Facebook has expanded the use of its 'donate' button and launched a new fundraising platform which will compete with services such as JustGiving and Virgin Money Giving.

The social network’s new tool – which it has called ‘Fundraisers’ - will be a “dedicated place to raise funds from a nonprofit’s page for a specific campaign”, meaning Facebook users will not have to leave the site to donate to a charity.

Naomi Gleit, vice president of product management at Facebook, said that people will be able to use the site to donate in just a few taps, and then share their donations with friends. She also said Facebook is improving its ‘donate’ button by making it available on pages and posts – therefore helping charities increase donations.

Gleit said that adding a donate button to a page will give charities a “consistent place to collect donations”. She said that the donate button will be an easy way for people to donate directly from the news feed.

Facebook is currently testing the new features with 37 partner organisations, including Mercy Corps, National Multiple Sclerosis Society and World Wildlife Fund.

Gleit said: “With more than 150 million people around the world connected to a cause, Facebook is a global community of volunteers, donors and activists coming together to make the world a better place.

“People raise money for disaster relief, they search for missing children, and they bring attention to the issues they care about. We’ve seen from our community that when people take action, lives are changed. We know we can do more to enable these connections.”