Nonprofit Insights: The Brave New World of Engaging Skilled Volunteers
•Download as PPTX, PDF•
0 likes•670 views
In today's connected world, new ways of involving volunteers in your organization's work are popping up all the time. Have you thought about how volunteers with specific skills could help your nonprofit? Join VolunteerMatch and LinkedIn for this Nonprofit Insights webinar about the benefits of engaging skilled volunteers, and best practices for setting up a skilled volunteering program in a strategic way. With 300+ million potential skilled volunteers on LinkedIn alone, connecting with the help you need doesn't have to be time-consuming or scary. We show you how to make the most of the unique partnership between VolunteerMatch and LinkedIn, including real-world examples of how other nonprofits have successfully connected with skilled volunteers via LinkedIn.
Recommended
Recommended
More Related Content
What's hot
What's hot (20)
Viewers also liked
Viewers also liked (20)
Similar to Nonprofit Insights: The Brave New World of Engaging Skilled Volunteers
Similar to Nonprofit Insights: The Brave New World of Engaging Skilled Volunteers (20)
More from VolunteerMatch
More from VolunteerMatch (20)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
Nonprofit Insights: The Brave New World of Engaging Skilled Volunteers
- 1. The Brave New World of Engaging Skilled Volunteers November 19, 2014 #vmlearn
- 2. Who are we? 2 #vmlearn Alison Dorsey Social Impact Manager LinkedIn @LinkedIn4Good linkedin.com Shari Tishman Director, Engagement VolunteerMatch @heystish volunteermatch.org
- 3. Agenda 3 #vmlearn • Why skilled volunteers? • LinkedIn and connecting with volunteers • Working with skilled volunteers • Q&A
- 4. Why skilled volunteers? 4 #vmlearn Imagine what you could do… If time and skills were not an issue…
- 5. Why skilled volunteers? 5 #vmlearn Engage busy people… And get busy people MORE engaged.
- 6. Preparing for skilled volunteers 6 #vmlearn 1. Make the case internally 2. Define needs 3. Design project 4. Prepare the team
- 7. Make the case internally 7 #vmlearn Identify stakeholders and champions Communicate potential benefits
- 8. Define needs 8 #vmlearn WHAT must/should/could be done? For WHOM are you looking?
- 9. Design project 9 • Measurable • Autonomous • Clear expectations! #vmlearn Start small…
- 10. Prepare the team #vmlearn 10 Train relevant staff Manage expectations Volunteers are NOT free!
- 11. Want more info? #vmlearn 11 http://learn.volunteermatch.org
- 12. LinkedIn
- 13. LinkedIn Members
- 14. First Steps for Nonprofits on LinkedIn 1. Create a strong profile 2. Build your network 3. Create a strong Company Page
- 15. 15 1. Profile Adding a photo makes your profile 7x more likely to be viewed Describe who you are and the goals you’re working towards at your organization
- 16. Why connections matter 645 2. Network 110,000 1st Degree 2nd Degree 3rd Degree 4,000,000
- 17. 17 3. Company Page Over 200k nonprofits have a company page on LinkedIn
- 19. Connecting your VolunteerMatch account with LinkedIn • Add skills • Connect your company page
- 20. Professionals will see your postings through LinkedIn job 20 recommendations Your opportunities are sent to interested members through email campaigns and the “Jobs you may be interested in” feature
- 21. Interested candidates will apply on VolunteerMatch
- 22. Working with skilled volunteers #vmlearn 22 • Screening • Onboarding • And beyond!
- 23. Screening #vmlearn 23 Pretend they’re paid. Clear expectations! “No” means “No.”
- 24. Onboarding #vmlearn 24 MOU/Letter of agreement Set check-ins and evaluations Full orientation
- 25. And beyond! #vmlearn 25 Track and illustrate impact Show appreciation Cultivate leaders
- 26. Questions? #vmlearn 26 Alison Dorsey Social Impact Manager LinkedIn @LinkedIn4Good linkedin.com Shari Tishman Director, Engagement VolunteerMatch @heystish volunteermatch.org
- 27. Next Webinar: How to Socialize Your Volunteer Recruitment with Google Ad Grants http://learn.volunteermatch.org #vmlearn December 3, 2014
Editor's Notes
- Thanks so much, Shari! So starting from the vary beginning on LinkedIn here, we are the world’s largest online professional network with 332 million members worldwide. We also have a large and thriving nonprofit community on LinkedIn, with over 7 million nonprofits professionals and over 25 million members following their favorite nonprofit company page.
