The latest news from Facebook is the announcement of a feature to benefit nonprofits with Pages accounts on the network. Facebook introduces a “Donate Now” button to be available to any and all interested nonprofit organizations to display on the pages for quick access to their donation pages as well as for highlighted encouragement for supporters and fans to donate funds to their causes.
“Donate Now”
The “Donate Now” button will make it much easier for nonprofits to benefit directly from the social media network in terms of receiving actual donations. Their Facebook pages have already been useful for growing reach, awareness and engagement while sharing important information, media and details for how to get in contact and where/how to donate. However, the visibility of the new button should encourage more donations due to the prominence of the feature on Pages.
The one-click call-to-action button redirects users to an external website to complete the transaction directly on the donation page of the nonprofit’s website. It is very similar to the “Shop Now” call to action button on the network except that a disclaimer is first presented explaining that Facebook is not an endorser or an affiliate of the nonprofit organization. The “Donate Now” button will not only be available for Facebook Pages but also for any linked advertisements of nonprofit organizations that appear on Facebook.
Some may be tempted to confuse this “Donate Now” button with a similar feature that was unveiled at Facebook. The difference is that the former service was featured on the pages of specific nonprofit organizations that were partnered with Facebook including the Red Cross as well as for specific occasions requiring donated funds such as disaster relief for the earthquakes of Nepal. These buttons also differed in that they allowed the actual transactions to take place on the Facebook website.
Facebook Pages Call for Action
The “Donate Now” button joins the ranks of seven already available call-to-action buttons. A few of these buttons have already proven themselves to be quite useful for various nonprofit organizations including “Watch Video”, “Contact Us”, “Shop Now” (for nonprofits selling goods to raise funds for their causes) and “Sign Up” for mailing list membership subscriptions.
The “Donate Now” button feels like a natural progression for Facebook as the network continues to transform to appeal to users to spend more and more time on the platform.
