Jun 18, 2007

When Facebook Platform launched at the end of May , the move was met with surprise and delight from online marketers and software developers who have been hoping for a way to access the social network's huge audience of college-aged users. The Platform allows software developers to design custom applications people can install for their profiles. These applications have a wide range of uses, including advertising, fundraising, and apps that are just for fun.

I've seen the popularity of some of these applications first-hand, with many people in my circle of friends using the Graffiti App, which allows users to scribble on their friends' walls, and photo slideshow applications. The popularity of Facebook platform has been formally documented: CNET reports that some 1,500 applications have been created since the launch of the Platform. Installation of some of these applications has expanded incredibly quickly, with "some of the most popular [going] from zero to 850,000 users in three days". Dave Morin, director of Facebook Platform told CNET that "This is unprecedented in the history of the Internet".

However, will this popularity be long-lived or short-term? One Facebook app developer, Amit Gupta, argues that Facebook users may run into "application fatigue", causing the popularity of Facebook Platform to be more of a fad than anything else. I tend to agree with Gupta. Whereas MySpace users have shown constant interest in using widgets and other creative options on their profiles since the network's inception, Facebookers have relied on the system for its communication features rather than for the system's flexibility, which up until the last couple of weeks, has been non-existent.

The tendency for people to join groups on Facebook for various causes has been proven in the past through politics, with people grouping together for candidates or issues. But just as it's a question whether Facebook Apps will be a long-term tool, it's also a question whether people are ready to give money and/or be sold to through the social network. Thus far, it hasn't been proven whether Facebook membership translates into fundraising dollars.

To judge how well some applications are doing at raising money, we did a little experiment. We checked out one of the fundraising applications, called Causes. The app is by Project Agape and can be found by doing a simple search in the applications directory. The way it works is that the application offers a directory of non-profit causes to which Facebook users can start a membership and donate money online. Causes are grouped into categories, making them easier to browse through. The directory was too large for us to research all of the causes, but to get a general idea of how fundraising through this app was progressing, we took a sample of some of the causes and compared their membership to fundraising history. Currently, there are 9 categories of Causes. We examined the first 25 causes (alphabetically) for each category, a total of 225 causes.

What we found is that membership for these causes is through the roof. For the 225 causes we researched, there are a total of 615,415 members, an average of 2,735 members per group. The "international" category, which includes groups like "Save Darfur" and "Fight Aids" has the most members, 206,277 (that's an average of 8,251 members per group. The "religion" category, which includes groups like "Share the Gospel" and "Stop Islam Hijacking" had the fewest members, a total of 4,959 (an average of 198 members per group).

Despite the huge membership stats, fundraising stats are lagging far behind. In total, $30,752 were raised by all the groups we checked out. This may seem like a lot, but this averages to just $0.05 per member or $138 per group. I think the key here is that becoming a member of a group or cause on Facebook is really easy and requires limited to no action. This membership is, in most cases, merely a stamp on someone's profile that helps connect users to other like-minded people. Beyond that, group membership on Facebook doesn't really mean much. Making donations, on the other hand, actually requires college- and high school-aged people to contribute funds. In most cases, this age group doesn't have a lot of spare cash on hand, especially for causes on a network which people have gotten used to using for free.

While I think Facebook applications like the work by Project Agape is a great idea and helps people to get a voice for their political/social concerns. However, I don't expect these groups to have a lot of success raising funds on Facebook.

What do you think? How will the new Facebook Platform affect online fundraising for non-profits?

Take a look at our research data here.

http://firstgiving.typepad.com/communityblog Brittany

The power of online communities to rally support for non-profits is definitely significant as we have seen at Firstgiving. Through our website individuals come, create a page, and then send out emails to their friends via email. But their dedication does not stop simply at email. Using our widgets and badges our fundraisers also promote on MySpace, Facebook (using their “share on facebook” function), and their blog. Since our users have a unique short url, they are able to easily direct their online community to their page. It’s a great way to unite their entire community regardless of what site they are on.

Because isn’t it better when everyone can participate?
http://www.bivingsreport.com Erin Teeling

Hi Brittany,

Thanks for your comment.

I am definitely not denying the the significance of participation online for nonprofits. It is evident that people will congregate around a cause online and spread news about issues through their online networks of friends. However, I don’t think this online participation has translated into actual fundraising dollars yet. Has Firstgiving had success raising funds on Facebook?
http://www.futuremajority.com Mike Connery

You are only looking at half the equation. Causes still cannot raise money for candidates or PACS, and only a handful of political nonprofits are using the application.

So far, it looks like most people are also just throwing a page up and waiting for the loot to roll in. No one is conducting a strategic campaign to leverage this fundraising platform.

