Instagram has today (30th July) extended the use of its Story donation functionality to UK charities – meaning that it’s even easier to make a one-off donation.
We’ve been excitedly waiting for this to launch for our charity clients, such as Worldwide Cancer Research, so immediately looked into how it works!
The button can be added in the same way as a gif or a quiz to an Instagram Story, once an image has been chosen, and allows people to easily donate – with all money going directly to the charity.
Why is it rolling out? Aibhinn Kelleher, Strategic Partnerships Manager, Social Impact team at Facebook EMEA, said: “All over the world people are using Instagram to raise awareness of the causes that matter to them. Now with donation stickers for Instagram Stories, people have a really easy way to support these causes, while also directly raising money.”
How do I register as a charity on Instagram?
Before you can use the sticker, you need to make sure your non-profit is set up as a charity on Facebook and Instagram!
Make sure that you have signed up to collect donations on Facebook: you'll need to provide a bank statement, your CEO's details, and your charity's tax number to do this.
Once you've done that, make sure your Facebook page is linked to your Instagram account, and that your profile is a business and not personal page.
How to set up an Instagram donation sticker
Choose the background picture for your Story
Click the ‘sticker’ picture in the top right (smiley in the square)
Scroll down the options until you see the ‘donations’ button – for us, it’s beside the camera
Click and choose the charity of your choice
Customise a personal message and use the colour wheel at the top to change colours
Once done, add any other stickers or text
Share to your Story
Is it easy to donate using Instagram Story donation stickers?
As with any other Instagram Story, the donation button will be live for 24 hours. When viewers see the story, they will be able to click ‘donate’ and choose how much they would like to give - £5, £10, £20 or a donation of their choice.
It then does get slightly annoying, as it takes you through to the mobile Instagram page to sign in there (if you’re anything like us, you may be signed in on the app…but not remember your password immediately for signing in online). Once signed in, you’ll be asked to agree to terms of service before putting in payment details.
We think that this is a great way for charities to easily get donations, as well as people to share charities they really care about. Given that Facebook says that birthday fundraisers have raised over $300m for charities, we expect good results to be shared soon!