June 2024 - Getting Attention

This article will cover membership marketing basics and provide tips for organizations to acquire and retain members.

10 Solid Nonprofit Membership Marketing Ideas to Drive Impact

June 29, 2024/in Nonprofit Marketing /by Jessica King

In the fast-paced world of nonprofit, trade, and professional association membership programs, you need to create and sustain long-lasting relationships. That’s why membership marketing is essential—it paves the way to a thriving, sustainable membership base.

To help your organization attract members and build brand recognition, we’ll explore the purpose of membership marketing. Then, we’ll provide the tools and tips you need to acquire, retain, and actively engage your members. Here’s what we’ll cover:

Why Membership Marketing Matters
Membership Marketing Funnel: Understanding The Member Experience
Membership Marketing Tools
10 Solid Membership Marketing Ideas

At Getting Attention, we specialize in helping nonprofits reach their marketing potential with the Google Ad Grant Program (which we’ll cover in more detail later). With our professional guidance, you can amplify your message and connect with more prospects in no time.

Why Membership Marketing Matters

Membership marketing describes the strategic marketing efforts that focus on acquiring, engaging, and retaining members within a nonprofit organization. Effective membership marketing can help your organization make these benefits a reality:

Stable revenue: Leads from membership marketing can help you build a solid financial foundation through recurring membership fees or subscriptions.
Increased engagement: Marketing communications boost your members’ engagement and can facilitate community-driven experiences like event participation.
Long-term support: Consistent marketing efforts can translate into meaningful retention rates that decrease membership turnover.
Collaboration: Marketing platforms allow productive networking, knowledge sharing, and collaboration that can strengthen member connections.
Advocacy and ambassadorship: Successful member marketing can transform members into advocates and ambassadors for your cause, expanding your reach and amplifying your impact.

A long-term member marketing strategy can help your organization tap into these advantages and many more. However, to achieve these benefits, you’ll need to create a plan that caters to your individual members’ needs. That means you’ll need to take a step back and understand the full picture of the member experience.

Membership Marketing Funnel: Understanding The Member Experience

What does the current journey look like for prospective members to become active and engaged supporters? These questions will help guide you to create an actionable membership marketing plan that prioritizes member experience above all else.

If you provide a positive and memorable experience, you’ll give your members every reason to take the next defined step and engage. You can use a membership funnel to visualize your member’s journey:

Capture: Prospective members are “captured” when they are introduced and become aware of your mission through email, word of mouth, your website, or another source that prompts them to consider learning more about your organization.
Nurture: Follow-up emails, direct mail, or other methods prompt prospects to continue their research and build up experience with your organization.
Convert: Various membership benefits, in addition to your regular marketing communications, convince prospects to become full-time members of your organization.
Retain and Re-engage: Regular marketing efforts continually engage existing members with personalized member experiences such as members-only events, discounts, and workshops. Surveys and feedback opportunities are implemented to ensure your organization is exceeding membership expectations and re-engaging lapsed members.

Every organization should have set marketing efforts based on each of the above stages of the member journey. That way, your team will have a well-rounded strategy that enriches your member’s experience from start to finish.

Membership Marketing Tools

It’s one thing to know marketing can transform your organization, but it’s another thing to know which tools will help you get there. That said, let’s explore the top tools you should keep handy in your member marketing toolkit:

Customer relationship management (CRM) software: A CRM system lets your nonprofit manage member data, track interactions, and personalize its messaging. The right CRM will help you segment your audience based on predetermined criteria such as demographics, interest, and engagement level.
Association management software (AMS): For trade and professional associations, an AMS allows you to tackle all back-end tasks related to managing your members, such as event planning and website building.
Community engagement platform: While AMSs might offer some community features, associations that are serious about developing an online community need a community engagement platform. This tool creates an online space where members can post content, engage with each other’s posts, and chat with one another. This keeps members engaged, increasing the chances of expanding your organization via word-of-mouth marketing.
Email: Email marketing tools let you create consistent, targeted email campaigns that engage your members. Several email marketing tools offer templates, automated email capabilities, and analytics to track your email open rates. Keep in mind that email captures almost 70% of new members.
Social media: While social media management tools like HootSuite can help you schedule posts and analyze engagement, design tools like Canva can help you create eye-catching social graphics.
Analytics: Marketing tools like Google Analytics can give your organization a bird’s eye view of member engagement by analyzing website traffic and campaign performance.
Website: Your website acts as the home base for your marketing efforts. Therefore, it should include clear information about how a new member can join, relevant schedule information, and member testimonials to highlight the impact of your organization’s programs.

This last point bears emphasizing as your website is essential for other onsite content strategies, including Google Ads. This means a clean, organized website should not only engage your current members but also attract new ones. With this in mind, let’s explore our top ten nonprofit membership marketing ideas.

