14 DAY TRIAL // Facebook has started rolling out "Donate Now" buttons which can be displayed on the Facebook pages of non-profit organizations, helping them promote their public donation campaigns.
These buttons are a new variant of the generic "Call To Action" option, which previously included buttons like: Shop Now, Book Now, Learn More, Download, and Sign Up.
The new Donate Now option will be available only for pages that are categorized as non-profit organizations.
Donate Now buttons can also be shown in Facebook ads
The buttons, besides appearing on the Facebook page, can optionally be added to ads the non-profit organizations may be running.
When a user presses a Donate Now button, a warning is displayed that reads "Make a donation to show your support. Not endorsed by or affiliated with Facebook."
This is because the donations aren't handled by Facebook in any way, and users pressing the button are redirected to other pages on the Internet, where that specific organization collects its donations. This may be their own website, an e-banking interface, or a PayPal donation page.
The buttons are only available for nonprofits to avoid misuse
Limiting the option to non-profit organizations was done because the potential for misuse is very great, admins already having a hard time managing the actions of millions of current Facebook pages.
The first instance of Facebook supporting a donation campaign was during the Nepal earthquake disaster earlier this year when the company showed a notification at the top of its users' timeline. That campaigned resulted in $17 million gathered for the International Medical Corps.
Instructions on how to add Call To Action buttons can be found on Facebook's support pages, for Pages, and for Ads.
If you want to see a sample, you can access The ALS Association Facebook page.
