Most people won’t leave the Facebook newsfeed to fill out a form on your website.
It’s too much hassle.
But they will set up a Facebook Fundraiser. It's easy and quick.
And it's even easier for their friends to support them with a donation.
That’s why your charity already has income flowing from Facebook every month.
And the point, which the whole sector has missed, is that you can use Facebook Ads to drive this.
We do this by setting fitness challenges for people.
They set up a Facebook Fundraiser and their friends sponsor them without anybody being asked to leave the app.
Since April 2018, our clients have been investing heavily in this type of fundraising. This chart shows their returns.
Graph updated: 1st January 2021
We're currently working with fundraising teams in Ireland, the UK and US.
If you’re a senior fundraiser and you're interested in working with us, just let us know.
“The income has been spectacular. I kept asking if we should aim lower than €150,000, but that’s what we raised on Facebook in a month. We’re a small domestic violence charity and I can already see the difference the money is making. We’ve added to our frontline services. Suggestions that have been a ‘No’ for years are now a ‘let’s have a meeting about that.’ It’s amazing to see.”
“12 months ago I wouldn't have believed we could connect with so many dog-loving fundraisers and donors on Facebook. You have to be willing to give things a try. We've learned a lot about the algorithms and how the platform actually works. I'm blown away by our success. The income has been phenomenal and it's helping us save more dogs.”
“With my experience in community fundraising I felt that Facebook would be a natural fit for recruitment and developing supporter relationships. We decided to give it a real go. We were confident that it would work but the scale surprised us... when you crack something you can scale it rapidly. As a result, we've funded a new ECMO Life Support Machine and refurbished a ward.”
The methods we are using will seem strange to you, at first. You will have to leave your comfort zone. But they work.
They were developed gradually, over time, by trial and error. Most of this was done by Adrian O’Flynn who started Get Your Stories Straight.
“I spent 7 years banging my head against the digital acquisition problem, both in-house and as a freelancer. Retention was easy. Acquisition was not. But the good thing about being a freelancer is that fundraisers mainly want you to work on acquisition. So when SEO, PPC, display ads, inbound marketing and organic social didn’t work… I just had to keep on going.”
“I found refuge in paid social, specifically Facebook Ads. Here was something you could work on and improve, which had scale. You could test and learn. And when you found something that really worked in the newsfeed, the algorithm had your back. You’d get more results, for a lower CPA. Then when Facebook Fundraisers came along... the results were just astounding.”
Get Your Stories Straight is a digital agency based in Dublin, Ireland. We specialise in Facebook Advertising.
The methods we use are unusual. But they work.
They were developed by trial and error and trial. Most of this was done by Adrian O’Flynn, who started Get Your Stories Straight.
His take on this is:
“I spent 7 years banging my head against the digital fundraising problem, both in-house and as a freelancer. Retention was always easy. Acquisition was always painful.”
“But people only hire you to work on the difficult stuff. So when banner ads, beautiful video campaigns and organic Facebook posts didn’t raise much, I had to keep trying things.”
“I found refuge in Facebook Ads. You can run cheap tests and get learnings and make progress. When you find something that works, the algorithm has your back. You get more donors, for a lower CPA.”
“Then Facebook Fundraisers came along with an avalanche of income that made everything else seem like a waste of time.”
We'll be working solely on Facebook Challenges for the foreseeable future.
So some of our best campaigns, ad copy, tactics and insights are available for free in the eBooks below.