Design a Facebook Fundraising Product for Charitable Causes from Scratch
Company: Meta
Role: Product Manager
Category: Product Design & Strategy
Difficulty: medium
Interview Round: Other
You are a product manager at Facebook. Assume Facebook has no product today that helps people raise money for causes. Design one: decide which users and fundraising situations to serve first, what the product does, and how you would measure whether it is working.
```hint Where the social graph helps
A charity's annual appeal, a friend's medical bills and disaster relief differ in who organizes, who gives and how much trust is needed. Pick the situation where Facebook's network gives it an edge over a standalone donation site.
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### Clarifying Questions
- Does "causes" mean registered charities only, or also personal needs such as a family's medical bills or a community project?
- What is the main goal for Facebook: maximizing money raised, deepening community engagement on the platform, or creating a new revenue line? Should Facebook take a fee on donations?
- Which countries are in scope at launch, given that charity registration, donation receipts and payment rules differ by market?
- Should the product live only in the main Facebook app (profiles, Pages, Groups, live video), or across the company's other apps too?
### What a Strong Answer Covers
- A goal that fits Facebook's mission, and a primary success metric that is more than the total amount raised.
- The three sides of fundraising (organizers, donors and the causes that receive the money), their pain points, and a reasoned choice of the segment to serve first.
- Concrete features that use Facebook's distinctive assets, such as friend networks, birthdays, Groups and live video, prioritized into a first release.
- Trust and safety: verifying causes, preventing scams and payment fraud, payouts, transparency about fees, and payments compliance.
- Success metrics with guardrails, plus risks such as donor fatigue and feed clutter.
### Follow-up Questions
- Should Facebook charge a fee on donations? How would each choice affect trust, adoption and the business case?
- After a natural disaster, fake fundraisers start appearing within hours. How would the product detect and stop them?
- Early data shows most fundraisers stop receiving donations after their first two days. What would you change?
Overview: A product sense case asking a Facebook product manager to design a way for people to raise money for causes, assuming no such product exists. It tests segment choice among organizers, donors and nonprofits, use of the social graph, first-release prioritization, trust and fraud controls, and success metrics.