Is your website set up for success? Download Getting Attention’s Website Checklist for tips

10 Solid Membership Marketing Ideas

Below are ten membership marketing ideas your organization can leverage. Let’s break down each according to member acquisition and member retention:

Membership Marketing Ideas for Member Acquisition

Member acquisition refers to the process of attracting and acquiring new members to your organization and is represented in the “capture”, “nurture”, and “convert” steps of the marketing funnel. Note that membership acquisition is notoriously tricky as 68% of organizations face challenges in growing their member base.

Try these ideas to help your organization get its feet off the ground and hit its acquisition goals:

1. Referral Programs

People trust people more than they trust organizations. For example, if a trusted friend told you that you need to check out a new restaurant, you’d be more likely to go than if the restaurant reached out to you personally.

That said, consider leveraging your existing member relationships by creating a referral program. You can do this by:

Identifying your target member: Are you wanting to recruit more students or more experienced professionals? Determine your current member base gaps and select an ideal persona that would bridge them. Then target existing members who have connections with these leads.
Determine member incentives to offer referees and referrers: You could offer a membership discount, free webinar, or free brand merchandise to incentivize existing members to refer and prospective members to join your organization.
Set guidelines: It’s best to set a timeline to prompt more referrers to act with urgency. Additionally, you’ll want to attain qualified leads, so it might be best to set a benchmark for the amount of time referred members are required to stay at your organization to obtain the referral incentive.
Advertise your program: Communicate your referral program guidelines on your website, social media, at events, and through emails to inspire more member applications.

Ideally, your referral program is a win-win-win situation for your referrer, referee, and organization as your referrer and referee enjoy the program’s incentives and your member acquisition rate keeps climbing!

2. Email Marketing Campaign

Send out a dedicated email marketing campaign to nurture your existing contacts and lead them one step closer to conversion. To nudge your prospective members using email marketing, follow these best practices:

Segment your email list: The average nonprofit email list size is 4,191 recipients. Narrow them down by engagement level and demographics to target prospective members.
Create compelling subject lines: 64% of recipients decide to open or delete emails based on subject lines. Stand out in your recipient’s inbox with lines that communicate your organization’s value in memorable and relevant ways.
Craft engaging content: Use a mix of visuals, storytelling, and distinct calls to action that lead your recipients to take the next defined step, whether that’s to join a prospective member Q&A or sign up for a yearly conference.
Personalize your emails: Include recipient names and personalized recommendations that recognize individual recipients and take note of their experience with your organization.
Maintain consistency and frequency: Make sure every email is scheduled at a rate that keeps recipients informed without overwhelming them.

Track your email open rates to discover your campaign’s effectiveness and make any adjustments as necessary. For example, you might find that emails with short YouTube video explainers perform better than simple images. Using that information, you might seek to edit more video content that inspires new members to join.

3. Website Content Marketing

82% of marketers actively use content marketing, so join them by utilizing your existing website to add relevant content that educates and fascinates users. For example, start a blog that provides organizational insights, information, or case studies highlighting how your organization actively furthers its mission.

Doing this will boost your credibility and differentiate your association or nonprofit from similar organizations that might not offer the same valuable resources.

Additionally, consider how to drive current and potential members to your website through targeted marketing efforts on social media, email, Google Ads, and other channels. Just ensure your content is centralized behind your membership portal to attract new members while keeping existing ones engaged.

By maintaining an active online community, posting regular digital content, and hosting virtual events, you can keep your members on your website. When compared to associations that use social media to manage their members, you won’t need to constantly fight for your community’s attention once they’re logged in.

To accomplish this, we recommend investing in a community engagement platform, and we recommend our favorite solution, Tradewing. Let’s take a look at Tradewing’s membership homepage.

Tools like Tradewing create a social media-like interface where members can interact with each other in between your annual events. This keeps engagement high throughout the entire year and encourages members to become active members of your association’s community.

4. Social Media Marketing

Aside from promoting your blog posts, social media can be a powerful tool to convince prospective members to convert as there are 4.80 billion social media users worldwide. The key is to regularly post engaging content to make your organization stand out, such as:

Testimonials: Share stories from existing members that highlight their unique experiences with your organization. With permission, post the member’s photo along with quotes or relevant video content.
Member spotlights: Highlight your most engaged members and what makes them irreplaceable to your organization. This will communicate to prospects that they would enter into a community that appreciates and recognizes their unique contributions.
User-generated content: Encourage your followers to create and share their own content such as videos, stories, or posts. You can incentivize them by creating contests and awarding the most creative submissions.

Remember to respond to comments and repost tagged content to engage with current and potential members. Doing this will establish credibility and show prospects that your organization is dedicated to providing an interactive and fruitful experience.

5. Corporate Partnerships

Another effective way to reach new supporters is through corporate partnerships. This method helps you expand your reach by teaming up with organizations that have the same target audience as you. In the past, these relationships took the form of sponsorships only.

However, they have evolved since then and now represent opportunities for your organizations to meaningfully collaborate beyond providing brand name promotion. Today, you can research opportunities such as volunteering or skills sharing.

6. Search Ads

Search ads target prospective members who are already interested in your organization. Specifically, the Google Ad Grant is aimed toward nonprofit organizations and can help your organization spread awareness and attract new members. The best part? This program has donated more than 1.8 million dollars worth of search ads to nonprofits.

