Over 770K Facebook users donated $15M to support Nepal earthquake relief

Nearly six months ago, a devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Nepal. Since that time, people around the world have been making donations and providing assistance to help rebuild the country. As an international platform aimed at connecting people, Facebook participated in this effort. Today it’s touting the success of efforts, thanks to its Safety Check feature and Donate button.

In the two months following the earthquake, Facebook says more than 8.5 million people used its Safety Check tool to help notify friends and family that they were safe. The reach was pretty broad, too: Over 150 million people worldwide received these notifications. Safety Check, which had only been available for a few months prior to this event, was aimed specifically at letting people know your status during a natural disaster, inspired by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

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To rally support for relief efforts and give its 1.49 billion monthly active users a way to feel like they’re helping, Facebook implemented a special Donate button, which resulted in contributions from more than 770,000 people from more than 175 countries. The result was more than $15 million raised to support the International Medical Corps, which aided 210,000 people in Nepal.

The Facebook Donate button was launched in 2013 as a way to help nonprofits raise money. The social networking company doesn’t take a cut of the donation, and the feature is available for many charitable organizations, including Oxfam America, DonorsChoose, World Wildlife Fund, Malaria No More, Water.org, and the United Nations World Food Programme.

Facebook said that it has also provided a $2 million matching grant to fund local organizations in Nepal, through its partnership with Give2Asia.

A company spokesperson said in an email that the outpouring of support for Nepal has inspired Facebook to dedicate a team to building more products around doing social good. So like the Donate and Safety Check features, more charitable options will likely be coming soon.

Starting this week, the social networking company will be sending a thank you video to the more than 770,000 people that donated to show them what their support has created.

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