Facebook giving made up 3.5% of all non-profit online revenue in 2019, with Health non-profits benefiting in particular (9.5%), according to M+R’s latest Benchmarks data. Alongside a decrease in revenue from email, the amount raised through Facebook increased by 6% year-on-year, though some sectors generated a larger share of revenues from Facebook than others.
Health, Rights and Wildlife/Animal Welfare non-profits emerged as those with the highest share of online revenue from Facebook giving. Health non-profits topped the list with a median online revenue share generated from Facebook of 9.5%, with the 75th percentile in this category generating one-fifth (21%) of their online revenues from Facebook giving. Rights non-profits made a median 5.6% of their online revenues through Facebook giving, and Wildlife/Animal Welfare charities 4.5%.
From 2018 to 2019, the amount non-profits raised through Facebook giving increased by 6%, though specific sectors had disparate experiences. While Environmental non-profits saw a 53% year-over-year increase in the amount they raised through the online platform, Rights non-profits suffered from a decrease of 23%. Other sectors that enjoyed an increase were Wildlife/Animal Welfare (40%) and Health (32%). However, the majority of sectors saw a decrease in online revenue through Facebook, including Cultural (-22%), Hunger/Poverty (-18%) and International (-8%) non-profits.
Despite the decrease in Facebook-generated online revenue for International and Hunger/Poverty non-profits, these sectors receive the largest average gifts per donation ($34 and $33 respectively). Health non-profits received the next largest average gift ($32), followed by Rights ($31), Environmental ($29) and Wildlife/Animal Welfare ($25).
The vast majority (97%) of all Facebook revenue going to non-profits comes from the peer-to-peer Facebook Fundraiser tool, where a user can set up a drive to raise funds. In terms of the average number of gifts to a Facebook Fundraiser, Environmental, International and Wildlife/Animal Welfare non-profits each received a median average of 6 gifts, in line with the overall average. Hunger/Poverty non-profits received an average of 7 gifts, while Rights received 6.5 and Health 5.5.
Giving is also skewed towards the end of the calendar year, where the #GivingTuesday campaign encourages donations on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving. As a result, one-quarter (26%) of all Facebook giving revenue comes during the months of November and December.
For more detail on social media and nonprofits, read the report here.
About the Data: The report is based on a survey of 201 non-profits who contributed data for the 2019 calendar year.
