LinkedIn’s $18.6 Million In-Kind Gift to Help Nonprofits Attract Skilled Volunteers

LinkedIn renews commitment to social sector and the promise of skilled volunteering

In June of 2014, VolunteerMatch announced a game-changing partnership with LinkedIn For Good that automatically reposts every skilled volunteer opportunity created on VolunteerMatch to LinkedIn’s Volunteer Marketplace — and with it the potential to reach LinkedIn’s 400 million members.

This is the promise of the nonprofit sector partnering with the tech sector to take social change to scale.

Everyday VolunteerMatch is now republishing nearly 40,000 skilled volunteer opportunities from tens of thousands of local causes across the country looking for passionate and talented volunteers.

Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn’s founder, launched the program in 2014 as an extension of LinkedIn doing what it does best — connecting talent with opportunity at massive scale. For VolunteerMatch, it is a high-leverage opportunity to expand the market for skilled volunteering and better serve the 100,000+ nonprofits already using VolunteerMatch to find the volunteers they need.

And the impact goes beyond VolunteerMatch’s nonprofit members. LinkedIn’s Volunteer Marketplace is also working with other exceptional organizations challenging the status quo like Taproot, BoardSource and Catchafire.

Since launch, LinkedIn has become VolunteerMatch’s #1 network partner, engaging nearly a million new volunteers and giving tens of thousands of nonprofits unprecedented access to the volunteer skills they need to advance their mission. It’s matched a wide range of talented professionals with ways to use their experience and skills to help their communities. And it’s brought well-deserved attention to the concept of skills-based volunteering and broadened the concept to include not only consulting and technical skills, but also talent and experience in education and the arts.

How does it work? Let’s look at just one example we recently profiled.

Last year, Mercy Housing posted on VolunteerMatch for a skilled yoga instructor to teach a weekly class to its senior residents. This opportunity was automatically reposted to LinkedIn’s Volunteer Marketplace. Hannah, browsing LinkedIn, found the opportunity, and was immediately interested. She’d grown up with volunteering, but it wasn’t until she found a way to use her specialized skills to give back that she realized how enjoyable and fulfilling volunteering could be.

And Hannah is not alone. Since VolunteerMatch’s partnership with LinkedIn began, we’ve connected more than 100,000 interested volunteers with opportunities to put their talents to good use.

Giving the social sector world-class access to volunteers in a connected world is what VolunteerMatch is all about. We are breaking down barriers to close an engagement gap that frustrates and marginalizes the promise of everyone finding their opportunity to make a difference.

This commitment from LinkedIn for Good provides VolunteerMatch’s nonprofit members with access to the equivalent of $18.6 million dollars worth of free recruiting services, because LinkedIn believes every nonprofit should be able to find the talent and connection they need to succeed.

If you are interested in joining the 10,000,000 LinkedIn members already participating in the program just add the Volunteer & Causes field to your LinkedIn profile and indicate that you are interested in ‘skills-based volunteering’ opportunities.

If you are a nonprofit just make sure all your VolunteerMatch opportunities are tagged by skill and we will do all the rest.

On behalf of all the amazing people and causes we serve, I want to thank the LinkedIn for Good team for this opportunity to come together to put the power of technology to good use.

Interested in partnering with VolunteerMatch? Find out how.