Facebook fundraising FAQs

Facebook launched its charitable giving tools within the UK in November 2017.

This allows people to donate to their chosen charity or start a fundraising page, directly through Facebook.

One of the benefits of this is that it allows people to donate directly to their chosen charity without having to go to a third-party website.

From your Cancer Research UK Giving Page, you are able to share either the whole page, a specific donation or a specific post to Facebook.

• To share the whole page, click the blue Share page button, followed by the Facebook icon. 
• To share a post or donation, click the pink Share icon in the bottom right corner followed by the Facebook icon. 

Yes! Cancer Research UK receives the total amount from all donations received on Facebook. The money is paid out on a fortnightly basis from Facebook to Cancer Research UK.

There are several ways to donate on Facebook.

From Cancer Research UK’s Facebook page:

1. Click Donate below the Page's cover photo.
2. Click the amount you'd like to give or enter an amount.
3. Select a payment method.
4. Click Donate [Amount].

From a post published by Cancer Research UK’s Facebook page or shared by someone who donated:

1. Click Donate on the post.
2. Click the amount you'd like to give or enter an amount.
3. Select a payment method.
4. Read the Gift Aid statement and Gift Aid your donation if applicable.
5. Click Donate [Amount].

From a Facebook Fundraiser:

1. Click Donate at the top of the fundraiser.
2. Click the amount you'd like to give or enter an amount.
3. Select a payment method.
4. Read the Gift Aid statement and Gift Aid your donation if applicable.
5. Click Donate [Amount].

To create a fundraiser for Cancer Research UK, click here or follow these steps:

1. Click Fundraisers in the menu of your News Feed.
2. Click Raise Money.
3. Select Nonprofit or Charity.
4. Select Cancer Research UK, Cancer Research UK Race for Life or Stand Up To Cancer UK from the list.
5. Choose a cover photo and fill in the fundraiser details.
6. Click Create.

​Note: This feature isn't available in every location. 

Around a month before your birthday, you may be prompted by Facebook to set up a birthday fundraiser. You can choose to set this up for Cancer Research UK, Cancer Research UK Race for Life or Stand Up To Cancer UK and then share this with your friends on Facebook to raise money.  

If you have an existing Cancer Research UK Giving Page, you can link this to a Facebook Fundraiser.  

When you sign up to fundraise for Cancer Research UK, you will receive a Cancer Research UK Giving Page. There is now a link on the page that will allow you to create a Facebook Fundraiser (shown below).

facebook_fundraising_image.png

To help create your Facebook Fundraiser, we will share your Giving Page name, story, target and main image, so that this information is the same across both your fundraising pages.

Once they are connected, if someone donates to either one of the pages, the total amount on both pages will be updated.

When you connect your Cancer Research UK Giving Page to a Facebook Fundraiser, your Giving Page name, story, target and main image will be shared so that they are the same on both of these pages. Once they are connected, if someone donates to either one of the pages then the total on both will update.

After the initial connection, if you change the page name, story or main image on one of the pages, it will not change on the other. This is because of the way that the two fundraising pages are linked together to only send and receive specific information. You will be able to go in to each page and make any changes you want to individually.

Facebook displays and shares information with us in a specific way. This means that on your Facebook Fundraisers, you will be able to see the name of who has donated but not a donations amount. If you look at your Cancer Research UK Giving Page you will see Facebook donation and the amount donated.

Click Fundraisers in the left menu of your News Feed on Facebook. You may need to expand the menu to find it.

When you share your Cancer Research UK Giving Page on Facebook you may be prompted to ‘add a donate button’ to your post. If you click yes to this, then Facebook creates a separate, distinct fundraising page for you. The Facebook fundraising pages and Cancer Research UK Giving Pages are entirely separate and in no way integrated. So, although the money will still come to Cancer Research UK, any money donated via the Facebook Fundraiser will not show up in your personalised fundraising dashboard with Cancer Research UK.

Money donated via Facebook will also not show up in your ‘total raised’ amount which will be used when we thank you and will trigger milestone messages along your fundraising journey. We want to ensure that you’re being thanked for all your fundraising and that we acknowledge your support. We also want to make it as easy as possible for you to keep track of your fundraising.

We have now created an integration with Facebook that means next time you receive a Cancer Research UK Giving Page, you can connect it to a Facebook Fundraiser. This will mean that your total donation amount and number of donations will appear on both pages.

This may be because you have both a Cancer Research UK Giving Page and a Facebook Fundraiser set up which are not connected to each other. This means that donations you receive through Facebook will appear on your Facebook Fundraiser and donations you receive through your Cancer Research UK Giving Page will appear on the Cancer Research UK Giving Page.

