Where to Find Volunteers Online and How to Reach Them

Published on Oct 22, 2024

If your nonprofit struggles to reliably find the volunteers you need, you’re not alone.

Of the 5,073 global nonprofit professionals surveyed for The Impact Insight: Nonprofit Hiring, Volunteering, and Board Participation, 42% reported difficulty finding or attracting volunteers who have the specific skills their organization needs. What’s more, 40% said it’s difficult to find or attract volunteers who truly care about their nonprofit’s mission and cause.

The most effective way to recruit skilled, mission-aligned volunteers isn’t necessarily to reach as many people as possible. Instead, consider who is most likely to volunteer with your nonprofit — then find ways to get this group’s attention.

Where to find volunteers online

Professional networking platforms like LinkedIn can be a great place to reach potential volunteers, especially for skills-based roles. If you haven’t tried using LinkedIn for volunteer recruitment yet, you may be missing out on a wealth of skilled and engaged volunteer talent.

To get a sense of how internet users feel about volunteering, The Impact Insight report surveyed 2,636 LinkedIn members and 2,636 non-members. The report found that, compared to the average internet user, LinkedIn members are more likely to:

Currently volunteer or have volunteered at a nonprofit (71% vs. 55%)
Express interest in starting to volunteer or volunteering more (75% vs. 58%)

Have experience volunteering at at least two nonprofits (61% vs. 57%)

LinkedIn members’ interest in nonprofit volunteering isn’t just theoretical. Two out of three nonprofit professionals surveyed for The Impact Insight report said they’ve successfully sourced new volunteers on LinkedIn.

How to find volunteers online

As a platform designed to connect the dots between talent and opportunity, LinkedIn offers a range of features that you can use to find and reach out to the right people for your volunteering roles.

Here are a few ways you can use these features as you begin your volunteer search.

Write enticing descriptions of your volunteer opportunities

Using LinkedIn to post your volunteer opportunities has several advantages — especially if you carefully define your target audience first.

The most effective volunteer job postings on LinkedIn both explain the opportunity and demonstrate why your audience would want to participate. Follow these best practices when drafting your post:

Be as clear as possible about the skills you’re looking for, the nature of the work, and the time commitment.
Break your post into easily scanned sections.
Focus on the impact the position will have on your organization and the community you serve
Use your employer brand to stand out and draw prospects in.

You can also utilize the LinkedIn Volunteer Marketplace to make posting volunteer opportunities on LinkedIn quick and easy. Simply connect your nonprofit’s LinkedIn Page to your free VolunteerMatch account and opportunities that you post on VolunteerMatch.org will be automatically posted to LinkedIn, too.

Make the most of the search function

In some instances, you may need to find someone with highly specific skills or experience. Posting a volunteer opportunity and hoping that it reaches the niche talent you’re targeting may not generate the response you want — but that doesn’t mean the talent isn’t out there.

You can use the LinkedIn search bar to identify professionals with the specific job titles, experience, or skills you’re looking for. Once you’ve generated an initial list of LinkedIn members, filter your results based on factors like location, industry, profile language, and more.

Approaching people directly about volunteering may be intimidating, but keep in mind that 3 in 4 surveyed LinkedIn members are interested in volunteering more than they do now. Presenting an opportunity to give back that’s closely aligned with their skill set can help you make meaningful new connections for your organization.

Personalize your outreach

Whether you’re reaching out to a potential volunteer, hire, donor, or corporate partner, your initial outreach message can set the tone for the relationship, so it’s important to position it right.

To contact most members on LinkedIn, you’ll first need to connect with them. Increase your chances of receiving a response by selecting the “add a note” option when sending your request and explaining a little about who you are and why you’re reaching out.

Alternatively, if your organization uses LinkedIn Recruiter as part of its hiring efforts, you can dedicate some of your monthly allocation of InMail messages to contact people directly — even if you’re not connected. Recruiter also gives you the ability to filter searches based on people who follow your nonprofit’s LinkedIn Page, making it easy to identify potential volunteers who are already aware of your organization and more likely to be receptive to your outreach.

These outreach best practices can help you make a great first impression:

Address the person by name.
Include specific details about the opportunity and why you thought of them.
Highlight how their skills could make a real difference for the communities you serve.
Provide clear next steps.

Keep your first message concise — you can share more information after they respond.

Even if a person passes on the volunteering opportunity this time, establishing a connection may benefit your nonprofit in the long term. Invite them to follow your LinkedIn Page if they don’t already and let them know your door is always open if they’re interested in getting involved. Who knows? By putting your nonprofit on their radar today, they may support you in an even bigger way in the future.