10 Questions to Fuel Your Nonprofit Networking

As a YNPN (Young Nonprofit Professionals Network) Fellow and a member of the Southern Nevada chapter, I attend a lot of networking events related to the sector. I am also pretty allergic to small talk; I want to get into the meat of conversations and know what moves your innermost passions. The typical questions of “what do you do” and “who do you work for” are great. As a sector, we choose to forgo high paying private sector jobs, so that we can make an impact in our world. We owe it to ourselves to abandon the cliches from the private sector and dive deeper when we are sharing space.

Here are 10 questions to get you started!

Question 1: Who inspired your Social Justice Journey?

Question 2: If you could invite three organizers to the table who would they be? What issue would you discuss?

Question 3: What podcast, book, blog is impacting your work, and how?

Question 4: If you can get people to understand one thing about your work, what would it be?

Question 5: How are you taking care of yourself and protecting from compassion fatigue?

Question 6: Tell me about one of your wins when you knew that you were making a difference.

Question 7: Imagine the magical world where there is enough funding, and by in, what passion project would you take on?

Question 8: Who are three people in your city that you wish knew about your cause?

Question 9: What lesson do you wish you learned earlier?

Question 10: What mantra or saying keeps you going?