Children in Need launches Facebook app to collect donations 1

IT | Kirsty Weakley | 11 Nov 2011

BBC Children in Need has built a fundraising Facebook app in partnership with PayPal to encourage its 500,000 Facebook fans to donate.

Since launching a month ago the Fancy a Spot of Cake app has raised more than £850 by asking people to donate £1, £5, £10, or £20 through their PayPal accounts to buy different parts of a digital cake and add a layer. Once they have added their layer, their name appears alongside it and users can share the app with their Facebook friends and will run until 25 November.

Within the cake there are special layers from BBC programmes including the One Show, Eastenders, Strictly Come Dancing and Graham Norton and footage from the POP goes the Musical performances.

Last year Children in Need had a web app that people could use to add Pudsey ears to photos but this is the first time that the charity has focussed on digital fundraising.

Earlier this autumn the League Against Cruel Sports launched a Facebook text donation app, and Justgiving are currently developing a Facebook donation app for charities, but Children in Need is the first charity to use PayPal to receive donations through a Facebook app.

Sarah Monteith, director of marketing at BBC Children in Need said: “We want to break another record too and make the biggest digital cake ever. It’s great fun for digital supporters, which will also make a huge difference to the lives of children across the UK.”

The app was designed by Independents United and built by Gamaroff Digital. Mike Gamaroff managing director of Gamaroff predicted that: “F-commerce is going to be the hottest topic for companies in 2012.”

The Children in Need televised appeal takes place on 18 November and will be hosted by Sir Terry Wogan, Tess Daly and Fearne Cotton.

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Andrew
11 Nov 2011

It is great to see a charity using Facebook in this way. Looking to engage with their followers to generate donations in a way which they are comfortable with.
CAF has also created a tool that allows its fundraising support charities to receive regular and one-off donations through a Facebook app. It takes credit/debit card, direct debits and PayPal securely and can be shared or embedded on other sites too. These types of tools are going to allow charities to engage with their supporters on the platforms that they are use to rather than asking them to go from site to site.
What do you think?

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