As originally reported by Kerri Karvetski on her kk blog, LinkedIn has soft launched an initiative to put its powerful network to use to effect social change.

In this post I explore how not-for-profits might engage LinkedIn members in a relationship that goes beyond giving, by which I mean the other things donors can give, as Jeff Brooks has written about elsewhere.

• Information: ranging from market insight to specialized professional knowledge.
• Voice: the ability to speak for you in many ways.
• Influence: the ability to help things go your way.

Donations would surely follow, but there is no reason why members of the network cannot become ambassadors for good causes.

I'm grateful to Dave Sanford, who is driving this initiative at LinkedIn, for responding to my post with some comments of his own.

Let me emphasize that what we’ve done IS just a start...

LinkedIn for Good (a working title) evolved out of conversations some of us were having here at LinkedIn about how we could better leverage LinkedIn’s amazing platform – almost 10 million professionals 50% U.S/50% international, full of influencers and powerful professionals – for social good.

A number of different models for leveraging social networking for the sector are emerging, such as the DoggySnaps photo-sharing community-cum-social network, initiatives like Change.org and Cauzoo.com... as well as those existing networks like LinkedIn which are building in new features. 

In my post I begin... only begin... to consider which might prove the most effective.