Next time you receive a Cancer Research UK Giving Page, you can connect this to a Facebook fundraiser by clicking on the link on your Cancer Research UK Giving Page. This will mean that all your donations will appear on both of the pages.

Facebook have an algorithm (an automated process) that picks up words like ‘fundraise’, ‘donate’ and ‘charity’ in their users’ posts and then gives them the option of adding a donate button to posts. This addition of a donate button actually creates an entire Facebook fundraising page. We are aware that this is a confusing and disjointed experience. Please be assured that all funds raised will still come to Cancer Research UK.

You can add money you've raised through Facebook to your Cancer Research UK Giving Page by adding it as an offline donation.

To add a separate donation, you’ll first need to log in to your account.

Once you’ve logged in, go to the Cancer Research UK Giving Page you want to add the separate donation to.

Scroll down to the ‘Latest updates’ section of your Giving Page.

Choose ‘Add money raised offline’ (even though Facebook income was raised online, we just mean it was raised outside of the Cancer Research UK Giving platform).

Then select 'Offline' and follow the instructions provided to add the donation details. Select ‘Save’ to see your donation appear in your 'Latest updates'.

You can see your combined total raised both online, offline and on the Facebook platform at the bottom of the updates section on your page.

You can choose to close your Facebook Fundraiser, using Facebook. Go to your Facebook Fundraiser, click on the button with the three dots just underneath your cover photo, then select 'End Fundraiser'. If you would like to delete your fundraiser, repeat this process and select 'Delete Fundraiser'.

If you choose to close your Facebook fundraiser, all the money raised will still be sent to Cancer Research UK. Donations will not automatically be refunded to donors. If a donor would like a refund from Facebook they must request this directly from Facebook using this form.

Facebook do not refund donations to the owner of the Facebook fundraiser. Refunds are only ever issued directly to the donor, and only upon specific request.

Cancer Research UK is unable to request refunds from Facebook on the behalf of donors or fundraisers.

To request a refund from Facebook, please use this form.

Your donation to Cancer Research UK will only be seen by your friends if you choose to share it. The amount that you have donated will not be shared with friends, only with the fundraiser and the charity.

When you donate to a fundraiser, the creator of the fundraiser and the charity will still be able to see your donation even if you chose not to share it.

You can find out more about the information that charities receive when you donate here.

If you need help with a recent donation you've made, have questions about a fundraiser, or the status of contributions to Cancer Research UK, please visit Charitable Fundraisers and Donations to learn more about raising money for Cancer Research UK on Facebook.

When you create a Facebook Fundraiser, the fundraiser will automatically close after 14 days.

You can edit the date that your Facebook Fundraiser will close, quickly and easily, following the below steps:

1. Go to your Facebook Fundraiser
2. Click on the button with the three dots just underneath your cover photo
3. Select 'Edit Fundraiser'.
4. Find the section titled, ‘When should your fundraiser end?’
5. Specify that date you’d like your Facebook Fundraiser to close.
6. Click on ‘Save’.

Unfortunately, if you didn’t opt into Gift Aid at the time of your donation, then we’re unable to claim Gift Aid in this instance. If you make any further donations to Cancer Research UK, you can opt into Gift Aid at the time of your donation if eligible.

You can also sign up to Gift Aid any donations you have made to Cancer Research UK over the last 4 years and any donations you make in the future, until you tell us otherwise here.

Gift Aid on donations made to Facebook Fundraisers are claimed by Facebook and passed to Cancer Research UK on a regular basis as anonymous bulk payments.

Because the Gift Aid payments are received by Cancer Research UK without names attached, it isn't possible for us to add the amounts to the Giving Page.

However, you can still let people see the amount of Gift Aid you’ve raised on other platforms. You just need to add the Gift Aid amount onto your Cancer Research UK Giving Page as an ‘offline donation’.

How to add an 'offline donation'

• Log into your account and go to the Giving Page where you want the Gift Aid to show.
• Scroll down to the 'Latest updates' section of the page.
• Tap 'Add money raised offline' and select 'Offline'. Even though the Gift Aid was raised online, we just mean it was raised outside of the Cancer Research UK Giving platform.
• Scroll down and add the Gift Aid amount. You could put 'Gift Aid' as the donor name.
• Tap 'Save' and your page will then show the combined total raised from online and offline donations.

When a donation with Gift Aid is made directly to the Cancer research UK Giving Page (rather than through a Facebook Fundraiser) the Gift Aid amount will show on the Giving Page. This is because Cancer Research UK claims the Gift Aid and therefore can see the names attached to the donations.