Facebook Donations: How to Add Charitable Giving Tools to Your Non-Profit's Facebook Page

You’ve probably noticed a sudden proliferation of your friends on Facebook asking for donations for their birthday recently on Facebook. But underneath that is a major new feature for any non-profit that has a presence on Facebook (I assume that’s all of them!).

That new feature is Facebook Charitable Giving – and we’ve just recently set this up for our friends at The Louisville Leopard Percussionists.

In this article, you’ll find:

• How It Works
• How to Sign Up, and What It Requires
• What You Can Do With Facebook Donations
• What You CAN’T Do With Facebook Donations … but there are workarounds.

How It Works

It’s pretty simple, really – Facebook users can donate money using a credit card on the desktop in or in the Facebook mobile app, and it goes directly into the account you specify when you sign up – and Facebook takes ZERO fees.

How to Sign Up, and What It Requires

Like any non-profit verification process, you’ll need to provide proof of your status, etc. This is what Facebook says you need to get access to these Charitable Giving tool:

• Be a 501(c)(3) organization registered with the IRS.
• Have a tax ID number.
• Have a bank account registered with a licensed financial services institution. Bank account details, including the bank name, bank account holder’s name (organization’s name), and a legible and official bank letter or statement dated within the last 3 months.
• The date of birth and address of the charity’s CEO or executive director.

What You Can Do With Facebook Donations:

Add a Donate Button to your Facebook Page

The most noticeable thing is that you can add a “Donate” button to your Facebook page, like so:

Anyone Can Now Fundraise for You

Similar to those birthday fundraisers, anyone on Facebook can now fundraise for you. On your page, you will now see a “Fundraisers” option. You can share this link with any Facebook member, and they can start a fundraising drive for your organization.

The donation creation form looks a little something like this:

Another hidden gem is that anyone can add a DONATE button to one of their posts, just by choosing “Supporting…” from the “Feeling/Activity” button:

They’ll be asked if they’d like to “Add a Donate Button”, like this:

And it will eventually appear like so in their Facebook Feed:

What You CAN’T Do With Facebook Charitable Giving Tools (But There Are Workarounds):

You Can’t Create Ads That Drive People to Donate (on Facebook)

Nope, can’t do it. However, if you’ve created Facebook ads before, you’ve likely see the “Donate Now” call-to-action button for ads. That button is actually for offsite donations, and it works like so:

But, You Can Create Ads for Offsite Donations

This has nothing to do with Facebook Charitable Giving tools, but does give you a way to ask for donations, if you have a website that is taking donations for you.

This works like any other off-of-Facebook targeted ad, except you should change the call-to-action button to “Donate Now” instead of “Learn More”:

Which will look a little something like this:

Thanks for Reading!

You can donate to the Louisville Leopard Percussionists on their website or on their Facebook page.

And, if you’ve never witnessed them before, I suggest this charming video where Ozzy Osbourne and his family are brought to tears at their professionalism and joy while they perform his hit Crazy Train: