The Business Operations team at LinkedIn takes our InDays seriously. Every month, someone on our team volunteers to organize an event aligned with the month’s theme. I’ve spent more than a year of InDays getting to know my teammates better through social events, volunteer activities, professional development opportunities and more.

Volunteering at an organic farm

This month’s InDay theme was Green[in] in honor of Earth Day, so I took the initiative to organize a volunteer opportunity with Hidden Villa, a nonprofit organization that uses its organic farm and wilderness to teach the community about environmental and social justice. We started off the day with an organic farm tour to learn about more about Hidden Villa. After a group lunch, we then spent over 3 hours building gopher cages, planting trees and mulching a large area of the orchard.

Helping nonprofits build a stronger presence on LinkedIn

While we were mulching, the staff at Hidden Villa had questions about how they could make the most of their LinkedIn Company Page. My colleague, Jackson Wang who works on Company Page metrics, volunteered to help them build a better company page and educated them how to best leverage the LinkedIn platform. We all believe that there is a huge potential for nonprofits to build their social footprint on LinkedIn to raise brand awareness, build long term relationships, and strengthen their community. And who better to help Hidden Villa than someone who works on the product every day?

Using our skills to make a positive impact

We also had an opportunity to talk to Karen Chmielewski, Director of Development at Hidden Villa, who told us about the complexity and challenges of their operations.

“Which programs are more interesting and effective?” “Who should Hidden Villa reach out for donations?” These questions are very useful in their day-to-day operations and they have a lot of data around it, but no one on their staff of 30 has the technical background to glean insights from the data.

Dan Yoo, our Senior Director of Business Operations, immediately offered to help them build a database and tools to help increase operating efficiency. Karen was overjoyed  because they had been looking for someone with that skillset for a long time.

It was so refreshing for all of us to spend a day outside our cubes, away from our spreadsheets, to build some team camaraderie. What set this  apart from other InDays was that we all found ways to leverage our unique skills and talents to help an organization that’s really making a difference in our community.

What would you do if you had an InDay each month to invest in your community? Share with us on our LinkedIn Company Page or on Twitter @LinkedIn.

True story: Two equally qualified candidates were being considered by a CMO for a high level marketing position at a Fortune 100 company. Still undecided, she went to their respective LinkedIn profiles. Scrolling down to the “Volunteer & Causes” section she came across one of the candidate’s work with the ASPCA along with this Gandhi quote: “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” An animal lover and avid volunteer, the decision was suddenly crystal clear.

Millennials care enough to make a difference.

In a market flooded with both talent looking for opportunities and opportunities looking for talent, social impact has become the critical point of differentiation for both employees and employers. As Millennials lead the way in highlighting their volunteer efforts as a point of professional identity, the rest of the population will have to follow suit in order to be competitive.

Employers are getting competitive with causes.

Do you want to work for a company whose employees are as passionate as you are? KPMG, Abercrombie and Fitch, salesforce.com, Victoria’s Secret and Rogers Communication lead the way when it comes to employees who’ve shared their volunteer experience and causes they care about on their LinkedIn profile. Either these companies happen to have a lot of Millennials working for them, and/or they lean towards hiring people who take social impact seriously. Either way, I commend these companies for breeding a workforce that cares. Think your company is underrepresented? Reach out to your colleagues and encourage them to add the Volunteer & Causes section to their LinkedIn profile where you can share not only the causes you care about, but also list nonprofits that you’re involved in, in much the same way you’d add work experience to your profile.

Volunteers are developing valuable skills.

Donating your time not only helps charities and causes, it can help you hone your skills. Charitable organizations have been hit with severe funding shortages over the years and can’t afford to staff many high skill roles with paid employees. This means that today’s volunteer opportunities provide legitimate skill-set development such as fundraising, event planning, or social marketing. This trend of newly graduated Millennials and/or career-changers who are attaining talent enhancing experiences via their volunteer work is becoming recognized by hiring managers. Research from LinkedIn shows that one out of every five hiring managers in the U.S. agree they have hired a candidate because of their volunteer work experience.