Basically, the Google Ad Grant program for eligible nonprofits provides funds to spend on search ads in Google. Meaning your organization will show up at the top of the results when someone is looking for additional information relating to your nonprofit’s mission.

More specifically, you can use the Google Ad Grant program to:

Educate and inform your audience: If your organization focuses on increasing public awareness about a certain topic, you can use the Google Ad Grant program to launch educational campaigns.
Attract new donors or members: Donors and members will be able to find you when they search for your organization online in no time.
Promote events: You can use the Google Ad Grants program to let your audience know about upcoming events like conferences, workshops, or fundraisers.

Although the Google Ad Grant program offers serval advantages, ensuring eligibility and maintaining your account can take some time. That’s why many organizations partner with agency experts like Getting Attention to get the most out of their accounts.

Membership Marketing Ideas for Member Retention

It can be tempting to think that once you’ve converted a new member the marketing work is over. However, it’s much more cost-effective to place additional effort into member retention than only focusing on member acquisition. Members also tend to stick with organizations that make them feel valued for their individual contributions. To up your member retention rate, try these strategies:

7. Personalized Communication

Indicate to your members that they are not just another number with personalized communication efforts. Refer to your existing member data to guide your communication efforts according to your member’s membership type, demographics, and unique contributions.

For example, if your organization is focused on environmental conservation, you might invite local members to an environmental clean-up and educational seminar that’s conveniently located for them.

8. Tiered Membership Levels

Give new members flexibility with how they choose to engage with your organization by offering them tiered membership levels. This also provides an upselling opportunity for you to use when collecting dues from your member base. Here is what your tiers could look like:

Basic Membership: Offers a basic package that gives members access to your directory, newsletter access, virtual event invitations, and recognition as a supporter on your website.
Premium Membership: Offers all benefits of the Basic Membership and exclusive access to workshops, training sessions, and online resources.
Platinum Membership: Offers all benefits of the Premium Membership, one-on-one expert consultations, VIP access to in-person events, and the opportunity to serve on an advisory board.

By offering members these options, they can select to engage in a way that works best for their goals. Each level provides different perks which can also incentivize members to increase their level later down the road.

9. Exclusive Content

Exclusive content deals can prompt prospective members to sign up or convince existing members to increase their membership level. Here are a few exclusive content examples:

Premium resources: Recent and compelling e-books, white papers, or other downloadable resources can offer expert advice.
Webinars and workshops: Exclusive workshops and webinars can facilitate networking opportunities amongst members, enabling them to build a flourishing community.
Early access and discounts: Provide members with early access to events and new products or offer discounted merchandise or services.
Member spotlights: Recognize individual member accomplishments through a “member of the month” spotlight.

Member-exclusive content should offer unique benefits that are available only through your organization. Plan your benefits ahead of time and advertise them to prospective, new, and experienced members.

On your website, specify which pages are members-only and which are open to the public. Strategically offer specific pieces of content or access to opportunities to the general public to entice them to learn more about your association and want to upgrade to a membership.

If you plan to make your membership database accessible to the public, ensure members have adequate privacy features. For example, Tradewing allows associations to create custom profile fields for their members. Once members set up their profiles, they can decide which information they want public and which will be private.

10. Appreciation Events

Celebrate member milestones with dedicated appreciation events. Members who have achieved 5, 10, 15, or more years of membership, have dedicated a large number of volunteer hours, or have given a large number of donations should be recognized for their loyalty.

You can host a wide variety of appreciation events including:

Virtual happy hour
Brunch with your organization’s leaders
Annual member retreat
Special interest workshops or classes
Formal dinner

Define the standards members need to achieve ahead of time before finalizing your guest list. Creating events like this will show your members that you are dedicated to going above and beyond to exceed their expectations.

Conclusion + Additional Resources

Your ideal membership experience should directly inform your marketing efforts.

Use marketing tools like social media, search ads, and many other channels to activate a tailored marketing strategy for member acquisition and retention. Track and monitor each marketing strategy and note the ones that produce the most engagement for your outlined target audience.

We hope you enjoyed this guide to membership marketing! Check out these articles to keep learning:

9 Membership Renewal Samples & Tips to Boost Renewals: Retain more members with these convincing renewal letter samples. Rely on these templates and tips to urge existing members to renew.
Nonprofit Catalog: Membership Benefits: Does your organization need a set benefits program? What benefits should you include? Learn the answers to these questions and more in this guide to membership benefits.
How to Apply for Google Ad Grants: Interested in learning more about the Google Ad Grant? Read this comprehensive guide to learn how to apply.

Learn what volunteer grants are, how your nonprofit can benefit, and how to secure them in this guide.

Corporate Volunteer Grants: The Basics & How to Secure Them

June 27, 2024/in Nonprofit Communications, Nonprofit Fundraising, Volunteers /by Jessica King

As a nonprofit professional, you know that every dollar gets you closer to achieving your goals. You can boost funding and attract more volunteers for your nonprofit with a dedicated volunteer grant strategy.

