Facebook Fundraiser Feature
How To Thank Donors on Facebook: A Primer For Nonprofits
October 15, 2020
As a nonprofit professional, you’re well aware of the importance of thanking donors to continue stewarding them for long-term support. However, there are a few questions that arise when it comes to thanking Facebook fundraiser donors, in particular.
For example, how do you find Facebook fundraiser donors? And, how do you thank these donors even though you may not have contact information?
Unfortunately, Facebook doesn’t make it easy for nonprofits to thank donors. At GoodUnited, we’ve dedicated resources to researching and optimizing the Facebook fundraising process for nonprofits. This research has provided us with insight into how nonprofits can build lifelong relationships with Facebook donors.
We’re going to cover the basics of thanking Facebook donors through the following points:
Are you ready to begin thanking and engaging Facebook fundraising donors? Let’s get started.
Thanking donors is essential for building relationships with supporters that can last for years to come. That said, there are a variety of reasons why it’s so important to thank Facebook fundraiser donors in particular. These include:
Thanking donors is a key step in making the most of Facebook fundraising. This channel often connects nonprofits like yours with supporters you may not have reached otherwise. Thanking these donors is one important way you keep the newly acquired first-time donors around and grow your nonprofit’s audience over time.
The first step to thanking donors on Facebook is discovering who those donors are! That said, there are a few unique challenges that arise when discovering who has given to your nonprofit on Facebook.
For example:
For some nonprofits, these challenges are enough to write off Facebook giving as a whole and instead ask donors to give using another platform. However, considering Facebook fundraising is incredibly popular and has zero processing fees, we think it’s worth the donor discovery challenge. So, let’s walk through how you can discover Facebook fundraiser donors.
You can technically access a history of all gifts made to your nonprofit through Facebook. But, this history isn’t necessarily helpful on its own when it comes to thanking donors.
This is because the history of donations made to your nonprofit is available through the Daily Transaction Report. This is a massive file containing a variety of information, some of which does little more than to clutter the information you receive and make it overall more challenging to decipher. For example, this report contains:
This is a ton of information! Plus, all of this information may not be available for each supporter. For example, donor identification information (their name) will be reported as anonymous if your nonprofit isn’t aligned with Facebook Payments and instead relying on Network for Good. Further, the donor’s email address will only be reported if the donor has opted to share it with the social platform.
This can make gleaning valuable information from the Daily Transaction Report a complicated process. And, there can be major gaps when it comes to actually contacting your donors. For example:
Luckily, we’ve discovered a process that your organization can use to make the Daily Transaction Report a more useful resource. Continue reading to learn how.
To make the Daily Transaction Report useful, your nonprofit will need to turn it into a usable spreadsheet first.
Because you download this report in a .CSV file, you can import the data directly into Excel or Google Sheets. After doing so, follow these steps to discover top donors for your organization:
From here, we recommend prioritizing contacting those donors that have made the highest donations. Soon, we’re going to cover how you can thank those donors— but, how do you discover the donors if you’re not a spreadsheet wizard?
At GoodUnited, we understand that data manipulation isn’t a task for everyone. Because of this, we use the information from the Daily Transaction Report to create an insightful dashboard that contains the most important information such as:
This dashboard summarizes the information found in the Daily Transaction Report as well as any information collected while carrying out our services (more on this later). This information can help your team connect more effectively with both fundraisers and donors alike. Now, let’s look at how you might use the donor information available to thank donors on Facebook.
So, you have a first name, a last name, a donation amount, and— if you’re lucky— an email address. How can you use this information to craft effective thank you’s to donors? We have a few ideas.
Let’s say you’ve unlocked a goldmine of Facebook donor information, and your donors have opted in to share their email addresses. In that scenario, we recommend sending a thank you email to those donors— but, not a canned, run-of-the-mill gratitude note.
This email should be personalized and informative. Here’s why:
How can you write an email that hits these key points? Well, reflecting the donor’s giving history, such as including a reference to the campaign they gave to, is a great start. And, listing out upcoming events, online campaigns, and even tips to create their own fundraiser are great ways to provide actionable next steps.
Here’s a short template to spur your imagination, written from the perspective of an animal welfare nonprofit:
“Hi [Donor’s Name]!
We are so thankful for your donation to [Campaign Name]. Your donation provided 10 days of meals for dogs at our shelter— check it out!
[Insert image of donation at work]
At Southwest Animal Shelter, we help dogs and cats find their forever homes each day. This includes coordinating transportation, daily feeding, vet care, and of course enrichment! Donations just like yours are how that work is possible.
