Charities make instant use of donation stickers on Instagram


1 Aug 2019

Image: Nick Ansell/PA

A donation sticker added to Instagram stories will enable users to tap to donate directly to chosen charities and non-profits.

Instagram users can now raise awareness of and donate directly to charities following the introduction of a donation sticker to the stories section of the social media app.

The sticker is placed over a photo or video uploaded to a user’s Instagram story, and enables those who view it to then tap it to donate to the associated cause.

The Facebook-owned social media platform will allow anyone who taps on the sticker to make a donation directly to the charity without leaving Instagram, with the social networks confirming 100pc of all donations will go to the non-profit.

Creative fundraising

Aibhinn Kelleher, strategic partnerships manager on the social impact team at Facebook in Europe, 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.

“As well as helping organisations reach new audiences, with 100pc of all money raised going straight to the organisation, the Instagram donation sticker should be a valuable tool for the charity sector. We can’t wait to see the creative ways that people use Instagram to support the causes they care about.”

A phone screen mock-up showing a photo of a dog in an Instagram story, with a sticker from the ASPCA for donations.

Image: Instagram

Celebrity influence

Selecting the donation sticker inside the Instagram story section of the app displays a list of the charities that can be linked to the new feature.

The feature builds on existing technology used on Facebook, which enables users to add donate buttons to pages on the social network.

A number of celebrity Instagram users – including Fearne Cotton, Zoë Sugg and Olympic diver Tom Daley – have been among the first to make use of the new feature to mark its launch, each raising awareness for a different cause (breast cancer awareness charity CoppaFeel!, mental health charity Mind and The Brain Tumour Charity, respectively).

Mental Health Ireland has also jumped on the new feature with a sticker added to its latest Instagram story.

Instagram said that in order for charities and non-profits to be eligible to raise funds in this way on the platform, they must sign up for Facebook’s Charitable Giving Tools, link their Instagram profile to their organisation’s Facebook page and convert their Instagram profile to a business profile. Detailed instructions are available here.

– PA Media