LinkedIn Fundraising Webinar for Nonprofits

I am super excited about our special  guest today we have ilk who is here to do a presentation on LinkedIn fundraising it's  more of a webinar style format today but he's given this presentation to non-profits all over  the world for the past 10 years it's evolved we are super lucky to have him so with that  let's welcome Eelco [Music] [Applause] [Music] well welcome milco I am very very very happy  to have you on to do this this webinar of sorts for us because LinkedIn and nonprofits  is a huge

topic it's actually one of our more popular video streams so why don't I just turn  this right over to you and you can begin your presentation sure and thanks Joanne for having  me uh it's always a joy to talk about LinkedIn and to try to help educate non-profits  all over the world on how to use this um which I've been doing for the past 10  years uh in in my roles uh as a Consulting in the international uh fundraising sector  because LinkedIn has grown so much that we cannot ignore it anymore

I mean ignorance is  a decision not to to optimize your fundraising so what I'm about to show is a presentation  and I'll run through it a bit because of time um always open of course for questions afterwards  um but this presentation is really based on practical experience on what I found necessary  that non-profits should be doing could be doing um in their fundraising efforts so I'll start  with a more generic update and background on trends of LinkedIn how it has developed and then  I'll go

into the nuts and bolts of how to apply very practically LinkedIn for your own non-profit  wherever you are in the world so that is the plan and if you're okay with that I'm ready to start  yes no I think that sounds perfect so let's begin so again as I said and I'll do this pretty quickly  because I don't want to do a whole hour I know attention span of people and uh that's usually  mine is short so I I I would want to have myself as an audience and still be engaged at the end  so I want to br

iefly talk about Trends numbers and dynamics of howlington has developed um how we  can use LinkedIn when you go through the steps of the so-called fundraising cycle and then trying  to combine your own personal LinkedIn profile plus the profile of your quote company uh let  me put that right out there LinkedIn uses the word company but that's also a non-profit so  that you know they don't have a separate word like oh you're a non-profit they'll put another  company and what I want to show with

this is like how you can use the world around you and just see  it in a different light and use that to make your non-profit grow in fundraising terms which is also  why I I have this picture of inception which we already know of course great moving which opened  up a completely different world to the actors so General statistics LinkedIn has been growing  I mean if you don't know that you've been living under Iraq I suppose uh and these are just a  couple of Statistics I'm not going to mention

them you can read them and you can just  be impressed and in awe of like how much and how quickly LinkedIn has grown in terms of  members I mean this is already a while back and um I'm going further into the future and the  predictions like we're going to a billion because and mobile people use it daily more and more on  their mobile phones I do that too several times a day and if you look at that this is again back  in time 380 million but then you reach half a billion people were like surprise

d wow Microsoft  bought it and it went and it grew and it kept growing and that is so interesting to see now of  course some growths have gone down a little bit like in the US but in other parts like in Asia  growth really skyrocketed but now at this point you're in such a world that you cannot ignore  LinkedIn anymore if you look at these numbers it's like and I know some countries have their  own forms of LinkedIn like a something that was already there in other countries they're  being out fa

ced or not used as much anymore LinkedIn has been dominating and you cannot  ignore this anymore so if you look at this the sheer number of people actively using  LinkedIn it's just amazing so that means that if you want to get close to them you  better use LinkedIn now of course LinkedIn might have an extra boost because there's not  a social platform which I'm not going to talk about which isn't doing that great that's Twitter  and I'm really curious now this is a projection for the future wil

l LinkedIn grow even more  because of what's happening with LinkedIn I don't know the answer but I'm very very curious  about the statistics of the coming two years or so let's see what what that's kind of right so  if you look at countries now United States is still is still the best but my the specialty has  always been U.S foundations and corporations so of course LinkedIn has been tremendously useful  uh other countries again might be a bit less but it's growing so you have to pay attention

to  LinkedIn and you have to use it strategically um even in countries like Ukraine with a very  young population it is growing and that is great news because it means that even in those areas  where you say like oh who's doing that yes it is happening and you can see here that LinkedIn  is still very much a new phenomenon because look at the age bracket that is mostly using it's 25 to  34 but if you then go to the Netherlands then you see that there's a big chunk of viewers already  that is a g

