28 Apr 2009 7 Comments
Facebook public profiles for nonprofits
Facebook has made some significant changes in the past few months, and one of them is the creation of Public Profiles for non-profit organizations. If you’re already familiar with Facebook, a Public Profile is like your personal Facebook profile, except that it represents your whole organization instead of just one person. You can post updates, add photos, and share other content with your fans the same way you share stuff with your Facebook friends. Read all the details here; we’ve pulled out a few key points about how having a Public Profile can help your non-profit organization:
Connection: Foster a stronger relationship with the people who care about your organization. Raise awareness by posting updates and notes, mobilize communities with causes and events, and stay connected with discussion boards, commenting and wall posts.
Content: Organize events, share photos and videos, or discuss the latest issues relevant to your community.
Favorite pages: Use favorite pages to highlight any other public profiles on Facebook you are affiliated with, other non-profits or communities you support, or other organizations you respect or care about.
Want to see an example of a non-profit’s Facebook profile? The American Red Cross has a good one here.
We just created a new Public Profile, too. If you create one for your non-profit let us know! Post a comment below or friend us.
Kay
Apr 29, 2009 @ 10:29:34
Thanks for the tips, but your link to “Read all the details here” does not work, and I can;t find anything helpful on Facebook itself. Can you provide the link?
Thanks!
Laurie
Apr 29, 2009 @ 23:46:50
Do you know how to switch from a cause to a non-profit page without losing all your “friends”?
BethP
Apr 30, 2009 @ 17:21:52
Hi Laurie,
Good question. Unfortunately when you create a new page, there is no easy way to “keep” your friends. You’ll have to ask them to migrate over.
If they don’t come right away, consider keeping both pages open for a while. Each time you post content, post it to both pages and remind everyone to join the new page before you stop posting info. in both spots.
Remember also that you’ll continue to make new friends as you go along, so don’t hesitate to get going on your new page! Best wishes.
Joan Bailey
May 11, 2009 @ 20:02:47
I do some writing for a non-profit and one of our terrifically enthusiastic supporters made a Facebook page for us. It’s just great (we were on the verge of doing so ourselves), but she made it under the business profile section. Should we switch over to non-profits? It looks like if we do, we’d have to inform folks about it, post in both places, etc. We also don’t want to put a damper on this kind of enthusiastic support, but we want to do what’s right, too.
Any suggestions for any of that? Many thanks!
BethP
May 12, 2009 @ 09:14:20
Hi Kay,
You’ll need the latest version of Adobe Acrobat to view the link; you can download it here: http://get.adobe.com/reader/.
BethP
May 12, 2009 @ 09:24:45
Hi Joan,
Great question. Facebook for non-profits is fairly new, so many organizations up until this point have had pages listed as business profiles.
You’re right that migrating over to a nonprofit page will take some effort and targeted communication to your community. In the long run, you will probably want to have a Facebook presence consistent with your organization’s mission (presumably its nonprofit status is a significant component) for clarity. It sounds like you are asking the right questions about how to mobilize the resources and enthusiasm of your supporters for the greatest impact.
Online Fundraising Blog » Facebook for nonprofits (encore)
May 21, 2009 @ 09:00:42
[...] couple of weeks ago, we posted an update about Facebook’s new service for nonprofit organizations. Several of our readers asked us whether we thought it better for a nonprofit to have a profile, [...]