pinterest: a tactical guide for nonprofits

Pinterest for Nonprofits – a Tactical Guide By: Sarah Milston, CFRE, MPA @sarahmilston www.linkedin.com/in/sarahmilston

PINTEREST: A Tactical Guide for Nonprof its Last week Pinterest became the fastest growing website…ever. I teach social media for nonprofits and before each semester I try to find a new thing to add to the curriculum. This semester, pinterest. First, what is pinterest? I like to say it is the internet, but curated. It is essentially a visual bookmarking tool with a social media angle. Here is a good overview article. http://bit.ly/whetI0 It started out to be fairly female dominated but over the last six months men, brands, and a few nonprofits have started migrating over. So in the mix of everything you need to do as a nonprofit, is pinterest worth your time? The easy answer is probably yes. Why? It really depends on your organization’s ability and need to tell your story. Pinterest would be perfect for a museum, garden, a humane society. If you are already using a visual storytelling engine like Tumblr or Flickr, pinterest would be a great and easy tie in. Another use is an organization who is working on raising awareness of an issue. It is amazing what the face of a child can do to raise awareness. How? The very first and most important thing is what you pin must be pinnable. Facebook is measured in likes, twitter in re-tweets. Pinterest is all about getting pinned. To get pinned you need to put up something others might find interesting enough to grab. So while pictures of your staff might be fun, probably not pinnable.

1. Content Curation – For more on this read Beth Kanter – http://bit.ly/zgpsqV essentially be the organization that scavenges the internet for information


related to your issue. If you are a health related nonprofits find stories, pictures, blogs that relate. Here is an example from Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens – an award winning outdoor garden in Richmond, VA. Their boards include wedding ideas, blooms, butterflies, kids, books, plants we love, books worth reading just to name a few. In all of them we see a relevant mission connection.

2. Engage – By now we all know that the power of social media is engaging with individuals so you need to click like, repin, start conversations.

3. Fundraise – By adding a pin with $ in the comment it shows up in the gift tab. So snap a picture of a client and place a dollar amount on providing them services and put it up!


4. Share the power – When you set up pinterest you have the option to allow others to pin to the board, so invite your volunteers to pin for you.

5. Tag – Tagging well helps your pin be found by those looking. What kind of tags are relevant to your organization?

6. In Kind – Create a board of in kind donations you need and pin away. Now you have a great visual area to send to people when they ask what they can get for you. I don’t have an example to share! Make your nonprofit the first to do this and I will feature you here.

7. Get creative – What is your mission, what kind of board could you create? Is it National Smile Week and you promote dental health? National grandparents day and you have lots of grandparents as volunteers? Here we have Hands on Greater Richmond – fabulous local chapter of a national organization. Their boards? Volunteer Appreciation, Inspiring Quotes, Ideas for Schools – all relevant and fun.


Want to learn more? Here are some l inks on Pinterest

• How to use it for your nonprofit http://bit.ly/wrSLAC • 11 nonprofits to follow http://bit.ly/npopinterest • Should you? http://bit.ly/xYF4Xc • Facts and Figures http://cnet.co/xLiZ2L • Cool ideas to steal http://bit.ly/wBUrOU • Pinterest Tips and Tricks http://on.mash.to/yKwYrG

pinterest: a tactical guide for nonprofits

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