Social Fundraising:

put your network to work

What we’ll discuss today:

Social fundraising – what it’s all about

Where the rubber meets the road – LinkedIn

How you can start – 5 actionable steps

Live demo – get your scenarios ready!

What’s your relationship status?

Your Network: your personal

network

Your network’s network: your board’s network + your coworkers’ network, etc…

YOU

How many people do YOU know?

Billions of professional relationships

370M+ members

2B+ member updates per week

LinkedIn has a wealth of information on the people

& companies with whom you want to build

relationships

7

Quick Poll

When establishing a new funding relationship,

what information is most useful?

a. Understanding of organizational structure

b. Direct contact information

c. Warm introduction

d. Relevant information on company

What is social fundraising?

Social fundraising proactively

leverages relationships and insights

to find the right people and

secure connections.

Social fundraisers drive relationships.

Relationships are foundational for fundraising success

Jaime

Donors

C

A

B

Going to work

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What’s at the core of every fundraising source?

How can you build fundraising relationships?

Find the right connections to build strategic

partnerships

Target foundations and corporations to

develop meaningful relationships

Engage and manage existing donor

relationships

Leverage your board’s relationships

efficiently

Drive strategic partnerships 1

Establish institutional

connections 2

Cultivate existing relationships 3

Leverage board connections 4

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Goal: You’d like to establish a new

relationship with the corporate social

responsibility director at a corporate

foundation

1

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Drive strategic partnerships

1) Identify a

partnership

you’re working

to foster

2) Search to find

the right

contacts

3) Narrow the list

to the people

you need to

connect with

4) See how you’re

connected and

ask for an

introduction

1

15

Goal: your organization decides to build a

deeper relationship with a foundation that

supports your issue area

2

Establish key institutional relationships

(like with foundations and corporations)

40% response rate* if

common connection is

mentioned

80% response rate* if the

common connection works

at your prospect’s company

and knows the prospect well

2

How can you get more

responses?

*On average. Statistics based on LinkedIn data on InMail response rates.

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Goal: managing existing funder relationships

is key to future success, so we want to

continually build relationships with our

important allies

3

Cultivate existing relationships 3

Daily insights are delivered to your news feed, so that you can keep on

top of major developments with your connections.

19

Don’t skip your

morning coffee…

Take 10 minutes each morning

to read updates, comment on

posts, and reach out with

relevant messages.

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Quick Poll

How many board members does your organization

have?

a. 0-10

b. 10-20

c. 20-50

d. 50-100+

e. N/A

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Leverage board connections 4

Where can you start?

Make your profile a resource!

Add a picture (11x more views)

Include a creative headline

Create a personal summary

Show, don’t tell – video goes a

long way

Fill out the volunteer & causes

section

Pro tip

24

Stuck in bored meetings?

Best Practice – Board Members

Connect with all of your board members!

Run through your target list of donors /

prospects and identify where relationships

exist – either with your board or across your

network.

Before a meeting, look up attendees on

LinkedIn – are they connected to anyone you

know? Are they connected to your board?

“Profiles Also Viewed” is a great way to

expand your view on LinkedIn

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Pro tip

Best Practice – Volunteers

Ask volunteers to add their work with

you to their LinkedIn profile

Build an auto-response:

When a volunteer signs up, send

them an automated email asking

them to include their involvement

on their LinkedIn profile

Summarize events in blog posts, and

ask your volunteers to share on with

their networks on LinkedIn

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Pro tip

Pro tip review

2 Connect with all your board members

1 Make your profile a resource

3 Have volunteers add your cause to their profile

4 Make LinkedIn a regular part of your operations

5 Reach out to nonprofitsolutions@linkedin.com

Steps you can take today to start social fundraising

Demo time

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This approach is all

about building

relationships that will

make your fundraising

efforts more

successful.

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Other LinkedIn resources for nonprofits

Find employees

- 50% off a full time job posting

Find board members / volunteers

- 90% off a job posting for a volunteer

or board member

General resources

- Case studies, tip sheets

Advanced search – great free tool

nonprofit.linkedin.com

Email us –

nonprofitsolutions@linkedin.com