Suddenly hundreds of people are creating birthday fundraisers. Thousands of people are donating to your nonprofit and you haven’t even asked. If you’ve found yourself in this surprising situation, you’re not alone. The success of Facebook fundraisers has nonprofits feeling delighted, eager, and more than a little confused. After all, rule #1 of fundraising is to thank your donors – and thank them quickly.

However, Facebook intentionally makes it difficult to thank donors. You can see donor names, but you don’t get a handy list of email addresses – or any other information that would make thanking givers (and nurturing a relationship) easy. You can click through to donors to thank them, but if you click too many (and the number is a moving target), social media platforms see you as a potential threat (spam), and disables your account.

There is a way to identify top donors to your Facebook fundraisers by creating a custom spreadsheet and sorting it.

How to Identify Top Donors to Facebook Fundraisers

• Open the ‘Daily Transaction Report’ tab in the file you created following the instructions in this blog post.
• Select the "Donation Amount" title cell

•  Add a filter by clicking on Data (from the top menu) and selecting Filter (Data > Filter)

• Now you can filter the Donation Amount column.  Click on the upside down pyramid and select Z → A to sort by largest donations.

 Now you can see the largest donations and the associated donor information including First Name, Last Name, and Email (if they opted in).

Other Workarounds

Ask the Fundraiser to Post a Thank You

Since we showed you how to identify your top fundraisers, you can send them a thank you letter and ask them to post it on their wall on their behalf. Make sure your letter is personalized to the fundraiser and the particular area of need they raised funds for if appropriate.

Post a Thank You and Tag the Fundraiser

Using your list of top fundraisers, post a personalized thank you on your organizations wall and tag the fundraiser. Depending on their settings, their Friends will be able to see your note.

Respond to Tags

Watch your notifications for donors who have tagged your organization saying they gave, then respond with a note of thanks in the comments.

Use the Email Addresses You Get

Facebook provides email addresses for some donors. For the email addresses you do get, quickly follow up with a thank you email.

Want to learn more? Read or download The Ultimate Guide to Facebook Fundraisers.