Five ways charities can navigate LinkedIn

Since its beginnings in 2002, LinkedIn has dramatically evolved. Once a place to search for jobs or post recruitment ads, many users now also share personal stories or even play games.  

But at its core, LinkedIn remains a professional networking site – with more than 1.2 billion members, in more than 200 countries and regions worldwide. Forty-four per cent of LinkedIn users are between 25 and 34 years old, and the majority are professionals with higher levels of income.   

How charities can use LinkedIn 

As an organisation, you can: 

To get started, take a look at LinkedIn’s non-profits hub, which shares information on how charities can best use the platform, as well as our LinkedIn 101.

Five ways charities can benefit from using LinkedIn 

Increasing awareness of your cause  

Having a strong presence on LinkedIn will grow awareness of your cause. Make sure your branding is consistent with your website and other social media profiles – this will help to increase your brand recognition and build trust. And post regularly (avoiding weekends) to build your network and raise awareness, both of your mission and the work you do to achieve it.   

Regular posts needn’t be complex. The National Trust often posts short, snappy, light-hearted posts, such as this one encouraging people to ‘Stop climbing the corporate ladder. Climb trees instead’. 

LinkedIn analytics can give you an insight into what content works best for your charity. That might be, for example, how many views and comments a post receives. This valuable information can help you to create content that resonates with your network. You can also find out who follows or visits your Page and their demographics, helping you to better understand your audience. LinkedIn has a detailed guide on how nonprofits can use analytics.  

Recruiting staff, trustees and volunteers  

LinkedIn is an obvious, and effective, place to advertise job vacancies: 79% of jobseekers in the UK use LinkedIn during their job search. Advertising can be as simple as posting about the vacancy. Or to more actively find candidates, you could use the advanced search filters on the LinkedIn Recruiter tool (which can be handy for hard-to-fill roles).  

LinkedIn is also a good platform for establishing your charity as a great employer, giving an insight into your culture, and showing the impact people can have by working at your charity. You can do this by featuring staff and volunteer stories, like this powerful post from RNLI, which shows an RNLI lifeguard being reunited with a woman whose life he saved.  

You might also want to encourage staff, volunteers, and trustees to post about their work achievements on their individual accounts. This will help to build your LinkedIn community.   

Connecting with funders, corporate partners, and fundraisers 

Sharing success stories can inspire others to support you – whether that’s as a funder, corporate partner, or as an individual fundraiser. Showing the impact of your work showcases what you do and can motivate others to champion your cause.  

You could promote a fundraising event that prompts an individual to sign up, connect with potential funders, or trusts to demonstrate your credibility, or publicly thank a corporate partner that has supported you. Make sure you tag any individuals or organisations you mention. For example, DENS, which supports people facing homelessness in Dacorum, used LinkedIn to thank fundraisers who completed a sky dive. This feel-good post demonstrates local support and signposts for others wanting to take part in a DENS event. 

Collaborating across the sector  

Building your charity’s network on LinkedIn can allow you to showcase expertise, share research, and learn from others. Some of the ways you can do this include:  

Supporting staff development 

Supporting staff development can both fill skills gaps and keep your team motivated. One way to train and develop staff is to use LinkedIn Learning. The platform has over 21,000 courses on a whole range of topics, including communication skills, generative AI, and sustainability skills.  

Helpfully the learning is all self-paced, so that your team can fit in learning around their work schedules. And LinkedIn offers subscription plans and free trials, as well as a discount for eligible non-profits.