Scaling Impact, Breaking Silos: How Anne Marie Dougherty Built a $40M Force for Veterans Artwork

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Scaling Impact, Breaking Silos: How Anne Marie Dougherty Built a $40M Force for Veterans

September 09, 2025 • Aggie & Cristy • Season 4 • Episode 41

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Anne Marie Dougherty is the CEO of the Bob Woodruff Foundation, where she has led the organization from $4.3 million to nearly $40 million in annual revenue. With no formal business training, she built a high-performing, data-driven nonprofit by applying principles from the for-profit world and building long-term partnerships with companies like the NFL, UBS, and Capital One.

In this episode, she shares how her identity as a military child, spouse, and mother informs the way she leads, why nonprofit organizations need to stop playing small, and how the Foundation is preparing for the evolving needs of veterans and military families in a changing world. We talk about building trust, addressing mental health, managing transitions, and why leading well starts with hiring the right team.

Show Notes

In this episode, we discuss:

Anne Marie’s path to leading the Bob Woodruff Foundation and how she scaled it from $4.3M to nearly $40M
Why leaving the military is often more stressful than combat, and how the Foundation is working to ease that transition
How she brought a business lens to nonprofit leadership without formal training
Building long-term corporate partnerships by speaking the language of business
What she looks for in high-impact programs and how the Foundation uses data to drive funding decisions
Why imposter syndrome shows up even in rooms she earned her way into—and how she manages it
How she built and manages a board of directors made up of top leaders across military, media, and finance
The growing mental health crisis among veterans, caregivers, spouses, and children—and what needs to change
The importance of local networks, town-by-town coordination, and long-term infrastructure
Her approach to leadership, team building, and personal sustainability as the organization matures
Why the Foundation’s agility and trust model allow it to respond faster than traditional institutions

Contact Information

Bob Woodruff Foundation
Website: https://bobwoodrufffoundation.org
LinkedIn: Bob Woodruff Foundation
Instagram: @bwforg
Facebook: facebook.com/BobWoodruffFoundation

Anne Marie Dougherty
LinkedIn: Anne Marie Dougherty
Instagram: @ammdougherty

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