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Unless you’ve been taking a social media break, you’ve probably heard the news that Instagram’s new ‘Donate’ sticker is here.

This is great news for nonprofits as it opens up another fundraising stream, allowing your supporters to leverage their social reach on your behalf. And if there’s one thing that the M+R 2018 Benchmarks showed us, it’s that social fundraising is a successful tool that nonprofit organizations should not overlook.

There’s a little bit of work that you’ll need to do before you can get started, and it can feel a little overwhelming to keep track of it all. To help you out, we’ve rounded up everything you need to know (with links!) into one easy-to-reference blog post.

 

How to get started

As long as your organization is in the United States (and not a C4), you should be eligible to participate.

Here’s a short list of the other requirements:

Things to keep in mind

Not for Newbies: This will likely work best for organizations that already have a presence on Instagram. Trying to get your Instagram game off the ground while jumping into Instagram fundraising is possible, but without an established supporter base, you probably aren’t going to see a lot of results.

Limited Data: As with Facebook Fundraisers, you won’t get email addresses and constituent data for your CRM. (This also means that you’ll need to be prepared to thank supporters in-app.)

The Clock is Running: The Instagram ‘donate’ sticker is a feature specific to Instagram stories, and Instagram stories are only available for 24 hours. If you want to keep the story available for longer than that, you’ll need to turn the story into a ‘highlight’ on your Instagram profile.

Put It on Repeat: The ‘donate’ sticker is not one-time use only! Facebook recommends using the sticker in multiple stories for maximum exposure.

Be a Social Butterfly: The thing with social is that its, well, social. You’ll need to be prepared to alert your supporters and followers so that they can fundraise through Instagram. We recommend a multichannel approach– sharing via email, social, and your website.

Slide into Those DMs: Be prepared to interact with supporters via Direct Messages to thank them, and to take the time to shout-out people that donated in their stories (especially if the donation was from someone with a larger-than-average follower base).

Benefits

  • It’s super convenient for your supporters since they don’t even have to leave the app to make a donation.
  • 100% of donations go to your organization. People can donate as little as $5 and as much as $2500 per contribution through the Instagram ‘donate’ sticker, and there’s no limit to how many times they can donate.
  • It’s a way to reach a segment of your supporters that you might not have email addresses for, but who are following you on social.
  • It’s a way to get your organization and your mission in front of new eyes, as followers of your supporters will be able to see their stories.
  • It’s new – so while we wait for the data to come in about how successful this channel, the novelty at least is something to capitalize on.

Happy fundraising!

 

Lorealle Bishop is a marketing consultant here at Zuri Group. She understands the impact that messaging can have at every touchpoint of the user journey and helps organizations build a communication strategy that reflects their core values and supports their business goals.

Have questions about social fundraising and strategy?

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