Despite Facebook being under fire for everything pertaining to Cambridge Analytica, the company still hopes to be able to do some good. Today, Facebook is dropping its platform fees pertaining to fundraisers for personal causes.
That means Facebook is getting rid of the 4.3 percent platform fee in the U.S. and the 6.2 percent fee in Canada. Those fees were charged to cover a review process and vetting for each fundraiser. Now, Facebook says it will absorb the costs associated with those safety and protection measures.
“We’re continuously learning and this was something we wanted to do to help people maximize the benefits,” Facebook Head of Product for Social Good Asha Sharma told me over the phone.
To be clear, there will, however, still be fees for payment processing and taxes. In the U.S. and Canada, payment processing fees are 2.6 percent plus $0.30. Facebook is also unveiling two new features for its fundraising tool.
The first is the ability for people to match donations for nonprofit fundraisers; the second is the expansion of categories for personal causes. Now, in addition to raising money for things like vet bills, personal emergencies and whatnot, people can also raise money for travel (community trips or for medical needs), family-related causes (adoption, etc), religious events and volunteer supplies.
Facebook isn’t yet sharing specific dollar amounts raised pertaining to fundraisers, but says its tool has helped more than 750,000 nonprofits collect donations. All Sharma would say about personal causes is that “we’re seeing activity across all of these categories, which is why we have them.”