Covid-19: How Digital Fundraising Can Play A Key Role For Your Charity, Now More Than Ever

It would be easy to think that fundraising will become extremely difficult over the next few months, due to Covid-19. Many charities are already scaling back campaigns and activities in this uncertain time.

But whilst we expect to see channels like face-to-face hit very hard, digital fundraising has the potential to step up here and fill at least some of the void. 

Facebook, as ever, should be central to this. 

Here’s three reasons why you should be thinking about how to use Facebook advertising for fundraising during this crisis:

1. Screen time

As restrictions are placed on our lives and we’re becoming more isolated and working from home, we expect to see people spending more time in front of a screen. 

People are already spending a lot more time scrolling through their newsfeed on Facebook, as it’s a major source of news and information. 

This increases your opportunity to reach your audience.

2. Bargain prices

As a result of screen time, people are spending more time on Facebook and that means there’s more inventory, i.e., more ad spaces, available. 

Facebook Advertising is an auction and relies on supply and demand. Due to Covid-19, advertisers are cutting budgets which reduces demand, and people are spending more time on Facebook, which increases supply. 

These two hugely important things result in ad prices already being reduced by around 50%. 

Imagine being able to cut your CPA for a new regular giver in half. 

3. The Positive Control Response (yep, I’ve just coined that term)

Let’s start with the control. Buying toilet paper in bulk is not a logical response to Covid-19. But it gives us control, which we crave in times of distress and upheaval.

For many of us though, control alone is not enough. We want to rebalance the scales by controlling something positive, and doing good in the world. We saw this during Brexit and during Donald Trumps’ election when there was a surge in donations to seemingly unrelated appeals. 

Charities who have recognised this phenomenon are already giving people opportunities to take Positive Control and are seeing the results. 

So, the question remains, what should you be doing right now to help your charity cope with the impact of Covid-19? 

Would you value a free, live Q&A with a panel of digital fundraising experts to see if we can come together to find ways to limit the impact of Covid-19 on the charity sector?

Comment "Yes" on this post if so. If enough people are interested, we'll set one up.