Creating Nonprofit Facebook Page

FYI.  I just checked out the FB page listed above.  Under the question "I have a Facebook Group.  Can it be converted to a page?" is the following answer. 

"We're no longer able to convert Facebook Groups into Pages. You're welcome to create a Page and notify your Group members that you'll be using the Page instead of the Group going forward. If your Group has too many members to send them a message, we unfortunately aren't able to provide you with any other solutions for how you might contact them about this change."

Apparently, this is with the new Facebook format...

I am kind of confused becuase when I went into the link you provided and went to "I have a FB group.  Can it be converted into a page?"  The following came up:

We're no longer able to convert Facebook Groups into Pages. You're welcome to create a Page and notify your Group members that you'll be using the Page instead of the Group going forward. If your Group has too many members to send them a message, we unfortunately aren't able to provide you with any other solutions for how you might contact them about this change.

So, my guess is they no longer do this for you?  Or am I missing something?

Is there a charge to set up a page for nonprofits?  We have a group but would really like to take advantage of the page features   Like most nonprofits, we have no money to pay for anything like this.  One of our staff thought she saw something several pages into the page application about having to pay.  Is that just for advertising?

Hi Megan,

I also had difficulty with the Causes feature. I applied to Causes to become a "Partner" and was required to submit proof of our 501(c)(3). We were approved and I was sent a link to our official facebook profile created by Causes along with instructions on how to create a cause & begin using the app. 

I couldn't find the profile created for us by Causes when doing a general search on facebook, but was able to click on the link they emailed me to find it. Eventually, we created our own cause but I'd like to use the profile page created by Causes instead of the page we created ourselves. After sending several emails to the facebook help center & the Causes help center, I've received no response. If there's a way to swap out  our current page with the page created for us by Causes, please let me know!

Thanks very much!

Barbara

Shoes That Fit

I'm trying to create a page for our organization, Velvet Revolution (www.VelvetRevolution.us, www.velvetrevolution.us/electionstrikeforce). I wanted to post links to our various websites and other organizations we work with, and discovered that an application called Posted Items Pro seems to be the best way to do that. However, all of the links I added using this app went onto my *personal* facebook profile instead of our Page. When I try to add the app to the Page, I get a message that says I'm currently managing my own profile. I've tried everything I can think of to get past this hurdle, but haven't been able to add the app to the Page. Any suggestions?

Thanks much.

I spent some time this morning tinkering with our Facebook page and was able to add the cause to the page. So now a box with our org's cause page is on our org's FB page.  So, it can be done.

Thanks for reporting this back. I've had success with adding causes to the TechSoup Facebook page as well. However, I'm not sure what happens to the members of the cause--I don't think they automatically become fans of the organizational page.

It's a bummer that Facebook is no longer letting you do the automatic switch from groups to pages, as that was a great help before when they allowed for that.

When it comes to deciding how to use what for what: a Facebook page, group, or cause, I found this tip from John Haydon to be helpful:

Facebook created Pages, Groups and Profiles – three separate applications – to help individuals and organizations achieve three separate goals:

1. Create a presence for a business, brand or non-profit on Facebook (Facebook Pages).

2. Organize a group of people around a common issue or interest (Facebook Groups).

3. Create a home base on the web for individuals to express themselves and connect with others (Facebook Profiles). 

I wanted to also point everyone to Susan's recent blog post about Facebook. This is an update of a blog post she did awhile back and is cholk-full of resources. Check it out!

I was wondering if creating a Facebook page was like have my own personal Facebook page, which I have. Our foundation has a Facebook Cause page which you can check out at http://apps.facebook.com/causes/120055?. If the cause page is different from having a facebook page, then it may be a good idea for our foundation!

Ever since FB changed its Page features in April, I'm convinced it is a much more powerful tool and it's the way nonprofits can best present themselves.  I've found that I was able to add the cause, add events, add videos, add a message board, add "boxes" to customize with HTML (still haven't used that yet, but it's great to know it can be done).

Also if you anticipate your fans growing beyond 5,000, the group is not the way to go as once you hit 5,000 you won't be able to send any kind of email blast communication to them, whereas with the FB Page, you can send updates no matter what size the fan base grows to.  One of the most powerful features of the new fan pages is that any items posted to the Page's wall automatically shows up in each fan's newsfeed.  That alone is reason to choose a page vs. a group IMO.  You can add a discussion board to a page, so you've got the same features as a group - a wall and a discussion board.

I am in the process of creating a Facebook page for my nonprofit.  I have the dream to create a simple app that allows people to affix a button to their profile to show support for the organization.  Our real-life buttons are very popular amongst our consituents and I'd like a way for people to show support on their FB profiles.  Does anybody know of an app or a widget that can do this?

Thanks!

Andrew

www.aidsfundphilly.org

On FB as Philly AIDS Walk and Run

I'm not personally aware of how to do this, but Facebook has a Developers wiki with documentation as well as community forums where you might find a developer who can point you in the right direction. http://forum.developers.facebook.com/

I don't doubt that others have done something similar and may be able to show you how. If you find a solution, we'd love for you to share it with other nonprofits here!

No need to re-invent the wheel--the FMBL application on Facebook can be used to do this. Here's some snazzy icons you can use and this post let's you know how. You can also use this on Change.org and your MySpace profile.

I also recommend joining the Nonprofits.org Facebook group., as they are a terrrific resource for these kinds of tips as well as other nonprofit happenings.

Also, if you are looking for a badge that users can use on their own profile pages, I suggest creating a basic widget at a site like SpringWidgets and then putting this on your Facebook page using the above application. This TechSoup article has more about creating widgets.

Best,

Megan

Thanks! Put up my first (very basic) FBML box on the Philly AIDS Walk and Run page.  Very useful, very easy.

I didn't want to use a Charity Badge -- they have too many strings attached.  Eventually I'd like to have our Fans be able to simply post their support (and a link to our website) on their profile page with a simple click of the mouse.  I'll keep investigating the widget articles.

But thanks again for the links!

-Andrew

Great, so glad the FBML worked for you! Would love to have a link to your page so others can see what it looks like.

Facebook has a built-in option that will let you create a badge for your personal profile. However, I noticed there are several applications for doing so for a Facebook page.

I tried using PageBadge application for our TechSoup page and it looked like this.

 You could also try a badge tool w/o all the strings attached like SpringWidget or SproutBuilder (more complex, but very nice looking).

Best,

Megan