Instagram Reels now offer fundraising capabilities

By Anita George April 19, 2022

There’s a new way to raise money for charitable causes via social media and it comes courtesy of Instagram.

Instagram’s parent company, Meta, announced on Tuesday that the popular video- and photo-sharing app now offers new fundraising tools via Instagram Reels. The new fundraising capabilities are apparently part of a larger Earth Day/climate change initiative in which Meta proposes several social media-centric ways users of its apps can get involved and show support for environmental issues.

Three Instagram mobile app screenshots showing how to add a fundraiser to a Reel. — screenshot

Of those methods, the most intriguing, is a new fundraising feature for Instagram Reels that allows users to make and donate to fundraisers within a Reel (which is a video clip post that can be up to a minute long). According to Meta’s announcement, the new feature is available starting April 19 and supports over 1.5 million nonprofit organizations and can be used in more than 30 countries.

The newly announced feature is live on the mobile app. Here’s how to access the new fundraising tool on Instagram Reels:

Step 1: Open the Instagram app and record a clip on Reels as you normally would.

Step 2: When you’re done recording, hit Preview.

Step 3: Then tap Next.

Step 4: On the Share screen, tap on Add fundraiser.

Step 5: Then search for and select the organization you want to create a fundraiser for.

Step 6: On the Fundraiser Details screen, edit the details of your fundraiser and set a goal amount. Then tap Done.

Step 7: Then when you’re ready to share your fundraiser post, tap Share.

A few notes about the fundraising feature on Reels: Fundraisers are added to posts and your bio and last for 30 days. Meta has said that it will take care of donation processing and fees. And so all of the raised funds are sent to the organization you picked.

It is unclear if the new fundraising feature allows for personal fundraisers. We have reached out to Meta for clarification on that and will update this article when we hear back.

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