Two thousand nonprofits will be awarded up to $1,500 each in Facebook ad-credits in the coming months. ActionSprout of Bellingham, Wash., with the support of Facebook, has committed to distributing $2 million in credits this holiday season.
The company, which specializes in assisting nonprofits to better use Facebook, will be accepting applications from 501(c)(3) organizations registered in the U.S. through Nov. 15, according Drew Bernard, CEO and co-founder. Organizations will receive credit allotments of $600, $900, $1,200 or $1,500 that will be granted from December through February. All applicants will be set up with a free ActionSprout account, Bernard said.
Interested organizations may use the invite code https://adcredits.actionsprout.com/r/UmQyRnC4Rw to apply.
The initiative was born out of a mutual interest shared by ActionSprout and Facebook to figure out means of better helping organizations. Cause-focused posts have a natural advantage on Facebook, Bernard said, as users like to both engage with content that is important to them as well as have others see them engage in such content. This trend translates to provide benefits such as donor cultivation on the paid ad side, according to Bernard.
Bernard declined to elaborate to what extent engagement translates to Facebook ads as ActionSprout’s figures might not be indicative of overall ad statistics.
ActionSprout will not hand out credits based on specific metrics, Bernard said, but will rather look to cultivate as diverse a group of organizations in terms of both size and mission as possible. The company is particularly interested in smaller nonprofits that might be new to Facebook ads. Organizations receiving credits will not be required to use ActionSprout, but Bernard hopes that recipients will utilize the free versions they are provided with so that the company can better learn from the initiative.
Bernard hopes that the credit giveaway will help organizations post more and better content on Facebook. The company plans to publish key findings based off of the distribution and use of the credits, but will not move forward with any follow-up efforts until information is gathered. “This is a test to see what we can learn, and with what we learn we’ll all go back to the drawing board and see if there’s something we should do next with this,” Bernard said.
