Today, the new tool has been launched with three charity fundraisers; World Wildlife Fund, National MS Society, and Mercy Corps.
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Since most of you are here on this site because you share an interest in learning about environmental issues, news and ways you can do your part to help, I’ll bet that you follow a few environmental organizations on Facebook too. The social network is also improving its Donate button, making it available in individual posts as well as Pages. The tools will be free to use for now, though in the future, Facebook may charge a small amount for credit card processing fees, but not for profit.
Facebook will vet all the participating nonprofits – they must be certified, have verified bank accounts and Facebook Pages, and comply with Facebook’s Community Operations Standards.
Currently, the tool is launching while still being tested only in the USA, without charging partners in this beta phase.
The addition of this feature could make Facebook a central hub for nonprofits. The company also doesn’t rule out the option to use this with for profit companies and organizations, and maybe even individuals sometimes within the next year. Facebook first introduced the Donate button almost 2 years ago and upgraded it in August to enable contributions through Pages and advertisements for a particular cause. However, Facebook will be closely scrutinized for any efforts of this nature, given that its a high power multinational company. The social network allows nonprofit organizations to raise funds and collect charity and donations for their humanitarian causes. The tool, which includes a Donate button will help streamline the process between selling point and actually raising money.
Other social good products have included Amber Alerts to search for missing children, as well as a “Donate Now” button at the top of users’ News Feeds for specific causes, such as ALS research during the Ice Bucket Challenge or supporting victims of the Nepal earthquakes.
People should give Facebook a break and let it for once finish what it started, before judging it under a magnifying glass.
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But Facebook is now testing the suite of new fundraising tools to bridge nonprofits with its massive user base – 1 billion daily active users, according to an earnings report earlier this month.