eneration older so you can see the development this is what's going to happen in many  other countries as well and when I gave a similar presentation like this a couple years ago to  graduating students in the Netherlands I told them you're lucky because you're the first generation  to be able to use LinkedIn strategically for a job search because your boss is a LinkedIn as well  for Ukraine for example that's not the case yet that will happen one generation away  but we can see that development

going on so how does LinkedIn make its money it's again I  won't spend too much time but it basically comes down to three elements and they are making a lot  of money so again some statistics you can just review whenever you have time I won't go into them  but in the end it comes down to Talent Solutions Marketing Solutions and premium subscriptions by  which I mean recruiting you can see that all the time recruiters are really active on LinkedIn  these days recruiters can reach out directly to

you over LinkedIn like the cold approach by  the way which is something I would not advise you to do as a fundraiser but we'll get to that  but that is recruiters have to pay a lot of money to LinkedIn to be able to use this because it's  a trove it's a treasure of talent right there and of course you can uh put your company's  advertised advertisement on LinkedIn so that's the second income stream for LinkedIn together with we  individuals we can pay for premium subscriptions and one of the qu

estions I get a lot is  like for fundraising do I need a previous subscription because it's pretty pricey um and  that is true it is pretty pricey my experience is that as a fundraiser you do not need per se  the premium subscription it will help you in certain elements but if money is really the driver  don't do it I'll let you I'll show you later why so here we are with the fundraising cycle excuse me the fundraising cycle is basically  from A to Z I'm interested in I want to get funding for m

y cause until the moment  that you actually got the funding so which phrases can we discern well let's start  with the identification where are you going to fundraise is it with the individual is it  with a foundation is it with the corporation so just to finding out where are you going to who  are you going to ask for money the second phase would then be to oh I have found this person or  this Foundation how do I get in touch with them what is the best way why would  they be interested in talki

ng to me and then you go over into the cultivation phase  like developing a relationship because no one will give you automatically instantaneously  spontaneously money just because you ask them you will have to build up some kind of rapport  in the end fundraising is very much a People to People business and not a organization to  Foundation business in the end it all comes down to very much people-to-people work so once  you got to know each other and you trust each other then the moment comes

up the so-called  substitution they ask and if the cultivation goes well the ask might actually come from  the donor side they'll say like hey we've now vetted you we've known you we've seen the work  that you do we know that next year we're gonna want to do this program and you might fit in  do you want to talk about that that's often how things start so not with a formal letter but with  a more casual approach build out over this longer process it's like a bit coming back to their  students l

ike finding a job finding a job most of us found a job through connections and through  talking to people and not by sending that letter and then getting an answer it's the same with  fundraising so once you've got the money you go to the stewardship phase and the stewardship  phase means that you appropriately thank the donor for the gift this could be it could be something  on the website or it could be the opposite some donors don't want to be mentioned at all  anyway that it doesn't matter a

s long as they know they're acknowledged for the  support they give to your organization so coming back to as we see now  this whole fundraising cycle LinkedIn is going to be mostly strategically of  benefit to your non-profit in the first two phases the identification phase and the  connecting phase let me go into that so generally speaking LinkedIn is of great value this is the best graph I could find  if somebody has a better one perfect um but what it really means is like hey you have  X num

ber of first degree connections they all have their own first degree of connections so you have  many more secondary connections and if you count those including the ones they have as first degree  connections meaning your Authority connections you're suddenly connected to a whole lot of people  and that is that knowledge is of relevance for those two phrases because when you go to the  first part the identification phase how how do you find it oh I want I would like to be in  touch with I don't

know Coca-Cola or with a bank how how do I do that do I just send them  a letter or no you try to find people and Linkedin can help you find those  people on the most informal basis possible three ways especially stand out and that is  through the options of companies groups and people and I took a screenshot of that here when  I um so you have to imagine this is my LinkedIn uh opening page and there's the search bar on the  top and I just entered the word counter-terrorism I used to work in th

at field so I'll close to  that and then these subcategories they will pop up and there you see companies people groups  and I want to highlight those three because they're of extra relevance to the search for  the most informal connection through Linkedin so let's say you go companies and say okay I'm  a hospital that works with children with cancer so what other organizations like mine are  there because I want to know how they get their funding I want to talk to somebody there  I want to mayb

