simple smart phone to an elaborate setup with cameras and video equipment. Set a budget and figure out how to do it creatively. Practice live streaming short videos throughout the year. Lead into a big live video event for potential donors.

Videos can be streamed to multiple platforms including Facebook, Youtube, and Twitch. The goal is to reach a broad audience. Streaming to multiple platforms does require advance technical skills.

Facebook Events

Create a unique GivingTuesday Event.

Room In The Inn – Memphis created a Facebook event to collect 1,000  blankets for their cause. The Facebook Page has a built-in  Mail Chimp app driving sign ups to their newsletter program.  The page also incorporates a Fundraising Call To Action Button. The branding for the page is consistent with the website. Carry over as much brand identity from your nonprofit’s website to the Facebook page.

Room In  The Inn  Facebook Event has several pluses: 1) the event calls for volunteers 2)  you could have blankets shipped  directly to the organization  3) the event post also has provides a reminder the day before with scheduled activities.

Facebook Apps

Facebook Apps  are a great way to create a custom solution on  your own website. An app  can be anything creative.

Not all nonprofits or businesses are meant to create an app.  Apps require a ton of planning and technical guidance. You can also monetize apps to create another stream of income for your nonprofit.

However, be forwarned: users of your app need to receive some perceived value. A lot goes into app engagement that’s beyond this particular post. So, we are just going to stop the app conversation here and move on to best practices.

Best Practices For Facebook #GivingTuesday Campaign

If your nonprofit wants to use Facebook Fundraising Tools, you must apply to the program and be approved. So get your documentation together!

How to create a Giving Tuesday Fundraiser on Facebook

Apply For Facebook Fundraising Tools

1. Get your followers to create their own fundraising campaign for your nonprofit organization. Send out emails in October or late September ask your current donor pool to get involved.
2. It’s never too early to start Facebook’s Verification Process!
3. Ask, Ask, Ask
4. Always link back to your website, unless it’s a Facebook fundraising campaign
5. Create a unique Giving Tuesday Event and advertise it through Facebook, Eventbrite, your website, and other social media channels
6. Use Facebook Stories Feature
7. Create Facebook Live Event
8. Use Facebook Messenger Feature to Your Advantage
9. Does your nonprofit have an active Facebook Group? Use it!!
10. Create a mobile giving campaign that links back to your website donation pages
11. Create a general giving campaign that links back to your website donation pages
12. Use Facebook Fundraising Platform as a third way to collect donations (but don’t make it the only donation strategy!)
13. Facebook apparently sends donations through Network for Good Donor Advised Funds program. Donation are paid out on the 15^th of the month. So donations received in November will not get to your nonprofit until January. It’s important to have multiple fundraising strategies with Facebook. Please read the Network For Good questions and answers section to ensure your funds are sent to the correct address.
14. Develop a custom Canvas App or Page Tab. Both are available through Facebook Developer API.
15. Create a custom fundraiser using  Facebook Fundraising Tools API.
16. Use Facebook Developer API to make integrate social plugins (like share, like, and group buttons into your website-if you already don’t have it in place.

Facebook GivingTuesday Key Performance Indicators

If your nonprofit participated in GivingTuesday last year, don’t forget to measure important key performance indicators. Donations, lifetime value, email sign ups, and volunteer sign ups are just a few of the KPI’s that you  should assess. If KPIs are available for  multiple years, use those numbers to plan your Facebook Giving Tuesday Campaign.

Here are a list of Facebook key performance indicators to track for GivingTuesday:

1. The number of Personal fundraisers created for your nonprofit.
2. For each fundraiser, determine if the fundraiser met the fundraising goal in dollars.
3. Total dollars amount donated from Facebook campaigns.
4.  Average number of days it took for individual fundraisers to meet donation goals
5. How many new likes or followers  did you receive on Giving Tuesday.
6. Which post had the most engagement and why.
7. How many people signed up for the  email list after click through to the organization’s website.
8. Retention Rate. What percentage  of users created a campaign last year? This number indicates  loyalty to your nonprofit organization’s mission.
9. Segment how donations on Facebook where made:
   • How many people made a donation through the “donate” button on the Facebook page and how much was raised. The average lifetime value of the donation.
   • How many users clicked through to the website from a post engagement to the website to make a donation.
   • How many individual fundraisers did you have. What was the average each raised.

The list of KPIs is not exhaustive, but should give your nonprofit organization a good  starting point to measure your Giving Tuesday campaign.  If you ran Facebook ads, don’t forget to calculate the return on investment or return on ad spend of ads.

Conclusion

I could go on for days about Facebook Tools and what’s available for Giving Tuesday. That’s why I could never write about Facebook with any other social media strategy. Choose your strategy wisely and reap the rewards of a well planned social media campaign.

Don’t be afraid to innovate. You may not be able to do all of  the items outlined, but if you build every year, what you will  eventually see is a comprehensive Facebook marketing strategy. Don’t be afraid of failure. The key  is growth and building upon success and understanding what caused the failure. Don’t try to everything at one time. Plan, Develop, Execute, Assess, Iterate, & Grow are favorite six words in any digital marketing campaign. Use the tools available!

Thanks for reading,

Jodie Mason, M.P.A.

Digital Marketing Specialist – Google Ad Grant