Here at ICIJ, we’re always exploring new ways to spread the word about our work and our mission. As a nonprofit, we’re also looking for innovative ways to raise a few bucks. So we get pretty excited when we find a way to do both.
Facebook now allows users to create fundraisers for causes and organizations they care about. It’s a great way to highlight issues that are important to you (like investigative journalism) and leverage the reach and power of your social networks to raise awareness – and raise money.
This is where you come in.
If you’ve been thinking about supporting ICIJ, this is a great way to get started and encourage others to join you. Or, if you’ve already given to ICIJ this year, this is a meaningful way to continue supporting us by getting your friends and family involved. Create a fundraiser on your birthday and ask friends to donate as a birthday gift to you. Or highlight one of your favorite ICIJ stories and explain that we need donations to keep reporting on these critical issues.
Facebook has made the entire process really easy. We’ve broken it down for you in 4 simple steps.
Step 1: Go to our Facebook page and click “Create Fundraiser” in one of the three places.
Step 2: Fill in the fundraiser details: How much do you hope to raise? When you want the fundraiser to end? We’d suggest keeping your fundraiser to no more than a month – you want to use it as a chance to tell people why you’re raising money for ICIJ, but not over do it.
Step 3: Now, give it a title. Tell your friends and family why you are raising money for us. Do you want to see another project like the Panama Papers? Maybe you want to support our Offshore Leaks Database – that gives you access to millions of offshore details.
Step 4: Add a cover photo. This should highlight more about why you’re donating. You can use some of the images that we’ve posted to Facebook (like our Paradise Papers artwork shown here).
And, that’s it! Now you can start encouraging your friends and family to support ICIJ.
Make sure you share your fundraiser on Facebook – and use this an another opportunity to tell people why you support the work we do.
If you have more questions about how this works – like how does the money raised on Facebook get to ICIJ – you can read more here. You can also reach us at donate@icij.org with any and all questions about donating.
Happy fundraising!