Christian Fundraising with Facebook Groups: A Success Story

If charities want to connect with present and future donors, they need to start meeting them where they are. Ultimately, COVID-19 amplifies the need for social fundraising. Though nonprofits have been using Facebook Groups, a feature within Facebook to create a closed community forever, using it to raise online donations is not common.
In the following example we see how a catholic organization, Immaculate Conception Parish Chicago (Talcott), realized the importance of online fundraising, particularly social media early on. As can be seen, their creative Christian fundraising with Facebook groups helped them to raise $62,528 in three months alone. Essentially more than half of their annual funds collected in the entire year of 2019.

What they did right:

1. Focused on building a community over time 

Social media requires consistency and helps build trust and meaningful connections over time. The parish admins have been nurturing their online contacts for over 3 years by posting regularly about the recent activities at the school and the parish. They have close to a 1000, engaged members who help them share the word. Fundraising with Facebook groups or any other platform is easier if you already have an audience base that is interested in your organization.

2. Sharing giving links with clear call to action

It doesn’t matter if you’re writing an email like the roundup, or an appeal for your fundraising campaign. Telling donors clearly what action to take is crucial when it comes to encouraging audiences to click through. 

3. Using livestream for services regularly

The average livestream fundraising event or mass is a few hours, not months, and can raise in a few hours what your average individual fundraiser raises in a month or two. That is because of the engagement with your audience.

Need more reasons to livestream church mass? 

Livestreaming is simple and easy to carry out, is a relevant way to promote your event and now, it should be a vital part of your donor engagement strategy. 

Here are our top 3 reasons for recommending livestreaming for your church. 

#Proximity

Broadcasting directly to your audience without going through a third-party organization created in proximity to your audience, strengthens the human side of your business. Your speech is authentic, without filter or script.

Your donors who follow your video streaming will also have the impression of ‘living an experience’ from the comfort of their homes, offices or on a train – impossible to reproduce during a physical event. 

#Exclusivity

Following a livestream in real time creates a feeling of privilege for the person who made the effort to go to your livestream at a specific time. They become a part of the group of enthusiasts more motivated to follow through with an action – like making a gift, sharing the message. 

#Commitment and interactivity

The comments and sharing features enrich the moment experienced between you and your donors, but also between people in the audience. 

Why choose us for livestreaming?

Organizations using GiveCentral Live have seen immediate impact. Based on the feedback from our users, we have created a tool to cater to the unique needs of the nonprofit sector. 

• GiveCentral Live has a practical and intuitive interface;
• at startup, the assistant offers a video tutorial or a quick start-up guide;
• no limit on duration of use, the basic plan of the tool is free for use;
• comes with a robust set of features;
• active community, regular updates;
• comes with an embedded donation button and much more. 

View all features. 

Moving back to fundraising with Facebook groups, today, the kind of power brands and nonprofit organizations have to build an audience base just wasn’t possible back then. Engagement breeds reach which breeds more engagement… and you want that, right?

The 3 major benefits of fundraising with Facebook groups to motivate you into action are:

First, it’s a direct line to your donors

Secondly, you’ll build long-lasting relationships

and lastly, you’ll increase your organic reach.

Need help creating a group? or link your Facebook group to your next fundraising campaign? Need more reasons to start fundraising with Facbook groups? We are happy to answer all your queries about online fundraising. Leave us a comment below or contact us to schedule a free session.

case study Chicago church live streaming Covid-19 GiveCentral LIVE social fundraising Success Story

Last modified: June 29, 2020