December 21, 2023
Jen Davie, CFRE

Oh, No, Facebook Made a Change! Fundraising with Facebook After October 31

Facebook-Changes.jpgAre we really surprised that Facebook (Meta) changed its platform? If we have been following their news, this is just another day in the tech enterprise's world. Facebook announced at the end of August that it would stop covering fees for donations through the platform and turn over the administration of giving through the platform to the PayPal Giving Fund. It would continue allowing nonprofits and donors to fundraise, but all transactions would be run through this third-party PayPal Giving Fund.

Every change in how we do business brings up questions, and this time is no different. The change went into effect on October 31, 2023. If nonprofit organizations didn’t take actions by then, they no longer can use their donate buttons on the platform. Julia Campbell went live on LinkedIn with a colleague from GivePanel and shared some great resources. Julia spoke at Fundraising Day Wisconsin in 2019 and continues to be a great resource on social media (and more).

I have to admit, I think this is a good move. First, thank you to Facebook (Meta) for covering transaction fees for so long. If the amount of money nonprofits pay on other platforms is any indication, this was a significant gift to the sector. From the standpoint of a nonprofit team, it was extremely hard to find out who was giving to you and genuinely reach out to them. Reports were challenging to find and often lacking in information. If this had been any other platform, we would have long since moved our fundraising efforts away from it. Now that we are being forced into this change, embracing it might make your life a little easier.

We don't know how the complete tools of PayPal Giving Fund will look for this new integration, but we do know that the PayPal Giving Fund is well known for handling monetary transactions. Like any other change, keep your ear to the ground on how to implement this at your organization. 

Takeaways
- If you were fundraising on Facebook, your admin dashboard should show you how to move to the PayPal Giving Fund. If not, head to the PayPal Giving Fund and create an account. This will likely make it easier for you to share donation options on Facebook.
- There will be fees assessed for the donations. PayPal Giving Fund might add an option for the donor to cover the transaction fee. Right now, that option is not available. 
- No PayPal account is required for your donors. It is unlikely that your donors will realize too much of a difference when giving to your organization.
- October 31 was the big day for this change! 

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