Tag Archives: volunteering

February 25, 2013

Boost engagement and likes on Facebook

WWF Facebook

3 ways nonprofits can boost their social interaction

Guest post by Jim Belosic

For nonprofits, money and resources are often tight, but social media is free to use and can be a very effective fundraising and volunteer-recruiting aid.

Facebook in particular is one of the most powerful online resources a nonprofit organization can use. Those who choose to fully leverage the platform are at major advantage because it’s the perfect place to rally together sponsors, supporters and volunteers. Continue reading →

October 30, 2012

How to recruit and manage volunteers

To get the most out of volunteers, start with plan

Target audience: Cause organizations, nonprofits, NGOs, volunteer centers, social enterprises.

Guest post by Susannah Vila

If you’ve completed some successful social actions, chances are you have an opportunity to bring some new people onto your campaign or into your program.

Begin recruiting volunteers, but remember how important it is to have a plan for managing them.

Assess your needs

1First, take some time to assess the needs of your organization and how you could use the help of volunteers. What type of support are you looking for?

Direct-service volunteers provide hands-on services such as general office support, serving as translators, helping with events and soliciting donations. Skilled pro-bono volunteers are individuals or company employees volunteering their professional skills like Web design, accounting and marketing. Continue reading →

November 15, 2011

How to use LinkedIn pages for your nonprofit

John HaydonNoland Hoshino, who created the LinkInLog from SMO Books, shares three ways you can use the new LinkedIn Company Pages to bring out the human side of your nonprofit. Recently, LinkedIn has made some changes that allow your nonprofit to have more of a presence on LinkedIn. In the video above, Noland talks about the ways nonprofits can optimize their Company Page and bring more attention to their cause.

For starters, if you don’t have a Company Page that represents your nonprofit, you should create one. One of the newer features that you can use your Company Page for is to send out a message to your followers as your nonprofit organization. Previously, you had to send the message out as an individual who worked at the nonprofit. This allows you to have more of an organizational voice on LinkedIn.

linkedinAnother way to strengthen your brand and build awareness for your organization is by encouraging your staff, members and volunteers to add the “Volunteer and Causes” field to their profile. Anyone on LinkedIn who indicates that they are involved with your nonprofit will also appear on your Company Page, which creates a greater sense of community around your cause. And, don’t forget about linking up your other social media accounts with your Company Page. By attaching your Twitter feed to your Page, you are providing your followers and people searching on LinkedIn with more ways of keeping up with your nonprofit.

In addition to these tips, Noland recently published the LinkedIn Log, a pocket-size guide book to help organizations get more out of LinkedIn.

Here are some of the topics you’ll find covered inside the LinkedIn Log:

  • An easy-to-follow guide to identify your LinkedIn goals
  • A simple action plan for building and connecting with your network
  • How to Optimize Your Professional Profile
  • How to Personalize Your Introductions
  • How to Utilize Your Network Connections

How are you using LinkedIn?

Related

• Highlights of LinkedIn’s new program for nonprofits (Socialbrite)

• Nonprofit strategies for getting more out of LinkedIn (Socialbrite)

• 8 simple ways to optimize your LinkedIn profile (Socialbrite)

• Using Twitter & LinkedIn to promote your event (Socialbrite)

• How to use LinkedIn to promote your blog (Socialbrite)

• LinkedIn for Nonprofits

June 14, 2010

How to get involved and give back this summer

This originally appeared as a guest post on VolunteerSpot’s Summer of Service blog series.

Sloane BerrentIknow what many people say. They want to give back but they don’t know how. They want to get involved and volunteer in their community but they don’t know where to start. Well, we’re here to help!

In just one hour, you’ll have the ideas, tools, resources and motivation to get started. So let’s start this summer off with a new sense of how to give back.

For a lot of people, they go online to volunteer websites and start scrolling through the options. Everything looks good, or nothing, or somewhere in between, and they’re not sure what to pick. This is the vortex of indecision, and not where you should start!

First, block an hour from your calendar when you won’t be distracted and can sit and focus on the task at hand. Sit in a comfortable place with a blank piece of paper or in front of a blank document on your computer (with your browser closed!) and follow along with the exercise below. You’ll be identifying the key components needed to finding a nonprofit right for you and then we’ll provide the resources where you can find that match. Ready? Let’s go!

Write down the names of nonprofits that interest you. These can be nonprofits you’ve donated to in the past — maybe you’ve participated in a walk or event or have read about a cause or charity and are interested in learning more. Geographic location doesn’t matter; just start making creating a list of those nonprofits.

Write down the type of nonprofits or causes that you’re passionate about. My list would look something like: economic development, grassroots environmental groups, women’s issues (specifically girls’ education and financial literacy), health issues (specifically malaria prevention and treatment) and poverty alleviation. For you maybe it’s children or pets or house building. There is no right number to write down, if the list gets longer than five, prioritize your list to make going back later and looking at it easier for you. Continue reading →