Built For Us, By Us

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Built For Us, By Us ^

Portrait of a smiling woman with short curly hair and glasses, wearing a black top, sitting on a park bench with green trees in the background.

The Founder: Brianna “Anna” Thomas

Background: At Catchafire — the SBV industry leader — matching employees at companies like MassMutual, Paramount, and GSK with nonprofits. The result? Over $700K in pro-bono value created for organizations across the U.S. and Globally.

Current Leadership:

  • Membership Manager at Points of Light, supporting Corporate Social Impact leaders across the U.S.

  • Board Member for Bold Futures Academy, a nonprofit focused on workforce & entrepreneurial skill development for youth.

I stopped trying to be “loud enough” to be seen.

Being an introverted founder taught me the conventional networking playbook wasn't written for people like us and that's not a flaw. It's a sign to build differently.

If visibility feels less like growth and more like something you have to force yourself into, I see you. What you've been told will get you there is posting daily, everywhere, and hoping for a viral moment.

Funny how viral moments convert at under 2.5%., when direct referrals convert at 10–30%. The strategy everyone's pushing you toward isn't even the one that gives you the most bank for your buck (I’m sure your ad spend is happy though).

A warm network IS the thing that compounds. Every relationship you don't build now is a referral, a mentor, a door you won't have in three years.

Skills-based volunteering (SBV) is non-traditional networking that actually works.

Built on contribution instead of performance, depth instead of reach, values instead of virality.

It doesn’t sound sustainable to be on a hamster wheel for the algorithm's attention. Why choose to panic on a rollercoaster, when you can simply pivot?

SBV runs in both directions.

Nonprofits serving underrepresented communities receive less than 2% of institutional funding. The same range as venture capital for underrepresented founders. They're not short on mission. They're short on the kind of expertise your business already runs on: marketing, strategy, operations, graphic design, data analysis, event management, etc.

That's what you bring, actual capacity, not a one-off favor. What comes back isn't a transaction, it's proof: people who've worked alongside you, who can speak to what that's actually like, in rooms you're not in. Not followers. Potential mentors, partners, and advocates in a network that's value-aligned because it was built on shared love of service, not just a shared audience.

85% of volunteers go on to become donors. When an under-resourced founder and an under-resourced organization choose to build something together, a relationship is born. What exists is mutual impact and it's the reason this works when the usual “just put yourself out there” playbook doesn't.

What that builds, over time:

Your confidence gets stronger because you're standing on proof, not chasing it. Your portfolio expands to folks who can vouch for it, not just projects that sit in it. Your network grows through community instead of clout. Your visibility arrives instead of being forced, because you made a tangible impact.

The doors this opens are built on trust, demonstrated expertise, and whether your values actually line up.

Building your business through community impact makes it more resilient, in a world that’s no longer just about who you know. It's about who you're showing up for, and the quality of relationships being built as a result.

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