Social Fundraising Using Facebook Timeline Apps

Facebook Timeline apps take the pain out of the "ask" by making sharing super easy, automatic and very natural. Facebook users only need to activate the app once, and it will automatically post their actions to three areas on their Facebook pages:

• Facebook feed — where you see what all your friends are up to
• Ticker — upper right-hand side that displays real-time updates
• Timeline — the new area of Facebook that chronicles your updates and Facebook activities

Think of each post as an "ask." Your fundraising or donation activities appear automatically on these areas of Facebook, letting your friends and family know that you are fundraising or donating to a charity. It’s then easy for your network to click and join in and support your efforts. No donation amount or confidential information is posted, only your activity.

Better storytelling
Volunteer fundraising is all about storytelling. It starts with volunteers serving as the face of your organization to their families and friends. They communicate the stories of what they are doing and why it's important. This happened even before online fundraising hit the scene more than a decade ago with people sending letters and going door to door. Online made it easier to tell the story using pictures, videos and electronic updates.

Facebook’s new Timeline takes this to another level. Timeline apps make it possible for fundraisers to chronicle their personal journeys. This could include involvement with a cause, registering for a fundraising walk (as an example), then joining a team, setting a goal, getting a first donation, getting to 50 percent of that goal, hitting the goal, doing the event, and sharing updates and success online.

A component that is becoming more of an expectation in the world of the "real-time" Web is having a feedback loop for donors. Timeline apps can serve as this feedback loop for your donors, who can now instantaneously share their support of a cause with their Facebook friends.