In normal times, one billion people volunteer their time and energy each year to various causes. With Giving Tuesday approaching (it’s always the Tuesday after Thanksgiving in the United States), many organizations across the country have reported an increase in the number of people interested in supporting nonprofits — even at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As a leader, you can donate more than your time, energy, and money to the causes you want to support. You can also use your influence to bring those causes to the attention of even more people and have even greater impact.
We work with executives every day who are doing their best to leave a mark on the world. They enjoy talking about their business success and growth trajectory, but they love talking about the mission-focused initiatives they’re involved in. And they ask us how they can use LinkedIn to support those initiatives. Here are some of our best answers.
Make Your Dent in the Universe
People want to make a difference in the world, and those who are on a board or have a cause they are passionate about — like Fred Diamond and Lyme disease, or Meryl Evans and accessibility — want to use their stature and LinkedIn presence to convince more people to take action.
Having a cause you advocate for shows people that you care about your community, not just about closing your next business deal. It’s a good way to build trust. And it also helps cultivate rapport with other people who care about that cause.
It also doesn’t hurt your career. According to research conducted by Deloitte, 82% of hiring managers are more likely to choose a candidate with volunteer experience, and 85% of those hiring managers are willing to overlook other resume flaws when a candidate includes volunteer work.
Where Do You Put Nonprofits on Your Profile?
LinkedIn profiles have two sections where you can include volunteer work: the Volunteer section, which is part of Experience, and the Organizations section, which is under Accomplishments.
We usually recommend putting the activities that are most important to you in the Volunteer section. Organizations is a good place to put associations and other groups you belong to, but where you don’t have an important role.
Board roles can go in the Experience section as if they were jobs — because on some level, they are jobs. (Note: If you add a recent board role to your profile, make sure you drag and drop it below your current day job.)
How Else Can You Support Your Cause?
Your profile is a good place to start, but your activity on LinkedIn can do even more. Here are some easy ways to use LinkedIn to help advance causes you support:
- Share and amplify posts from the nonprofits, especially those that explain the mission or tell stories about the impact the organization has had.
- Share posts about fundraisers and other events. Tag people you know who might be interested, such as board members or the executive director. Add variations on the hashtags they used so you can reach a larger audience.
- Post about your activities and participation in events. Include photos or videos if possible.
- Blog about why you support the issue or organization. Explain why it has special meaning for you.
- Tell stories about the organization’s successes. You can do this in videos, posts, or articles.
Another possibility is to create a LinkedIn group for the organization where supporters can collaborate and share best practices. Check out LinkedIn’s nonprofit database to find talent and follow the most recent organizational news.
In the end, nonprofits are endlessly devoted to driving a collective, public, or social benefit.
Do your part to make sure they achieve these goals.
Need Help Getting Started?
At ProResource, we help executives use social media effectively. If you want to use LinkedIn to get your ideas out to your industry, build your audience, and promote a cause, we would love to work with you. We will design a personal social media strategy to help you achieve your goals, and we’ll even write blog posts for you, based on interviews with you.
Let’s talk about what you want to accomplish and see how we can help. Book a discovery call today!