Facebook fundraising is the charity equivalent of only selling on Amazon.

If you only offer Facebook as a way for your supporter to fundraise for you, then you are doing the same as if Lego just linked to Amazon whenever a person wants to buy a Lego set.

Let’s contrast how Lego sells Lego bricks with how (some) charities encoruage supporters to fundraise.

How Lego sells Lego Bricks

You can buy Legos everywhere - toy stores, supermarkets, Amazon, and a million other online and physical stores. And, of course, Lego sells through third parties - it is where many consumers shop.

But if you go to Lego.com - they don't link or refer you to Amazon or any other shop.

They have their own online store, where they work hard to create lasting consumer relationships, a fantastic brand experience and brand loyalty.

They offer unique giftswith your purchase  and have a well built loyalty program. They control the customer service and make sure everyone have a great experience. They see buying behaviour and browsing behaviou, and which products are sold together. Data like this can inform product development and help them do better-targeted marketing.

How charities engages supporters in fundraising

You can fundraise for charities on Facebook, Instagram and many dedicated online fundraising platforms. And, of course, charities are available on these platforms - it is where many donors go to socialise, find content and figure out where to spend their money.

But when you go to many charities' homepages to create a fundraiser for them - they just refer you to Facebook.

And that is even if the charity has a brand with a similar value to that of Lego.

These charities can’t build an excellent supporter experience or increase brand loyalty - because they don’t control what happens on Facebook. They only get limited data on donors and are severely handicapped in creating lasting donor relationships. 

Referring supporters to create Facebook fundraisers is not how to create a great brand experience or loyalty.

Lego doesn't send their website visitors to Amazon, and you as a charity shouldn't send your supporters to create fundraisers on Facebook.

Charities biggest asset is their storytelling and brand. To leverage this the most you need to keep them in your own brand universe.

How to keep supporters in your own brand univers 

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At a minimum, any semi-ambitious online retailer will build an online store built on something like Shopify -  a leading white-labelled webshop system. And if you are a charity, then the equivalent of using Shopify is to use a white-labelled P2P fundraising solution like BetterNow. Here there are enough customisation possibilities to make it your own, and it is so cheap that it is accessible to most.

Being in control of the support experience lets you wow and amaze your supporters. In addition, it enables you to help and guide them, not at least build lasting relations with fundraisers and donors. You will be able to see their behaviour, analyse the data and better understand why and how supporters fundraise for you.

And just as many big brands still sell on Amazon and other online retailers, so should you still use Facebook. But when people come to you, you take them in through your own brand universe, and you build lasting support relations. You don't forward them to a platform.