Nick, the co-founder of GoodUnited, is shaking his head. “Of all the things of concern to a nonprofit, I have no idea why the demise of a world-changing company is on the list,” he says. Nick meets with nonprofits every day so he has a bird's eye-view of the things that they worry about.

Okay, on the back end, Facebook fundraisers can be confusing, overwhelming, and frustrating as hell for nonprofits. Our job is to turn that small challenge into massive opportunity, and it’s a job we do well. However:

We still hear some nonprofits say they won’t invest resources into Facebook fundraisers because they’re worried Facebook is going to go away. They worry that the growing pains and controversies surrounding the social media platform will mean the end of Facebook. They believe that users are leaving Facebook in droves.

None of these fears are founded in facts, so Nick has to deliver some truths and corrections in an effort to keep reluctant nonprofits from sabotaging themselves

Here’s the truth: Like it or not, Facebook isn’t going anywhere. Here’s why:

Facebook is too ingrained in the Internet

Believe it or not, Facebook has been around for more than 15 years. In that time the platform has been able to recruit engineers who are the best of the best. Every time technology changes, Facebook reacts. Its technology is now so interwoven with the online ecosystems that grew up around it that it’s nearly impossible to separate Facebook from the rest of the Internet.

You probably already know that a Facebook login speeds up connecting to countless websites, apps, and services. Some even require a Facebook login, which means that the social media platform has accidentally (or not) become the most widely-used online identity provider.

For users, the benefits outweigh the detractors

When smartphones became de facto, Facebook was ahead of the curve. Now Facebook follows users around all day, every day. On average users (2.27 billion of them) spend 41 minutes a day on Facebook. For nonprofits, there is no comparison in terms of exposure to a broad audience.

For most people the benefits of using Facebook (social connections, social capital resources, business growth and market reach, job leads, etc.) far outweigh the drawbacks.

Facebook can shut down competition

Facebook is mind-bogglingly huge and they are sitting on a mountain of cash. They can and will shut down or absorb competition at will.

People don’t want Facebook to shut down, they want privacy and safety parameters

And Facebook is providing them.

The user base grows consistently year over year

In 2008 Facebook had 100 million active monthly users. As of the third quarter of 2018, Facebook has 2.27 billion monthly active users. There has never been a dip in the number of average daily users on Facebook, and the number of users only continues to increase[1].

To sum that up:

• Facebook is the most popular social media network in the world.
• It’s now so ingrained with the online ecosystem that it would be nearly impossible to separate it from the rest of the Internet.
• People want Facebook to make some changes, but they don’t want it to fail.
• Despite skewed headlines, Facebook’s user base continues to grow steadily.

There are nonprofits that have harnessed the power of Facebook fundraisers and have increase monthly revenue by thousands, or tens of thousands, of dollars per month. Yes, you read that right – per month.

And there are those that refuse to create a strategy because they believe Facebook is going away.

It’s not.

It’s time to get on board.

[1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/264810/number-of-monthly-active-facebook-users-worldwide/