Here's how the platform works: Two weeks before your birthday, Facebook shows a prompt in your news feed that gives you the option to create a fundraiser for one of 750,000 available nonprofit organizations. You can set a goal amount and create a custom message and, on your birthday, your friends receive a notification inviting them to donate to your chosen cause. After someone donates, they receive a receipt via email. Their name and the amount of their contribution will be shared with the charity as well as with the creator of the fundraiser. To make the process more efficient, Facebook added new features, including a tool that could simplify the process of finding a charity or nonprofit and another that lets you match donations and add organizers to your fundraiser. "Pages — including those run by brands, public figures and nonprofits — can now create and donate to fundraisers," Sharma says in the post. "And we added a tool so people can make recurring monthly donations to organizations and causes."

The company says it waived processing fees on donations as of November 2017 so now 100 percent of funds go to the causes users are supporting. While users who dedicate their birthdays to charity may not always be able to bring in large sums of money like Curry or Madonna, the donation feature could make it easier to act on philanthropic impulses. "We're excited to see the impact that people will make over the next year," Sharma says, "and we're inspired to make future fundraisers and birthdays even more memorable." Don't miss: Facebook feature now allows friends to give you money on your birthday—but there's a catch Like this story? Subscribe to CNBC Make It on YouTube!