Facebook is hosting its annual NGO Summit this week to virtually support charities and non-profits across Ireland in the lead up to Christmas.
With COVID restrictions in place, the free to attend NGO Summit aims to help charities with their online campaigns ahead of Christmas and will take place Monday 19 October until Wednesday 21 October.
Facebook experts will bring Irish charities through training to create, launch and maximise fundraising using Facebook’s fundraising tools.
Sessions include discussions with the World Health Organisation and Lebanon Medical Corps who successfully used social media through COVID-19; workshop on how charities can get creative online; safety session on how charities can keep their communities safe; workshop on Facebook Reels and 1:1 interactive sessions with the Facebook team.
“Friday for Good has provided Debra Ireland with practical training in using Facebook’s fundraising tools to build and foster a community of supporters and tell the Debra story,” said Cheryl Gunning of Debra Ireland.
She said that this training enabled them to quickly pivot our fundraising efforts online during COVID-19 in what would have been a very challenging fundraising time otherwise.
“Epidermolysis bullosa (EB) is a rare skin condition that not many people have heard of,” said Cheryl.
“There is a huge stigma attached to it as well and many of our patients feel very isolated. Through our online campaigns, our families feel heard and feel like their story is being told.
“Every year during our EB Awareness Week Facebook’s digital fundraising tools play a key role which allow us to achieve our fundraising ambitions and reach an audience we could not do on any other platform.”
The NGO Summit is part of Facebook’s Friday for Good (FFG) programme which is a monthly incubator programme designed to support local NGOs through training.
Since launching in 2019, Facebook Ireland’s Friday for Good programme has supported over 210 Irish charities, such as Debra Ireland, Friends of the Elderly, Pieta House, Translators without Borders and Enable Ireland through monthly workshops and events, and supported campaigns with over €130,000 worth of free ad credit.
“Since the outbreak of COVID-19, NGOs in Ireland have suffered with a number of annual charity initiatives and fundraisers being cancelled,” said Evin Gaffney, who leads the FFG programme at Facebook.
“Christmas is the most popular time of year to launch fundraising campaigns so we want to ensure that the impact of COVID-19 doesn’t interfere with the important work that these charities do any further.
“At this year’s NGO Summit, charities will learn how to use fundraising tools to generate support and collect donations through Facebook, meaning they can successfully run their Christmas campaigns online.”
