It’s Cyber Monday and while consumers are scouring the Internet for the biggest deals, nonprofits in Charlotte and beyond are busy planning and preparing for their biggest fundraising asks of the year – GivingTuesday. The event is celebrated on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving, December 3 this year, and has become a global generosity movement.

Thanks in part to Facebook and the social media revolution, giving back to causes and charities today is extremely easy and can have a major impact. Many nonprofits are grateful for this including Mark Godsey, coach and director of nonprofit wheelchair basketball program Charlotte Rollin’ Hornets.

“Fundraising through Facebook has allowed our organization to better serve our players,” said Mike Godsey. “Without this additional revenue stream, we wouldn't be able to offset the cost of travel for the players and their families.”

Established in 2005, the Charlotte Rollin’ Hornets is a Wheelchair Basketball program offering individuals with physical disabilities an opportunity to be a part of a team and see that a physical disability does not mean they are disabled from doing what they want. They compete with the National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA) with teams playing in tournaments across the country.

Nonprofits that take advantage of Facebook’s fundraising tools will have an added benefit this GivingTuesday. Facebook will match up to $7 million in donations to U.S. nonprofits made through fundraisers and the donate button on Facebook.

“You can’t scroll through Facebook on GivingTuesday without seeing your friends and family donating to nonprofits,” said Godsey. “Those donations help motivate more donations, resulting in a snowball effect. We’ve had someone from the Charlotte area donate and share their donation on Facebook — helping to amplify our organization’s reach to their Facebook friends in other states resulting in more donations.”

Additionally, Facebook has launched a fundraiser sticker in Facebook Stories as a new way for people to rally their friends behind a cause and raise awareness of fundraisers.

One-hundred-percent of what’s raised through nonprofit donate buttons and fundraisers on Facebook and Instagram goes directly to the organizations. Last month, Facebook shared that people have raised over $2 billion for causes they care about using the platforms fundraising tools.

For more information about Facebook Fundraisers and its efforts on GivingTuesday, please visit facebook.com/fundraisers. To learn more about the Rollin’ Hornets, check out their Facebook page.

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