Wildlife photos on Pinterest draw attention to nonprofit’s cause

“The ideal is to get people inspired about our cause,” says Freddi Zeiler, a paid freelancer for the NRDC who does most of the pinning and managing on the Pinterest page.

A quick look at the page reveals a bounty of eye candy (photos of baby animals, beautiful images of picturesque places) and silliness, such as photos with slogans such as “Yes we toucan” or “Keep calm and caribou on,” rather than charts detailing environmental decay or extinction rates. That’s because Zeiler and NRDC don’t view Pinterest as a site where people want to be too serious.

“Pinterest is more of a fun place than a way to push an agenda. We’re really just trying to connect with our members,” she says.

That strategy seems to be working pretty well. The BioGems program’s Pinterest presence has more than 1,500 followers, and some boards have even more than that.

Last month, Mashable highlighted the BioGems Pinterest page as one of a handful of nonprofit organization pages that are using the site well.

A new habitat