Ever thought about raising funds for your cause on LinkedIn? This popular platform has a lot to offer to nonprofits looking to reach new donors. Read on to learn why fundraising on LinkedIn is a good idea and how to do it successfully.
You browse LinkedIn for career advice, expert opinions, and updates from your network. But have you considered fundraising on LinkedIn? It can be an excellent platform for connecting with new donors. In fact, every second there are three new registrations on LinkedIn – meaning your potential audience is always growing! But it can be tricky to know how to get started.
In this article, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know about fundraising on LinkedIn, including steps to get started and tips to make the most out of your efforts.
Many nonprofits have found success fundraising on LinkedIn for a few key reasons.
One is that LinkedIn offers a more unique, focused audience than other social media platforms. Whereas platforms like Facebook and Instagram provide many opportunities to connect with potential donors, the content on LinkedIn is more focused on a specific theme: working, employment, and work-life balance.
Because of this unique approach, LinkedIn users typically approach the platform with a goal in mind. Networking and making connections are the primary goals many users will have. This networking can include finding new philanthropic causes to support and connect with. LinkedIn users will be interested in connecting with organizations to both grow their networks and show off their philanthropic spirit.
Due to the connection-focused nature of the platform, it’s an excellent space to build strong, lasting relationships with your donors.
Let’s look at the steps you can take to start raising more on LinkedIn.
No fundraising campaign has ever succeeded without a goal.
Setting a goal for your LinkedIn fundraising is crucial – but you want to be sure you do it the right way. Setting too high of a goal will lead to burnout for you and your team, while not setting a high enough goal can limit your growth.
Read this blog to learn how to set fundraising goals the SMART way! SMART goals are:
Download our free SMART Goal Setting Worksheet to get started.
If you don’t already have a LinkedIn profile for your organization, your next step is to create one. This will serve as the home base for your organization on the platform and should include information like:
Once established, your profile will also include people who list their positions with your organization, and you can post any job openings you have to attract more candidates.
Check out how Black Girls Code makes their page stand out with an eye-catching header image and logo. We love how they share their impactful mission too.
For more help setting up your LinkedIn profile, follow these instructions.
If you use Donorbox to fundraise, you can create as many fundraising campaigns as you need to track all of your efforts.
Learn how to create a campaign in this guide. Once you have one set up, you can either embed your donation form on your website or host it on Donorbox with an easy-to-share link.
When you’re ready to share your Donorbox-hosted fundraising page, go to your Campaign Launchpad and find the link under the Fundraising/Crowdfunding Page tab.
Building a LinkedIn audience requires consistent posting. Use scheduling tools like Hootsuite or Monday for hands-off posting, where you can build posts ahead of time and let your scheduler do the work from there.
This ensures regular content for your audience – which builds trust and helps convert followers into donors.
Don’t forget that LinkedIn is primarily a network-building site. To be successful, you should use it as such!
Follow organizations that do similar work and engage with their posts. Ask your board members to follow your page and share your content with their networks.
Creating a following will help you bring in more donations from people who are already familiar with your work.
Now that we know the basics for fundraising on LinkedIn, let’s look at four ways you can raise more.
It may seem counterintuitive, but you’ll get more donations from your LinkedIn audience if you don’t ask for them all the time.
Content marketing is a better, more effective way to engage potential donors. Focus on “edutainment” – entertaining content that educates about something important. Storytelling posts perform well on LinkedIn, which increases their likelihood of being shared.
Images that grab attention perform well, too. Check out how Code for America included a compelling quote on an image to share a recent interview.
Watch this webinar on visual storytelling for nonprofits with strategies, examples and resources.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel to know about trending fundraising tips and tools.
LinkedIn is a great source for donations. But there are plenty of other types of support you can seek out on this platform!
It’s well known that LinkedIn’s algorithm favors posts without links. This means that if your post includes links, it may not have the reach you’d like.
You can get around this by sharing your links in the comments of your post and pointing your readers to them in the text of the post. Learn more about links on LinkedIn here.
Hashtags help LinkedIn users find your content by connecting posts tagged with a certain hash. For example, you may tag your posts with your organization’s name, or even #nonprofit.
Check out our guide to nonprofit hashtags for more ideas!
With any new fundraising technique, it’s important to track your success so you can adjust your strategy if needed. Here are three ways to do so.
Remember the goals you set earlier? It’s time to see if you’ve reached them.
With Donorbox, you can see how many donations you’ve received to any given campaign by sorting your donation data. This will help you get a clear sense of how close to or far from your goals you’ve come!
KPIs, or key performance indicators, are also effective tools for assessing your success when it comes to LinkedIn fundraising. Your KPIs for LinkedIn might look like this:
And more. Learn more about setting and assessing KPIs in this blog.
A SWOT analysis helps you review your:
This type of analysis can help you determine whether your LinkedIn fundraising strategy is working on a qualitative level. How is your strategy working for you and your team? How might you change it in a sustainable way?
Download our free SWOT Analysis Template to get started.
Social media fundraising is a must in this day and age. These hyper-popular platforms provide a unique opportunity for previously faceless nonprofits to create a brand persona and connect more meaningfully both with potential donors and the community.
LinkedIn fundraising can help you bring in more funds for your cause – along with more awareness, volunteers, corporate partnerships, and more. Getting started is as easy as creating a LinkedIn profile and a Donorbox campaign to share on it.
Donorbox makes fundraising easy with comprehensive tools to help you raise more, track your success, and maintain strong relationships with donors. Learn more about our features and sign up today to start fundraising in under fifteen minutes!
For more fundraising know-how, check out the rest of our Nonprofit Blog. Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to receive the best of the blog in your inbox.
Lindsey spent years wearing many hats in the nonprofit world. Whether she was helping arts nonprofits with their messaging and content, planning a fundraising gala, writing an NEA grant proposal, or running a membership program with over 400 members, she learned how to navigate – and appreciate! – the fast-paced world of fundraising. Now, she loves sharing those hard-earned lessons with the Donorbox community.
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Lindsey Baker Bower