LinkedIn's $18.6 Million In-Kind Gift to Help Volunteers Put Their Skills to Good Use

LinkedIn renews commitment to social sector and the promise of creating new opportunities for volunteers to use their talents and skills to make a difference

In June of 2014, VolunteerMatch announced an exciting partnership with LinkedIn For Good that automatically reposts every skilled volunteer opportunity created on VolunteerMatch to LinkedIn’s Volunteer Marketplace -- and with it the potential to tap into LinkedIn's massive talent base.

This $18.6 million in-kind commitment will enable VolunteerMatch to continue to republish nearly 40,000 skilled volunteer opportunities from tens of thousands of local causes across the country looking for passionate and talented volunteers.

The partnership has been a powerful catalyst to expand the awareness and relevance of skilled volunteering and is a clear example of the promise of the nonprofit sector partnering with the tech sector to take social change to scale.

For LinkedIn, the partnership is a natural extension of the company doing what it does best -- "connecting talent with opportunity at massive scale." For VolunteerMatch, it has been a high-leverage opportunity to better serve the 100,000+ nonprofits already using VolunteerMatch to find the volunteers they need.

And the impact goes beyond VolunteerMatch’s nonprofit members. LinkedIn’s Volunteer Marketplace is also working with other exceptional organizations challenging the status quo like Taproot, BoardSource and Catchafire.

Since launch LinkedIn has become VolunteerMatch’s #1 network partner, engaging nearly a million new volunteers and giving tens of thousands of nonprofits unprecedented access to the volunteer skills they need to advance their mission. It’s matched a wide range of talented professionals with ways to use their experience and skills to help their communities. And it’s brought well-deserved attention to the concept of skills-based volunteering and broadened the concept to include not only consulting and technical skills, but also talent and experience in education and the arts.

Giving the social sector world-class access to volunteers in a connected world is what VolunteerMatch is all about. We are breaking down barriers to close an engagement gap that frustrates and marginalizes the promise of everyone finding their opportunity to make a difference.

This commitment from LinkedIn for Good provides VolunteerMatch’s nonprofit members with access to $18.6 million dollars worth of free recruiting services, because LinkedIn believes every nonprofit should be able to find the talent and connection they need to succeed.

If you are interested in joining the 10,000,000 LinkedIn members already participating in the program just add the Volunteer & Causes field to your LinkedIn profile and indicate that you are interested in ‘skills-based volunteering’ opportunities.

If you are a nonprofit just make sure all your VolunteerMatch opportunities are tagged by skill and we will do all the rest.

On behalf of all the amazing people and causes we serve, I want to thank the LinkedIn for Good team, and our amazing board member Meg Garlinghouse for this opportunity to come together to put the power of technology to good use.