Do Facebook Causes work?

There was an article in the Washington Post this week that talked about Facebook Causes and basically said they aren’t any good.  I finally got to read the article today and it made me mad!

Here’s my response:

I think the results we’re seeing with Facebook Causes can be attributed to two things: first, supporters are gathered by dangerously easy-to-accept invitations from friends and second a serious lack of communication.

It’s way to easy to accept a Facebook invitation to join a cause. How often do we join causes that we only remotely care about just so we don’t offend our friend who is asking? It doesn’t require anything of us to join, so we do.

Communication is also an issue. The nonprofits who are using Facebook are not doing a good job of developing relationships or communicating with people who are Facebook supporters. I wonder how many of us have joined so many causes we don’t even remember which ones we joined?

These two facts go directly against the grain of basic nonprofit fundraising principles. No wonder we’re seeing dismal results with Facebook causes! We have people joining causes who don’t really care about them then there’s no real effort to stay in touch with them. How many donations would we get with our offline fundraising strategies if we followed the same strategies?

Facebook causes could probably see some seriously different results if the nonprofits using it had a solid strategy in place instead of jumping in as a knee-jerk response simply because ‘everyone else is doing it.’ A well thought-out plan with a specific goal in mind would no doubt bring different results.

What do you think?  Have you raised money with Facebook Causes?  I’d love to hear your story or your opinion!