Five Fabulous Facebook Fundraising Tips

Fundraising with Facebook

Online networking sites such as Facebook started out as a way for college grads to stay in touch. Teens now have ‘hundreds’ of friends’ whom they can ‘talk to’ daily. The technology is there – it’s free (still) – and begging to be used to promote your fundraising projects.

Here’s how to spread the word – and bank the results.

Set up a Facebook page for your group. As an ‘official representative’ (read executive committee member), you have authority to click on ‘Create a page for a celebrity, band or business’ and follow the prompts. Alternatively, create a ‘group’ and you have what’s called an ‘unofficial fan page’.

Either way, upload your logo, photos that show your group’s activities in a positive way; even a short video clip.

Use your database of group members to tell everyone that there’s a FB presence they need to check out.

On your personal Facebook page, you can ‘like’ your group – this used to be called becoming a ‘fan’ . Thanks to Facebook’s News Feed, friends constantly learn what pages others are ‘liking’ (to use FB-speak). Curiosity prompts them to take a look – and voila!: if they like, they’ll be added too.

‘What’s on your mind?’ is a prompt to provide a progress report of sorts. Use it to countdown to an event, call for donations or volunteers, or simply put out a positive reminder like “the pie drive’s selling like hot cakes! Don’t forget to lodge your order by Friday”. Every time an update is made, ‘friends’ will get the advice as News Feed.

Inviting friends to a fundraising event has never been easier. In just minutes, you can create an event and send out all the essentials – what, when, where, why, what cost. Facebook records the responses: who’s coming, who’s declined and who needs to be chased up. Super-easy guest list-making and keeping.

Once your group has a fan base, let the world know! Take a look at the Fundraising Directory home page: in the bottom right corner, you’ll see a widget displaying the faces of over 3000 happy fans! This is free code made available by Facebook.

Two words of caution:

1. Keep your private FB and your group FB separate. The group one stays professional, focused on purpose yet friendly.

2. Guard privacy. Keep all names and personal information out of postings or videos you create. Consider, for example, generic email accounts for secretary@yourclub.org.au
(c) The Fundraising Directory 2010-2014

Have you had any successes with Fundraising with Facebook? We would love to hear from you. Share your story!

Originally published 24 January, 2014