Instagram Sees Money In Fundraisers

Facebook‘s Instagram is planning to launch a Fundraiser sticker this year.

Sources have reported that new code and imagery found in Instagram’s Android app show how a user can search for nonprofits or browse through collections of suggested charities. Once a charity is selected, the user can then place a Donate button sticker on their Instagram Story so that followers can click on it to contribute.

And once a person has sent funds to the charity, Instagram can then enable instant checkout on items purchased using the same payment information used to make the donation.

“We are in early stages and working hard to bring this experience to our community . . . Instagram is all about bringing you closer to the people and things you love, and a big part of that is showing support for and bringing awareness to meaningful communities and causes,” a Facebook spokesperson said to reporters. “Later this year, people will be able to raise money and help support nonprofits that are important to them through a donation sticker in Instagram Stories. We’re excited to bring this experience to our community and will share more updates in the coming months.”

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg also mentioned enabling transactions on Instagram during the company’s Q4 2018 earnings call last month, saying “In Instagram, one of the areas I’m most excited about this year is commerce and shopping . . . there’s also a very big opportunity in basically enabling the transactions and making it so that the buying experience is good.”

Late last year Instagram launched three new ways to discover products to make shopping easier during the holidays, which came after the company’s move in September to expand Shopping on Instagram with the rollout of stickers in Stories. With the stickers, users can learn more about a product.

Instagram also added the ability to save to a new shopping collection so they can come back to the item later. “Just like existing collections, you can access your Shopping collection from your profile. It’s an easy way to keep your wish list up-to-date and store creative gift ideas for the holidays,” Instagram said in a blog post at the time.