Ownership
Facebook Fundraising vs. Your Own School Website
Social media is great for spreading the word about a school fundraiser. Here's why it works best alongside your own fundraising website, not instead of one.
By the RaiseKit team 5 min read
Facebook and other social networks are where many school communities already gather, so it’s natural to fundraise there. Social media is excellent at one part of fundraising: getting the word out. It is much weaker at the rest. Here’s how the two compare.
Where social media shines
- Reach. Parents, alumni and relatives can share a post in seconds.
- Familiarity. Families already check it every day.
- Speed. You can announce a campaign in minutes.
Where it falls short for school fundraising
Posts are short-lived
A post is seen for a day or two, then pushed down by newer content. Families who missed it often can’t find it again. Algorithms decide who sees your post, not you.
There’s no lasting home
Each campaign becomes a separate post or fundraiser. There’s no single place where families can see every active campaign, read updates or look back at what the school has achieved.
Your records depend on the platform
When donations are collected through a social platform’s tools, the information your school receives about donors is limited to what that platform provides. Building lasting relationships with supporters is harder when you don’t hold the records.
Not everyone is on it
Grandparents, alumni and community members may not use the same platform, and some families avoid social media entirely.
The best approach: use both
Treat social media as the megaphone and your own website as the destination.
- Your school fundraising website holds the campaign page, story, goal, progress, updates and donation form, on your school’s domain.
- Social posts point people to that page with a short message, a great photo and a link.
- Updates on your website give you a reason to post again, each time sending people back to the same lasting page.
This way, every share builds toward something your school owns: a growing record of campaigns, supporters and results.
What your own website adds
- One memorable address, like
fund.yourschool.org - Every campaign in one place, with progress and milestones
- Donations paid directly to your school’s own account
- Donor records you can search and export
- A permanent history that new families can see
RaiseKit builds school fundraising websites that work hand in hand with your social channels. Get a quote to learn more.