Important change to Facebook Fundraisers (it's not all good news) 😭

facebook fundraising Sep 12, 2023

If you're in Australia, UK, USA or Canada and you use, or plan to use Facebook fundraising tools - listen up.

Meta has announced an expanded deal with PayPal Giving and that means charities in the USA and Canada will be moving to the Australian system where money is collected and paid out via a PayPal Giving account and not by Facebook.

If you're in Australia or the UK, there is more important news. From November 1, 2023 charities will have to start paying a processing fee on donations. 😭 We previously didn't have any fees on donations through Facebook.

For donations in Australia, the payment processing fee structure is 1.1% plus a $0.30 AUD transaction fee.

Reports say in the UK, it will be 1.4% plus a .30p transaction fee.

Donors will be given the option to increase their donation to cover the transaction fee, as many fundraising platforms do, but only time will tell how many people will opt to do this.

What you need to know and do:

All charities in the impacted countries will have to accept the new Charitable Donation Terms before the cut off to keep using the fundraising features. A copy of the terms are available here.
Users in the USA and Canada will have to set up PayPal Giving Accounts and be ready to move to the new system.
In Australia and the UK, you will need to adjust fundraising predictions based on the additional fees and make sure your accounts department is aware of the change.
The change will happen from November 1, 2023.

While I am disappointed that many of my clients will no longer get fee free donations on these platforms, I am not surprised. It is a growing space, particularly in Australia, and it's common donation platform practice to 'clip the ticket' on its way through.

Find the rather quite announcement from Meta over here.

I still believe Facebook Fundraisers are a huge opportunity for charities and would recommend you stick with it. The benefits outweigh the challenges and it's still a great platform to attract new and younger donors.