We’ve put together this guide to walk through everything you need to know about volunteer grants. We’ll cover the following:

Volunteer Grant FAQs
How to Get Volunteer Grants for Your Nonprofit
Best Practices for Securing Volunteer Grants
Examples of Corporate Volunteer Grant Programs

If you’re not familiar with volunteer grants or aren’t sure how to maximize revenue from this channel, look no further! Let’s dive right in by answering frequently asked questions about volunteer grants.

Volunteer Grant FAQs

What are volunteer grants?

Volunteer grants are a type of corporate giving program in which employers provide monetary grants to organizations where their employees volunteer regularly. These programs are also known as Dollars for Doers, Dollar for Hour, Matching Time, and Grants for Time programs.

For example, if your nonprofit has a dedicated volunteer who devotes 5 hours a week to your organization and their company has a volunteer grant program, the company will pay you for those hours.

The exact amount of time a supporter needs to volunteer to earn a grant for your nonprofit depends on their employer’s specific program requirements. Work with your volunteers to help them discover their eligibility and take the steps necessary to secure a volunteer grant.

What are the benefits of volunteer grants?

The main draw of volunteer grants is extra funding for your organization at no cost to supporters. Beyond that, volunteer grants have benefits for everyone involved in the process:

Individual volunteers can make an even bigger impact with the hours they give to your nonprofit. Volunteers already care about your mission and purpose; now they can give you twice the support through the work they’re already doing.
Companies that offer volunteer grants benefit from maintaining a positive public image. This positive reputation also means their consumers and employees will be happier to work with them.
Nonprofits benefit by building stronger relationships with both companies and volunteers. Volunteer grants give supporters another way to support your nonprofit, increasing their investment in your organization. And if you have a lot of volunteers who all work for the same employer, you may secure a corporate relationship that could turn into a sponsorship!

Some companies even offer team volunteer grants, where groups of employees from the same company can volunteer together and secure a larger grant for your cause.

Why do businesses offer volunteer grants?

To secure corporate support, nonprofit organizations usually rely on companies to already have corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs like volunteer grants or volunteer time off in place. However, by understanding why businesses offer volunteer grant programs and researching the employers your supporters work for, you or your donors may be able to persuade certain companies to start new CSR initiatives.

Reports show that employees who work at companies with volunteer programs are five times more engaged than those who don’t. When pitching a volunteer grant program to businesses, emphasize statistics like this and how they can lead to improved business outcomes, such as increased employee productivity and retention.

Additionally, remain open to other types of corporate volunteerism. For example, some businesses arrange organized corporate volunteer groups, which serve as team-building activities for their employees while also providing your nonprofit with extra help for your ongoing programs.

Are volunteer grants common?

Yes, volunteer grants are a common business practice! We’ve pulled together some key statistics from Double the Donation that demonstrate how common and impactful these programs are:

40% of Fortune 500 companies offer volunteer grant programs. Plenty of other businesses and corporations also have some sort of volunteer grant program.
80% of companies with volunteer grant programs give between $8-$15 per volunteer hour. Those dollars add up! If you have a dedicated group of volunteers, those accumulated hours can result in a nice annual sum.
The average corporate volunteer participation rate is 33%. About a third of eligible employees currently take advantage of corporate volunteer opportunities. However, when it comes to volunteer grants, that rate drops to just 3%, indicating that volunteers don’t know about this opportunity. Nonprofits are working to increase these numbers by marketing their volunteer programs.

From these statistics, it’s clear that there are plenty of volunteer grant opportunities that your organization and its supporters can take advantage of.

How to Get Volunteer Grants for Your Nonprofit

To secure volunteer grants, you first need to understand how the process works. From your nonprofit’s perspective, it happens in four steps:

An individual volunteers with your nonprofit. This can include helping with your programs, volunteering virtually, or participating in any other roles your organization offers.
That individual looks up their volunteer grant eligibility. If they qualify, they’ll submit a request to their company for the grant.
The employer looks over the application and confirms eligibility.
Once the company has verified the hours with your nonprofit, your nonprofit gets a check!

Companies’ volunteer grant requirements vary, but there’s generally a minimum number of hours that must be volunteered to qualify for a grant. Once the volunteer hours threshold has been met, the company will either pay by the hour or a set amount. For example, one company might pay $15 per volunteer hour, while another pays a flat $500 after 40 hours have been contributed.

Unfortunately, most volunteers don’t even know whether they’re eligible for a grant or how to check their eligibility. That means it’s up to your nonprofit to help volunteers earn the grants they rightfully deserve.

Best Practices for Securing Volunteer Grants

How do you get the word out about this mutually beneficial opportunity? Just follow these three best practices:

1. Market volunteer grants to your supporters

You can’t secure volunteer grants if your supporters don’t know what they are or how to request them. That’s why it’s crucial to create a marketing plan that promotes these opportunities to your supporters.

