Instagram is planning to launch a fundraiser feature within Stories that will allow users to raise cash for a range of nonprofit charities.
The plan was uncovered on Monday, February 18 by app researcher Jane Manchun Wong and later confirmed by Instagram. A screenshot posted online by the researcher shows a donation sticker alongside other stickers already familiar to users who create or view Stories on the popular photo-sharing app.
The feature works by letting users search for a nonprofit before incorporating it into their Story. From there, viewers of the Story could, if they wished, tap on the included donate button to contribute to the cause.
In a statement seen by 9to5Mac, Instagram confirmed that it’s planning to launch a donate button for its platform, saying that it hopes to roll it out “later this year.”
“We are in early stages and working hard to bring this experience to our community,” the company said. “Instagram is all about bringing you closer to the people and things you love, and a big part of that is showing support for and bringing awareness to meaningful communities and causes.”
It added: “Later this year, people will be able to raise money and help support nonprofits that are important to them through a donation sticker in Instagram Stories. We’re excited to bring this experience to our community and will share more updates in the coming months.”
As it’s in the early stages of development, there’s always a chance that the donation button won’t make the cut, though the wording of Instagram’s statement suggests there’s a strong chance that it will.
We wouldn’t be surprised to see the platform introduce such a feature. After all, Instagram’s parent company, Facebook, has had similar charity-focused tools in place since 2015. At the start, the social networking giant took a 5-percent processing free from each donation, but stopped doing so in November 2017, thereby ensuring that the nonprofits received 100 percent of people’s contributions. Facebook does, however, continue to take a cut of donations for personal fundraisers, which varies by country, but usually amounts to about 1.5 percent.
News of Instagram’s donations sticker follows the introduction of its shoppable sticker in September 2018 that lets users shop for items shown in Stories.
Instagram has more than a billion users, half of whom use Stories on a regular basis. The popularity of the feature, which lets users create and share a collection of photos and videos across a single day, has prompted the company to focus on adding new elements to it, which up to now have included a share option, bulk uploads, music stickers, question stickers, and a type mode, among others.
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