Is LinkedIn good for Charities? The latest stats say YES!
Susan Kench
?? Founder & Director of Nature in Mind ?? Passionate about Nature Connectedness for Human & Planetary Health & Wellbeing ?? Certified Forest Bathing Guide ??
As someone who’s spent a number of years working for or with charities, non-profits, and community interest companies, I know how important relationship building is to achieving the mission of the organisation.
Whether it’s garnering individual supporters, corporate sponsors, high-net-worth donors, volunteers, strategic partners, or new staff, not-for-profit organisations, perhaps even more than for-profit businesses, depend on building people-to-people relationships for their success.
And that’s why all charities and non-profits should be using LinkedIn.
LinkedIn is fundamentally a person-to-person, relationship-building and networking platform, with a membership that is primarily made up of career professionals looking for knowledge, insights, and the right people to connect with.
They are there to network, learn, do business, recruit or be recruited – and crucially for the charity sector – to also find organisations and causes to support, volunteer, or work for.
In fact, if you’re looking for HNWI donors and/or supporters:
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Further, with 80% of LinkedIn members driving business decisions, LinkedIn is also the best place to find those key senior decision-makers who could give the green light on your next corporate sponsorship or strategic partnership, or be the conduit to a great source of volunteers.
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Also, if you’re marketing your charity or non-profit on a limited budget, you should definitely consider including LinkedIn as one of your priority marketing channels, because:
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And if you’re looking for new team members or volunteers, at every stage of their career path, it’s worth posting your requirements on LinkedIn’s huge job platform. Because in 2023, 52 million LinkedIn members are using LinkedIn to search for jobs (paid and unpaid) each week, and 8 people are recruited via LinkedIn each minute. ?
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Finally, in this age of fake news, and the accompanying general distrust in the reliability of social media, it’s really important for charitable organisations to protect their integrity and credibility and place themselves within communities that seek out these values. As LinkedIn is consistently ranked the number one social media platform for ‘security’, ‘legitimacy’ and ‘community’, it makes sense for non-profits to have a well-developed and proactive presence on LinkedIn. ?
So, with 35 million members in the UK alone (and 900 million worldwide), LinkedIn is clearly a huge resource for finding and building engaged relationships with potential donors, corporate sponsors, strategic partners, staff, and volunteers.
In my next article, I’ll share three top tips for how charities and non-profits can build an effective presence on LinkedIn.
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I am a?LinkedIn trainer and coach?and the director of?Marshall Walker | The LinkedIn Tutors, an independent, specialised LinkedIn training company based in London. We specialise in helping charities, non-profits, community interest organisations, and ethical startups to learn how to use LinkedIn to raise their professional profiles, engage more of their target audiences, and build strategic relationships that help further their mission.
If you would like to explore how I could support your LinkedIn training needs, please get in touch at?[email protected].