Ep. 185: Strategic Networking That Actually Grows Revenue (Without Being Cringey)
EPISODE 185
Strategic Networking That Actually Grows Revenue (Without Being Cringey)
About the Episode:
If you want bigger gifts, stronger partnerships, and more sustainable revenue, you can’t grow in isolation.
In this episode, I’m breaking down what strategic networking actually looks like for nonprofit leaders, and why staying hidden in your inbox is one of the fastest ways to stall growth. This isn’t about awkward mixers, cheesy pitches, or forcing yourself to be someone you’re not. It’s about intentionally placing yourself in rooms where influence, generosity, and decision-making already exist, and learning how to show up with confidence, clarity, and alignment. I talk about why familiar routines keep organizations stuck at the same revenue ceilings, how one conversation can collapse years of cultivation, and the exact types of rooms nonprofit leaders should prioritize if they want to raise more without burning out. If you’re ready to stop doing great work quietly and start building real momentum, this episode will shift how you think about networking forever.
Here’s what you’ll learn:
Why nonprofit growth requires proximity, not more hustle
The difference between old-school networking and strategic networking
How one conversation can bypass years of donor cultivation
Why staying “in your lane” keeps revenue capped
The four types of rooms nonprofit leaders must prioritize
How to network without feeling salesy or awkward
Why asking great questions makes you more memorable
How visibility leads to funding opportunities
Building a consistent networking habit without burnout
Turning conversations into warm introductions and partnerships
It’s not your stories—it’s how you’re telling them. If your amazing work isn’t getting the attention (and donations) it deserves, it’s time for a messaging shift. The Brave Fundraiser’s Guide guide gives you 10 done-for-you donor prompts to make your message impossible to ignore. Get it for free here! https://christinaedwards.krtra.com/t/xKuLs6tOiPZa
Christina’s Favorite Takeaways:
“If you're destined to lead or build something great, you can't do it in isolation. Big missions require big rooms, and that growth requires access.”
“You don't need more time. You need better rooms.”
“You need to constantly bring in new leads to your pipeline every single month.”
“Where is your most ideal donor hangout (virtually or in person)?”
“You could be an amazing, excellent networker by asking great questions, actively listening, being really interested, being really curious, and then exchanging cards afterwards.”
Episode Resources:
The Familiarity Trap: Why “Good Enough” Is Slowing Your Fundraising
Courageous Conversations and Inclusive Leadership with Jenn Graham [The Investor Mindset Series]
FREE Resources from Splendid Consulting:
How to Work with Christina and Splendid Consulting:
Double Your Donations - Raise More From Your Laptop Without Chasing Grants or Galas
Easy Emails For Impact™ - Turn Your Inbox into an Income Stream
Donations on Demand: Build a $5K Email Campaign System in 30 min/week
The SPRINT Method™ - Fundraise Like a Pro, 5 Figures At a Time
Connect with Christina and Splendid Consulting:
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*Links may be affiliate links which means I may earn a commission at no cost to you.
Christina Edwards 0:32In today's episode is all about the concept of getting a seat at the table. Now listen, if you're one of those missions where you're like, I can get a seat at the table. It's all closed off. Everything is so hard to get into the rooms in front of the leaders and the decision makers that I want to I want you to know the underpinnings of today is, if you can't get a seat at the table, you're going to bring your own damn chair. So that's what we're talking about today. We're talking about how to put yourself in rooms when you want to grow your revenue. This isn't necessarily the idea of old school networking, but we are going to talk about strategic networking. And if you're thinking, oh my god, Christina, I'm so shy, or I'm so awkward, or I hate networking, networking is so salesy, or it's cheesy. We're going to hit all of those things today. I'm not going to make you be a cheesy networker. I'm not going to make you do anything that makes it just completely cringe where it's like, This is so not me. This is about networking and aligned way, aligned for your ideal people and aligned for you, for your bandwidth, for your energy, for your nervous system and and we cannot stay comfortable and cozy all the time. I'm going to ask you to stretch. I'm going to ask you to expand. I'm going to ask you to, like, get comfortable with being a little bit uncomfortable. Because if you want a different result than the one you're getting right now or the one you got last year. You're just ready for an up level. You have to up level. So it's going to take a little bit of a risk, a little bit of a leap. So that's kind of the foundation for today's episode.
