Retailer 'targets' giving on causes.(FACEBOOK)

Nonprofits that haven't raised much money on Facebook got a serious boost by way of Target. The Minneapolis-based retailer let its more than a quarter-million Facebook friends vote on how to split $3 million in charitable giving.

Bullseye Gives, a two-week giving campaign in May, split $3 million among 10 charities based on the number of votes. For example, if a charity received 30 percent of the overall vote, it would receive $900,000.

"It's the first time we engaged our friends to vote for anything," said Kelly Basgen, a spokesperson for Target.

The 10 charities chosen by Target were organizations that "represented many sizes, levels of reach, broad scope of causes and issues," Basgen said: "We wanted to choose organizations within our core areas of giving - -arts, education, social services and volunteerism--as well as some outside of those, that are specifically of interest to our guests," she said.

The organizations then were encouraged to mobilize supporters and drum up votes for their share of $3 million. Certainly they had incentive to get their cut of the financial support but it was also about raising awareness, Basgen said. ,'Social media is relatively new for nonprofits and we're really excited to test the waters," she said.

Nine of the 10 nonprofits chosen already had a Facebook page and the 10th, which Basgen declined to identify, created one in time for the contest. Target gives 5 percent of its income to communities it serves, which averages to about $3 million per week. "This is the first time we've let our guests determine how that should be divided up between these nonprofits," she said.

Planning for Bullseye Gives started several months ago and was launched Sunday, May 10, running for two weeks. Voting closed at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Standard Time on Monday, May 25, with results posted a minute later at midnight Pacific Standard Time on Tuesday, May 26.

"We haven't set any goals, it's just so new, it's the first time we've done something like this, and the first time nonprofits have participated," Basgen said. "We're just excited to raise their visibility within the Facebook community."

In all, 291,399 votes were cast by more than 167,000 fans. The final results were as follows: