Justgiving creates application for Facebook users
Howard Lake | 26 July 2007 | News
Online fundraising service Justgiving.com has created a fundraising application for the Facebook social networking website. Currently in a beta phase, the new application will allow Facebook users to add a Justgiving element to their profile, allowing them to track their fundraising progress and raise more funds from their network of online ‘friends’.
Since 2001 Justgiving’s users have created over half a million fundraising pages raised more than £180 million for the 3,000 charities they work with.
Facebook already contains over 500 Justgiving groups set up by people fundraising for their favourite charity. Over 100 events and many charities are also creating their own Facebook groups to raise awareness and increase fundraising from some of Facebook’s 30 million users.
Advertisement
The Justgiving application, expected to be available to consumers in late July, will allow fundraisers to accept donations from all over the world, and reclaim Gift Aid from UK taxpayers. It offers yet another method of promoting individuals’ fundraising activities by promoting them on their Facebook page and amongst their online friends.
The new application has been in development since Facebook opened their network to external developers in May 2007.
Matthew Knights, Technical Architect for Justgiving, said: “We want to help our users raise as much as they possibly can, and a proper application is so much more compelling than a standard hyperlink. It’s a perfect fit for Facebook users who are doing a traditional sponsored event or have created their own appeal; I think anyone would be hard pushed to find an easier way to engage their friends and contacts more quickly.”
Justgiving estimates that 10-15% of its users have a Facebook account, which, combined with the rapid viral growth of the Facebook network, has made the development “an obvious next step to meet growing user demand”.
Justgiving’s US sister company Firstgiving is also working on a Facebook app for its users.
Justgiving’s app joins a growing number of fundraising or charity sector tools made available to Facebook users such as Chipin.com, Causes, Change.org, and GoodStorm Make Some Noise (for Amnesty International).
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.