How Nonprofits Can Fundraise on TikTok
Why Fundraise on TikTok?
Many nonprofit staff members have heard of TikTok and know about its power in fundraising and marketing, but do not know how to have their nonprofit take advantage of TikTok. This article will talk a bit about TikTok’s potential and how nonprofits and charities can take advantage of this potential when it comes to fundraising and getting out their message.
TikTok is an up-and-coming social media behemoth and already has 1 billion users that use it each month. With that many active users, it is sufficient scale to reach many, and 90% of its users say they use the app daily. Companies have quickly adapted to TikTok and created accounts as have many large nonprofits, but there is some confusion for most nonprofits and some companies about how best to leverage this platform.
How Nonprofits Can Fundraise on TikTok?
The initial step to take is just creating an account and taking the plunge. Once that is done, the first thing that nonprofits should know is that about 2 years ago, TikTok released their Donation Stickers feature which is used to encourage users to give a donation to the nonprofit and made the process easy so it could be done without leaving TikTok. Donation Stickers can be added to any video and livestreams that your organization releases and this can encourage viewers to support your organization. Not all nonprofits are approved for donation stickers, but the number has grown over time so look to see if you qualify, and if so definitely take advantage of this feature. If your nonprofit has supporters who are content creators, you can also encourage them to use Donation Stickers for your organization on their content.
Another way you can fundraise and get your message out in addition to the Donation Stickers on the organization’s videos is for users to display a link to donate to a nonprofit on their profile. You can certainly encourage your nonprofit’s staff, volunteers, and supporters to link to your organization. In order to set up TikTok fundraising for your nonprofit, you will need to sign up for Tiltify and get approved, and then set up Stripe as your payment method. You will then need to set up a charity profile on Benevity Causes.
TikTok Demographics
TikTok appeals to a younger audience and 41% of its users are between the ages of 16 and 24. Well, it is getting more mainstream and more popular across demographics it is worth keeping its principal age demographic in mind as you create content and gear content appropriately. You will also want to focus on the TikTok community and get accustomed to it first and watch a number of videos prior to making some so you see how they are laid out. Typical fundraising methods such as an explicit call to action may need to be tweaked a little to fit in with users’ expectations. Also, think about how best to get your message across quickly. A 15-second video limits how much you can say and do so you should think about how to grab a user’s attention if they view your video amongst a stream of other videos.
Nonprofit TikTok Video Tips
As with other social media apps, you should ensure that you post regularly – ideally multiple times a week. That is a lot of work, but you can always reuse video content that you already have and the video does not need to be that polished. In some cases being too polished can be a negative. If you are looking to go viral, you should try to tie your content to current memes and trends and use trending hashtags that are relevant to your videos.
Video typically uses music and it can be a powerful force to make sure to leverage it. Try to use the medium of video to its full potential. Emotive content can lead users to take action and sit up and bring brand awareness. Storytelling also has long been used to great benefit by nonprofits, and yes you can tell a moving, persuasive story in a seconds-long video.
We, here at Grant Republic, hope you have found this article useful. Check out our other articles about nonprofit fundraising such as this article about Google Grants.