Nonprofits

Tips For: Professionals | Organizations

5 Tips for Nonprofit Professionals

There are a lot of ways to make LinkedIn work for you and your organization. Here are the 5 things that make the biggest impact:

• 1. Establish your professional brand by creating a complete profile. Use your profile to convey passion for your cause and showcase your unique expertise. Some great examples of complete profiles: Greg Baldwin, CEO of VolunteerMatch, and Beth Kanter, Author of “Networked Nonprofits.”
• 2. Drive support to your organization by adding the Volunteer and Causes section to your profile. Help us make social impact the professional norm. Add your volunteer experience, causes you care about, and organizations you support to your LinkedIn profile.
• 3. Expand your network and influence by connecting with colleagues and partners. It’s easy to connect with your coworkers and partners that are already on LinkedIn. Add connections on LinkedIn.
• 4. Collaborate with peers and potential supporters by joining groups. There are over 87,000 groups focused on nonprofit issues on LinkedIn, offering you the opportunity to network with professionals in your industry and participate in conversations about relevant and timely topics. You can start by checking out the great discussions unfolding on the LinkedIn Nonprofit Solutions or The Chronicle of Philanthropy LinkedIn groups.
• 5. Stay top of mind with partners and supporters by sharing updates with them. Communicate with your network on a frequent and ongoing basis to share insights and build thought leadership. Share articles you’re reading, important announcements about your organization, and thoughts on industry trends. Find this content on LinkedIn Today’s nonprofit industry tab. You can even connect your Twitter account to your LinkedIn account to share to both places at once.

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5 Tips for Nonprofit Organizations

You can use LinkedIn to help establish your mission and brand, engage audiences across all sectors that will support your work, and grow your organization’s staff, board, and volunteer capacity.

• 1. Help your organization get found more easily by encouraging your staff and board to create 100% complete profiles and connect with each other. The more complete staff and board members’ profiles are, the more likely your organization is to attract and connect with all your critical audiences: staff, supporters, and partners. The LinkedIn platform makes it easy to know who your board members know at a foundation or potential corporate partner! Listen to this short video to help your staff learn more.
• 2. Strengthen your brand by asking staff, volunteers, and supporters to add the Volunteer and Causes section to their profile. Adding this information is an implicit endorsement for your organization and can help strengthen your brand, drive awareness, and build your community.
• 3. Tell supporters about your organization and help them “follow” you. Join over 124,000 nonprofits that have established an official presence on LinkedIn with a Company Page. A great example is the Company Page created by the American Red Cross, which has attracted thousands of followers. You can encourage people to follow your organization by providing a link to your Company Page on all of your organization’s marketing materials.
• 4. Tell supporters about your work by filling out the products and services tab on your Company Page. Use this area to showcase your organization’s programs and services to highly targeted audiences. Simply click on “admin tools” or contact the people at your organization who manage your LinkedIn presence. Check out the Nature Conservancy’s Company page for inspiration.
• 5. Learn more about how to use LinkedIn to find talent and engage supporters.
  • Watch these short videos to learn more about how LinkedIn is helping nonprofits meet their missions.
  • See an overview of the Hiring tools LinkedIn’s nonprofit clients are using.
  • Learn more about the LinkedIn Nonprofit Solutions program and discounts.
  • Join the LinkedIn Nonprofit Solutions group to get insights and participate in discussions with like-minded professionals.

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