Nonprofits are working the system, too.

And it all comes full-circle. With talent becoming increasingly discerning about connecting their passion and values to actual career developing skills, nonprofits themselves are having to brand themselves as valuable places for people to volunteer. By encouraging supporters and volunteers to add this section to their LinkedIn profiles, nonprofits are strengthening their brand, influence and community on LinkedIn. The top five nonprofits listed by members on their LinkedIn profiles are Habitat for Humanity International, Boy Scouts of America, American Red Cross, American Cancer Society and Big Brothers Big Sisters.

I’m sure this is when you expect me to say “LinkedIn to the rescue!” Well, that’s exactly what happened, but not quite the way you might imagine.

As a young professional, I had dutifully filled out my LinkedIn profile, thinking that it would come in handy as I sought to expand my professional network. I actually had no idea that LinkedIn could be a resource for nonprofit board opportunities. So when I received an InMail from Terrie Light, the Executive Director of the Berkeley Food and Housing Project, about their search for a new Board Member, I was pleasantly surprised. Little did she know I was actually looking for her (inadvertently)! I responded to Terrie and scheduled a time to meet.

As the day of our meeting drew closer, I began to get nervous. Was I cut out to be on the Board of Directors for such an amazing nonprofit? Why would they want an architect on their board anyway? The position sounded like it required many years of experience, something I didn’t have. I started to wonder if Terrie had the right person. I looked over my LinkedIn profile again to make sure that it was clear that I am a young professional. Could it be that Terrie really found my profile interesting?

When I met with Terrie, she explained that she was looking for a younger board member with lots of energy — someone who could engage with the more experienced professionals on the board and add to their efforts. She also explained that one of their goals is to build a new building: a multi-use homeless shelter, transitional housing, clinic, and counseling center to serve their clients. An architect with my experience could help them as they issued an RFP, refined their building program, and interviewed architects. This was very exciting for me because I immediately saw it as a learning opportunity as well as something I was primed to do from past experience. I had worked for 7 years at an affordable housing architecture firm, and had also volunteered in public advocacy campaigns for similar types of projects in the past.

A few months later, after meeting with other board members and attending a board meeting, I was voted unanimously on the board: a match I could not have better engineered if I tried. As I begin my service on the board, I’m excited, honored, and grateful for my new meaningful connection.

Are you interested in joining a nonprofit board? Fill out the Volunteer Experience and Causes section of your LinkedIn profile to make it easier for nonprofits to find you. If you’re a nonprofit looking to identify potential board members, learn more about Board Member Connect.

Saigon fell to the Communists on April 30, 1975. On April 29, 1975, my father flew us out of Saigon while under fire from the Communists. Somehow, we made it in one piece to Thailand. From there, the Americans flew us to Fort Chaffee, Arkansas.

My parents didn’t know how they were going to build their lives in this foreign country, but they did know that they had hope. Hope for a better future in the land of opportunity.

We were one of the lucky ones. Volunteers, complete strangers from Ramer, Tennessee came to us. Strangers who have never set eyes on Asians before opened up their hearts and gave us a chance — a chance to make a better life for ourselves in their back yard.

With support and encouragement from my mother, my father enrolled into college at the age of 32. He received his Electrical Engineering degree from the University of Oklahoma at the age of 36.  His education opened doors for all of us. My brothers are Chemical Engineers both with MBA’s; my third brother eventually made it to the States in 1990 and doubled majored in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. I was fortunate to go to law school, hoping that one day I could help others.

When our General Counsel, Erika Rottenberg, asked for volunteers to head up LinkedIn’s pro bono legal program, I jumped at the chance. This was my opportunity to use my legal education to serve the under-served, to give back, and to pay it forward.

On an overcast day in March, LinkedIn joined Cooley, LLP and One Justice on the Justice Bus and to work with the Legal Aid of Napa Valley in Napa, California. Our mission was to complete the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) forms so that youth immigrants could have an opportunity to become legally employed in the United States.  We met 28 applicants, completed 28 applications, and created 28 opportunities for legal employment.