e have a look at their annual report and see if I can find any suggestion  but first I need to know what is my mapping which other organizations have there now well  there you can look with the right buzzwords and sure enough many other organizations  companies will come up and then you can click on those and continue your search  sometimes you already know that you are that you are interested in reaching out to a  certain company or organization like the Gates Foundation you just type that in a

nd it will  come up and then it will also show you like hey um oh I know three people who work there  because it says how many connections first degree connections I have and when I highlight  them say okay I can directly reach out to them that is to say if you know them well enough  because we all have connections that's a bit of a a warning here we all have connections on  LinkedIn with people that we don't know so well or we would be let me put it this way uncomfortably  I'm comfortable with

to ask them for uh advice or suggestions or help so make sure that the  connection is strong enough this is also part of the reason why I I don't accept cold LinkedIn  requests from people if they don't write as to why they want to be connected I want to have  at least some kind of one-on-one interaction and to understand why they're reaching out to  me what why I am of value to them but also why they would be your value to me in the end this  is a business Network which has to benefit all right

so then but then through this search  option through companies I can see oh wait a minute those three people work there oh I  know this person the best let's reach out to this person and that's how you establish a calm  informal introduction with the Gates Foundation which without LinkedIn I would not have known so  this really opens and I've been using LinkedIn for this type of connecting work more than 10  years and of course over the past 10 years the options have grown because there have be

en  more and more people using LinkedIn actively when you go to groups that second category  and again we're looking for hospitals who treat children with cancer then um you  see the following options coming up now I remember here I was just going through these  groups like okay that could be interesting and the second one which is called developing drugs for  children with cancer I say wait a minute this group has 157 members but I this guy is second  degree so that could be interesting because

he might have a lot of connections that in in  the fundraising field that I don't know or we might be able to talk to me so I looked him  up and it looked and suddenly I found we have three Connections in common one of which Richard  I know really well and I'm totally comfortable in asking Richard for an introduction on an informal  basis to in this case the Italian so that would be a second way companies groups to get closer to  your fundraising strategy goal by using LinkedIn and so then what

once you have found you you have  identified your your person or your organization or the person within the organization then  what how do you approach them again indicate into the case I just showed you I know some people  already really a really good basis so it's there's no problem I can reach out to them but with  second degree connections that is much harder and so how do you do that it should all be always  be your first goal to be introduced not to do the introduction yourself and be int

roduced means to  have someone reach out to your desired Connection in the most informal way think of it let's say you  work in a bank and everybody wants to do business with you and everybody wants to get funding from  you for their non-profiters and you have heaps of applications of nonprofits it's time consuming you  don't know them and then you get this call from a friend who you know really well and they said well  I know somebody in India who's running this really interesting non-profit do

you think you would  you be up for having a quick phone call with them he's a friend or she's a friend  I trust this person so I say yes and that's what I mean trying to get into the door  through an informal connection without LinkedIn you would not know who your second degree or  first degree of connection is in that cycle so this is why LinkedIn is so important also in  the pitching connecting phase now once you are talking to this person there are different ways  how to convey your message

and as we know most of the message that we convey is through body  language and tone not per se by the words that we say meaning the just the keyboard will  not be your first choice in fact in this day and age of course it's something with a video  that would be best because in-person meeting is always best but that is harder and harder and  it's also participant of them it's more accepted to send somebody a teams or Zoom invite and  to have an introduction like that where you can see each other

where you can hear each  other where you can hear the tone intonation body language and that is absolutely the best  way to start building on that relationship now if you then connect to a person  because that's what you try to do um either before the meeting or after the meeting  LinkedIn will give will tell you can give you the option to add a note they used to hide that option  10 years ago it was almost impossible to finally to find it but LinkedIn has discovered like  if we challenge peopl

e to put in an extra note more there's more a higher degree of acceptance  of invitations mean we will have more members and more exposure and it's good for business so  now you can personalize your invitation and I for example I received this this is at least 10  years ago but when this person ended with warmth and light how can I not accept an invitation that  ends with forms of life I mean that is that person really tried to make a connection and manage to do  so in the end this is very much

people to people the hardest part and I really tell you  the hardest part where the rate of success is lower is when it comes to a third degree  connection that everyone that is just tough um so thinking again of the elements I wanted to be  informally introduced to a third degree connection in the end what you're trying to do is to convert  the third degree connection into a second degree connection that means you have to move up  one layer now how do you do that in which way so you have to try

