Fundraising Via Facebook

Why Facebook
Why Now
Why Monkeyhouse

Before You Begin - Do Some Soul Searching

  • How much money are you hoping to raise?
    • This is totally up to you.  An average donation is usually between $10-25.  Multiply that by the number of people you think will actually donate.  You can always raise more than your goal.  People tend to want to donate to campaigns that are successful so it is better to aim a little bit lower then set reach goals.  Need more help selecting your goal?
  • Is there is a particular Monkeyhouse program you are interested in raising money for?  For example,
    • Choreography Mentorship Program
    • Musings
    • Administrative Costs
    • Developing New Works
    • You can also just raise money for the organization as a whole. That’s totally up to you.
  • What is your relationship with Monkeyhouse?
  • Why is this organization/program important to you?
  • Are you fundraising as part of a larger campaign?  (#GivingTuesday, #SocialGivingSeptember, etc.)  Click here!

Create Your Fundraiser

  • Login to Facebook and visit https://www.facebook.com/fundraisers/
  • Click “Raise Money”
  • Select “Nonprofit”
  • ​​Type “Monkeyhouse” in the search bar.  It will show up at Monkey House Inc. That’s us!
  • ​Enter your goal amount
  • Select an end date for your fundraiser.  
    • As soon as you create it people will be able to donate to your campaign.
    • Fundraisers are a lot of work.  You want to pick a long enough range that people won't miss the fundraiser but short enough that you can regularly update and monitor your campaign until it ends.

Design Your Campaign

Here's where you get to put all of that soul searching to work.

You want to title your fundraiser something that involves both your name and Monkeyhouse.  Keep your title short, there's lot of room for text in the next box!

Now comes the important part.  Tell people why you want them to support Monkeyhouse.  Some things to consider:
  • What is your relationship with Monkeyhouse?
  • Why is this organization/program important to you?
  • Who is Monkeyhouse?  (Facebook conveniently includes our mission for you, but you should personalize your explanation.)
  • What is the program you’re raising money for?  
  • Where does the money go?
  • A few tips:
    • People tend not to read more than the first three sentences unless it’s your mother or you are REALLY compelling in those first few sentences.  So think about how you arrange your text.
    • Even your mother doesn’t want to read an entire novel on Facebook.  You want to give enough information for people to understand what you are asking and why, but not so long that they get bored before making a donation.
The key to ANY fundraising campaign is to MAKE IT PERSONAL.  People get asked for money every day from all sorts of directions.  There are buskers in the Subway, phone calls from organizations saving children in underserved communities, homeless people on the street and endless political campaigns.  The thing that is going to make your campaign stand out to the people in your community is if you can explain to them what this campaign means to you.  Tell stories.  Share your experiences with Monkeyhouse.  Explain how you will be directly impacted by the program being supported.  Make people want to support YOU by supporting Monkeyhouse.
The final step in your campaign design is the image you choose.  Simply tap on the word EDIT in the lower right hand corner of the image they suggested, then tap UPLOAD NEW PHOTO.  Don't forget, the goal is to make it personal, so don't use one of Facebook's graphics!  Add something that clearly shows something about Monkeyhouse.  If you are interested in using one of Monkeyhouse's fundraiser images, you can find them here!

Now you're ready to create your fundraiser and start getting donations!

Now What? - Promoting Your Campaign

That wasn't all that hard, right?  Now the magic of Facebook will take care of everything!

Actually...  you've only just begun your fundraising journey.  While Facebook is a great platform for your fundraiser you still need to make sure people see all that hard work you just did.  

Every day you should:
  • Share your fundraiser at least once.  (I would recommend twice a day.)
  • Post something new to your fundraiser at least once.
  • Send out a series of individual thank you shout outs to everyone who donates.  You should do this as posts from your account (not on the Fundraiser page and not in DM) because every time you do it mentions the fundraiser to more people.  If you tag the person you are mentioning then (depending on privacy settings) everyone who is friends with that person will see the post and learn about your campaign.
  • Like and comment on all posts in your campaign.
  • Keep track of all of your donations in a spreadsheet.  (More info on that here.)
 ​
Here are a few tips on what and how you should share:
  • Everyone loves an image!  Just like you, the average Facebook user is more drawn in by an image than by text.  We have provided a number of images you can use. You can also use photos of your time with Monkeyhouse too…
  • Keep things personal!  All of the questions we talked about in creating the text for your fundraiser apply here too.  Every time you post the link to your fundraiser add a new short fact about the organization, your relationship with it or why you are raising money.
  • Share often.  Facebook is inundated with posts every day.  Don’t get yours get lost in the shuffle! The more you post the more it will be seen.
  • Cross promote.  Are you also on Twitter or Instagram?  Use those platforms to send people to your Facebook fundraiser.  Send an email to friends and family encouraging them to visit your fundraiser.
  • Speaking of friends and family…  Talk up your fundraiser in person.  Don't rely on the magic of the internet to spread the word for you but actually TALK to real humans face to face about Monkeyhouse and your campaign.
  • Use the power of social media!  Don’t forget to tag @MonkeyhouseLovesMe on Facebook and Instagram and @m0nkeyhouse on Twitter on all of your posts.  We will send people your way!  
  • This is a word of mouth campaign.  Encourage people to spread the word, even if they aren’t able to make a donation.

Follow Up

  • Be Thankful!  Please make sure you thank each donor individually.  Community building is a huge part of what we do and it is very important to us that each of our donors is personally appreciated.  
  • Encourage donors to spread the word about your campaign.  Ask them to share one of the I took Monkeyhouse’s $20 #GivingTuesday Challenge! or I support local artists! images.
  • Make sure you share your final spreadsheet with Nicole.  We will want to thank donors as well, so having that information is important!  Check out more info on the spreadsheet situation here.