People raised over $5 billion through fundraisers on Facebook, Instagram

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday said that people have now raised more than $5 billion through Fundraisers on the social networking platform.

Zuckerberg added that people had raised $2 billion on the platform since February 2020. He also noted that most of these donations were less than $25 but helped people.

“There's a lot of good that comes from connecting people, and the impact our community has made for good causes around the world is proof of that. Thank you to the more than 85 million organizers and donors who have made a difference,” Zuckerberg wrote in a post.

Facebook had introduced the fundraiser tool in 2016 after the success of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. The tool was initially available in the US but later expanded to other markets as well as on Instagram. The company also added features such as birthday fundraisers, allowing everyone to raise funds. Last year, Facebook added new tools for personal causes on Instagram.

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Zuckerberg noted that the fundraising had accelerated during the Covid-19 pandemic. According to Facebook, people raised more than $175 million for the Covid-19-related fundraisers on the social networking platform and Instagram in 2020.

Facebook’s $5 billion figures are significantly higher than the crowdfunding site GoFundMe, which went past 120 million total donations in 2019. According to FOXBusiness, GoFundMe had raised more than $9 billion for the first time then. The crowdfunding site reported more than 150 million individual donations in 2020.

The report further notes that Facebook’s fundraising tools allow users to donate to verified nonprofits within the application. Facebook does not charge any fee. For personal fundraisers, the company does take some fee. The company also allows some accounts and pages to add fundraisers through live-streamed videos.