Innovative Ideas: LinkedIn for Fundraising

Sally Boucher, CFRE, Director of Research, WealthEngineQaya Thompson, Development Prospect Research Analyst, Yale-New Haven Hospital

Jeremy Woolf, Director of Marketing, CCS

Sponsored by

2Today’s PresentersEmail any questions after today’s session to:

Qaya Thompsonqaya.thompson@ynhh.org

Sally Bouchersboucher@wealthengine.com

Jeremy Woolfjwoolf@ccsfundraising.com

3Agenda

Introduction

LinkedIn & the Social Landscape

Game of True or False & Demo

Q&A

LinkedIn & the Social Landscape

5The Social Media Landscape

6Why LinkedIn

LinkedIn has over 100M US members and 300M total

According to a May 2012 Survey of 1,900 LinkedIn members, 87% trust LinkedIn as a source of information affecting decision making

LinkedIn members skew older, have higher incomes and are better educated than any other social network

 15% work in technology, 12% in finance, 11% are entrepreneurs

7How Nonprofits use LinkedIn

Create and expand their communities of supporters with company pages– With frequent status updates – With pictures and video– Optimized and encouraged to share

Research and verify data on prospects and donors– Employment– Education– Interests– Volunteerism

Find new prospects– Within groups– Within Company page followers– Using first, second and third degree

connections Gain insights into donors lives

– Job changes– Moves– Milestones

Hiring and Recruitment

8Poll of the Room: By a show of hands…

Raise your hand if you are using LinkedIn personally.

Raise your hand if you or your team is using LinkedIn for prospect research.

Raise your hand if you or your team is using LinkedIn for prospecting.

Raise your hand if your team is using LinkedIn for fundraising.

Raise your hand if your organization has an active LinkedIn group or company page.

9How Yale-New Haven Hospital Uses LinkedIn for Research

Use LinkedIn to verify

Name

Interests

School Informatio

n

Employment/

Title

10Research Process at YNHH

Prospect Identification(Reactive & Proactive)

Research and cross-reference using LinkedIn,

Facebook, LexisNexis, WealthEngine, Foundation Directory Online, Google,

Forbes

Output is footnoted profile

Game of True or False

True or False?

“LinkedIn data is self-reported and not to be

trusted.”

12

• LinkedIn is just another form of social media where people share information about themselves. Where you get a foot up in LinkedIn versus Facebook or Twitter – LinkedIn is geared towards marketing oneself.

• You get more concise information without a ton of personal effects.

• Although there may be some securities in place, people want to be seen on LinkedIn. They are going to put their business information, school information; and other things that are helpful to research & fundraising; at the forefront.

FALSE!1

3

• Always cross-reference what information is listed in LinkedIn with at least 2 other sources.

• Sometimes things are out of date

• Sometimes people aren’t completely honest

Keep in Mind1

4

True or False?

“You need LinkedIn Premium to get anything out of LinkedIn.”

15

16FALSE!

The free version of LinkedIn can help you with your researching, prospecting and networking

For free, you can:

– View in depth profiles

– Identify board members

– Search based on non-profit interests

The Premium version helps with running more advanced searches (to be included in demo)

17Where is the Data in a LinkedIn Profile?

18Get Information On…

Education

Current employment

Past employment

Email address

Phone

Address

Social Media

Network

Website

19What Else?

Birthday

Board Involvement

Organizational Involvement

Hobbies

20Run a Search

21A Free Account Lets You Filter

Location

Company

Industry

Past Company

School

Profile Language

Nonprofit Interests

22A Premium Account Lets You Filter

Groups

Years of Experience

Function

Seniority Level

Interested In

Company Size

Fortunate (50, 100, 500, 1000)

When Joined

23Demo Time: Free & Premium

True or False?

“It is possible to do a “LinkedIn screening” to obtain employment and

other information on your constituents.”

24

25TRUE!

There are several companies that use LinkedIn as a data source for employment screenings

– Match to LinkedIn uses name, school, graduation year and matches at about 10%

– Other sources include:

• Zoom Info (proximate match – no degree or school info) is about 10%

• State and federal filings (doctors, lawyers, business licenses) represents another 10-15%

26Employment Screening Success

James Madison University

– Did an employment screen of the portion of their 112,000 data base for which they had NO employment information

– Received 30% back with employment data. File includes company name and title, as well as LinkedIn URL

27Best Practices

Right-size expectations

Have a plan to use the information

Must have a place to import data to in your CRM or DMS

Company name

Title

URL

Industry

True or False?

“LinkedIn can be used for fundraising relationship building

with major gift prospects.”

28

29TRUE!

Nearly 49% of LinkedIn users have incomes over $100K; Executives with average income of $104K make up 28% of users

LinkedIn members in the U.S. have an average household income of $83,000 per year (compared to Facebook & Twitter user average incomes of $25K to $52K)

LinkedIn members have twice the purchasing power of the average U.S. consumer

Average age of a LinkedIn user is 44.2 years; 79% of LinkedIn users are 39 or older

3 million are MBA graduates, 1.39 million are Ivy League alumni, and 7 million are C-level executives, presidents, and VPs

30Best Practices for Connecting

Ask your connections for an off-line introduction

Groups are key

As part of the follow up from a meeting, personalize a request to connect via LinkedIn

Ask if they will serve as a connector to their network

True or False?

“LinkedIn provides tools for finding board members.”

