LinkedIn for Nonprofits is a effective tool for your social media marketing efforts, but did you know it can also help you find employees, donors, board members, and volunteers? Below is a how to guide on building your page, growing your network, finding groups, and increasing fundraising.
Setting up your organizations page.
There are over 217,000 nonprofit pages on LinkedIn, to stand out from the crowd and increase your presence and visibility. Add a description of your mission and purpose, how you deliver on your mission, and the impact you’re having. Engaging pictures and link to your company webpage are essential as well. If you’re part of a federated nonprofit, get in touch with the administrator of your parent organization page to discuss how to connect your pages.
Grow your network.
Get employees,volunteers, board members and donors to follow your page via email, in meetings, or on an internal site. Employees will be the best source of content for your page, and the ones most likely to share your updates with their networks.
Think through your nonprofit’s network. Ask the many groups involved with your organization to follow your page. And, add “Follow our LinkedIn page” to onboarding materials you give to new volunteers and board members to consistently grow your network. When your followers like, comment, or share your updates, their whole network will see it — and there’s a multiplier effect.
Current and past employees, board members, and skilled volunteers should link their profiles to your organization’s Company Page in the “Experience” section. The more profiles your organization shows up in, the more visibility your nonprofit gets.
Share all kinds of content too — like short updates, video, long-form posts and news — on your page. Potential volunteers, employees, and donors are checking out your page, so share stories of impact and give peeks into your culture to intrigue visitors.
If you have updates for your website, other social media sites, or newsletters, share them on LinkedIn. Want to attract volunteers for an upcoming event? Create a content calendar with updates and different assets (photos, videos, testimonials) to get people interested.
Related: Marketing on Instagram
Find employees, volunteers an board members.
Find your mission-critical employee by posting your open position. We’ll automatically get your opportunity in front of the high quality candidates that want to make a difference.
If you have consistent recruitment needs, LinkedIn's tools can help you hire smarter. Recruit more efficiently and effectively with LinkedIn Talent Solutions.
There are two ways to find volunteer and board talent:
By searching for the skill or experience you need. LinkedIn's advanced search filters help you find exactly the talent you need for your volunteer position. You can search also for such things as skills, past work experience, geography, seniority, and more.
Posting your opportunity. Nonprofits can post directly on LinkedIn. LinkedIn advises working with a trusted provider so that your posts are free. Their trusted providers include VolunteerMatch , Catchafire, Taproot Foundation, Do-it.org, Reach Volunteering and more.
To post board opportunities, start with a compelling description. Use your job posting to inspire professionals to donate their time and expertise to your organization. Be sure to add the location of the opportunity and the skills that you need.
Increase Fundraising.
Your board, volunteers, advocates, and colleagues hold the keys to unlock the relationships that can secure funding. LinkedIn for Fundraising uses your network to identify the warmest introductions and the most powerful relationships.
Watch this webinar to learn more.