- So we know LinkedIn has a lot of members, but who are the ones we’re really talking about today? Those are the ones who want to volunteer their skills with your nonprofits! We recently offered members the option to answer the question on their profiles of “how they would like to donate their time and talent” and 3 million members have so far answered that question, saying they’re interested in skilled volunteering. That’s 3 million people who have actively added to their professional identities and told their networks that they want to volunteer their skills. So there is a huge and growing pool of potential volunteers for you on LinkedIn, and you can access them through your VolunteerMatch postings.
- We’re going to talk about recruiting those professionals, but first, I’d love to start with a few steps you can take today to put your best foot forward on LinkedIn. Create a strong and compete personal profile. Build your own individual network. And create a strong company page
- Your LinkedIn profile is your online profiessional identity. It’s also links to all of your other activity on LinkedIn. So for you to represent your nonprofit well, you also want to set up your own account well. A few key tips for your profile: First, add a photo. This makes your profile 7 times more likely to be viewed and helps people see your profile as the real you. Second, In the Summary Section, describe who you, what you do, and what you want to do with your career. This summery section is the only area for free form text on LinkedIn, so it can be intimidating, but ia summary over 40 words also dramatically increases your chances of being viewed. Third, add experience. This is where you describe your role at your nonprofit and then link to the nonprofit’s company page. So what I was just saying about how to get more views really just drives more people to see your experience and learn about your nonprofit.
- Network. LinkedIn has a lot of tools, but at the core, it is a network. You absolutely want to connect with your existing professional contact so that you have those represented digitally, making them searchable. And when we search for people on LinkedIn, it’s not only your network that comes up in search results, it’s also the other relationships of the people in your network, we call that your second degree network. Your 1st degree connections are people you connect with directly. Your 2nd degree connections are when you have a shared connection. 3rd degree connections are once removed from 2nd degree – in other words, it is a shared connections’ connection. It’s not just your network when you search, it’s also your second and third coming up in search, allowing you to go beyond your immediate network. And this is why it’s important to grow your immediate network on LinkedIn, so you can also see into their networks.
- Company Pages gives you the opportunity to tell your nonprofit’s story, highlight your mission and programs, and share volunteer opportunities and relevant announcements with the LinkedIn community. It also provides an easy and manageable way to track your followers’ engagement. Before creating a company page, envision what your company page could be. Similar to your profile, this is your organization’s face in the LinkedIn world, and you want to think creatively about how to capture the spirit and vitality of your organization and communicate that to others. Some organizations have used their company pages as repositories for static information. Others have leveraged this opportunity to bring their organization’s vitality to the forefront. Look to a couple of great examples to envision how your organization can make a great first impression.
- OK, Now that you are clear on the LinkedIn building blocks, let’s get back to the main point here, which is skilled volunteer recruitment. Earlier this year, in partnership with VolunteerMatch, LinkedIn launched the Volunteer Marketplace, which is a place for nonprofits to recruit skilled volunteer and board members through LinkedIn job postings. And the really exciting part, is that many of you may already be using this tool thanks to VolunteerMatch. At LinkedIn, we know that we have a huge pool of professionals looking to volunteer their time and talent. And we also know many of you are already listing your volunteer positions on VolunteerMatch. So we partnered together to be sure that those LinkedIn members will see your volunteer opportunities on VolunteerMatch.
- To ensure your listings appear on LinkedIn, you’ll need to select standardized skills. You can see in this image here from the VolunteerMatch posting experience, you have the option of stating if the role requires skills and then selecting those skills. Once you’ve done that, your posting will join be marked to repost on LinkedIn. You can also connect your LinkedIn company page to your VolunteerMatch account within the “manage organization” part of your account. Adding your company page means that all of your postings will tie to your own brand once listed on LinkedIn.
- And once you’ve posted your opportunity on VolunteerMatch and it has reposted on LinkedIn, professionals across the country start seeing them! They can visit ‘volunteers.linkedin.com’ to search directly for posts like yours, and they’ll also see them come up in their “Jobs You May Be Interested In” feed. So right alongside that Social Media Consultant role, they’ll see your organization’s volunteer opportunity calling their name! Finally, we also send emails specifically to the 3 million eager potential volunteers so they get an extra opportunity to see your listings.
- Once a professional sees your opportunity in an email or in LinkedIn search, they will click to apply, and we’ll send them right over to the VolunteerMatch application experience, so you can collect all of your applicants right there on VolunteerMatch. I’m now going to hand it back to Shari to discuss what to do next once you have some applicants interested.