Facebook to encourage users to donate to Ebola fight
Facebook is making it easier for people to donate to the fight against Ebola.
The social network said Thursday that over the next week, users will see a message at the top of their news feeds with an option to donate to three nonprofits working in West Africa: the International Medical Corps, the Red Cross and Save the Children.
Using the Donate feature, people can contribute directly to one of the three organizations and can also share that they donated on Facebook. All the money raised will go directly to the charities working on the ground, Facebook said.
“Organizations involved in the fight against Ebola are using Facebook to raise funds for their relief efforts,” the company said in a blog post. “We want to amplify these calls for action and help organizations raise awareness and connect directly with people around the world.”
Besides making it easier for people to donate, Facebook said it would launch two other Ebola-focused initiatives. It will collaborate with UNICEF to display information on Ebola symptoms and treatment to people in targeted regions on Facebook, and it is working with NetHope to provide emergency voice and data services to medical aid workers in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, where the Ebola outbreak has hit hardest.
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