Facebook may be a multi-billion dollar multinational company, but the company understands that the average person may need a financial boost sometimes. As a result, Facebook will soon be rolling out their own spin on the internet fundraiser trend, called ‘personal fundraiser’. The feature works in an extremely similar manner to GoFundMe, but is entirely on Facebook. This means that the fundraising features can be integrated into things like live video streams, sharing links, and events. For their part, the cut that Facebook takes is only 5%; 3% to pay for payment processing, and 2% to cover things like nonprofit verification and payment support.
The feature will be rolling out in the United States in the coming weeks, and will be limited to users over the age of 18. For now, all fundraisers will be reviewed by Facebook before being made public. The review process is supposed to take 24 hours. Users will only be able to use the feature for six different categories of reasons at first; education, medical expenses, pet medical expenses, crisis and disaster relief, personal emergencies, and costs associated with funerals for departed loved ones or paying living expenses after losing their provision. In the press release about the new feature, Facebook asserted that they do plan to expand the categories that a fundraiser can fall under in due time, likely as the review process is streamlined.
Tying into the new feature, Facebook Live pages can now host a donate button, allowing users watching the live feed to donate right then and there, or be taken to the live event’s page after the video stream ends to donate then. Live streams with a donate button will function normally otherwise, with things like chatting and reactions being fully available as always. Users who donate to a personal fundraiser can see the pages and profiles affiliated with it, and if applicable, how they’re connected to any organizers or beneficiaries, making it easier to give donors a greater sense of connection and accountability compared to some other fundraising platforms on the web. The feature will be rolling out in beta form, and Facebook hopes to add features and make it more useful as it approaches the final version that will roll out to all users.