Christina Edwards 3:02
so most nonprofits come to me and say, We want bigger gifts. We need more major donors. We need more sponsors, more recurring revenue, more influence, more people just championing what we do. But you spend your days inside your inbox on Zoom, maybe with the same four or five people in the office or online, right? Same people rinse and repeat every single day, same Slack channels, same inboxes. So if you're destined to lead or build something great, you can't do it in isolation. Big missions require big rooms, and that growth requires access. S
Christina Edwards 3:52
This episode is about intentionally placing yourself, where generosity opportunity and decision makers gather influencers, gather potential partners, gather. So first, let's address Christina. I don't have time for this. Nonprofit culture teaches leaders, marketers, fundraisers, to stay in their lane, avoid being too much too visible, right? That thinking is the reason why so many organizations say stuck over the same revenue ceilings year after year. You don't need more time. You need better rooms. These can be virtual rooms or literal in person rooms. So you don't need to grow by doing your work quietly. You grow by staying top of mind in spaces where strategy, influence and capital live. Okay, so let me give you some examples. An example might be a single breakfast where a local CEO can do more in six months of you just cold, outreaching people, one relationship, one conversation with somebody who has natural alignment to your cause. It could be one lunch with A funder who can bypass two years of cultivation. You're doing the handwritten this and the follow up that one lunch could collapse that timeline by two years. A 20 minute virtual coffee chat can turn into a corporate sponsorship. Now you might be on paper thinking, Okay, but how do I get in front of the CEO? Or can a 20 minute conversation really do that? Yes, I want you to think back to the easiest $20,000 your organization ever made, the easiest $50,000 your organization ever made, and ask yourself, where it came from. Did not come from the sky, even if it felt like it came from the sky. It was not just magic. It was not a lottery ticket, it was likely from one particular major donor, one gift. And there are so many major donor relationships that you are not having, you're not cultivating, because you're avoiding this one to one potential outreach, right? You're avoiding getting into these rooms, and you're staying in the inbox, you're staying in the office, you're doing more of the rinse and repeat, which is what we talked about last episode. I also want to flag something else that is essential. Whether or not your organization is doing $100,000 a year or a million dollars a year, or $5 million a year, this is key. Lean in for this. You need to constantly bring be bringing in new leads to your pipeline every single month. Now, leads can be a couple of different things here. Leads could be donor Leads. Leads could be new email subscribers. I like both. I like both for you, because those email subscribers can be non donors, who then turn into donors. So it is very, very hard for your organization to grow sustainably. If I am talking to the same pool of people over year 123, and 10, right? And maybe you're trickling in a handful of new people every single year. I was just coaching somebody in the club, and we were looking at their year over year, audience growth, and where we landed was okay, the goal is about 2000 more new subscribers, new new people in their email, right? Not, I'm not talking about social in email over the course of the year. That is going to help them with their projections and their goals to bring in new, recurring, monthly donors. We need new. now. We tap into the current we tap into them, we upgrade, we retain, we do all of that, but it's a both and conversation. So then naturally, organizations will come to me and go, I've tapped out everyone. I've done everything I can. I don't know anyone new. I can ask. I've done everything. So let's talk about these rooms to choose intentionally. So we're going to list it. I'm going to go over four different categories of rooms where I want you to get a seat at the table or bring your own damn chair. Okay, so these spaces are where people can open doors, and some of this is good old fashioned networking. And you can ask yourself, when was the last time I did that? I've done that so many times I cannot count. And so many different outcomes of networking have has happened last, last fall, I went to a we are for good, like impact uprising, one of their meetups, and it was the first one in a while that I was able to attend. And I just taught a webinar this week, and one of the amazing nonprofit leaders I met at that meetup attended my webinar, and she was like, Oh my gosh, we're joining Sprint. And it's like, it gets us, it gets us out of our own head. We get to ideate, we get to vent, we get to do so many different things. And I had I not put myself in the room because, like, I think it was rainy that day. I was tired. All the reasons, all the reasons. So you got to get in these rooms, even if you're like, you know, part of your brain is like, I don't want to go, commit and go. So here are the rooms.