31

32TRUE!

Proactively search LinkedIn for talent / interest

Posting open board roles

“LinkedIn Board Member Connect” program helps with board recruitment through exclusive training, a peer community, and access to advanced premium tools

Less than $50 per posting

33Finding Board Members on LinkedIn

You must include the words “Volunteer Board Member” at the start of your title, as in “Volunteer Board Member (HR Expertise)

You must include “LinkedIn for Good Volunteering” in the job description section of the post

BoardSource

nonprofits.linkedin.com/find-board-members.html

34Other Non-Profit Resources Available on ‘LinkedIn for Nonprofits’nonprofits.linkedin.com

True or False?

“LinkedIn is used for job searching/marketing and not for

fundraising.”

35

• LinkedIn is ideal for fundraising.• Use your profile as a starting point to

spread the word on what you are fundraising for.• If you are a company/organization

– you can use your company page.• You can add a donation page link to

your profile to make it easier to secure donations.

• Groups can be specifically created to steer people towards your fundraising goal.

FALSE!3

6

• Your fundraising on LinkedIn should stay true to your organization’s cause.

• Make the ability to give as simple and easy as possible.– You may lose interest and donations if

the process is too complicated or cumbersome.

Keep in Mind3

7

True or False?

“I don’t know a lot of people, therefore I shouldn’t join

groups.”

38

• Groups are a great way to get to know people.

• If you cannot find a group that pertains to you or what you need from LinkedIn – you can create one.

• You can use in-mail to send out the word and invite people to join your group.• Target specific groups so you get just

what you need.• You have total control – the group can be

public or private with limited members.

FALSE!3

9

40

• There are over 2.1M groups on LinkedIn

• Approx. 200 conversations take place per minute in groups

• There are 8,000 new groups created every week on LinkedIn.

• In 2011 81% of LinkedIn members belonged to at least one group – with 52% participating in group conversations.

• LinkedIn members on average join 7 groups – How many are you in? (12)

A Few Interesting Tidbits About LinkedIn Groups

41

To find and connect with people who have an interest and passion for your cause, find groups related to the mission:

– Check the profiles of your top supporters and advocates

– Search LinkedIn using the Groups option using keywords such as Wildlife, Hunger, Addiction, Education, Global, etc.

– When you find a group that fits, find out what other groups the active members are members of

– Provide valuable content and thoughtful discussion - DON’T spam by promoting your nonprofit without adding value

The Value of Groups

42Industry Groups to Consider Joining

To find and connect with others in your profession who can provide mentoring, networking and keep your finger on the pulse of our profession:

– APRA – Your Partners in Fundraising

– Association for Healthcare Philanthropy

– Association of Advancement Services Professionals AASP

– Council for Advancement and Support of Education

– Fundraising Analytics Forum

– International Prospect Research Network

– On Fundraising – Official Group of AFP IHQ

– Researchers in Fundraising

– The Chronicle of Philanthropy

43Questions & Discussion

Appendices

44

45LinkedIn Terminology

Connections – Connections are other registered users who you know personally on LinkedIn. Although you can invite anyone to be a connection, they will need to set up an account to use the site.

Second-degree connections – These are the connections that your connections have. For example, you’re friends with Bill, who is directly connected with his boss. Bill’s boss is a second-degree connection for you.

Third-degree connection – Any connections from your second-degree connects are third-degree connections. So, Bill’s boss’s connections would be your third-degree connections.

Profile page – This is your personal page on LinkedIn. All registered users with LinkedIn can view it (unless you set it to be a private page). Your profile page can list your education, past work history, current and past projects, groups and associations, and more. Users can also forward your profile page to contacts on their lists. You can also make your profile page “public” so that anyone (even people not on LinkedIn) can view it.

46LinkedIn Terminology (cont.)

Company Pages - Think of Company Pages as your business website on LinkedIn. Other LinkedIn members use your Company Pages to research and stay up to date about changes and events at your company. You can generate prospects from people visiting your Company Pages, and LinkedIn makes Company Pages personal by providing available information about the people working at your company. According to LinkedIn, Company Pages "reveal the human side of your company.“

Groups - Members on LinkedIn may create Groups and join Groups. Groups are smaller networks on LinkedIn; they are sometimes private, and so only members may post and read other posts. This is a useful way for businesses to communicate with each other. Open Groups may be read by any LinkedIn member. Open Groups serve as a way of communicating with other Group members and doing a little advertising at the same time.

47

476 Tips For Consideration

Tip 1: Know Your Privacy Settings

Tip 2: Use LinkedIn as a FIRST Resource for Verifying Employment, Title, Company

Tip 3: Use LinkedIn as a resource for finding or verifying professional connections

Tip 4: Use LinkedIn as a resource for finding or verifying school connections

Tip 5: Use LinkedIn for finding “nice to know” information for profiles and conversation starters

Tip 6: Use LinkedIn for donor insights

Tip 7: Follow Accepted Ethical Guidelines

48Follow Accepted Ethical Guidelines

Don’t include information in a profile that you would be uncomfortable having the prospect see

Do not pretend to be someone else on the internet

On profiles, indicate the source of material included from social media

Be aware and transparent that the information gathered in social media is self-reported

Develop a policy regarding how research and/or front line fundraisers will contact and connect with prospects on social media

APRA Statement of Ethics

AFP Donor Bill of Rights

AFP Social Media Sample Policies