Facebook’s power on the social-networks scene need hardly be introduced, and thousands of nonprofits and charities have tapped into that power to expand and support their good work. But has the company offered any of its billions to those nonprofits and charities? Facebook, like Apple, does not have a philanthropic foundation like some other corporations, like Dell or Intel. Facebook’s CEO, unlike Apple’s, has given a great deal of charity on his own. Zuckerberg has taken the “Giving Pledge” drive initiated by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, and he famously gave $100 million to the Newark (NJ) school system last year.
So if a charitable foundation is not part of the Facebook portfolio at this stage, what does it do to support the work of nonprofits?
Rather like Apple, Facebook’s product is Facebook’s philanthropic tool. Having a Page on Facebook is de rigeur for any nonprofit of any size, as the page costs nothing and over 800 million people can see it, share it, and donate through it. Here is a handy primer to get your nonprofit’s Facebook Page established if you (gasp!) haven’t already:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vHp-NCDwSc[/youtube]
Of course, you probably have your Page up, but is it connected into Facebook’s own Nonprofits’ Pages groups? The platform has two collections you will want to link into. The first, Nonprofit Organizations, was actually started on, er, MySpace, but came over to Facebook in 2009. It is meant to be a clearinghouse for nonprofits to connect with each other and to offer a common Page/voice to the wider Facebook community.
The second, and numerically superior, Page is Nonprofits on Facebook (having some 751,000 ‘Likes’). In both cases, your organization’s Page can be connected to them so that any updates to your Timeline appears in theirs. The opportunity to reach many more Facebook members shouldn’t be passed up.
And what better time to get connected to these groups than before taking your Independence-Day holiday? Americans will be enjoying a long weekend, taking photos, and sharing the festivities with family and friends via Facebook. Millions in progressive countries will be enjoying their summer holiday weeks similarly sharing the pleasures of family outings and reconsidering their opportunities to do good during the second half of 2012.
We at MKCREATIVEmedia wish you and yours a safe and happy July Fourth celebration. let us close with the words that opened both the Declaration of Independence and the modern world:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.
