Nonprofit reacts to Facebook disabling recurring donations feature

PENDER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — Changes made by Facebook are leaving charities and nonprofits in a bind when it comes to donations. 

We spoke with ‘Fresh Start Rescue,’ a reptile rescue in Pender County.  

An already demanding job, may have just gotten more difficult because of these changes made by Facebook.  

Facebook has disabled the ability for users to participate in recurring donations. 

It’s a popular feature many charities and nonprofits rely on as a means for revenue. 

“Every penny definitely counts. We did lose money when the recurring donations stopped,” Fresh Start Rescue Inc. President, Nicole Spencer, said. 

Nicole Spencer is the President of ‘Fresh Start Rescue’ in Willard. She said the rescue counted on monthly donations through Facebook. 

But now that Facebook has disabled that feature, Spencer is having to contact people who participated in the recurring donation program — to see if they’d like to continue doing so through their website. That’s if she has their information to reach out to them.  

“Anytime a donation channel closes down, that makes it so much harder. It was easy to go on Facebook and create a recurring donation,” Spencer said. 

Spencer said she has plans in place to help recover from losing Facebook donations.  

“We have to get creative to make up new ones and still bring in the money that we need,” Spencer said. 

Spencer is now 3D printing different reptiles, like bearded dragons, and selling them as ornaments and for decoration.  

She said you can help other organizations that may be facing the same problem by reaching out to them and seeing where your help is needed.  

“We can always use volunteers who are willing to come,” Spencer said. 

If you’d like to learn more about ‘Fresh Start Rescue,’ they’ll be at the NC Poultry Jubilee in Rosehill Saturday. Where they’ll be sharing more about their mission and how people can financially support them.