How can social media be used for fundraising? This guide shows you the best social media fundraising ideas you should know about, covering everything from simple tactics to more advanced methods. If you’re trying to raise money for a nonprofit organization, fund scientific research, or help small businesses, you’ll find 15+ solid strategies here with step-by-step instructions. Social media fundraising is especially effective for charitable organizations because it enables them to connect with their supporters on a personal level, and relatives and friends can make donations from the comfort of their own homes.
This guide on using social media for fundraising takes you through the whole process, from planning your campaign to checking your results.
Understanding Social Media Fundraising
Building a social media fundraising campaign takes planning, realistic expectations, and a cause that people would really want to give to. The biggest problems come about when you don’t have a fundraising campaign that is story-based and emotion-driven.
What your social fundraiser says really matters – that’s what makes people donate and share your campaign with their friends and followers. Getting your message across clearly and powerfully is really the most crucial.
As you’re creating a social media fundraising strategy, consider these key steps:
- Social fundraising calendar: Map out when you’ll create, post, and interact on social media
- Realistic expectations: Be honest about the number of followers you have and the number of individuals you can realistically influence
- Fundraising tools: Experiment with established fundraising tools like GoFundMe, Kickstarter, or Crowdrise
- Team partnerships: Partner with social media influencers, brands, or other causes to get more people involved
10 Best Social Media Fundraising Ideas
Here are 10 fundraising ideas that actually work and you can start using on social media right now:
1. Pet Photo Fundraiser Run a pet photo contest where people pay $5-10 to enter their pet photos. You make money from entry fees and people voting with donations. This does really well on Instagram and Facebook because everyone loves pet content.
2. Selfie Challenge Campaign Make up a hashtag and get supporters to post selfies with signs about your cause. Ask them to donate $5 and tell 3 friends to do it too. This can go viral across social media platforms if people like your cause.
3. 30-Day Challenge Fundraiser Develop month-long challenges like “Walk 30 Miles in 30 Days” or “Read 30 Books in 30 Days.” Participants raise money when they complete daily challenges and post updates on social media.
4. Birthday Fundraiser Campaigns Get your supporters to make Facebook birthday fundraisers instead of asking for gifts. Give them some suggested text and graphics to use. Facebook makes this super easy with their built-in tools.
5. Recipe Video Challenge Challenge followers to make short cooking videos based on ingredients or themes pertinent to your cause. Ideal for TikTok, Instagram Reels, and Facebook videos.
6. Virtual Concert Series Host weekly virtual concerts with local artists. Sell tickets through social media and let people donate while watching Facebook Live or Instagram Live shows.
7. Skills Challenge Campaign Get supporters to show off their talents (singing, dancing, sports tricks) and ask friends and family to donate based on how well they do. TikTok and Instagram are perfect for this.
8. Holiday Gift Alternative During holidays, encourage people to donate to your cause instead of buying physical gifts. Make shareable graphics for social media that explain this idea.
9. “A Day in the Life” Campaign Post daily content showing how donations actually help real people. Ask followers to donate what they spend on morning coffee for a week. Instagram Stories and Facebook posts work great for this.
10. Digital Art Auction Find local artists who’ll donate digital artwork and auction it through Instagram Stories or Facebook Live. Use countdown stickers and let people bid live.
15+ Proven Social Media Fundraising Strategies
1. Facebook Fundraising Features
Facebook already has fundraising tools built in that make it easy for nonprofit organizations to collect money. Your supporters can make birthday fundraisers, and you can put donation buttons on your page. These fundraising campaigns let friends and family give money with just a couple clicks.
2. Instagram Stories for Fundraising
Instagram Stories work great for showing behind-the-scenes stuff that makes supporters want to donate. Instagram’s “Donate” sticker enables followers to donate to your fundraising page without ever leaving the application.
3. Twitter Campaigns with Prominent Calls-to-Action
Twitter is real-time, which tends to build urgency for your fundraising campaigns. Use hashtags that grab attention and put direct links to your donation page in every tweet that makes sense.
