Northern California Grantmakers

The NCG’s “Social Media Series” is back after a brief hiatus. Hope you’re up for another long post on the subject.

The next couple of posts in this social media series will focus on two social networking sites: LinkedIn and Facebook. Before I get into contrasting the two, I thought it’d be a good idea to give a general overview of each. In this post I’ll cover LinkedIn basics and how a grantmaker can use it.

Personally, I think of LinkedIn as an online resume and rolodex combined into one. Allow me to explain.

LinkedIn Basics

LinkedIn is a free networking site with over 70 million users. The vast majority of the individuals on LinkedIn use it for professional networking.

After you sign up for a free LinkedIn account, you create your profile by adding the following components:

• Current Position
• At least two previous positions
• Education
• Profile summary
• Profile photo
• Specialties
• At least three recommendations

See what I mean by resume?

But unlike resumes that you submit for a job application, you aren’t limited to 2 pages with your LinkedIn profile. You can elaborate on projects and positions that you usually truncate in your printed resume.

You can also further customize your profile by adding a website link, Slideshare presentations, reading lists and even events you are scheduled to attend.

The Networking Part of This Networking Site

Here’s the part that reminds me of a rolodex: you can connect with others who are also on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn will automatically recommend “connections” based on your work history, showing you colleagues and past co-workers who are also on LinkedIn

As your list of “connections” grow, you’ll also see who your “connections” are connected to, which is important if you’re trying to find a way to be introduced to a third party. LinkedIn reveals those hidden connections and helps you leverage personal relationships to make new professional or personal connections.

But to what end, you ask.

Why Use LinkedIn?

Maybe you’re thinking, I already have a list of all my professional contacts in my email, or in my Blackberry, or on file. But do you also have the work history of those contacts, a list of what they specialize in, recommendations they’ve made about professional services, or the individuals they know in your field who you’d very much like to meet?

I think it’s time for another handy video explaining how this social media tool can be used to help our work be more efficient and productive:

But Why Should Grantmakers Use LinkedIn?

I just did a quick search on LinkedIn looking for people here in the Bay Area who work in the field of Philanthropy. The search results came back with over 2,000 individuals.

And how many contacts do you have in your respective address book?

I’d make the argument that as a grantmaker you could use LinkedIn to find new peers, other funders who are working in the same interest area as you. Wouldn’t it be nice to expand your list of collaborators, mentors, or partners?

So Sign Me Up

To create your own LinkedIn profile/account:

1. Visit www.linkedin.com/
2. Fill out the “Join LinkedIn Today” form, including your First Name, Last Name, Email and a password for your account.
3. Click “Join Now”
4. Next you’ll be prompted to provide information on your current company information (this will allow LinkedIn to connect you to your current peers and colleagues in the field) and job title.
5. LinkedIn will then ask if you’d like to upload email contacts from one of your email accounts. I personally tend to skip these suggestions because I feel like I’m spamming my email contacts. Your alternative to uploading email contacts is to just find people organically, or search for them on LinkedIn and send an individual invitation to them to make a connection. For the sake of this step-by-step how to list, I’m going say “Skip This”.
6. LinkedIn will then verify your email address. Expect an email asking you to confirm that you are setting up a LinkedIn account. After you confirm you’ll be able to truly fill out your profile.
7. After confirming and signing into your LinkedIn account you’ll be presented with the “Do You Kow These People?” page, a list of potential contacts. Here’s your chance to make some of your first connections. Simply “click” the small checkmark box next to individuals you do know and the click “Add Connection(s)”.
8. Again you’ll be given the chance to upload emails of contacts as a way of inviting people to “connect” to your profile.
9. Choose a Plan. LinkedIn provides both a fee-based and free profile option. Select which type of account you would like.
10. The Welcome page that follows may be a bit overwhelming. Again you’ll be given the chance to give LinkedIn access to your email address book and to view potential “connections” (colleagues or co-wrokers) that you can network with by simply clicking on the “connect” icon under their name.
11. Note the navigation links at the top of the Welcome page. Click on the “Profile” tab to edit your profile.
12. In the “Edit My Profile” page you’ll have the chance to add a photo (since this is a professional network, I recommend a professional photo); a website url (can be your organization’s website); a twitter account (if you have one); summary about who you are and what you do; your experience (past job positions); your educational background; and contact settings (which let others know how you plan to use LinkedIn).
13. You’ll notice that LinkedIn shows you the percentage of your “profile’s completeness” with an icon in the upper right column of your profile. In order to get a 100% complete profile you’ll need to have at least 3 “recommendations” from colleagues or former employers. It’s not requisite to solicit recommendations, unless that is you want to use your LinkedIn profile to potentially find work through your LinkedIn network.
14. I recommend you to edit your “Public Profile” url link. This is the url link that you can add to your email signatures or share with colleagues so they can find you easily on LinkedIn. That way your LinkedIn url link will be more like www.linkedin.com/in/yourname vs. a url link with a string of numbers which is what they automatically assign you.
15. Lastly click the “View My Profile” to see what the online public will see when they come across your LinkedIn account.

So now that you have a LinkedIn account the next step is to start making “connections.” Let your peers know you have an account either by sharing your “Public Profile” url link with them and look at the “connections” LinkedIn recommends you make and go ahead and make them.