As you develop your plan, consider these strategies:

Create a page on your website that explains the volunteer grant process and how to submit a request. This can be added to your volunteer sign-up page, “Ways to Give” page, or a new page. Additionally, this is a great place on your website to add a volunteer grants search tool, which we’ll discuss soon.
Launch a social media campaign that educates donors on volunteer grant basics and encourages them to check their eligibility. Try sharing statistics about volunteer grant participation and impact, as well as stories from beneficiaries about their positive experiences with your volunteers.
Highlight volunteers and companies who contribute volunteer grants in your monthly newsletter. This creates social proof and can inspire supporters to check their own eligibility.

Once you’ve created basic volunteer grant marketing materials for your website, you can expand your reach by leveraging the Google Ad Grant. The Google Ad Grants program provides eligible nonprofits with $10,000 a month in credits to spend on Google search ads.

Through the Google Ad Grant program, your organization can create ads that show up at the top of Google search results pages for relevant terms, like “volunteer opportunities near me” or “animal shelter volunteering.” Highlight volunteer grants in these ads, and you’ll promote the opportunity to a whole new audience of potential volunteers!

2. Offer a variety of volunteer opportunities

Ensure you have volunteer activities that supporters find interesting to encourage continued support. Consider creating various ways to get involved that fit various skill sets, time slots, and physical requirements.

For example, you might have a physically intensive volunteer opportunity for supporters to work in a community garden where they can learn about plant care on the job. In contrast, you might also offer a remote volunteer opportunity for data entry.

Additionally, have activities that groups of volunteers can participate in. This will accommodate corporate volunteer teams to secure more corporate volunteers, increase the grant money you receive, and help your nonprofit build a long-term relationship with the company they came from.

3. Use corporate giving software

Whether you’re looking to secure volunteer grants, matching gifts, or any other kind of corporate support, streamlining the application process is a surefire way to maximize donations. And you can do just that with a volunteer grant database.

Our favorite volunteer grant database is 360MatchPro by Double the Donation. 360MatchPro offers nonprofits support for both matching gifts and volunteer grants. Here’s how the volunteer grant component of this platform works:

The volunteer searches for their employer. Volunteers can enter their company’s name into 360MatchPro’s employer search tool. This tool can be embedded on any page of your website. That way, you can put it wherever you think volunteers are most likely to check, like your volunteer information page.
The search tool identifies the employer. If the employer is in 360MatchPro’s database, it will autofill to streamline the search process. 360MatchPro’s database currently covers 99.68% of match-eligible donors, meaning your volunteers will likely be able to find their employers.
Volunteer grant information is provided. 360MatchPro provides detailed volunteer grant information for every employer. This includes which employees are eligible, how many hours must be volunteered, how much the grant will be, and if the company offers other corporate volunteer opportunities like team volunteer grants and volunteer time off.

From there, the software will direct volunteers to the next steps they need to take to request a volunteer grant. This will usually be to complete a form for their employer that documents their volunteer hours and details about your nonprofit like your mission statement and contact information.

Some companies may reach out to your nonprofit for confirmation, while others might consider the process done after reviewing an employee application. Either way, be ready to work with your volunteers to answer their questions and support them through the volunteer grant process.

Examples of Top Companies with Volunteer Grant Programs

Take a look at some of the top companies with volunteer grant programs to get an idea of how much businesses invest in corporate philanthropy.

Verizon’s Volunteer Grant Program

Verizon offers a Volunteer Incentive Program (VIP), which awards $750 to an organization after an employee volunteers 50 hours with that organization. Even better, Verizon employees can request up to two of these grants per year.

Microsoft’s Volunteer Grant Program

Microsoft has a generous volunteer grant program with no minimum hours required. Microsoft employees can earn $25 per hour they commit to a nonprofit. Last year, almost 30,000 employees took advantage of this program and volunteered over 1 million hours in total.

ExxonMobil’s Volunteer Grant Program

ExxonMobil has multiple volunteer grant programs: an individual volunteer grant program through which employees can secure a $500 grant after volunteering 20 hours with an organization and team volunteer grant opportunities for groups of five or more.

Additional Volunteer Grant Resources

Tapping into volunteer grants doesn’t have to be daunting. The more knowledge your team has about these opportunities, the more successful you’ll be at locating and securing these valuable contributions.

We hope this guide has helped your organization realize all the untapped volunteer grant opportunities you can benefit from! If you want to continue your research, we’ve picked some great resources to get you started:

Nonprofit Marketing Ideas You Need to Promote Your Cause. Use these tips to promote volunteer grants to your supporters and generate more traction for your volunteer program.
14 Important Matching Gifts Questions You Need to Ask. Matching gifts are another common type of corporate giving program. Learn the essentials with our guide.
How to Win At Corporate Philanthropy: A Nonprofit Guide. All of the giving programs we’ve mentioned fall under a bigger umbrella: corporate philanthropy. Learn more about what that means with this guide.

