With the holiday season fast approaching, Facebook has this week announced a new set of fundraising and cause awareness tools to assist non-profits in boosting their activity.
First off, Facebook is adding its fundraising stickers to Facebook Stories.
A variation of the same has been available in Instagram Stories for some time, and was recently expanded to more regions. Now, charity groups and those in support of such can also use their Facebook Stories to boost awareness.
Facebook is also expanding its charity donation tools within gaming live-streams.
Facebook has been testing the live-stream donation option with a small group of US-based creators over the last year, but now all streamers will be able to access the option through Facebook's Level Up program.
"During a livestream, gaming creators can now select causes for viewers to support, set donation goals, add a donation progress bar and share donation alerts within a livestream video. Gaming creators can choose from the full list of charities available for fundraisers in their given region and people can donate while watching a livestream."
Facebook's also launching a new 'Donate' button for Instagram business profiles, providing another way for charity groups to raise funds direct on Instagram, while it's also working on a new Facebook feature that will make it easier for people to volunteer and donate their time to causes they care about.
That tool is still in development at this stage.
Facebook has seen significant success with its fundraising tools, with over $2 billion in donations raised via the platform since the launch of its charitable giving tools in 2015.
Furthering this, for Giving Tuesday 2019, Facebook says that it will match up to $7 million in donations to US nonprofits made through fundraisers and the donate button in the app.
For the many criticisms of Zuckerberg's social behemoth, it is worth noting the social good that it can also facilitate, and the opportunities it provides for charitable organizations and the like to raise awareness for their causes. That may not negate the potential negatives of fake news and public manipulation, but it is worth noting that the connective benefits of Facebook can also be significant.
You can read more about Facebook's charitable giving updates here.