EPISODE 105
Episode 105 of Tales From the Trenches Tuesdays features Michelle Benson. Michelle has developed a simple and highly effective strategy for non-profits to tap into LinkedIn’s vast funding network, without resorting to cold messaging or spending hours on content creation. With 30 years of fundraising experience, including roles as both a fundraiser and a funder, Michelle now focuses on teaching organizations worldwide how to use LinkedIn effectively.
The biggest mistake nonprofits make is jumping onto LinkedIn without any strategy, expecting it to solve all their fundraising challenges. Benson compares this to using the wrong tool for the job—like trying to make tea with a hammer. While the “spray and pray” approach of sending hundreds of cold messages might occasionally yield results, it comes at a hidden cost. Those rejected connection requests and ignored messages don’t just disappear—they train LinkedIn’s algorithm to view your profile as suspicious, making your future outreach and content virtually invisible to the people you most want to reach.
Instead, Benson advocates for what she calls getting out of your echo chamber. When you first join LinkedIn, the platform nudges you to connect with colleagues, former coworkers, and others in your industry. Before long, your news feed becomes an endless scroll of nonprofit posts, creating a bubble where you’re essentially talking to yourself. The solution is intentionally reshaping your network to include your target donors—corporate partners, foundations, and individual funders—so that when you do post content or engage with others, you’re visible to the right audience.
There’s a way that you can go on LinkedIn and actually engage with hundreds of thousands of people where they’re happy to see you.
Just click on the picture of Michelle below to hear a snippet of our conversation.
L’chaim,
jack
