Instagram Wants to Make it Easier to Donate to Charities
12 February 2019 at 4:33 pm
Australians will soon be able to donate to charities through Instagram with the social media giant revealing it is working on a new fundraising tool to support the sector.
Instagram’s parent company Facebook announced at a summit last Thursday it was introducing a donation sticker in Instagram Stories.
It is understood the tool will allow charities and supporters to include a donate button in their posts so that when users click on it, they will go directly to the charity’s donation form.
“Instagram is all about bringing you closer to the people and things you love, and a big part of that is showing support for and bringing awareness to meaningful communities and causes,” an Instagram spokesperson told Pro Bono News.
“Later this year, people will be able to raise money and help support not for profits that are important to them through a donation sticker in Instagram Stories. We will share more updates on this feature in the coming months.”
Instagram is in early stages of developing the tool and hopes to introduce it in coming months.
Stories is a feature that allows Instagram users to post content to their followers for 24 hours before it disappears.
The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports that Facebook will cover the credit card processing fees and costs of operating the tool so that 100 per cent of donations go directly to the charities.
Alex Ball, a social media strategist for digital consultancy agency ntegrity, said this new feature was no surprise, with Facebook and Instagram tweaking their design to prioritise customer experience on platform.
She said it could be a positive option for NFPs, simply because Instagram Stories were more immersive and engaging than newsfeed posts.
“Oftentimes it’s a struggle to get donations with a placement where people aren’t there to donate, but rather consume content only,” Ball said.
“So we think Instagram Stories are a really creative, fun, interactive way to get people to engage with your brand and take action with a cause.
“Also motivating users to take action using the swipe up function makes for a better/fun user experience and a new way to get a positive, powerful and action inspiring message in front of them.”
Ball added that it paid to be an early adopter of the tool and encouraged NFPs to test it out to see whether it worked for the organisation.
The announcement of this tool comes after Facebook revealed last year that more than $1 billion had been raised for NFPs through Charitable Giving on Facebook.
