Fake news is not the only thing cropping up on Facebook and other social media sites. Also bogus are some public service messages.
Facebook’s fundraising feature, launched in 2017, has resulted in millions raised for numerous charities. Yet, the social media behemoth experienced recently a posted meme that “claimed the social media company was using the contributions its users were making to birthday fundraisers as a tax-deductible write-off for the company,” shared snopes.com on Nov. 6.
Facebook has decried the meme message as “completely false,” and the company has maintained that “100% of what’s raised using donate buttons and fundraisers created on Facebook goes to the benefiting nonprofit,” added snopes.com.
Perhaps in response or coincidentally, Facebook rolled out new fundraising tools, reported socialmediatoday.com Nov. 15, including ways to fundraise via live-streams and Stories.
“Facebook has seen significant success with its fundraising tools, with over $2 billion in donations raised via the platform since the launch of its charitable giving tools in 2015,” according to the report.
Although Facebook’s fundraising program offers 750,000 U.S. nonprofits from which users can choose to include in their fundraising efforts, Facebook also shares reasons fundraisers might be removed from the site, such as:
‒ The beneficiary of the fundraiser requested that the fundraiser be removed.
‒ The fundraiser isn’t for a type of cause that’s allowed on Facebook.
‒ The fundraiser doesn’t follow Facebook’s Community Standards.
‒ The fundraiser goes against our Personal Fundraiser Terms of Service.
‒ The creator of the fundraiser didn’t respond to notifications from Facebook to confirm information needed to pay out the funds.
According to Facebook, donations are paid out depending on where and how an organization is enrolled. Some can receive money from Facebook Payments, others can be paid through donor-advised funds like Network for Good or PayPal Giving Fund.
To create a fundraiser, start at facebook.com/fundraisers.