There’s an old saying that goes “It’s not what you know, but who you
know.” I can’t honestly say that I agree with that, but with all of the
online resources that are available, the knowledge that you can gather
and the connections that you can make are limited only to the time you
invest in it. This week we are tackling the theme of social media
platforms and how to use them to your organization’s advantage. There
are a variety of free tools available for online fundraising; why not make the most of them?!
LinkedIn has been around for almost nine years and has over 150
million professionals registered on their site. What separates it from
other platforms such as Facebook and Twitter is that it is primarily for
professionals looking to connect with others in their field or as a
resource to further their organization’s goals. So how can LinkedIn help
your charity? Here are three main ways:
1) Groups – On LinkedIn you can sign up to join conversations
with various groups who are in the same field as you. For example, as a
nonprofit you may have questions about what fundraisers work, how to
align your board members’ visions or how to apply for 501(c)3 status.
You can post your question and other nonprofit leaders will respond with
their experiences. You can also share your successes, a great website
you found or an article that will benefit others. Another plus is that
many leaders post when seminars are coming up (both live and online).
Finally, this is a great way to get your name and organization out there
for others to see and reference.
2) Contacts -LinkedIn is a great way to connect to professionals
that you already know and keep their information close at hand.
LinkedIn also notifies users when their contacts add new friends; it’s
like having twice as many resources! Furthermore, you can research
companies, follow them to discover what current projects they are
working on and see who “likes” them as a way to check their credibility.
3) Business Resources – There are great tabs on this website for
any professional to easily access. Articles on business trends, ways to
post or look for jobs, reading lists, and polls are just a few of the
features available.
With a multitude of online resources to increase your knowledge on
fundraising and to connect to people with a similar mission, where do
you start? Once you know how to resource LinkedIn for fundraising and
pair it with other social media outlets and Fundly‘s social fundraising platform, you have an arsenal of tools to reach your organization’s mission.
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