MEET CHRISTY FARNBAUCH

OVERVIEW

Christy Farnbauch is the founder and president of Strategic Links, LLC. She is a planner and community engagement strategist who will inspire you to create connections, meaning, and value. Since 2006, Strategic Links has helped thousands of people and organizations use proven ways to engage key stakeholders and partners, resulting in more volunteers, fans, and money. Christy will help you transform your organization or community in new and exciting ways as you reveal and leverage your value for long-term success. Christy facilitates conversations and designs training materials for organizations across the country and internationally.

Experience

An experienced nonprofit leader for more than 30 years, Christy is Executive Director of The Contemporary Theatre of Ohio (The Contemporary). Prior to her current position, she served as the first professional Executive Director for the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) Columbus. NAWBO Columbus is the premier membership association for women business owners and was recognized by The Columbus Foundation as a National #1 in 2019. She served Ohio's nonprofit arts and cultural organizations through her work at the Ohio Arts Council (OAC) between 1991 and 2004, and again from 2015-2017. As the OAC’s Director of Innovation & Engagement, she applied her extensive insight in recognizing, creating and communicating the public value of nonprofit arts organizations gained through the Wallace Foundation's START Executive Leadership Program. As the Business and Community Partnership Coordinator for Hilliard City Schools, she managed the planning, implementation, and evaluation of partnerships with businesses and community organizations in support of the district’s educational goals. 

Christy is passionate about helping people cultivate their leadership knowledge and skills to support personal and professional growth. She participated in, and served as thought leader for the Next Generation of Leaders program. A successful fundraiser and proposal writer, Christy has secured more than $5 million for important causes throughout her career. She has assisted the National Endowment for the Arts, Ohio Department of Education, community foundations, and many state arts councils in grant review processes, and she teaches grant writing workshops. 

Christy is author of countless articles and is co-author of a paper entitled, From Transactions to Transformations: New Frameworks for Revealing the Public Value of the Arts. She is published in Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive by Goldstein, Martin and Cialdini, currently available in several languages. Christy’s training materials for Made To Stick, by Chip and Dan Heath, were used in a SkillSoft Executive Leadership Series.

Christy was the license holder, board treasurer, and speaker coach for TEDxHilliard from 2016-2020. She was a member of Vistage International for 10 years. In 2014 & 2015, she was chair of the Columbus Arts Marketing Association. Christy is also a past-president of the Ohio Alliance for Arts Education and the Hilliard Education Foundation. She believes deeply in supporting important social causes with her time and resources.