4. LinkedIn for Professional Networks
LinkedIn is really good for reaching professional networks where people have more money to spend. Post updates about your nonprofit organizations and explain how donations help your mission so you can attract supporters with deeper pockets.
5. TikTok Creative Challenges
Make challenges that get users involved while they learn about your fundraising strategy. Put links to your fundraising page in your bio and pin fundraising info in your comments.
6. Peer to Peer Fundraising
Turn your supporters into fundraisers too. Set them up with fundraising pages and get them to share these with their networks. This peer-to-peer fundraising approach helps you collect money while reaching way more people.
7. Virtual Events and Live Streaming
Run virtual events on Facebook Live or Instagram Live. You can do online auction activities, Q&A sessions, or entertainment. Ask viewers to donate while they’re watching.
8. Crowdfunding Campaign Integration
Start crowdfunding campaigns on sites like GoFundMe, Kickstarter, or Indiegogo and push them on all your social media platforms. Use what each platform does best to send people to your main fundraising page.
9. User-Generated Content Campaigns
Ask supporters to make content that demonstrates why they are invested in your cause. Such authentic material performs effectively on social media channels and disseminates news of your fundraising initiative without coming across as pushy.
10. Email and Social Media Integration
Mix your social media work with email campaigns so you reach supporters who miss your posts. Add social sharing buttons to emails so more people see your stuff across different networks.
11. Matching Gifts Promotion
Collaborate with businesses or big donors that will match donations. Advertise this on social media to show supporters their donation is doubled, which will make people more likely to give.
12. Online Auction Promotion
Use social media to showcase online auction items and invite bidding. Share photos and stories about what you’re auctioning to generate excitement and make individuals want to participate.
13. Recurring Donation Campaigns
One-time gifts are great, but recurring gifts bring money that comes in month after month. Use social media to inform supporters about how monthly giving makes a bigger impact and make it simple to set up recurring gifts on your donation page.
14. Crisis Response Fundraising
In case of a crisis, social media is invaluable for urgent fundraising. Post what you urgently need and provide people with immediate opportunities to assist from their own homes.
15. Community Partnership Promotion
Collaborate with local businesses and utilize social media to cross-promote each other’s fundraising initiatives. This way, you get exposure to new sets of people while also helping your local community.
16. Social Media Post Optimization
Create social media posts that really make people sit up and give. Utilize great photos, attention-grabbing headlines, and good calls-to-action to maximize your fundraising potential.
17. Influencer Partnerships
Collaborate with social media influencers who are interested in your cause. When they genuinely recommend you, it can really increase your visibility and encourage supporters to give.
18. Hashtag Campaigns
Design branded hashtags for your fundraising campaigns so that more individuals view them and generate user-generated content. In this way, word of your cause gets around naturally.
Platform-Specific Strategies
Each site is different, so here’s how to have better fundraising results on each one:
Facebook: Create community via groups, utilize their fundraising features, and develop content that’s simple to share so supporters will pass along information about your cause.
Instagram: Utilize visual storytelling, Stories and IGTV for behind-the-scenes footage, and utilize donation stickers to make giving easy.
Twitter: Generate urgency with timely tweets, utilize trending hashtags, and engage in discussions on pertinent topics to reach a larger audience.
LinkedIn: Emphasize professional networks with posts regarding your mission, share stories of impact, and engage with prospective corporate partners.
TikTok: Develop content that is interesting and authentic, appeals to younger demographics, and invites individuals to participate through challenges and user-generated content.
Advanced Fundraising Techniques
Building Long-Term Supporter Relationships
Focus on developing relationships rather than requesting funds immediately. Provide updates on a regular basis regarding how you’re utilizing donations and the difference they’re making. This works to convert one-time donors into long-term supporters.
Crisis Communication and Fundraising
Develop a crisis communications plan that incorporates how you will fundraise in crises. When urgent things occur, your social media should be poised to activate your supporter networks immediately to raise funds.
Integrating Social Media Aggregation
Consider using social media aggregators such as Juicer to simplify content management and harmonize your messaging across channels. This will keep your fundraising organized while also reducing social media management time.