One influence rooms. These are spaces with people who can open doors. So these are people who are connected. So think about the power of a warm intro. You're not necessarily going with the energy of like, I need her. I need her to be a donor. It's more of like, this is somebody who is a thought leader in healthcare, and I know she's a great connector. Or this is somebody who is like an intermediary between somebody who may have some advice for you on board recruitment or new donors or something like that.
Christina Edwards 9:59
I'll. Take it from Rotary. I'll just do it from the top. So these are spaces with people who can open doors. So it could be your chamber of commerce, local business roundtables, meetups, YPO or EO style groups, the rotary regional economic development meetings, if you serve a particular country. Meet with if there's a local ambassadorship in your city. Meet with that. Get to know the people in your community if you serve. I'm thinking about an organization that serves Haiti, an organization that serves Panama, an organization that serves Uganda. Find the population in your local town. Go to those areas. I'm Greek, so if I worked with an organization that served Greek people, then I would be like, I need to know my Greeks. I need to get in. I'm going to go to where they gather. I'm going to go talk to, you know, the the people who are putting on the local Greek Festival. I want to get in those rooms. I want to get part of those, those planning committees, right? Industry breakfasts where executives gather. This is a huge one. These are happening all the time, and you're missing them. And when you get there, we're going to talk about what to do here in a second. You're not going to get there and be a wallflower. You're not going to get there, and you don't always have to present. Although one of my clients, she's in Jamaica, and she's so good. She is so great at getting in these rooms. She will work her chamber. He she will work her Kiwanis Club, and she will talk about this amazing work she's doing with, with preemies, with caring for preemie babies and their families, right? And so really, she's willing. She's like, give me the mic. I got this, right. But really thinking about, you know, it doesn't have to be, give me the mic moment for it to be strategic networking.
All right, another would be funding room. So places, donors, partners, business sponsors, already hang out. These may be professional networking groups, groups, conferences, conferences aligned with your mission. So I'm thinking of a client in the club where conferences are a huge part of her strategy this year, it is okay for your organization to pay for you to attend a conference. In fact, it's more than okay. It is strategic that can change everything that is how you're like, Okay, instead of calling this person and emailing this person and following up on my call and email and email and handwriting them a note I'm going to go to the conference that I know they'll be at, and I know that there'll be 50 other people who fit that same persona, who have natural alignment with who I'm trying to reach, like conferences could be huge, and y'all aren't going. Y'all aren't going. It bums me out, because your ideal people are hanging out there. I just coach another client, and we were talking about two things for them. We were talking about really building up their awareness of the work they do, and really the being becoming problem aware, so more awareness. And then we were talking about fundraising, right? So bringing up new donors, and what we backed into is like, where is your most ideal donor hangout? Like, where are they virtually or in person? Now we need to get in front of those people, right, where, where are they, what funding rooms are they in? So, local foundation events, alumni gatherings, conferences, right where even CSR, corporate social responsibility, responsibility and HR leaders attended. You know, you can go to these you're allowed to go. So the purpose here is it skips and bypasses any gatekeepers. It shortens the cycle of having to cold do, do this cold outreach to new donors.