Expand Your Professional Network: LinkedIn for Nonprofits

June 25, 2024/in Nonprofit Communications, Nonprofit Tools /by Jessica King

When it comes to making professional connections, LinkedIn is the go-to website for individuals, businesses, and nonprofits like yours. Often, LinkedIn is used as a platform for job recruiters and job seekers to connect. However, along with finding valuable new employees, there’s even more your nonprofit can do with a LinkedIn account.

To discover how to make the most of programs like LinkedIn for Nonprofits, expand your network, and build your brand, this guide will explore:

LinkedIn for Nonprofits FAQ
How to Set Up Your LinkedIn Profile
7 LinkedIn Strategies for Nonprofits
What Other Platforms Should Nonprofits be Using?

First, let’s answer a few questions nonprofits are likely to ask about LinkedIn.

LinkedIn for Nonprofits FAQ

What is LinkedIn for Nonprofits?

LinkedIn for Nonprofits is a program offered by LinkedIn that provides nonprofits with free and discounted resources. These resources and tools are designed to help enhance your nonprofit’s LinkedIn experience and ability to connect with donors, job applicants, and sponsors.

Through LinkedIn for Nonprofits, your organization can access:

Resource Hub. The Resource Hub consists of informative guides about how to use LinkedIn to its fullest potential. This includes resources on how to build connections, grow your engagement, and create compelling content.
Recruiter Lite. Turn LinkedIn into a hiring platform with recruitment tools like daily recommendations, alerts, and job posting and messaging templates. Once you scout top talent, get in touch with them through direct InMail messages and start building professional relationships.
Sales Navigator Core. You can connect with donors and sales prospects just like you would with job candidates. Sales Navigator Core provides access to highly refined filter and search options, lead recommendations, and the ability to track prospects’ activity. This lets you identify and stay in touch with high-value prospects to grow your audience and cultivate relationships.
LinkedIn Learning. Along with recruiting new employees, LinkedIn strives to help job seekers and the currently employed improve their skills with LinkedIn Learning. This program consists of online courses for skills relevant to nonprofit professional development, such as courses on marketing, fundraising, grant management, and organizational management.
LinkedIn advertising. LinkedIn offers businesses (and nonprofits!) the opportunity to advertise their services to users across the platform. We’ll explore more about how to advertise on LinkedIn later.

You can use LinkedIn without applying for LinkedIn for Nonprofits. However, these tools make almost every aspect of your LinkedIn strategy more efficient, whether you’re looking for new hires, sponsors, donors, or customers.

Is LinkedIn for Nonprofits free?

Some LinkedIn resources are free to verified nonprofits. For example, the Resource Hub is available to all LinkedIn users, including nonprofits, for free.

In contrast, nonprofits will have to pay for Recruiter Lite, Sales Navigator, and LinkedIn Learning. Fortunately, LinkedIn does offer a 75% discount on Recruiter Lite and Sales Navigator, as well as other discounts for LinkedIn Learning.

Nonprofits will need to pay for all advertising services, including text ads, sponsored content, dynamic ads, and sponsored messaging. However, LinkedIn does provide dedicated support to help nonprofits plan their ad campaigns to give them a greater chance of success.

What can nonprofits do on Linkedin?

Nonprofits can use LinkedIn like any other professional organization would. Use the platform to:

Post job openings
Advertise your products and services
Assess job candidates
Network with potential business partners, donors, employees, and other nonprofit professionals
Post content about your cause
Stay up to the latest trends in your field

Ultimately, how you decide to use LinkedIn is up to your nonprofit. You can use it exclusively as a hiring tool whenever you have a job opening, or you can make it a part of your annual marketing strategy by posting regularly.

How to Set Up Your LinkedIn Profile

Setting up a LinkedIn profile for your nonprofit is easy and should only take a few minutes. Just follow these steps:

Start a new company page. If you already have a personal LinkedIn profile, open the “For Businesses” menu, scroll to the bottom, and click the “Create a Company Page” option. If you don’t have a LinkedIn account (though you should if you plan to create a professional page for your nonprofit), go to LinkedIn pages and click the “Create your Page” button.

Select the “Company” page option. All nonprofits except for educational institutions should click the “Company” option, while schools should select “Educational Institution.”

Fill out the profile information. Most of the entry fields are straightforward. For organization type, select “Nonprofit.” You can also choose “Non-profit Organizations” for your industry if there is no option that matches your services. Your LinkedIn address must follow a few rules including being original and it must be unambiguous. In most cases, the URL should be the name of your nonprofit.

Launch your page. Preview your page before launching it to ensure everything is formatted correctly. Remember that you can continue editing and adding information to your page after making it live, so as long as your page is presentable, you are likely safe to publish it.

Your page is now live, and with it, you can start building connections on LinkedIn! However, getting your page up and running is just the first step in turning LinkedIn into the networking, lead-sourcing, and brand-building channel it can be.

7 Linked Strategies for Nonprofits

1. Fill out your profile as much as possible.

Completed profiles look more trustworthy and professional than unfinished ones. Unfortunately, there are scams on LinkedIn, and you can reassure job candidates, donors, and prospective sponsors alike that your organization is legitimate by adding detailed and accurate information about your nonprofit.

