LinkedIn today unveiled a new set of features to help UK charities find and connect with skilled professionals who want to donate their professional expertise to a good cause.
The LinkedIn Volunteer Marketplace will put charities in touch with relevant LinkedIn members who have expressed an interest in volunteering, whilst professionals will now be able to browse thousands of specific, high quality volunteer opportunities that non-profit organisations are seeking to fill.
Over a quarter of a million UK professionals have already signaled an interest in volunteering on their LinkedIn profiles and, with 17 million members across the UK, many more are expected to sign up.
Ariel Eckstein, Managing Director, LinkedIn EMEA, commented: “Talent is just as critical to the charity sector as it is for businesses, and charities often struggle to find the right fit skilled volunteers and trustees. We have hundreds of thousands of professional members who want to volunteer their skills but, until now, there was no easy way for them to connect with charities through LinkedIn.
“We’re launching the Volunteer Marketplace today to solve that. By applying what we do best – connecting talent with opportunity on a massive scale – to the social sector, we want to help UK charities recruit the skills they need to tackle some of the world’s most pressing challenges.”
LinkedIn introduced its Volunteer Marketplace in the US a year ago, since then the number of volunteer positions available on LinkedIn has increased from 500 to more than 30,000.
LinkedIn is partnering with a number of trusted volunteer support organisations – including Reach Volunteering and the Do-It Trust. These organisations provide excellent support for charities seeking volunteers and LinkedIn is integrating with their sites to ensure LinkedIn members can connect with those charities as well.
Sevi Simavi, CEO of the Cherie Blair Foundation, commented: “Our Mentoring Women in Business Programme uses an innovative online platform to connect women entrepreneurs in developing countries with male and female mentors around the world. The support of a mentor can be absolutely critical to a woman entrepreneur, helping to boost her confidence and improve the performance of her business in the long term.”
“We look forward to using the Volunteer Marketplace to recruit mentors to work with women entrepreneurs around the world – it is a hugely valuable tool that will make a real difference to the lives of so many women.”
LinkedIn members are able to indicate their interest in volunteering or board service by simply checking a box on their profile in the “Volunteer Experience and Causes” section.