Innovative Ideas:
LinkedIn for Fundraising
Sally Boucher, CFRE, Director of Research, WealthEngine
Qaya Thompson, Development Prospect Research Analyst, Yale-New Haven Hospital
Jeremy Woolf, Director of Marketing, CCS
Sponsored by
Today’s Presenters
2
Email any questions after today’s session to:
Qaya Thompson
qaya.thompson@ynhh.org
Sally Boucher
sboucher@wealthengine.com
Jeremy Woolf
jwoolf@ccsfundraising.com
Agenda
3
Introduction
LinkedIn
Game
Q&A
& the Social Landscape
of True or False & Demo
LinkedIn & the Social Landscape
The Social Media Landscape
5
Why LinkedIn
6

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
How 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
7
Poll 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.
8
How Yale-New Haven Hospital Uses LinkedIn for Research

Use LinkedIn to verify
Name
School
Information
Interests
Employment/
Title
9
Research Process at YNHH
Prospect Identification
(Reactive & Proactive)
10
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?
12
“LinkedIn data is self-reported
and not to be trusted.”
FALSE!
• 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.
13
Keep in Mind
• 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
14
True or False?
15
“You need LinkedIn Premium to
get anything out of LinkedIn.”
FALSE!

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)
16
Where is the Data in a LinkedIn Profile?
17
Get Information On…

Education

Current
employment

Past
employment

Email
address

Phone

Address

Social Media

Network

Website
18
What Else?

Birthday

Board Involvement

Organizational Involvement

Hobbies
19
Run a Search
20
A Free Account Lets You Filter
 Location
 Company
 Industry
 Past
Company
 School
 Profile
Language
 Nonprofit
Interests
21
A Premium Account Lets You Filter

Groups

Years of
Experience

Function

Seniority Level

Interested In

Company Size

Fortunate (50,
100, 500, 1000)

When Joined
22
Demo Time: Free & Premium
23
True or False?
24
“It is possible to do a “LinkedIn
screening” to obtain employment and
other information on your constituents.”
TRUE!

25
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%
Employment 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
26
Best Practices
27

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?
28
“LinkedIn can be used for fundraising
relationship building with major gift
prospects.”
TRUE!
29

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 Clevel executives, presidents, and VPs
Best Practices for Connecting
30

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
TRUE!
32
 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
Finding 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-boardmembers.html
33
Other Non-Profit Resources Available on ‘LinkedIn for Nonprofits’
nonprofits.linkedin.com
34
True or False?
“LinkedIn is used for job
searching/marketing and not for
fundraising.”
35
FALSE!
• 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.
36
Keep in Mind
• 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.
37
True or False?
38
“I don’t know a lot of people,
therefore I shouldn’t join groups.”
FALSE!
• 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.
39
40
A Few Interesting Tidbits About
LinkedIn Groups
• 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)
The Value of Groups

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
41
Industry 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
42
Questions & Discussion
43
44
Appendices
LinkedIn 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 thirddegree 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.
45
LinkedIn 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.
46
6 Tips For Consideration
47
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
47

Follow 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
48