The next one is visibility rooms. Visibility rooms are opportunities for you to be seen as the expert. So this is a little bit more of what I was talking more of what I was talking about with the doctor who is in Jamaica, who's always like, I've got this like, She's so great at this, right opportunities to be seen as an expert. Many a while back, we had Jen Graham on the podcast, the founder of inclusive. She's so good at this. She is like, pass not only she like passed the mic, she's very generous at passing the mic, especially to other women, but she is so such a deep connector, and it's the reason why she grew her organization. In a relatively short amount of time, I'll be at a conference, or I'll be at a panel, and everybody knows Jen, and it's because she's doing the work she's getting in front of so many people. There is no talk too big. There is no talk too small. There is no conference that is, you know, like, not for her. She's like, I'm in she's like, very much coming from the place of, yes, leading workshops or board retreats, hosting a LinkedIn live with a partner. Y'all know you can do this. You can host IG lives, LinkedIn lives out of clients, do Tiktok lives, guesting on somebody else's podcast. This is really where it's like, where could I show up and network in front of some other audience, in front of another established audience? Now, this takes bravery. We'll get to that in a second. Don't worry. Inner Circle rooms, coaching groups. Masterminds, professional cohorts, peer learning networks, board committees, right? This is where you can sharpen your thinking and expand your boldness.
So let's now level set that strategic networking is not being everywhere. I am not saying go, pitch yourself, go, go, network. Your face off, because not all action and not all networking is created equal. You need that level set. We need that alignment. So, for example, being in the nonprofit sector, doing the work that I do, I am not going to go to a professional landscapers conference, right? A professional gardening conference, I'm could be cool, or a boat show could be great, great conference. Not for me, not natural alignment. It's gonna be a long walk for me to find aligned clients. There a longer walk, right? So you want to make sure you're you're narrowing in on, really the right room, who is in the room. You're choosing rooms based on who's in the room. What decisions get made there, what influence circulates, whether the room makes the state them stand taller. Do you feel good about this room, right? Does this room help shorten your path to your next funding goal? Does this give you education towards your next funding goal? Does this put me in proximity where people can say, yes? Does this room stretch my leadership identity? If not, it's not the right room, it's the boat show. So there's two types of rooms you could do. You could do a continuing education room, which would be less for this awareness and for donor relations, but would be really smart. I'm going to be at give con in May. Highly recommend joining me there. It's such a good three day. Just education networking people who get it, I like to say it's like fundraising summer camp. So I highly recommend that if you're looking for more of like a skill building. But if we're talking specifically about this idea of building up your networking skills, building up your awareness in your community, this is the work you need to do. Start researching. Maybe you want to research local what's happening? Maybe you wanted to go regional. Maybe you, you know anything that's less than a four hour drive you're up for, maybe you're up for flying to a conference. You could pitch yourself to a conference. Maybe your lowest lift is your local chamber of commerce. Really start to think about there are so many opportunities to network. I think you first need to figure out who are my ideal folks I want to I want to network with, and where are they hanging out.
Christina Edwards 17:31
Okay, the next lesson here is how to network like a leader and not like this. Graspy, salesy, I'm like, like, I'm I gotta hunt you energy, right? You know where it's like, it feels gross for you, and it also definitely doesn't feel good for the it's like, get energy. That's the word I'm looking for. It's very in get energy. So don't apologize for taking up space, but don't also do so salesy, so hard. Close the deal energy that you're like, repelling any potential partnership where the person's like, doesn't actually want to exchange cards, right? They're like, I don't actually want to continue this conversation. So how do you do this? You're going to get better putting your reps in, right? You're going to get better. Just through doing this, I like to really say, Okay, I'm putting on my extrovert hat for right now, and I'm going to talk to myself kindly through this process. And I'm just going to treat it light and fun and like an experiment. And not so like I have to close this deal energy, not the like kind of way. So you're going to introduce yourself, shoulders back, courage, confidence. You're going to lead with your point of view. Do not end up sounding like I'm reading from your website with mission statement. I like to think like, what's what's a story I can have on hand? What are a couple questions I can ask if I'm talking one on one or in a small group with people, just to keep the conversation going right? What are some recent wins you could share of what you're building next. Asking people, this is key. Ask people about their work. First. People love talking about themselves.
