Are You Seeking Professionals?

If you are a non-profit, governmental agency, or other institution, it can be difficult to find volunteers for your organisation, especially if you need a volunteer with a highly specialised skill set, such as that of a treasurer, secretary, or other professional.  According to a study by The Australian Society for Association Professionals, the members of many organisations are increasingly turning to their associations as their leading source for news and information about their industry, and these same members expect their groups to be a source of authority, a voice for influence within their profession. So now, more than ever, the professional qualifications and abilities of the person that your organisation selects counts more than ever.

How can you find great candidates to fill your group’s volunteer positions?  The answer may be as close as your next Tweet or targeted Facebook ad.

Today’s busy professionals are increasingly turning to social media to stay connected with the persons, places, things and even products and businesses that they care about.  Why should the associations and organisations that they are involved with be any different?  Social Media can be an incredibly efficient, low cost way of advertising a product or a position.  To be effective, you will want to keep the following tips in mind when you are using social media to locate your next recruit and get them to commit.

Have A Clear Online Presence Before You Advertise Your Position

Before you tell the world that you are seeking volunteers for your organisation, make certain that your association already has a website that clearly states its goals and mission and provides information about the sort of work that your group does.  Having a link on your group’s site that lists the benefits of volunteering with you, as well as contact information for potential recruits, can be very helpful to your efforts to find qualified volunteers.

Utilise Social Media Tools To Your Best Advantage

Facebook and other social media outlets often have tools to help you find out what members and other individuals are already saying about your group.  Oftentimes you can find a qualified volunteer simply by looking at those individuals who frequently like and comment on the status updates of your organisation, and Facebook offers you the ability to target your help wanted ads to those individuals so that you can ensure that you are controlling your ad costs and only targeting those with an interest in your cause.  Other social media tools, such as Google Search, can help you find individuals who are already interested in your group’s mission but who may not yet be affiliated with your association.

You can discover more helpful tips about how to use social media to find your next treasurer or other volunteer professional in this recent article at the online magazine, Third Sector.

Is Social Influence Important?

Once upon a time fundraising was all about knocking on doors, making hundreds of lamingtons or selling raffle tickets. These days with the rise in popularity of social media comes a new way to raise money; through online social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, blogs or LinkedIn. Not only are these methods free to use, the potential audience reach can mean a very successful campaign for a non-profit organisation.

Facebook

Aside from creating a page for your campaign and starting a fundraiser via a Facebook page, one of the most well-known social fundraising tools is called Facebook Causes.

Twitter

Also has a special platform called Twitplay. Twitplay works especially well because of the viral nature of Twitter – donations are created based on re-tweets which means more visibility and in turn, more donations.

Blog

Create a blog post, or series of blog posts on your fundraising campaign, your organisation, personal testimonials or stories using photos, videos and guest bloggers. This will create a more personal side to your non-profit organisation instead of just being seen as a large organisation.

You can also add a PayPal button at the end of the post (or posts) which will encourage and motivate people to donate.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn gets far less attention than other social networking sites but if used cleverly, it can really generate big business for non-profits by building on connections. LinkedIn also has search tools which will enable you to locate and find excellent prospects. You can target your search geographically, by industry or by keywords.

If you want to know more about LinkedIn and the first steps you should take, there is an excellent blog post entitled Getting to know LinkedIn written by Gayle Roberts.

So, back to the question – is social influence important? Without a doubt, yes. It is an essential way to raise money and awareness of a campaign in modern times and without it your non-profit organisation is not only missing out on potential sources for raising funds, but also awareness for your cause.