EPISODE 121
Episode 121 of Tales From the Trenches Tuesdays again features Michelle Benson. Michelle spent 30 years in the fundraising world, and these days she’s channeling all of that experience into something that most nonprofits are leaving almost entirely on the table. Through her work at Culture of Philanthropy, she teaches organizations around the world how to use LinkedIn strategically to connect with the funders that are hardest to reach: private foundations, donor advised funds, family offices, and the philanthropists who quietly advise them. She joined me on Tales from the Trenches, and what she had to say about LinkedIn stopped me in my tracks.
I’ll be honest — one of my ongoing challenges is content. Coming up with something timely, interesting, and genuinely useful on a regular basis is hard. Michelle reframed the whole thing for me. She told me that most people don’t have a content problem — they have an observation problem. Your best ideas are already out there. Read the room. Notice what people are talking about. Reflect on the conversations you’ve had and the things you’ve heard. You’re not there to blow anyone’s socks off. You’re there to start a conversation.
Size Counts — or Does it?
And when it comes to length, Michelle’s advice was refreshingly practical: it’s as long as it needs to be. She compared a good post to a good joke — it’s all about the rate of revelation. Get to the point as quickly as you can, and when you’ve made it, stop. One post, one point. If you’ve got three things to say, that’s three posts.
What really opened my eyes, though, was the conversation about funders. Here in Canada — and Michelle confirmed it’s similar in the UK — a lot of philanthropic dollars flow through private foundations, donor advised funds, and family offices. I assumed many of them weren’t on LinkedIn. Michelle corrected me. Not only are they there, many of them are quite vocal. She told me about a philanthropist she knows who lists himself as a lawyer on LinkedIn — no mention of philanthropy anywhere in his profile. But follow the philanthropy advisors and DAFs he’s connected to, read his comments, and it becomes immediately obvious who you’re dealing with. Michelle’s advice: don’t just target the donor. Follow the influencers around them. Engage with that ecosystem, and the introductions will come.
Lurkers
And don’t sleep on lurkers. Roughly 57% of LinkedIn users never like, comment, or post publicly — but Michelle pushed back hard on the idea that they’re inactive. They’re reading; They’re stopping the scroll;They’re sending DMs; They’re checking out profiles. The algorithm sees all of it, even when you can’t.
Don’t underestimate the lurkers. They’re incredibly active.
The person who eventually reaches out to say “I saw your post” — that’s almost always a lurker. The invisible crowd is bigger than you think, and they’re paying closer attention than you know.
LinkedIn is already full of connections waiting to happen. Michelle’s point is simple: the offline world puts up walls, but the online world is designed to remove them — if you know how to navigate it. After this conversation, I think I finally do.
Just click on the picture of Michelle below to hear our conversation.
L’chaim,
jack
