Pinterest for NFPsPinterest is slowly but surely becoming as popular as Facebook, Twitter and Google+ and can be used not only for fun, but also for achieving the aims of your NFP – engaging your audience, promoting events and finding new volunteers. If you use WordPress, you may have noticed that even the popular free SEO by Yoast plugin now acknowledges Pinterest and has added a verification field for it.

Before discussing how to use Pinterest for NFPs, let’s explain what exactly Pinterest is. This image-based social platform takes Facebook’s ‘wall’ idea a step further. In Pinterest, you also have your own wall, but it is divided in boards (or you can think of it like Desktop and Folders). So, you can create as many boards as you wish, give them names and upload pictures to them. You can have both personal and work-related boards – there are no restrictions. So, when you find an image over the web that you like and want to share with the others, you just ‘pin’ it to the relevant board. You can also share boards with others who can then re-pin your images.

Having said all that, how can you use Pinterest for your NFP? Here are some ideas:

  •  Pinterest allows you to share the images on your boards with people interested in what you do, with your followers, with prospective volunteers – with everyone.
  •  It is very easy to pin images that correspond to what you do, so you don’t have to spend much time online in order to reach more people.
  •  You can be followed by people and follow people, which means that you can connect with NFPs and volunteers from all over the world and share resources, ideas and thoughts.
  •  You can show what your NFP does by uploading the photos from your events and activities to Pinterest.
  •  You can tell a story on Pinterest through the images you pin and that is a good strategy to find new volunteers or donors because people love stories.
  •  If you need more female volunteers/donors, the place to find them is Pinterest – the stats below will prove it.

As you see, Pinterest can be a great place to build the online image of your NFP and engage more people. As to whom you are going to engage with, it appears that about 68% of the people using Pinterest are women (in the USA this figure reaches 83%). People who go on Pinterest are looking for inspiration and motivation, for new ideas for their hobbies, for sources of creativity and innovation. All this is to say that you can be that source – you can show people how satisfied they will feel if they engage with your NFP. All the ideas here are only a part of the great many opportunities Pinterest can provide to your NFP. Once you get there and create your first board, you will see for yourself how useful the platform can be. Don’t wait – do it now!