Find donors and sponsors.
Learn how to identify potential donors and corporate sponsors on LinkedIn.
1. Create ideal donor profiles ↓
2. Develop a keyword list ↓
3. Identify prospective donors with the Search feature ↓
4. Take your donor search to the next level with LinkedIn Sales Navigator ↓
5. Send connection requests to ideal donors ↓
6. Monitor donor engagement with your posts ↓
7. Maintain relationships with your followers ↓
Create ideal donor profiles.
Ideal donor profiles are high-level summaries of what the people and organizations most likely to donate to your cause have in common. Creating ideal donor profiles can help target your LinkedIn searches for financial support.
Start creating your ideal donor profiles by reviewing your list of current donors to look for demographic, behavioral, and interest patterns.
This could include:
• Geographic location relevant to your cause
• Job titles or employers similar to existing donors
• Relevant volunteer or board experience
• Interest expressed in similar nonprofits and causes
• Common connections with your Page or your employees
• Membership to LinkedIn Groups related to your cause
• Sharing posts related to your cause
Update your ideal donor profiles regularly as you learn new information. When you secure a new major gift donation, for example, check the donor’s LinkedIn profile to see how well it aligns with your current understanding and update accordingly.
For more detailed information on ideal donor profiles, read How to Create Ideal Donor Profiles When Fundraising for Nonprofit Organizations.
Develop a keyword list.
Before you begin searching on LinkedIn for prospective donors that match your ideal donor profiles, carefully consider the words and phrases you would use to discover these individuals via a search. Use these to build a keyword list related to your donor profiles.
Consider keywords related to:
• The volunteer opportunities available at your organization
• The people or places your nonprofit helps
• The category of help your organization offers (ex: legal assistance, immigration support, disaster relief, etc.)
• Your organization’s geographic location or service area
You can test these keywords by running searches on LinkedIn. When you discover keywords that help you find individuals that match your ideal donor profiles, make sure to add them to your keyword list to help with future searches.
Run a targeted search.
One of the best ways to find donors on LinkedIn for your nonprofit is to search for people with a passion for your cause. Use your keyword list and ideal donor profiles as a jumping-off point for searches.
For example, you might find new donors by searching for people who mention “poverty alleviation” on their profile, then use filters to find people who match your specific criteria, like having the job title of CEO. Once you find a profile you’re interested in, search it using the command/control + F keystroke to find your relevant keywords and explore how the person talks about them.
Explore advanced search tactics.
• Use double quotation marks around words to search for exact phrases.
• Use filters to hone in on companies, people, groups, events, and posts that have a connection to your selected keywords.
• To receive more specific search results, use Boolean search, which means adding “AND,” “OR,” and “NOT” to your search query.
How using Boolean search can narrow your results:
• Adding “OR” can help you find profiles that include one or more terms.
• Adding “AND” can help you find profiles that include multiple words or phrases.
• Adding “NOT” can help you eliminate profiles that feature unwanted keywords.
With LinkedIn Sales Navigator, which is available at a discount to eligible nonprofit organizations, you can search based on more advanced criteria and save successful searches to use again in the future.
Take your donor search to the next level with LinkedIn Sales Navigator.
LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a paid solution that gives your nonprofit organization access to advanced search filters, helping you identify potential major donors and prospects faster.
With LinkedIn Sales Navigator, you can search based on factors like:
• Group membership
• Whether a person follows your organization’s LinkedIn Page
• Whether a person has posted content that mentions your keywords
• Seniority level
• Years in current position
LinkedIn Sales Navigator also allows you to:
Map your network.
Understand who you already know to find the best path forward. Request warm introductions to improve your odds of connecting.
Track prospects.
Keep an eye on prospects’ activity, nurture donor relationships, and spot the right moment to reach out.
Send InMails.
Reach out to almost anyone on LinkedIn, even if you’re not connected, with a monthly InMail (direct message) allocation. If a prospect accepts or replies to your message within 90 days, you’ll get the credit back.
Send connection requests to ideal donors.
When you find people that you think would be interested in learning more about donating to your organization, send them a connection request to open a personal channel of communication. To maximize the chances that your prospective donor will respond to this request, follow these best practices:
• Identify mutual connections and ask for warm introductions whenever possible
• Address the recipient by name
• Highlight any connection they have to your cause
• Mention multiple ways they could help
• Include a clear call to action at the end
• Review for typos before hitting send
• Don’t be afraid to follow up
Once you're connected, invite the donor to follow your nonprofit or send them more information about donating that you think they might be interested in. For more information on how to reach out to potential donors, see best practices for connecting with prospects.
Keep in mind that with LinkedIn Sales Navigator, you can send direct InMails to anyone on LinkedIn, even if they aren’t already connected with you.
Monitor donor engagement with your posts.
Keep a close eye on how your ideal donors are engaging with your nonprofit’s LinkedIn content. Actively monitor each Page post for donor interactions, including views, reactions, comments, and shares. Use what you learn from this engagement to further optimize your content strategy moving forward.
For example, if you notice that your ideal donors tend to interact with posts highlighting the contributions of volunteers, you can start regularly producing those posts for your LinkedIn Page. For more information on creating content your ideal donors will want to interact with, explore ways to use content for fundraising.
This process is easier with Sales Navigator, as the platform allows you to track prospect activity to spot the right moment to reach out.
Maintain relationships with your followers.
Think of every interaction an ideal donor has with your organization’s LinkedIn presence as an opportunity to strengthen your nonprofit’s relationship with them.
If one of your ideal donors comments on one of your organization’s posts, for example, respond quickly and attempt to start a conversation. If they share one of your posts, send them a connection request or InMail where you thank them for the signal-boost and offer more information they may be interested in.
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