Juicer assists nonprofits in fundraising by aggregating all social media content into a single feed. Rather than manual reposting, you can automatically showcase updates, success stories, and testimonials on your website and digital channels.
Here’s how Juicer specifically helps with social media fundraising:
Showcase All Your Fundraising in One Place
Juicer lets you pull updates from Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and more into one feed on your website—so supporters can see everything without jumping between platforms.
Automatic Updates
Share a donor thank-you or impact story on social? Juicer adds it to your feed automatically, keeping your message consistent everywhere it appears.
Build Trust with Real Stories
Display real photos, testimonials, and event highlights to boost credibility and inspire new supporters to give.
Simplify Campaign Management
Running a big campaign? Collect and show all your social media buzz in one spot to spotlight community excitement.
Optimized for Mobile
Juicer feeds look great and load fast on phones and tablets—right where most donations happen.
Ideal for nonprofits juggling multiple campaigns or small teams, Juicer saves time and expands your reach across the web.
Measuring Your Success
Monitor key metrics such as the number of individuals donating from each site, the level of engagement you receive on fundraising appeals, the number of times content is shared to track organic reach, and the number of donors who remain after discovering you via social media.
Take advantage of the analytics tools both platforms provide, along with any reporting capabilities your fundraising platform offers, to determine what performs best for your organization.
Maximizing Donation Impact
Sell Tickets for Virtual Events
Create virtual event experiences that supporters think are worth paying for while you raise funds. Sell tickets for online concerts, workshops, or exclusive content to bring in revenue.
Encouraging Supporters Through Recognition
Publicly recognize and thank supporters in order to encourage them to continue giving. Recognition encourages individuals who already give and motivates others to give.
Online Fundraising Ideas Integration
Combine various online fundraising concepts with one another to create full-fledged campaigns. Mix several approaches simultaneously to reach more individuals and obtain greater donation potential among varying types of supporters.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Good social media fundraising means not making these big mistakes:
- Over-asking: Stick to the 80/20 rule – 80% valuable content, 20% asking for donations directly
- Ignoring engagement: Answer comments and messages quickly to keep supporter relationships strong
- Single platform focus: Use multiple social media platforms instead of just one
- Mobile optimization neglect: Make sure your donation page works well on mobile devices
- Missing thank-you posts: Always publicly acknowledge and appreciate all supporters
Getting Started with Your Strategy
Choose one or two that fit with what you can manage currently and gradually introduce more as you become more proficient at this. Concentrate on sites where your followers actually gather rather than attempting to be present everywhere.
Success needs consistency, being authentic, and actually providing value to your community. Using these tried-and-true methods and maintaining a continued emphasis on donors, you’ll build a social media fundraising program that keeps on delivering and brings in concrete results.
Keep in mind that effective social media fundraising involves creating actual relationships with followers, not simply requesting donations. As you provide value, share genuine stories, and simplify the process for individuals to give, you’ll achieve greater success with all of your fundraising endeavors.
Best Practices for Implementation
Start Small and Scale
Begin with simpler tactics such as Facebook fundraising tools and Instagram Stories. As you become more confident, incorporate more challenging methods such as peer-to-peer fundraising and virtual events.
Content Planning
Create a content calendar that mixes requests for fundraising with engaging, informative content. Schedule your fundraising campaigns around significant dates and events that are relevant to your cause.
Community Building
Prioritize creating an active community first and then incorporate fundraising components. Donors who are invested in your cause are much more likely to give and spread the word about your campaigns.
Conclusion
Effective social media fundraising requires a strategic plan that blends engaging storytelling, strategies specific to each platform, and ongoing engagement with your supporters. Utilizing these 18+ tested tactics, nonprofit organizations can create funding streams that persist while making community connections more robust.
The best social media fundraising campaigns focus on developing real relationships with your followers instead of merely asking for donations. When you provide value, tell real stories, and easy ways for people to give, you’ll receive better results in all your fundraising efforts.
Don’t forget to monitor your progress, evaluate what’s working best for your organization, and continually refine your strategy based on data and feedback from supporters. With persistence and the right strategy, social media is an incredibly effective tool for meeting your fundraising objectives and making a lasting difference in your community.
