World Wildlife Fund (WWF) on Oct. 26 launched a nonprofit gift catalog on Facebook. WWF’s Gift Center on Facebook allows supporters to make a donation and select a symbolic animal adoption from a list of more than 100 species.
The adoptions and all other items in WWF’s gift catalog, including WWF-branded gear and apparel, are connected to Facebook’s “Like” and “Share” features, allowing supporters to create virtual wish lists. The Gift Center is built into Facebook’s iframe, providing supporters the ability to make a donation without ever leaving Facebook’s. The secure process is powered by WWF’s existing Gift Center website.
WWF launched its first online Gift Center in 2004 on its website. Since that time, annual online giving has grown to about $12.5 million. WWF has roughly 1.5 million members in the U.S. Facebook has about 116 million users in the U.S.
WWF will soon launch an interactive feature that will help supporters identify the perfect species to symbolically adopt. This online quiz, called “Find Your Inner Animal,” will be available in WWF’s Gift Center on both Facebook and its own website.
On Facebook, WWF supporters can also become “friends” with various species in the gift center. As “friends” of those individual species, which at this time include tigers, pandas and polar bears, supporters will receive timely updates on WWF’s conservation work related to the species.
Work on the Facebook project started in June, says David Glass, WWF’s director of online marketing.
“We wanted to connect with our supporters where they are on the web,” Glass says. “Since many current and potential supporters spend considerable time on Facebook, extending our Gift Center there to its social environment was a great way to connect with them,” he says. “We are just beginning our outreach to our donors and supporters using social media, email, web and print promotions.”
Glass says Facebook is helping WWF to build brand awareness and bring conservation education to current supporters. “We educate our fans by posting conservation news, photos and updates from the field and provide opportunities for them to get more.”
What’s more, WWF is using Facebook to encourage supporters to get involved with species conservation by completing various polls and quizzes, and even contacting their local congressmen asking them to vote a certain way on an important piece of legislation.
WWF is also using Facebook to raise funds through the newly launched gift catalog that will go directly to supporting WWF’s conservation mission, Glass adds.