We would love to keep in touch with you going forward. Here are a few resources where you can learn more about our organization and how to get involved:
From the pups and kittens at Southwest Animal Shelter, thank you!”
We’ve found that there are a variety of ways to engage with Facebook fundraisers directly on the platform. But, sending a thank-you letter to the donor’s email addresses is one of the most straightforward methods to engage donors in the long run. When you can access this information, make the most of it!
As we’ve briefly mentioned, it’s easier to discover and connect with users who have created fundraisers rather than the donors to those fundraisers. So, why not leverage that connection to say thank you?
To do this, you first have to discover users who have started Facebook fundraisers on behalf of your nonprofit. In our Ultimate Nonprofit Guide to Facebook Fundraisers, we break down the steps for how your organization can do this using the Daily Transaction Report and the newly released “Sort & Filter” function.
After you’ve discovered the top fundraisers for your nonprofit, you can begin engaging with the users that have started them. Consider writing a personalized thank you note and sending it to the fundraisers. Thank the user who started the fundraiser, and then ask them to share the note on their personal Facebook page to thank their donors as well.
Here’s a template to begin brainstorming:
“Hi [User]!
We are so thankful that you started a Facebook fundraiser on behalf of the Southwest Animal Shelter. Donations from your fundraiser [describe impact].
We would love to thank your donors as well. Would you be willing to share this note from us on your Facebook Timeline?
‘To the donors of [Campaign Name],
Thank you from the team at Southwest Animal Shelter! We can’t begin to express our gratitude for this gift, as it funded [describe impact].
We’d love to keep in touch with you and continue working together to benefit homeless dogs and cats. If you’re interested in getting involved, please reach out to us today!’
Thank you again for your generosity and effort raising gifts on behalf of the Southwest Animal Shelter. We would love to keep in touch with you going forward. Here are a few resources where you can learn more about our organization and how to get involved:
From the pups and kittens at Southwest Animal Shelter, thank you!”
This option knocks out two birds with one stone— stewarding both the fundraisers and the donors in one communication.
This is a great option if you haven’t already interacted with the fundraiser, prior to the end of the campaign. Start with the same steps as before to discover the top campaigns created on behalf of your nonprofit, either using the “Sort & Filter” function within Facebook or the Daily Transaction Report.
Then, after discovering the highest-raising campaigns, consider publicly thanking them on your nonprofit’s Facebook page. Simply write a personalized message that reflects the impact of the campaign, and tag the fundraiser that started it.
For example:
“Thank you [User’s Name] for dedicating your birthday to the Southwest Animal Shelter! The [Amount] you and your friends raised purchased 10 new dog beds for animals in need.
We can’t overstate how much gifts like yours benefit the animals in our community. We hope to connect with you again in the future!”
This is a straightforward way to acknowledge the gifts raised on behalf of your nonprofit on Facebook. That said, there are a few essential aspects to keep in mind:
We realize this can be a time-consuming effort— especially if your nonprofit is lucky enough to have many ongoing fundraisers at any given time. If you feel overwhelmed dedicating time to Facebook fundraising, consider contacting the GoodUnited team today. We can thank each and every fundraiser on your behalf and encourage further engagement.
Last but not least, connect with Facebook fundraiser donors on the original fundraising post itself.
There are a few ways to do this:
Here is a quick template that you can build off of:
“Hi, [Donor Name]! Thank you for giving to our organization— we can’t overstate the impact of gifts just like yours! To learn more about the Southwest Animal Shelter and how you can help, check out this page. We’d love to keep in touch with you going forward!
The goal is to acknowledge those who are publicly announcing gifts to your organization and start a two-way conversation with them.
So far, we’ve covered why it’s so important for your nonprofit to thank the donors to Facebook fundraisers. And, we’ve covered four strategies you can use to do so.
But, what if your internal team isn’t particularly data-savvy, and you’re struggling to find information about these donors? Or, if you’re lucky to have a huge number of fundraisers conducted on your behalf, and you simply don’t know how to engage with each and every one of them
That’s where we can help.
At GoodUnited, we specialize in helping nonprofits thank and continue stewarding each and every Facebook fundraiser and donor. We start off with thanking 100% of the users that start fundraisers on your behalf. Then, we invite that user to opt into a custom messaging sequence conducted directly in Facebook Messenger.
With that messaging sequence, we steward the fundraiser, share tips and encouragement, and express gratitude every step of the way. In addition to creating connections with the fundraiser, this opens a clear path to thank the donors as well.
Beyond that, we also simplify the Daily Transaction Report into a useful and intuitive dashboard full of actionable insights. To learn more about GoodUnited’s services, contact our team today.
For more information about thanking donors and Facebook fundraisers in general, explore the following additional resources:
