Using Key Moments to Boost Stakeholder Engagement
Building stakeholder engagement at your nonprofit is all about rallying people around your central cause or focus. This dynamic is at the heart of all thriving nonprofits: a shared enthusiasm that drives everybody involved to invest wholeheartedly and produce great results.
To create and maintain this dynamic, it’s important to find specific opportunities that can be leveraged to reinforce and energize stakeholder engagement. Calendar-based moments like events and holidays that are relevant to your nonprofit’s cause can serve as excellent fits for this purpose.
The International Day of Charity is an excellent example of a date that can propel nonprofit staff and other stakeholders into action. Its emphasis on giving and philanthropy is meaningful to virtually any nonprofit organization.
Using this example, let’s explore some ways you can use LinkedIn and other platforms to capitalize on key moments and rally stakeholder engagement.
What is the International Day of Charity?
Observed annually on September 5, the International Day of Charity was established in 2012 by the United Nations General Assembly to raise awareness around charity-related topics worldwide. The date was chosen to commemorate the death of Mother Teresa.
Stakeholder engagement is core to the mission statement of the International Day of Charity, which the United Nations explains “was established with the objective of sensitizing and mobilizing people, NGOs [nongovernmental organizations], and stakeholders all around the world to help others through volunteer and philanthropic activities.”
Now that it has existed for more than a decade, the International Day of Charity has become well known, leading to significantly increased interest in charitable activities during this part of the year. The question for nonprofits is: How can you best capitalize on this time-bound rise in interest and awareness, be it for the International Day of Charity or any other moment that ties to your nonprofit and what it seeks to accomplish?
Boosting stakeholder engagement around key moments and initiatives
Here are some tactics and techniques your nonprofit can use to harness the momentum of commonly recognized holidays, events, and moments on the calendar.
Create and curate thematically aligned content.
Sharing relevant content around dates such as the International Day of Charity or National Nonprofit Day that are on your nonprofit stakeholders’ radar can be a great way to spark immediate resonance. Plan intentionally around these dates in your nonprofit’s content calendar to ensure you’ll have material lined up that taps into the buzz.
Sticking with the International Day of Charity, here are some examples of content you might consider publishing in the lead-up or on the date itself:
Impact stories and testimonials relating to charitable actions.
Behind-the-scenes content showcasing the work your nonprofit does.
Infographics, blog posts, and social media content designed to educate your audience about the scale of the problem you’re tackling — and the impact you’ve helped drive so far.
- Social media challenges, polls, or pledge drives.
You can also curate and share content published by others, which is likely to be more plentiful during these periods of heightened attention.
In addition to dates that your organization has planned content around, keep an eye out for opportunities to drive greater reach and engagement by adding your point of view or drawing thematic connections to timely topics. For inspiration, here’s a recent post our team created during the Olympics:
Encourage employees and volunteers to speak up (and help them do so).
Not everyone involved with your nonprofit will necessarily be aware of calendar moments like the International Day of Charity or the story behind them. Make efforts to educate your stakeholders on why these dates matter, so that they can educate others.
You can also explore ways to capture and elevate the voices of organizational stakeholders. For example, you might ask various people at your nonprofit what “charity” means to them. Then, with their permission, you could aggregate and share those responses in a post on your nonprofit’s LinkedIn Page. Tag the people you include to encourage them to engage with the post and share it with their network.
Not only can timely, employee-driven content help to boost team engagement, but it can also have a powerful effect on your nonprofit’s employer brand.
Use stakeholder personas to tailor your engagement strategy.
One of the best ways to drive lasting stakeholder engagement at nonprofits is by creating personas that help you understand the priorities and preferences of different stakeholder groups.
Try developing Ideal Stakeholder Profiles that account for a number of key considerations, such as what appeals to them, what are their goals, and what has motivated them in the past. Let these profiles guide your approach to content and outreach, helping you create a more nuanced and tailored strategy.
For instance, the International Day of Charity might mean something very different to a major donor than it does to a first-time volunteer. Adjusting your messaging and call to action depending on who you’re trying to engage and what you want them to do can make a huge difference.
Engaging stakeholders new and old is critical to your nonprofit’s success. Learn how LinkedIn Sales Navigator can help your nonprofit engage with more people who can move your mission forward today.
