A Modern Nonprofit Podcast · The Charity CFO, LLC

Ep. 139: Nonprofit Networking That Works: How to Prepare, Connect, and Follow Up for Real Results

·39 min·2 clips

Her warning is that board trouble starts when someone gets more from the board than they give.

1. A Modern Nonprofit Podcast episode with Tasha Anderson and Anne-Marie Dougherty focuses on nonprofit networking that works for leaders. 2. Tasha Anderson hosts, and Anne-Marie Dougherty is the CEO of the Bob Woodruff Foundation, which supports veterans and military families. 3. The episode asks how nonprofit executives can turn networking from a transactional task into mission-aligned relationship building. 4. Dougherty says her career became a “master class in networking” because the Bob Woodruff Foundation grew out of Bob Woodruff’s recovery after Iraq. 5. She explains that Bob Woodruff was wounded by a roadside bomb while reporting for ABC News in Iraq. 6. She says Bob Woodruff’s family saw other combat wounded veterans in nearby hospital rooms who lacked extra resources. 7. That experience helped launch the foundation as a way to help those veterans and military families. 8. Dougherty says the early network included CEOs of J. Walter Thompson, Wall Street banks, and big law firms who knew the Woodruffs. 9. She says the key nonprofit lesson is to do something with access when the door opens. 10. She recommends doing homework before events, guest appearances, and new introductions so common ground comes quickly. 11. She says people are busy, so the first task is to capture attention rather than spend time on weather talk. 12. She uses LinkedIn, email, and voice notes to turn quick meetings into follow-up. 13. She says she keeps a physical card and calls it old-fashioned while expecting it to stay on someone’s desk or in a pocket. 14. She distinguishes curation from collection and says a network should not become diluted by sheer size. 15. She says reputation is built through follow-through, including sending the article or study that came up in conversation. 16. On growth, she says the foundation first had attention and revenue, then had to build infrastructure around the mission. 17. She says moving into a Wall Street trading floor in New York gave the foundation an office when resources were tight. 18. She says scaling Stand Up for Heroes showed that success in New York did not automatically replicate in other markets. 19. The tone is practical and reflective, with an interview format built around specific examples from Dougherty’s career. 20. People running nonprofits, board leaders, and fundraisers will get the most value; listeners wanting a casual chat about networking may skip it.

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from A Modern Nonprofit Podcast