LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 722 million users worldwide. For nonprofit organizations, having a LinkedIn presence can be hugely beneficial for fundraising, volunteer recruitment, partnership opportunities, and spreading your mission. According to LinkedIn, nonprofits with active LinkedIn pages raise nearly 50% more money than those without.
Setting up a nonprofit LinkedIn page is easy and completely free. With a customized LinkedIn nonprofit page, you can promote your cause to a huge audience, keep donors and volunteers engaged, and establish your nonprofit as a thought leader in your space. This guide will walk you through step-by-step how to create a LinkedIn nonprofit page to maximize your impact.
Benefits of LinkedIn for Nonprofits
Here are some of the key benefits of using LinkedIn as a nonprofit:
- Access to 722 million professionals globally – LinkedIn gives you access to the world’s largest professional network. You can spread your mission and message to a huge audience.
- Increased fundraising – Nonprofits with LinkedIn pages raise nearly 50% more money than those without. You can promote donation drives, share your impact stories, and keep donors engaged.
- Volunteer and partnership opportunities – LinkedIn is a great place to recruit new volunteers and find potential corporate or NGO partners. Your mission will reach the right people.
- Establish thought leadership – Share content to establish your nonprofit as a trusted voice and thought leader in your space.
- Low cost – Having a LinkedIn page is 100% free for approved nonprofits. It’s one of the most cost-effective ways to promote your organization.
- Metrics and analytics – Trackfollower growth, content engagement, page visits, and more to monitor the impact of your LinkedIn presence.
In summary, LinkedIn provides nonprofits with unparalleled opportunities for fundraising, volunteer recruitment, partnerships, and spreading your mission. The benefits make it well worth setting up and optimizing a nonprofit page.
Step 1 – Create a LinkedIn Profile
To set up a LinkedIn page for your nonprofit, you first need a LinkedIn personal profile. If you don’t have a profile yet, go to www.LinkedIn.com and click Join Now. Follow the prompts to create your profile using an email address associated with your nonprofit. Avoid using your personal email.
Enter all relevant information in your profile like name, location, current position at the nonprofit. Make sure to use an appropriate profile photo that looks professional. Your profile acts as the administrator for your nonprofit’s LinkedIn page.
Important LinkedIn profile optimization tips:
- Use a high-quality professional profile photo. No selfies, group shots, or inappropriate photos.
- Fill out all sections fully – title, summary, experience, education, etc.
- Use keywords relevant to your nonprofit in your profile to help with searchability.
- Customize your LinkedIn profile URL using your name.
Spend time optimizing your personal LinkedIn profile before creating your nonprofit page. A complete, optimized profile establishes credibility.
Step 2 – Create Your Nonprofit Page
Once your personal LinkedIn profile is ready, it’s time to create your nonprofit page. Here are the steps:
1. From your LinkedIn home page, click on the ‘Work’ drop down menu and select ‘Create a Company Page’.
2. Search for your nonprofit’s name and make sure a page doesn’t already exist. If it doesn’t, click ‘Create a new page’.
3. Select ‘Nonprofit’ for the category.
4. Pick an appropriate Page name. This will be the URL for your page.
5. Upload an official logo for your nonprofit in PNG or JPG format.
6. Select a header image that represents your nonprofit. This will be the cover image for your page.
7. Enter all relevant information in the ‘About’ section – description, mission, year founded, staff size, location, website URL, social media handles, etc.
8. Click ‘Create Page’.
Your nonprofit’s LinkedIn page has now been created! But we still have to optimize it fully.
Step 3 – Optimize Your Nonprofit Page
Now that your page is live, the next step is optimizing it by adding content, media, connecting with followers, and more:
Complete the Contact Info Section
Add phone, email, address details so visitors can easily get in touch.
Upload Cover Images
Have at least 3-5 high-quality cover images showcasing your nonprofit’s work and mission. Rotate them frequently.
Create a Showcase Page
Showcase pages let you highlight important initiatives, campaigns, events etc.
Follow Other Nonprofits and Companies
Follow at least 500 other nonprofits, partners, sponsors, media outlets etc. to grow your network.
Publish Regular Updates
Post nonprofit news, impact stories, thought leadership content, and industry articles 2-3 times per week.
Utilize LinkedIn Groups
Join relevant LinkedIn Groups like Nonprofits, Social Impact, Volunteers etc. to connect with the right audiences.
Enable Donate Button
Turn on the donate button to fundraise directly through your LinkedIn page.
Spend time fully optimizing your page above and beyond just creating it. An optimized page looks credible, establishes your nonprofit as a thought leader, and helps drive engagement.
Step 4 – Promote Your LinkedIn Nonprofit Page
To maximize the impact of your shiny new LinkedIn nonprofit presence, you need to actively promote it. Here are some top tips to get the word out:
- Share your page URL on your other social media accounts like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. and ask followers to follow you on LinkedIn.
- Install LinkedIn share buttons on your nonprofit website to make it easy for site visitors to follow your page in one click.
- Ask team members, volunteers, donors and partners to engage with your page by liking, commenting, sharing your updates and following you.
- Send a newsletter or email announcement about your new page.
- Promote your LinkedIn in outreach emails when connecting with sponsors, partners, media etc.
- Run LinkedIn ads focused on nonprofit volunteers, corporate CSR teams, journalists etc. to grow your followers.
- Publish shareworthy updates that followers are eager to like and share.
Promoting your page will ensure you build a large, engaged audience of donors, volunteers, partners, and supporters.
Step 5 – Measure and Refine Your LinkedIn Strategy
The work doesn’t stop once your page is live. To maximize your LinkedIn presence, you need to:
- Consistently post high-quality content that engages your audience.
- Monitor page analytics like followers, content engagement, clicks etc.
- Listen to conversations happening about your nonprofit on LinkedIn.
- Evaluate which types of updates get the most engagement.
- Run regular LinkedIn ads to grow your followers and promote important campaigns, events, or messages.
- Continuously optimize your page based on feedback and analytics.
Refine and adapt your nonprofit’s LinkedIn strategy based on data. Lean into what works and avoid what doesn’t. Experiment and find the sweet spot.
Conclusion
Setting up and optimizing a LinkedIn nonprofit page provides incredible opportunities to spread your mission, fundraise, recruit volunteers, find partners, and establish thought leadership.
The steps outlined in this guide will get your LinkedIn presence up and running quickly. But long-term success requires consistently publishing great content, promoting your page, and refining your approach based on metrics. Treat your LinkedIn page as an integral part of your nonprofit’s marketing strategy.
By investing time and resources into growing your LinkedIn audience and engagement, your nonprofit can reap huge benefits in terms of fundraising, volunteers, publicity and overall impact.