to lay out all the second  degree connections you have to that third degree and try to see are they working in the same sector  because if they're working in the same sector your chances are going to be highest that they are  willing to make the introduction because LinkedIn is a business Network they are there because  of the content this is not Facebook this is not Twitter this is a business Network so if you  go over the line of the connection on the sector you're it's your best battle it ma

y not always  work and then you have to try to get make your second degree a first degree and then ask that  second degree who has now become a first degree would you mind introducing me too now this is  a lot to ask and this might take you some time because you will need to build up some kind  of relationship with the newly established connection as well but I've done it a couple of  times it did work the informal connection but it's it took me effort this was not as easy going  it took time an

d effort but it's not impossible coming back to an early question  like do we need a premium account I think I've urged the words informal and  introduction now many times enough that reaching out cold to a person on LinkedIn is not  the way to go LinkedIn premium offers exactly that that you can send emails or emails as they call  them directly to people but that comes down to writing an application out of the blue without  knowing without being introduced so in the end if that is really the ma

jor advantage of LinkedIn  for fundraising purposes of the premium account don't bother in the money you can see who who  show who visits your account that's all nice but is it really relevant for fundraising per  se no so my question my answer has always been if you don't want to spend that money you  can absolutely absolutely do this strategic fundraising over LinkedIn without the premier  account unless of course LinkedIn changes things and which they often do but we're talking  January 2023

and so far this still stands so wrapping things up for personal use LinkedIn is  not just a nice profile where you can put things on it is your database it is your CRM it is a  plan that you nurture and grow every day and you have to treat us as such so you really  have to be every day it's going bigger that means every day you have to realize that it's  strategic value with that is growing as well and think from different angles you you now  know you can look and search for people in identifica

tion phase through different ways try  that always try to think also from the perspective of the other why would a person be willing to  talk to you and if that's not completely clear that makes again it underlines how important it  is to be introduced by somebody because the trust open that connection will be stronger than the  interest they have themselves in talking to you they will trust that person that  this is a valuable connection foreign leaving the personal profile aside let's  have a

look at the thank you over non-profits presence on LinkedIn or the company  profile as LinkedIn calls it um that just has to be good and somebody needs  to be dealing with that somebody has to update that put status updates there um good pictures  and then you can grow to the Saint Jude's look at the number of followers they have that means  and you can study them if you have if you find a non-profit or a foundation whoever you want  the competitor of yours that of which you think wow they're do

ing much better than we are on  LinkedIn then study them for a couple of months why are they so much better how often do they  post what do they post is the visuals in the photos it's videos is it stories what what do  they do that they deserve so many followers there's there's never a better Source than your  competitor to learn from when it comes to LinkedIn so here's just a couple of suggestions to um help  Blossom your own companies non-profits profile on LinkedIn and if you Google YouTube t

his some  Search terms you can a little you'll probably be able to find many more tips this is really just  a couple and you see that then combine the two meaning hey we have this company this non-profit  profile on LinkedIn which is great but we're also trying to unearth the knowledge that our staff  has and the connections they have so try to have them follow you and ask for comments and sharing  re-sharing of posts that you have because then you can really get out of your bubble and it  can g

et bigger and bigger because otherwise you will remain invisible and that's not what  you want so the optimal use of both profiles will avoid that from happening but it will take  time this is not an overnight process and has said think strategically have someone within  your organization work on the company page and interact with your staff on how to post boost  whatever is going on on LinkedIn also through the company page well that was amazing thank you so  much which leads to the next portio

n of it which is that content marketing for your non-profits  organizational page and I actually did a video on using LinkedIn newsletters so I'll make sure to  link that in the video as well and I really hope that we get an opportunity to do that presentation  that joint presentation that that we were talking about because with with what you've done here and  then incorporating the content marketing into it and even some ads I mean non-profits it's amazing  what they can do on LinkedIn exactly

and and and you're so much more the expert here than I am and  I'm very curious in your part of this I want to learn too and I'm going to link your contact  information in the description on YouTube and this is probably going to be a podcast as well so  in the show notes on the podcast so that people can reach out to if they have any questions or  need some help but we really appreciate this good no and thank you because um to me I  can do this very hard basically but then you have to do the har

d work and the  editing and all that and I'm really curious about your part of presentation and I  just hope really we can we're gonna get it so um because that would be an awesome piece  of content for any International one product [Music]