Just like the volunteers I met in 1975 who took it upon themselves to help an immigrant family start their lives over again in the United States, 23 volunteers took it upon themselves to help youth immigrants create economic opportunity for themselves and their families in the United States. I believe that we come to this great nation for economic opportunity and if we are fortunate enough, we may be able to help others become more productive and successful in their careers.

23 complete strangers opened up their hearts to 28 immigrants. At the end of the day, it was not the immigrants who truly benefited from our volunteer service, it was us.

On the first Sunday morning of 2013, I found myself in the inaugural meeting of the founding board of directors for a proposed public charter school. Seated around a long table in a sunshine-filled conference room, the six board members introduced themselves, and over plates of eggs, black beans, and rice, shared how they had come to join the team. One by one, each thanked the proposed school’s founder for inviting them to join the board, and one member thanked LinkedIn. Exchanging a knowing glance and chuckle with his colleagues around the table, the member reminded us that every individual on this board had been identified through an exhaustive search on LinkedIn.

I work for an organization called Building Excellent Schools (BES). Through our one-year Fellowship, BES supports entrepreneurs to design, found, lead, and sustain excellent charter schools in underserved communities nationwide. As the Director for Governance and Board Development, I am responsible for ensuring that each BES Fellow identify, vet, and invite 7-9 members to their proposed school’s founding board of directors.

Founding board members of BES charter schools must believe in our mission, commit the time necessary to found an organization, be dedicated to the community, and contribute to the board’s diversity. At BES, we believe that diverse boards function more effectively and are better stewards of the public trust. We seek diversity in the areas of professional expertise and seniority, gender, age, race/ethnicity, and sometimes, language.

Anyone who recruits board members (or any talent for that matter) knows that, at the end of the day, identifying the right people is all about networking. My challenge at BES–and, frankly, what makes my work exciting–is that every year, I work collaboratively with the Fellows to build 8 to 12 boards simultaneously, in multiple cities, ideally within the first three months of the Fellowship year, and with limited time and contacts on the ground. More than a third of the individuals we have invited and confirmed for charter school boards this year were first identified through LinkedIn. LinkedIn has become an essential tool that allows us to:

1. Organize and access existing networks. By finding and connecting on LinkedIn with people they already knew–including each other–the Fellows discovered that their networks were much larger than they thought. Fellows connected with past supervisors, former classmates, and colleagues. As their boards began to take shape, they also connected with their new board members.
2. Expand our networks. By browsing the connections and affiliations of their contacts, Fellows were able to identify and learn about the key individuals, companies, and organizations in their cities. They also joined alumni, corporate affinity, and other Groups to find individuals in their cities who shared their interests and backgrounds.
3. Handpick prospects. Within the first week of the Fellowship, I trained Fellows to use LinkedIn Advanced Search and Profiles to hone in on individuals who met specific criteria. For example, Fellows used Advanced Search to locate senior-level legal professionals who speak Spanish and who work for a major employer in their city. They then evaluated the Profiles to learn more about the individuals, their professional background, and Causes they care about.

Alongside more traditional recruitment strategies, LinkedIn opens the door to outstanding board prospects who we can evaluate further through background research and in-person interviews.

Consider one of the charter school boards we recently built in a southern city. As is typical, the Fellow leading the founding of this proposed school was new to the city, and due to the intensity of the training and travel associated with the BES Fellowship, had limited time on the ground. In his words,

“LinkedIn helped me get to know my city before I actually got on the ground.  Seeing the major employers, clubs and professional organizations that tied together the community gave me a sense of where I could look to find people who would be interested in our work.  LinkedIn profiles helped me to determine how an individual’s background and professional interests might translate into support for the school.”

Five of the nine board members confirmed for the charter school being proposed by this Fellow were identified through LinkedIn. The founding board held its inaugural meeting in December 2012, just three months after the start of the BES Fellowship. Another board built. Another opportunity to found a school that will transform lives.