One of the charities we work with, The Birmingham Conservation Trust, wanted to make better use of their Facebook page to drive donations for their cause. So, with 27% of all donations via the Just Giving website coming from Facebook in the last 12 months, an increase of 130% on the previous year we decided that one way to look at doing this would be to help integrate the new look Just Giving app into their Facebook page.

The Just Giving app allows charities to invite people to donate without having to leave their Facebook comfort zone. Fundraisers can share a complete copy of their Just Giving profile and donors can chose to make a one off  payment or set up a regular donation within the familiarity of the page.

If you are already a Facebook user adding the app to your charity page is a fairly simple process and Just Giving have made it even easier by creating a step by step PDF for you to download and follow. They even supply a selection of icons for you to use when creating your app, read the guide and you’ll see what I mean.

The scary part for most is when they hear to be able to do this you have to be a “Facebook developer”. It shouldn’t be. All being a Facebook Developer means is you’ve added the app which gives you access to the developers page – just like when you add Words with Friends, Farmville or whatever the hot new game is this month.

To set yourself up just type “Developer” in your Facebook search bar and select “Developer” the app (not the group) and follow 2 simple steps

1. Install it. Click “allow” and give it all the permissions it asks for.
2. Get into the Developer app. This should happen automatically. If not, you can just repeat step one and it’ll take you in.

It’s that simple.

So become a developer, create your app and start putting Facebook to good use
raising money for your charity.