How charities are using social media to drive donations

If you’re a charity and you don’t have a consistent social media strategy in place, it’s definitely time to review where you’re getting your digital donations from. Social media opens up a huge avenue for donations by tapping into new audiences and communities, making them aware of your work as well as your cause, and with lots of features now available on social media, there’s never been a better time to assess how social media could be being used more by your charity organisation.

Facebook has recently added features that easily allow for in-platform donations, including the Donate Button and Birthday Fundraiser tools, which can and should be maximised as much as possible by charities. Every single penny raised goes directly to your charity, with Facebook simply processing the payments at no fee to you or the donator.

The Facebook Donate button is a quick way for people to donate to your organisation without leaving the social media platform, and can easily be added to your charity’s page, posts, and live video content, making it easy for supports to contribute in a just a few clicks. It’s also now possible for regular users of the platform to add the button to their own posts about you, which is an area that should be encouraged when speaking to new supporters. In addition to this, Facebook also provides the now famous Birthday Fundraiser feature which prompts users to set up a fundraising page 10 days before their birthday to raise money for non-profit organisations, in place of gifts. Once a birthday fundraiser has been created, all of that individual’s network is sent a notification encouraging them to make a donation, offering huge opportunities for exposure for your charity while also helping to drive donations.

Instagram also has a similar Donate Button feature, which can be added to user Instagram Stories, creating a great opportunity for brands to launch 24-hour fundraising campaigns to tie in with their most important awareness days throughout the year, while the Personal Fundraiser tool also allows users to raise funds over longer periods of time through the platform.

The PHA Group has been using these social media tools across all of our charity social media clients, with Smile Train a great example of this driving exposure and donations. At key points throughout the year, including The Big Smile Tea Party and World Smile Day, we have worked with countless influencers and celebrities to post user-generated content as part of our campaigns to raise awareness of the organisation and its work. While influencer campaigns are generally focused on reaching as many people as possible, we have always encouraged all of those involved to make sure to use the Instagram donation sticker on all of their Instagram Stories, which has led to spikes in donations for Smile Train throughout the year.

Birthday fundraisers are also key to Smile Train’s strategy, and the PHA Smile Train social media team prioritise the close community management of these fundraising pages, thanking each individual fundraiser personally, and providing content, photography and useful Smile Train messaging and statistics to encourage them to raise as much money as possible in the lead up to their birthdays.

If you’re not seeing the value in using social media for driving donations for your charity, get in touch with our team today to hear a little more about what we do, and how we can help you raise more money for your cause.

Get in touch with the team