As the world tackles the Coronavirus pandemic, nonprofit organisations working towards helping people, developing new tests, or working towards a vaccine are in need of funds like never before.
Of late, platforms have been adding ways to help users raise money for the cause. TikTok recently added a new donation sticker, and now, Instagram is adding a new way for creators and users to raise money for nonprofits they want to support.
While Instagram users have been able to gather donations in their Stories by using ‘donation stickers’ since last year, the new feature makes more sense right now considering that the usage of the Live feature in Instagram has been on the rise. Moreover, the company is offering some cool additions such as being able to see the number of people supporting the nonprofit of your choice in real time.
The donation feature works on top of Facebook’s donation feature which already has over 1 million nonprofits listed, and supports major credit card issuers and PayPal in the US. As of this writing, I wasn’t able to spot the feature on my Instagram app, but let me know if you guys have it enabled.
Instagram has also developed a new sticker for people who donate using the Live donations feature. When a user donates using the new feature, they will unlock a new ‘I Donated’ sticker.
The company has assured that 100% of the funds raised using the new donation feature will go to the nonprofits, which is good to know. The company is planning on launching more such features in the future. “In the coming weeks and months, you will see more from us in this area, specifically supporting small businesses, creators, and personal fundraisers, which is very important at this time,” said Vishal Shah, Instagram’s Head of Product.
