Why it’s worth streaming your volunteer roles to LinkedIn

Many people care about society ad the environment and want to get involved, but may not yet see themselves as volunteers or trustees. Often, it’s the right opportunity at the right time that helps someone take that first step.

We share your roles with audiences beyond Reach, with people who may not be actively looking to volunteer, but who will be inspired to act by the right opportunity.

Reach and LinkedIn: a unique partnership 

LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network, with over 40 million professionals in the UK alone. People use it to build connections, learn new skills and find jobs and volunteering opportunities. 

We have a special partnership with LinkedIn. They will share your roles throughout their platform, and actively promote them to LinkedIn members. On average, roles streamed to LinkedIn receive around nine applications, compared with three for roles that aren’t shared. 

Is streaming to LinkedIn right for you? 

Sharing your role to LinkedIn is completely optional, but we do highly recommend you opt in. Here are some reasons why: 

• Greater visibility at no cost: Through our partnership, your roles will benefit from additional promotion on LinkedIn at no extra charge. While posting roles on LinkedIn is free, extra promotion usually comes at a cost – through Reach, it’s included.
• Relevant, targeted promotion: Although LinkedIn is a global platform, it tailors content to individual users. This is especially important if you’re looking for volunteers in a specific region or from within your local area: you don’t need to worry that you’ll receive lots of interest from people who are too far afield.
• Reaching people who weren’t actively looking: Many volunteers tell us they found their role by chance – they weren’t looking but the perfect opportunity to make a difference found them. Sharing your opportunity on Reach already helps you reach a diverse audience; streaming to LinkedIn helps extend that reach even further, expanding your networks and opening up new possibilities.
• Quality applications: We know that advertising roles on LinkedIn can sometimes result in applications from people who aren’t the right fit. When roles are shared via Reach, all applications come through our platform. Every volunteer must meet our criteria, and we carry out checks to help ensure suitability. This reduces the risk of being overwhelmed by unsuitable applications.
• Increased awareness of your organisation: As an added bonus, once you’ve opted in, your roles will appear on your organisation’s LinkedIn page, helping boost your overall visibility and spread awareness of your work to new audiences. 

Important to note 

Reach’s arrangement with LinkedIn means your roles will appear in the Jobs section of your LinkedIn Company page. It doesn’t affect your feed, and we can’t – and wouldn’t – share posts on your behalf. This means there’s no clash if you want to do any promotion of your role through your networks – something we’d actively encourage. 

How to opt in 

If you’d like to stream your roles to LinkedIn, you can find step-by-step instructions here. You only need to enter this information once. 

If you don’t yet have a LinkedIn company page, it’s easy to set one up. LinkedIn has clear guidance on what a company page is and how to create one. 

If you’ve any questions or would like help opting in, don’t hesitate to contact us and we’ll be happy to support you. If different colleagues manage your social media, feel free to put them in touch with us too. 

If you decide not to opt-in

We’re keen to understand how organisations decide whether or not to share their Reach opportunities on LinkedIn. If you choose not to opt in, we’d really appreciate hearing your reasons.

You're very welcome to contact me with any feedback you’d like to share, or click here to share your thoughts anonymously via a short google form – your responses will be anonymous. Your insights help us improve our service and support organisations better.