I’ve written about this much more extensively on my blog.

http://futuremajority.com/node/493
http://www.coolpeoplecare.org Sam Davidson

I think you’ve done a great job with this analysis. I’ve found that the college and young adult crowd are looking for ways to get involved. I’m not sure that FB will lead the way in this involvement, but it does offer at least one option, even if only a few dollars are generated by a few people.
http://www.livingstonbuzz.com/blog/2007/06/20/goodness-gracious-great-blogs-of-fire-8/ The Buzz Bin » Blog Archive » Goodness Gracious, Great Blogs of Fire!

[...] Here’s an interesting one. Perhaps like me, you’ve been super jazzed about Facebook’s network application integration feature. This news opened the power of Facebook’s network to marketers in a way that enables us to access users by creating valuable applications for them. Social media strategy at its best. But the Bivings report says that network application fatigue may set in, and that fund-raising applications are failing. It seems to me that Bivings Writer Erin Teeling hit the nail on the head with this statement, “…it’s also a question whether people are ready to give money and/or be sold to through the social network.” A social media law or axiom that we believe in: Participation and value building works, but exploitation and selling always fails. And thus another round of social media failures appear to be on the way. [...]
http://www.usafundraising.com USA Fundraising

Great article! I think the fact that a fundraising application is available on Facebook, and that it’s being used at all is a great step forward for online fundraising. The concept has been around for a while, but has just recently, I think, been gaining popularity in the nonprofit community.

As you said, this application is also a great way for causes and organizations to get a voice. All those members may not translate into big fundraising dollars, but it may very well be translating into communities of people becoming aware of situations and causes they previously knew nothing about.

Again, great article – something to keep an eye on for sure!
http://www.nonprofittechblog.org abenamer

The analysis is lacking in both substance and vision. You might want to do a little better and ask Project Agape for the numbers, they’re more than willing to hand them out.

Go here for more information:

http://www.nonprofittechblog.o.....ject-agape

I’m going to repeat my assertion here. Tell me what offline campaign you know about that can cause one million people to sign up for a cause. In 27 days. With no advertising budget. And no consultants like Bivings Group to help them out.

They’ve raised $100k in 27 days, surely that’s a triumph for an essentially untried technology. They’re signing up thousands of people an hour. And with Facebook’s API, you have unparalleled access to the demographic and psychographic profiles of all your users.
http://www.patrickruffini.com/2007/06/22/links-for-2007-06-22/ Patrick Ruffini :: links for 2007-06-22

[...] Facebook Applications: the Future of Fundraising? Probably not. » The Bivings Report (tags: facebook fundraising) [...]
http://www.diosacommunications.com Heather

See this new Facebook App:

http://apps.facebook.com/chang...../view/1122

It blows away Causes.

My heart really belongs to MySpace though. I run:

http://www.myspace.com/nonprof.....anizations

And publish MySpace best Practices for Nonprofit Organizations:

http://www.diosacommunications.....ctices.htm

I actually think there is great potential to fundraise on MySpace and Facebook, but like any other tried and true fundraising campaign strategy… it takes time to figure out what works and what doesn’t. Just like other online fundraising campaigns, you have to ask your MySpace friends to donate (can’t do this in Facebook Causes). Simply placing a widget on your MySpace doesn’t work… you have to sending out fundraising bulletins and blog… inspire your community to give and continuously reconnect with them…
Ian from www.thenewsroom.com

Maybe not the future of fundraising but there are lots of monetization options out there! http://apps.facebook.com/thenewsroom
http://www.fundraising.co.uk/blogs/bryanmiller/2007/08/24/facebook-fundraising-apps-a-brief-review/ UK Fundraising | Blogs | Bryan Miller | Blog Archive | Facebook fundraising apps – a brief review

[...] question was raised back in early June by Erin Teeling in a post about Causes on the Bivings Report blog, where she highlighted the fact that despite membership for several causes being very high the [...]
http://www.facebookster.com Facebookster

Facebookster – We can provide a full range of facebook application strategy,design, development and marketing for your business. Our service offerings will allow you to maximize and leverage the facebook social graph of 32+ Million users.

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http://info.helpattack.com/2011/12/a-brief-history-of-social-media-fundraising/ A Brief History of Social Media Fundraising | HelpAttack!

[...] The Future of Fundraising? Probably Not (June) Discusses new Facebook platform, and identifies large numbers of groups and high membership, but low donation totals. [...]

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We are pleased to announce the launch of the Brick Factory, a Washington, DC-based digital agency founded by former employees of The Bivings Group. You can read the details of the transition here.

As a result of the change, The Bivings Report will no longer be updated, although we intend to keep it up for archival purposes. You can read the Brick Factory's new blog here.

Facebook Applications: the Future of Fundraising? Probably not.

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