You can improve your profile by:

Adding a logo and cover image. LinkedIn shares that optimal dimensions for a profile are that logos should be 300px x 300px and cover images (the image that appears at the top of your page as a header) should be 1536px x 768px.
Completing your “About” section. The “About” section is your opportunity to explain what your nonprofit does, why it matters, and why your organization is uniquely suited to tackle these challenges. Remember that this description will be shown to every audience your nonprofit is attempting to reach through LinkedIn, so it should be a general summary of your nonprofit rather than a recruitment or fundraising pitch. Here’s an example from WWF’s LinkedIn page:

Listing your specialties. Don’t stress about explaining everything your nonprofit does in your “About” section since you can go into detail about your services in the “Specialities” section. This can be a list of services your nonprofit offers or you can go into detail about general projects your nonprofit does. For reference, check out the difference between the WWF’s and a local humane society’s services:

Essentially, your profile is an opportunity to market your nonprofit to a professional audience. Follow your brand principles and consider the LinkedIn audience. For most nonprofits, this will mean presenting your organization with a more professional tone than you might otherwise. This shows job candidates and business partners that you are a serious and reputable organization.

2. Join nonprofit-related groups.

Groups are private LinkedIn channels where members can post content and interact with one another. Some groups have open acceptance policies and anyone can become a member by hitting the “Join” button whereas others review join requests or are even invite-only.

Fortunately, there are many nonprofit-centric groups your nonprofit can join almost immediately. For example, to start developing a network of nonprofit professional connections and stay up to date on the latest nonprofit trends, you might join the following groups:

The Chronicle of Philanthropy. The Chronicle of Philanthropy is a group run by a digital magazine of the same name. The group is focused on the latest news and developments in the nonprofit sector. Plus, this group has a green “Active Group” tag, which indicates a high level of member activity. That means more people to start building connections with!
Online Fundraising for Nonprofit Organizations. If you’re looking for advice on how to improve your digital fundraising strategy, this group has professionals sharing their insights into the latest nonprofit technology, fundraising ideas, and marketing strategies.
Nonprofit & Philanthropy Jobs. For nonprofits ready to jump into recruiting, groups dedicated to job opportunities in the nonprofit sector can help you promote your open positions and chat with prospective candidates.

Remember that you can also join groups not specifically about nonprofits to expand your knowledge in general. For example, you might join a group dedicated to social media marketing.

Plus, your nonprofit can create its own group! This allows individuals who are interested in your nonprofit to connect with one another and form a community. Encourage both donors and your staff to connect with you on LinkedIn and join your new group.

3. Encourage your entire team to connect.

Like any social media platform, LinkedIn is lonely when it’s just you. Start boosting your online presence and cementing your nonprofit as a reputable organization by encouraging your employees to sign up for LinkedIn or connect their pre-existing profiles to your nonprofit’s new page.

When a member of your staff enters your nonprofit as their employer on their page, they’ll show up under the “People” tab of your company page as long as their profile isn’t set to private. Plus, they can also follow your page to receive updates whenever you post on LinkedIn.

These activities help present your nonprofit as an active, reputable organization.

Plus, when a member of your staff interacts with your nonprofit on LinkedIn, whether it’s liking a post, leaving a comment, or tagging you in one of their posts, the rest of their network might get alerted to it. Posts from members of your network show up in your LinkedIn feed and LinkedIn regularly sends update emails to users that highlight various recent comments and posts. This means the bigger your staff’s networks and the more active they are on LinkedIn, the more chances you have to grow your nonprofit’s network.

4. Post engaging content.

Like any social media platform, you can only gain a following by posting regularly. Resources from LinkedIn recommend following these best practices to create the most engaging content possible and start earning followers:

Diversify your content. LinkedIn recommends nonprofits follow the “2-2-1” rule for content posting. This means dividing your posts into groups of five, and each of these groups should contain two pieces of educational content about your mission and work, two stories that evoke emotion and demonstrate your impact, and one call to action. This ensures your nonprofit doesn’t forget to make fundraising appeals, but also ensures your followers aren’t bombarded with requests for money every time they open LinkedIn.

Add hashtags. LinkedIn’s search feature considers many factors, including hashtags. For each post, add no more than five hashtags to increase its reach. These hashtags might be related to your services and industry, like #environmentalprotection, or related to an ongoing initiative at your nonprofit, like #matchinggifts.

Post regularly. LinkedIn has found that profiles that post at least once a day have the highest engagement rates. However, creating a quality post every day may be a challenge for nonprofits without a dedicated marketing team. Try to aim for at least once or twice a week to keep your profile active.

When creating content for LinkedIn, consider the audience you want to target. The LinkedIn audience tends to be serious and generally has one of these motivations: find a job, advance in their current career, or find business opportunities.

Some individuals do post about non-job related content, such as news trends, which means fundraising appeals and nonprofit impact stories won’t be out of place. However, keep the core audiences of job seekers, donors, and businesses in mind when creating new content or adapting content to LinkedIn.

