Empowering people to support each other
See how people are using Facebook to support each other around the world
New South Wales
AUSTRALIA
When wildfires ravaged New South Wales in January 2020, Australian actress-comedian Celeste Barber turned to Facebook fundraisers to raise money for bushfire relief efforts. Her fundraiser quickly became the biggest in Facebook fundraising history, generating $36 million for The Trustee for NSW Rural Fire Service and Brigades Donations Fund. Also, as part of our Data for Good programme, disaster response organisations like Direct Relief delivered 500,000 N95 masks to those affected most by the wildfires.
Texas
UNITED STATES
After seeing Community Help posts from people who were trapped by the floods from Hurricane Harvey, brothers Austin and Nathan from Lake Jackson, Texas grabbed their boat, drove to Houston and rescued 20 people from the rising waters.
Bharuch
INDIA
Zabir from Bharuch, Gujarat regularly donates blood at a local blood bank. When he came across the Blood Donation feature on Facebook, he registered himself as a donor. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he saw a post from Bharuch General Hospital on Facebook with an urgent request for blood due to shortages during the COVID-19 lockdown. Zabir shared the call for blood with his friends and they all donated to help meet the need.
Washington
UNITED STATES
In May 2020, Washington residents and founders of EastWest Food Rescue George Ahearn, Nancy Bailin and Zsofia Pasztor used Community Help to find volunteers to help transport and distribute 40 tons of food to feed neighbours in need and ensure that no crops went to waste. Since that first food delivery, East West Food Rescue has delivered more than 8 million pounds of produce.
South Africa
Every year, thousands of children go missing around the world. To help, Meta partners with law enforcement and other stakeholders to distribute AMBER alerts in 23 countries. In January, we started working with the South Africa Police Service to send AMBER alerts on Facebook so people in the designated search area can see information and spread the word.
Italy
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit Italy hard, the Giorgia Libero Onlus association started a fundraiser on Facebook to support the Padua Hospital ICU. 19,000 people came together to raise nearly $550,000 to help pay for the treatment of patients – and healthcare providers – with COVID-19.
People have now raised over USD 5 billion for charities and personal causes through fundraisers on Facebook and Instagram.
Fundraisers
Inspired by the ways people raised awareness through the ALS Ice Bucket challenge, we built fundraising tools to help people support the causes most important to them. Today, through Facebook and Instagram, people fundraise for charities, personal causes such as health or educational needs, or for their favourite small business. When each person gives what they can, their impact can be incredible. Since January 2020, people have raised more than USD 100M for COVID-related fundraisers, and over half of donations were USD 25 each. And since May 2020, people raised nearly USD 50M for racial justice causes – showing their solidarity and raising awareness during this critical moment.
Crisis Response
We launched Safety Check in December 2014, following Typhoon Ruby in the Philippines, to help people let their loved ones know that they're safe, and in 2015 we expanded Safety Check beyond natural disasters for the Paris terrorist attacks. In 2017, after seeing people affected by crises mobilise their communities to help each other in Pages and groups, we created Facebook Crisis Response, a place for people to check to see if their loved ones are safe via Safety Check, request or offer help, and find timely information from first-hand and official sources.
Blood Donations
After seeing hundreds of posts on Facebook calling for blood donors, we launched the Blood Donations feature in 2017 to make it easy for people to sign up to donate and find local hospitals and blood banks in need. Now, more than 70 million people across 14 countries have signed up as blood donors.
Voter empowerment
In 2014, we launched our first Election Day reminders for elections in India to encourage people to make their voices heard at the ballot box. Since then, we've helped millions of people register to vote and this year we launched our Voting Information Centre in the US to provide a one-stop shop for information on how to register and vote.
Community Help
After crises such as natural disasters, people post on Facebook asking for help and we've seen neighbours lend a hand in so many ways. So we created Community Help, a central place on Facebook for people to request or offer help, such as volunteering to deliver shopping. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we've seen people use Community Help in inspiring ways, from supporting small businesses, to signing up to donate blood, finding local job opportunities and delivering supplies to neighbours in need.
AMBER alerts
In May 2014, baby Victoria was kidnapped from a hospital in Canada just hours after she was born. People saw the news on Facebook and helped find and return Victoria to her parents. This inspired our AMBER alerts programme and now we share alerts for missing children in 23 countries around the world.
Mentorship
Whether you're looking for support in a new career, tips on how to train for a marathon or advice on how to care for a family member, the chances are there's someone out there who can help. That's why we created Mentorship to connect people with those who have the expertise and experience to offer guidance and support. Sharae Moore started the S.H.E. Trucking Facebook group, and uses Mentorship to connect and empower a community of women lorry drivers.
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