In light of the recent Black Lives Matter protests, many are looking for ways to raise money for racial justice and one option is through Instagram stickers. For some, this could be an easier and more targeted way for Instagram users to fund a campaign, compared to sharing a link to fundraising websites across various social media channels.
Adding Instagram stickers to a Story can be a great way to easily increase post engagement. New stickers are released often, based on the need to create awareness regarding an issue. For instance, Instagram previously launched a series of stickers encouraging the universal ‘stay at home’ message and popularizing social distancing during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. As this is now Pride Month, the platform has also rolled out three new stickers supporting the LGBTQI cause. Similarly there are also stickers to show your support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
In the aftermath of the death of George Floyd, mass protests have been happening across the US and calling for racial justice at all levels of society. This has resulted in people donating massively to charitable projects that are focused on achieving racial justice and equality. There are also a number of charitable groups that specializes in this. While individual donations are easy to make, raising funds through a donation drive is not always as simple and straightforward for some. Now, users can also raise funds to donate to a racial justice charity via Instagram stickers. The social media platform briefed users on this in a Tweet earlier in the week.
Raising Funds Using Instagram
The Instagram donation sticker now has a new ‘Act for racial justice’ section. Users are able to see it after they select the sticker in Stories and the section gives a list of organizations that you can choose from to donate to. Instagram has included five major non-profits to start with, and these are ACLU, The Bail Project, Equal Justice Initiative, Innocence Project and The Marshall Project — all focusing on criminal justice. Users can select any one of these options and attach the sticker to their Story so that viewers can click to donate. By scrolling up the Story, one can view the total amount that has been raised. Instagram has explained that 100 percent of the money raised will go to the chosen non-profit.
For those with a large Instagram following, this could prove to be an extremely useful way to raise funds. However, the limited choice of non-profits to choose from is not ideal. The five groups in the list primarily focus on criminal justice, and while racial justice is a large a part of that, it might have been better to include those that solely focus on racial justice and minorities, as well as issues other than criminal justice. Nevertheless, this is a good start and hopefully Instagram will add more non-profits in the future.
