Facebook announced that it has eliminated transaction fees on donations made to non-profit organizations through its platform.
According to news from Reuters, this is a change that could help the social media network expand its presence in online fundraising.
Facebook had been charging a 5 percent transaction fee on donations made to non-profits via its website or app. In February, a petition signed by 42,000 people demanded that the site waive the fees it charges a charity for raising $1.5 million on its website.
The site will continue to charge fees on fundraisers set up by individuals, including a payment processing fee of 6.9 percent, plus 30 cents per donation.
Other online fundraising sites charge transaction fees on donations of about 6 to 8 percent, including GoFundMe, at 7.9 percent, plus 30 cents per donation, in the United States; Kickstarter at 8 percent, plus 20 cents per donation; and Indiegogo at 8 percent, plus 30 cents per donation.
Facebook is also setting up a $50 million per year Facebook donations fund, which will match any donations sent on its platform to certain causes, such as natural disaster relief.
“When I started Facebook, I wasn’t thinking about it as a way to raise money to fight diseases, but a few years in, we noticed many people were using it to raise money for different causes,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg said at a Facebook event in New York.
He also said that the company plans to launch a software program, called Fundraisers API, that will allow users to sync their Facebook fundraisers with other fundraising pages.
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