Ask our Giving Guru: Sarah Koch on getting started with Causes

Giving Guru Sarah Koch is a Nonprofit Coordinator for Causes on Facebook, where she helps nonprofits develop effective and impactful online campaigns. Prior to her time at Causes, she worked in the nonprofit sector as a community health educator and grant writer. Sarah will be available to answer your questions about social media for nonprofits on Thursday, Oct. 1, at 1PM EST. Submit your questions in the comments of this post, or check out the many ways to ask our Giving Gurus.

Causes is an application on Facebook that gives your nonprofit tools to build a supporter base and mobilize them to take action. Since we launched in 2007, 85 million people have become Causes users, 300,000 user-created causes have been started, and $13 million has been donated to nonprofits. Causes was built on the idea that anyone can make a difference in the world by bringing people together around an issue they care about and taking action. To that end, any Facebook user can create a cause and if they’d like to fundraise, they can designate a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit to be the beneficiary of donations from their cause.

Nonprofits play a critical role in the Causes ecosystem. They develop programs, conduct research, anchor communities, tell stories that inform and inspire, and carry out much of the sustained on-the-ground work. Whether nonprofits provide an opportunity to fund, advocate, teach, or volunteer for impact, they turn to concerned citizens for support. One of Causes’ primary goals, then, is to connect nonprofits with communities—large or small—of people who care about and want to contribute to the work they are doing.

As with any communications or fundraising plan, it’s important to approach Causes with strategy and goals in mind. Are you trying to raise awareness about your issue? Do you plan on running an advocacy campaign through a petition? Do you want to leverage your cause community to run fundraising campaigns? Each of these plans involves a slightly different strategy, but all of them necessitate building a strong cause community and finding ways to keep them encouraged and engaged.

Causes, the Case Foundation, and Parade Magazine joined together to give nonprofits and causes a chance to compete in America’s Giving Challenge, beginning October 7th. The Giving Challenge gives your nonprofit an opportunity to mobilize your supporters to achieve tangible goals. Use engaging messaging and media, a strong strategy and your community of committed supporters to compete for award money. America’s Giving Challenge will inspire creativity in fundraising through social media and teach participants new tools for giving and connecting with others around the issues they care about. Last time we helped organize the Giving Challenge, Facebook users donated almost $600,000 to participating nonprofits. This year, with many times the number of users and much-improved tools, we hope to see nonprofits raise even more. Stay tuned for more details as October 7th approaches and be ready to use these nonprofit tools to make your best showing in the Challenge.

If your nonprofit is interested in participating in the Giving Challenge or running any campaigns on Causes, there are a few key points to keep in mind:

• We just upgraded the Causes Nonprofit Partner Center! Use the Partner Center to build and communicate with a network of "affiliate causes," access data on your nonprofit's presence on Causes, run campaings and send targeted messaging to your supporters and cause administrators.
• Use bulletins to send clear, compelling and urgent messages to your cause administrators and members encouraging them to donate. Be specific about where the money they donate goes, tell them why it is so important they donate now and recognize individual efforts and donations to the cause.
• Use the Media Board on your cause to post great videos, pictures, and articles about your nonprofit and the issue you (or the nonprofit) work on.
• Send milestone and progress reports to your cause members: Raised $500? Hit the 400 people donated mark? Recognize the individual contributions of your super cause members as well as when the cause as a whole reaches a goal or milestone.

Remember that a cause community that is strong in numbers as well as educated about your issue will be much more likely to get involved during your fundraising and advocacy activities. Community strengthening also identifies leaders who can be the leading force in your campaigns. Creating group goals that your cause can rally around, being clear about the impact your fundraising will have and highlighting engaging media that brings the cause closer to the work your nonprofit is doing.

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