LinkedIn lacks the sexiness of Instagram and the entertainment of TikTok, but for nonprofits, it’s likely the most impactful, underrated social platform at your disposal. LinkedIn specifically tailors to businesspeople and professionals—many of which are potential connections who can help you grow your business.
In fact, this social networking platform is home to over 90 million senior level influencers. More than two-thirds of them are decision-makers, and they’re not online looking for cute cat videos and pictures of your food.
Here’s how to use LinkedIn for nonprofits:
Create Your Company Page
First, you need to establish your presence on LinkedIn by creating a “Company” page. Here’s a helpful template to get you started:
Header
- Page Info
- Company Name
- Tagline – Include keywords like these
About Description
- Include your mission and vision statement
- Why your nonprofit exists
- What you do
- How you do it differently
About Section:
- Website –
- Industry –
- Company Size –
- Company Type –
- Phone –
- Year Founded –
- Specialties –
- List 10-15
- Location –
Community
- Hashtags
- 3 most relevant hashtags.
If you’re uncertain how to fill some of these categories, research like-minded organizations and see what they’re saying. They will be a tremendous resource.
Also, you need to figure out who will be using your LinkedIn company page to post content and grow your network. This person can be you or another team member or employee.
Build Your Network
Reach out to all your contacts, including:
- Your board of directors
- Employees
- Volunteers
- Donors
- Friends and family
Also, go through the contact list mentioned in our How to Start Getting Donors for Nonprofits post.
Encourage them to “connect” to your organization. This is LinkedIn’s version of “friending.” They should also follow your company page.
Look for like-minded groups to join. Also search for any local networking organizations that may be or have connections to foundations, donors, volunteers, or anyone else who may get involved in your nonprofit.
Grow Your Network
One of LinkedIn’s greatest features is its degrees of connections. They come in three tiers:
- 1st-degree connections: People you’re directly connected with, i.e. your “friends.” You can contact them directly.
- 2nd-degree connections: People connected to your 1st degree connections. You can contact them through “In Mail” or an introduction. These are potential connections you can make to help grow your nonprofit.
- 3rd-degree connections: People connected to your 2nd-degree connections. You can contact them through “In Mail” or an introduction. They are also potential connections, but we recommend getting acquainted with the 2nd-degree connections first.
Note: Contacting your 2nd- and 3rd-degree connections may require you to upgrade to LinkedIn Premium.
Another way to find relevant connections is by entering specific keywords into LinkedIn’s search bar and seeing who turns up. Here are a few to consider:
- Executive director
- General manager
- Marketing manager
- Senior manager
- Senior director
- CEO
- COO
- Operations manager
- Thought leader
- Development manager
- Vice president
- Senior vice president
- Senior VP
Take Advantage of Marketing
Now that your page is set up, you’ve got a list of “connects,” and know how to find more, start creating content. LinkedIn is great for content because organizations often underutilize it.
Statistics show that:
- Only 56% of nonprofits have a LinkedIn Page
- 68% post less than once a week
- Only 6% post once a day
As a result, your posts are much more likely to show up at the top of news feeds than on Facebook or Instagram.
You should also consider working with a nonprofit consulting company that specializes in both fundraising strategy and digital marketing. Companies that have experience in one service helps them improve the other, further boosting their impact. For example, marketing strategists can expedite donor relationship development in their fundraising strategies because they know how to best deploy online marketing, social, and peer-to-peer approaches. They already know what these people are looking for, and know how to better tell your story online.
LinkedIn for Nonprofits: Final Thoughts
LinkedIn has a page tailored to how to use LinkedIn for Nonprofits. It will serve as a great resource during your endeavor, and is regularly updated. For additional help, give us a call
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