Creating a Facebook birthday fundraiser is an easy way to help raise money, and awareness, for The Poppy Factory. Ajay explains why he chose to ask for donations rather than presents for his birthday and how simple it was to do.
Ajay said: “As my birthday approached, Facebook sent me a notification asking if I wanted to set up a birthday fundraiser page. I hadn’t thought about it before but straight away I wanted to do one in aid of The Poppy Factory.
“Helping veterans back into work is a really important issue and I knew that if I said to my friends on Facebook that I would prefer a donation over a gift, they’d be happy to support my chosen cause.”
Creating the birthday page
“When I was setting up the page, there were three steps which were very simple to follow, for example, the cover image and the description of The Poppy Factory were already pre-populated and the target amount (£150) was already suggested. This was really helpful as I had no idea what amount to put. Facebook even started me off with a small donation to get the ball rolling.
“I didn’t get many donations immediately, but as my birthday got closer, Facebook sent out notifications to all my friends reminding them. The donations started piling in the day before my birthday and by the day after, I had exceeded my target.
“It was a really easy thing to do and the amount far exceeded my expectation of how generous my friends and family were going to be.”
How the money is helping
Since setting up the Facebook functionality in May 2018, many people have created birthday fundraising pages in aid of The Poppy Factory and raised over £10,000.
This income has directly supported veterans with mental and physical health conditions on their journey into employment, starting with confidence training and interview skills and ending in job starts and in-work support.
If like Ajay, you’d like to set up a birthday fundraising page, simply log into your account and click the ‘Fundraising’ button on the left-hand menu, or alternatively, read Facebook’s step-by-step guide.