SAN FRANCISCO: Social networking giant Facebook has unveiled a new tool that will help people raise funds for personal needs like tuition, medical treatment, pet care, personal emergency and even for burial expenses.

Personal fundraisers allow people to raise money for themselves, a friend or someone or something not on Facebook, like a pet.

"Personal fundraisers will launch in the US for people aged 18 years or older, and in beta over the next few weeks, as we hope to continue to learn and improve the product to make it even more useful," Naomi Gleit, Vice President, Social Good at Facebook wrote in a post late on Thursday.

"Our charitable giving tools have made it easy for people to raise millions of dollars for non profits to support those in need directly on Facebook. Today we are expanding those tools to include personal fundraisers, as well as more options for people to continue to fundraise for nonprofits," she added.

Personal fundraisers will have a 6.9 pct + $.30 fee that will go to payment processing fees, fundraiser vetting, security and fraud protection.

People can raise money to cover costs related to education such as tuition, books or classroom supplies; medical such as medical procedures, treatments or injuries and pet medical such as veterinary procedures, treatments or injuries.

They can also solicit funds for crisis relief such as public crises or natural disasters, personal emergency such as a house fire, theft or car accident and funeral and loss such as burial expenses or living costs after losing a loved one.

Friends can donate in a few taps with secure payments, without leaving Facebook.

"Since you can see real profiles on Facebook, donors will see how they are connected to the person who created the fundraiser, the person benefiting and others who are supporting the fundraiser," the post further read.

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