Finally, remember LinkedIn is only going to be useful if..well..you use it. So accept invitations to connect from peers and colleagues in the field (but don’t feel pressured to accept an invitation from someone you don’t know and who doesn’t know any of your “connections”). And login regularly (which can be once a week to start with) to keep your profile up to date and to peruse your “connections” whenever you are looking for collaborators, experts, or advise from your peers.

The Social Media & Grantmaking blog post series will cover a wide range of topics. Check out the introduction post outlining the series.

To see all the posts in this series, simply type “social media series” into the search box located upper right of this web page.

First, my apologies, but this is post is sort of a tangent.

While working on the next lengthy post on social networks I came across this blog post on frogloop, Care2′s marketing blog, which highlights findings from NTEN‘s 2010 Nonprofit Benchmarks Report.

The frogloop blog post focuses on the social media benchmarks mentioned in the report. Benchmarks like how many nonprofits use Facebook (86%), Twitter (60%) and LinkedIn (33.1%).

Now, since you’re reading this blog series on social media, I like to think you’re at least exploring how to incorporate these tools into your organization’s communications. If so, benchmarks are a good way of comparing yourself to the rest of the field.

For example…

Check out the frogloop blog post for more social media benchmarks.

And if you want it straight from the horse’s mouth, download the NTEN 2010 Nonprofit Benchmarks Report.

The Social Media & Grantmaking blog post series will cover a wide range of topics. Check out the introduction post outlining the series.

To see all the posts in this series, simply type “social media series” into the search box located upper right of this web page.

At the beginning of July when I first started this blog series I had no idea that I would be writing at least 10 posts. I do feel like we’re in the home stretch a bit…or at least the halfway point (I sure hope so).

But before we dive into the topic of social networks, let’s take a moment to celebrate this 10th blog post on Social Media & Grantmaking. Here’s what popped into my head the minute I began reflecting on the number 10:

Online Social Networks: What The Big Deal?

I’ll be honest, when I first started receiving invitations from friends to join Facebook I hit the “ignore” button plenty of times.

I became a convert. Especially when I saw how useful a social networking site could be for connecting with peers and colleagues, re-connecting with old acquaintances and meeting new collaborators.

But I think the real “big deal” is that social networking has changed how people stay in touch with one another, how we communicate. Facebook has over 400 million users and LinkedIn has more than 70 million professionals using their network service.

Who are all these people?

They’re grantees and individuals in the communities who benefit from the work of foundations. They’re current (and future) trustees and donors. They’re colleagues and peers from other foundations. They’re advocates for the issues grantmakers care about. And they’re policymakers whose constituents directly benefit from the work of foundations.

Well, What Is It?

Here’s a description of a social network from Wikipedia.

“A social network service focuses on building and reflecting of social networks or social relations among people, e.g., who share interests and/or activities. A social network service essentially consists of a representation of each user (often a profile), his/her social links, and a variety of additional services. Most social network services are web based and provide means for users to interact over the internet, such as e-mail and instant messaging.”

Say Again?

Let’s break it down a bit, shall we?

“A social network service essentially consists of a representation of each user (often a profile), his/her social links, and a variety of additional services.”

So a social network service like Facebook or LinkedIn allows an individual to create a personal account, or profile that appears as a web page online.

Your profile has information personal to you. And it can be as informal (as Facebook tends to be) or professional (as LinkedIn tends to be) as you want.

Once you create a profile you can connect to people you know, those are your “social links.” And often you may find yourself linking with someone you don’t know.

Why would you do that?

Say for example Grantmaker A receives an invitation from Grantmaker B, a former co-worker. Grantmaker A accepts the link because they actually know Grantmaker B.

Then Grantmaker C, a current coworker of Grantmaker B decides to link to Grantmaker A. Why? Because both Grantmakers A and C work on children’s healthcare.

Naturally Grantmaker A is excited to make a connection with another funder who does similar work and accepts the invitation to link.

As you can see a person’s network has many tiers of social links:

• people you know on a personal level;
• people who you know through another person; and
• even people you connect with because of a similar interest.

And it’s in this way that:

“A social network service focuses on building and reflecting of social networks or social relations among people, e.g., who share interests and/or activities.”

Phew. And what about the last bit of that definition:

“Most social network services are web based and provide means for users to interact over the internet, such as e-mail and instant messaging.”

And don’t forget “a variety of additional services.”

On second thought, I think I’ll save the different features of both Facebook and LinkedIn (the two social networking sites I’m familiar with) for another blog post (or two).

Foundations on Social Networks

Here’s a list of NCG members who have Facebook and LinkedIn accounts:

* The East Bay Community Foundation (LinkedIn)
* The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation (Facebook)
* Marin Community Foundation (LinkedIn)
* The David and Lucile Packard Foundation (Facebook)
* Quixote Foundation (Facebook)
* Silicon Valley Community Foundation (Facebook)

And if you’re thinking you have to be a large foundation with communications staff to handle these types of online presences, take a look at the list Glasspockets provides of foundations using social media. The total assets range from $29,889,702,125 to $2,148.

Imagine what an online presence provides those foundations with smaller assets and staff:

• a way to connect with new partners and collaborators
• a platform for the issues they care about
• a way to interact with grantees and the communities they care about.

I bet they’d say this social networking thing is a pretty big deal.

The Social Media & Grantmaking blog post series will cover a wide range of topics. Check out the introduction post outlining the series.

To see all the posts in this series, simply type “social media series” into the search box located upper right of this web page.