Christina Edwards 20:11
So I recently heard a podcast, I don't know where I heard it about a research study where they were doing an AB test, and the control group was just a regular, you know, old conversation where it was kind of split, 50-50, where people were volleying on questions and listening and answering and questions and listening and answering. And then the experiment group was where one person was asking a lot of the questions, very interested, very active listener, and the other person got to do a lot of talking. And at the end, the people who did a lot of talking rated they liked the other person better than the conversation. That was like just split 50-50, meaning people like to talk. People like to talk to them about themselves. So you could be an amazing, excellent networker by asking great questions, actively listening, being really interested, being really curious, and then having, exchanging cards. Afterwards exchanging, I like to connect with somebody on LinkedIn that can be your touch point. It doesn't have to be like you're giving them a slide deck. Level of pitch, right? It's actually like Active listening is key, asking great questions. So really thinking about, how can I do that in a way that works for me. You know, you could even give yourself a little micro goal. I'm going to talk to three new people tonight. It doesn't have to be 30. You don't have to start. I'm just going to go to this networking event. I'm going to talk to three people right following up through that process. So here, you're not asking for anything. You're creating opportunity and awareness. I cannot tell you, just on the awareness piece how that will change your life for more people to know about the work you do. Everybody knows somebody. Who knows somebody, right?
Christina Edwards 22:04
We're gonna get rid of that the person you're talking to in this in this networking meeting, in this event, at this conference. May not be your exact fit, donor, board member, volunteer, but they know somebody who is and do you know how good it feels to help connect that person, right? So I'm thinking about a grief support group I'm aware of, right? And so to be able to say, Hey, I know this group, oh my gosh, I can't believe that, that that's yes, let's connect. Let's hear about it, right? And so you're the person you're talking to. May just be one step away from what you're looking for, or what or that next warm intro. Okay, so how do you build this in? How do you create this habit? This is what we do inside my programs, absolutely, because lead gen is so important, and getting out of your own way and expanding this muscle your expertise to talk about the work you're doing is so key. So you can start just calendaring in a simple networking habit. It might be, I'm going to go to one networking meeting a month. That's it. It might be, I'm going to have LinkedIn can be huge. I'm gonna have five zoom coffees a month. That's it. 15 minute coffees will change your lead life. So you get to decide, but I would at least do this once a month, and I would calendar this in. But listen, you might be thinking, I don't have time, right? I don't have time to do this. You don't have time not to do this. Don't check your email so much, right? The next time you go to check your inbox or write a blog or create a social post, do this instead. 15 minutes one zoom coffee, send out some emails, send some DMs, go find a networking meeting, find a conference. Go to the conference. Go to the conference and really go to the conference. When I'm at a conference, I am at a conference. I am engaged. I am at the breakfast. Even though I'm tired, I am at the after thing. I am talking this is time. This is my time. And we go. We make it happen, right? We rest when we rest and when we're there, we do it. So go with that energy behind it. Our clients have absolutely shown up and landed major donors, major gifts, because of a breakfast, because of a conference, gained corporate sponsorships from a LinkedIn Coffee Chat, right? The ones who step up to take the stage be the guest on the podcast, this changes their visibility and their trajectory, so go do this if you're thinking, I'm introverted. This isn't mingling, right? This isn't dating, this isn't Christina says you have to host the conference, right? It's targeted. It's one to one. It will make you a better fundraiser. When you're a better fundraiser, you're going to serve your people better. You're going to raise more money to help more people. So even if you're introverted, you can do that. Yes, if you're saying thinking, I don't know where to start, start with proximity. What is the easiest lift? I've mentioned a bunch. Pick the one that makes you, like, cringe. The least. Do that one room, one, one, something. If you're thinking, I'm not good at networking, great. None of us are good at networking. You can actually say this, oh, it's so hard. Like, you can be like, This is so awkward, and the person will be like, This is so awkward, right? You don't have to be perfect. We are all human living in a human world. So it's just a matter of taking the first step. If you want help to do this, need to join the programs I'm in, right? So send me a DM, tell me what you're working on. Send me an email. I would love to know where you're working towards this year, where do you feel stuck? And I'm happy to help you with any resource, tool or program I have. I'll see you in the next one. You.