The #nonprofit guide to #LinkedIn – part two

Last week we began our series of social media guides for nonprofit fundraising with part one of our review how to get the best out of LinkedIn for charities. The  business-focused social networking platform offers a host of services via their ‘LinkedIn For Good’ portal which we reviewed last week. Today we’ll examine some of the partnerships LinkedIn have built, take a quick look at some examples of larger nonprofit pages and discuss the value of LinkedIn groups.

LinkedIn is wisely not trying to accomplish everything to aid nonprofits but has instead formed strategic approved partnerships with organizations that can help a charity to reach their fundraising and networking goals. These three key alliances include;

VolunteerMatch – For sixteen years volunteer match have been matching nonprofits to volunteers with resounding success, the site offers portals for volunteers and charities to allow the matchmaking to begin. With almost 100,000 nonprofits in their database and a volunteer pool consisting of millions it has become a vital resource in the volunteer world. The website allows volunteers to match up with the causes that matter most to them both in terms of passion and locality, at any given time you’ll find hundreds of opportunities as a volunteer or numerous individuals looking to help if you are a charity.

Taproot – The Taproot Foundation helps to build alliances via pro bono work for higher level needs within the nonprofit sector. Pro bono resources can be difficult to find but are so much easier to locate via Taproot who specialize in helping organizations address uniquely important needs whether it be in marketing, fundraising, HR, IT, board development, and more. Taproot provide a wide range of services including service grant programs, project finders, advisory services, pro bono boards and more.

BoardSource – With over 25 years experience, BoardSource focus on the critical role that boards play in overseeing their organizations’ mission, finance, and strategic direction. With deep, hands-on and long-lasting experience of working with nonprofit boards, BoardSource aids funders, partners, and nonprofit leaders who in developing superior programs. The community features more than 90,000 members with valuable pertinent knowledge of the sector.

As I mentioned previously LinkedIn provide a slide about creating a strong nonprofit company page as shown here, but I think perhaps a better example is to see some of the leading ones currently housed on the platform.  These aren’t necessarily the largest nonprofits but ones that do a good job using the platforms for updates and driving engagement.

American Red Cross | PBS | World Vision | Canadian Cancer Society | Autism Speaks

Saving perhaps the best to last, one of the most rewarding aspects of LinkedIn are the vibrant group pages that offer a flourishing community for news, ideas, networking and opinions from industry professionals. Most importantly the groups are very active, properly managed and traditionally free from the off-topic and spam infused comments you’ll often find elsewhere. The ‘groups’ search feature within LinkedIn allows to dig deep into the database to find communities that may appeal to you.  If you’re feeling adventurous you can even create your own group.

I hope that you’ll either ramp up your LinkedIn efforts as a result of the guide or perhaps even venture into the LinkedIn arena for the first time. It’s free, informative, helps generate great connections and improves engagement with your charity from a genuinely focused audience.

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Miratel Solutions is a Toronto call centre, eBusiness, and letter shop mail house specializing in professional fundraising services including PCI compliant inbound telephone fundraising, outbound telephone fundraising, online fundraising, lottery fundraising services, donation processing and receipting and direct mail fundraising services. We are committed to our CSR business values in all our business decisions  and advancing the missions of the nonprofits we proudly serve.