Instagram Fundraising: Not Just For Influencers
You might already be using Instagram for recruiting, posting infographics, community-building, or just sharing videos of the office dog, but there’s one more use for this platform: fundraising!
Here’s what you need to know to raise money on Instagram.
Why Use Instagram for Fundraising?
First off, it’s smart to diversify the ways that you’re reaching small donors. Recent reports have shown that there’s been a “collapse” in small donations this year, which could have major consequences for nonprofits who aren’t prepared to weather the upcoming recession. Experimenting with new avenues for small gifts, and making it easy for younger generations to quickly send you donations on their phones, is worth a try.
Instagram also gives you lots of options for how you fundraise. You can put a fundraiser in your bio, in a post, in a link or sticker in your Stories, on your Live videos… and you can have a Support button on your profile all the time, so that your supporters can create fundraisers on your behalf. If someone wants to support you, don’t limit how they can do it!
And, you know what else is fun? Instagram covers the processing fees for all donations to nonprofits.
Do This Now:
Check That You’re Set Up to Fundraise on Both Facebook and Instagram: Before you even get to the campaign planning stage, figure out the logistics. Check that you are in a country or region where you can use Instagram to fundraise, first. Next, make sure your nonprofit is approved to use Meta Pay and Facebook’s fundraising tools; this is how you can accept donations directly through Facebook and Instagram, instead of having to send donors to your website. Your organization must also use an Instagram Business account and link it to your organization’s Facebook profile. See why we said it’s important to check on these things? It can get complicated! But this is all really important.
Get Your Donate AND Support Button Up: Once the back-end is set up, go to your Instagram profile settings and hit Business, followed by Donations. You’ll see lots of helpful options here, including an option to add the Donate button and the Support button to your profile; turn these on, and you’re ready to rock. Create a fundraiser by following these steps! If you don’t see “Donations” in your Business settings, make sure you’re using the latest version of Instagram.
NOW Plan Your Campaign: Use a guide like this one from Donorbox to get your campaign in order, and remember that Instagram is primarily a visual channel. Photos, videos, animations, and graphics are all essential to be noticed, and they need to be high-quality and formatted properly for however you plan to share out your content. Test all your content before it’s published! And get inspired by following some great nonprofit Instagram accounts.
Do This Over the Next Few Weeks:
Don’t Sleep on #GiveEveryTuesday: If you remember last week’s post, you’ll recall that there are Giving Tuesdays every Tuesday that you can join. Use the toolkit for post ideas, and integrate the #givingeverytuesday hashtag into your posts and Stories. Prime your audience with some giving content before the big day! This is also a good way to test out your fundraising messaging, especially if you boost those posts with some ad dollars.
Consider Creators to Partner With, of Every Type: Psst… did you know influencers are called creators now? You don’t have to involve influencers in your fundraising campaign, necessarily, but it also can be a benefit if the right influencer supports your work. Do some research and see if there are influencers out there that might be a great fit to represent your cause. You don’t need to limit yourself to working with only influencers with gigantic audiences, either; reaching out a number of smaller influencers who are more likely to say yes to promoting your cause might get you the same return as working with one bigger influencer. Test the waters and send a DM; you really never know who might say yes!
And Don’t Forget:
Others Can Fundraise For Your Organization: Encourage your supporters to start fundraisers on your organization’s behalf; here are the steps they need. Just make sure your test that everything is working! Use your own Instagram profile to create a test fundraiser and make sure it fully works from start to finish. Also, don’t forget that Instagram’s different features allow fundraising in different ways. In your Stories, you can set up a fundraiser for 24 hours; in an Instagram post, it will be up for 30 days.
Your followers can also share and promote your fundraiser by adding it to their profile, sharing it to their Stories, and putting it on their posts. Be open to the possibilities, and give your supporters very public and very excited shout-outs for their efforts!People Give to People, Not Organizations: This rule applies no matter what channel you’re using. Use Instagram’s different features to showcase the human side of your organization. Have staff tell your audience about their work on your Stories, and showcase your work with photo carousels and video. Plan that all of your content (which, if you’re following best practices, you’re posting daily) is giving your audience a clear understanding of why your organization is worth supporting.