5. Promote your LinkedIn profile on other platforms.

To start growing your audience on LinkedIn—and thus attract qualified job candidates, sales leads, and business partners—promote your new page on platforms where you already have an audience.

For example, to get your current supporter base to start following your LinkedIn profile, you might:

Add a social media button on your website
Promote it in your email newsletter
Make announcements on other social media platforms

Organizations serious about expanding their LinkedIn networks make promoting their page a regular part of their marketing. For example, some professionals add their LinkedIn profile to their email signature!

6. Consider LinkedIn ads.

We briefly touched on LinkedIn ads earlier, but are LinkedIn ads worth it for nonprofits?

The answer depends on your organization as well as what type of ads you want to purchase and create. LinkedIn offers four types of ads for sale:

Sponsored Content. Usually, the only content that shows up in your feed is posted by your network. However, occasionally, LinkedIn will add sponsored posts. These allow you to share your content with users who aren’t part of your network, getting your nonprofit in front of brand-new audiences.
Sponsored Messaging. Rather than hoping your audience stumbles across your posts on their feeds, you can get in touch with them directly via Sponsored Messaging. Send out messages to your entire network about upcoming events, urgent fundraisers like GivingTuesday, and breaking news about your cause.
Text Ads. Text Ads have a smaller scope than Sponsored Content but can be a useful alternative for nonprofits on a tight budget. Rather than taking the form of an entirely new post, they show up on the side of users’ feeds as they scroll.
Dynamic Ads. Normally, social media is not a direct marketing tool as your ads are shown to a wide audience. However, Dynamic Ads are personalized that LinkedIn generates for you. These ads address specific users by name and even feature their LinkedIn profile pictures in the ad. For example, these ads might ask someone to imagine themselves with a job at a specific company or explain that they could learn a lot by following a specific organization’s page.

LinkedIn has about an 11% return on investment rate for paid ads. However, it can be difficult to measure your ads’ success for several reasons. For example, a business sponsor might discover your organization through an ad but decide to message you directly rather than interact with the ad.

Ultimately, ads are about expanding your nonprofit’s online presence to get on the radar of more prospective connections. As with any nonprofit ad campaign, your ads’ success depends on how well you tailor them to your audience and your ability to finely tune who they get shown to.

7. Engage, tag, and comment.

Social media is about social interactions, and while LinkedIn has a more professional user base than other platforms, this still applies.

You can grow your follower count, build connections, and show visitors that your nonprofit is a professional, dynamic organization by engaging with others. Comment on posts made by members of your network and news stories that are related to your cause. These are easy opportunities to share your expertise in your industry.

You can also invite others to interact with you by tagging them in your content. For example, you might create a volunteer spotlight highlighting the hard work a specific member of your volunteer team did. By tagging them in this post, you can be sure that they’ll see it and potentially share it with the rest of their network. Here’s what this might look like:

What Other Platforms Should Nonprofits be Using?

LinkedIn is an incredibly valuable platform for nonprofits, but LinkedIn for Nonprofits is not completely free. While it can be a worthwhile investment, especially for nonprofits that are currently hiring, organizations looking for marketing channels with lower investment costs might want to consider other options when it comes to advertising.

We recommend the Google Ad Grant!

The Google Ad Grant is completely free for nonprofits, providing them with $10,000 in credits to spend on search advertising every month, all at no cost. Create ads targeting the keywords your audience searches every day to bring in new supporters, sales leads, and beneficiaries.

However, like LinkedIn, it might be tricky to know where to get started with the Google Ad Grant, let alone how to maintain an active Google Ads account. That’s where Google Ad Grant agencies, like Getting Attention, come in!

Our team of Google-certified experts can help you apply for the Google Ad Grant, maintain your account, and get your account back up and running if it ever lapses. With our extensive knowledge of Google advertising best practices and how to connect with nonprofit audiences, we can help you create search ads targeting your highest-value keywords to earn your nonprofit not just more clicks but valuable conversions.

Additional Resources

LinkedIn is a social media site for professional networking. Resources from LinkedIn for Nonprofits, along with your own communication skills, can put your nonprofit in touch with talented job candidates, sympathetic donors, and eager business partners. If you haven’t already, the first step in your LinkedIn journey is to sign up and create your nonprofit’s profile.

In addition to LinkedIn, discover other platforms that offer nonprofits free and discounted resources:

Google Workspace for Nonprofits: Everything You Need to Know. In addition to the Google Ad Grant, Google also provides nonprofits with free access to other Google Workplace tools. Check out these tools and how your nonprofit can leverage them.
How to Optimize Your Facebook Ads for Nonprofits: 7 Tips. Facebook ads can reach an extensive audience. Get a step-by-step walkthrough of how to optimize these ads for maximum ROI.
Getting Started with YouTube for Nonprofits in 3 Steps. YouTube allows nonprofits to host their video content for free. Discover the resources Google has available to nonprofits looking to expand their channels.