Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast We Are For Good Podcast - The Podcast for Nonprofits
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756. You Are Worthy of Rest: A 7-Minute Reset for Changemakers - Sonya Perez-Lauterbach
09 Nov 2026
00:07:06
Tune in for a special episode: You Are Worthy of Rest — a 7-minute reset with Sonya Perez-Lauterbach. 🧘♀️
Running on urgency? This one’s for you. In this guided meditation, Sonya — a human development and performance expert who’s spent her own time in the nonprofit trenches — invites you to pause, breathe, and let your nervous system shift into rest-and-digest mode.
Rest is a skill, just like fundraising or board development. It gets stronger with practice. And it’s okay if it feels uncomfortable at first. Give yourself permission to be bad at it, and keep coming back.
On the other side of the pause: more creativity, more clarity, and maybe even a little joy in the work. You are enough. You are supported. You are worthy of rest. 🫶
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
755. You Don’t Have to Do It Alone: What Nonprofit Leaders Need to Hear About Burnout - Nionne James, Dr. Jasmine Escalera + Jeremy Haselwood
04 Nov 2026
00:28:46
In this special episode, Jon sits down with three We Are For Good community members: operations leader Nionne James, generational healing expert Dr. Jasmine Escalera, and ImpactUp: Atlanta host Jeremy Haselwood. They get real about burnout, where the "give until it hurts" mindset comes from, and why community is the antidote. 🩵
In this episode, you'll hear:
The simple self-check Nionne uses to catch exhaustion before it wins
Why so many high achievers inherit their definition of success, and how to rewrite it on your own terms
How walking into one room can give you the confidence to walk into the next
You'll walk away with small, doable ways to pause, without the guilt.
Episode Highlights:
(3:11) Nionne's story: three decades of holding it all together
(7:41) Small changes for leaders feeling burnout right now
(9:33) The martyr myth and inherited ideas of success
(13:11) Breaking the cycle while building a nonprofit
(16:08) Why Jeremy keeps convening Impact Up Atlanta
(19:36) Making the choice to walk in the room worth it
(22:01) One good thing: three ways to pause
(24:42) How to pause with the We Are For Good community
Meet Givebutter. 💛 Fundraising, donor management, and marketing, all in one place. And they just launched a whole lot more. Givebutter Magic puts AI to work, building campaigns and suggesting goals in minutes. Donors get their own branded portal for receipts and recurring gifts. Plus, send video messages right from Givebutter.
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
754. The Audacity to Build Unlikely Alliances: Lessons for Every Nonprofit Leader - Hillary Blout, For the People
02 Nov 2026
00:29:25
Hillary Blout spent years as a prosecutor fighting for victims and safer neighborhoods. Then she sat across from a man serving a life sentence and realized the system had no way to look back. So she wrote a law to change that.
Today, Hillary is the founder of For The People, which pioneered prosecutor-initiated resentencing, the first law of its kind in the country. Guest co-host Carolina García Jayaram, founding CEO of the Elevate Prize Foundation, joins Jon to talk about audacity, proximity, and building alliances no one thought possible. 🩵
In this episode, you'll hear:
How Hillary turned a single "what if" into a first-of-its-kind law, and what that teaches any leader whose idea has been called unworkable
Why proximity is really empathy, and how bringing unlikely allies into the same room moves people who once stood on opposite sides
How Hillary went from rolling her eyes at self-care to making joy an official organizational value
The one question to return to when rejection gets loud: Why me, why this work, why now?
You'll walk away with a renewed sense of your why and a model for building the bridges your mission can't succeed without.
Episode Highlights:
(1:23) Meet Hillary Blout, founder of For The People
(2:44) Big dreams and a meandering path
(5:53) What is prosecutor-initiated resentencing?
(10:57) The audacity to write a new law
(12:50) Proximity, empathy, and unlikely allies
(18:19) Leading from a whole place: burnout, rest, and joy
(22:24) A moment of generosity: Hillary's first funder
Meet Givebutter. 💛 Fundraising, donor management, and marketing, all in one place. And they just launched a whole lot more. Givebutter Magic puts AI to work, building campaigns and suggesting goals in minutes. Donors get their own branded portal for receipts and recurring gifts. Plus, send video messages right from Givebutter.
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
753. Policies Move at the Speed of Narrative: Meet the Org Changing the Story on Poverty - Aisha Nyandoro
28 Oct 2026
00:36:53
In 2017, a mom in Jackson, Mississippi told Aisha Nyandoro she couldn't afford pizza and a movie with her kids. She was working, in job training, and showing up for every program. She was doing everything "right." It still wasn't enough.
That conversation sparked the Magnolia Mother's Trust, one of the country's first and longest-running guaranteed income programs, giving Black mothers $1,000 a month with no strings attached. Then Aisha learned the hardest truth of all: proving it works doesn't move the money. Changing the story does. 🩵
In this episode, you'll hear:
Why asking "what do you need?" instead of "here's what you deserve" changes everything about how your programs work
Why proof of concept wasn't enough to unlock funding, and why narrative is the most important (and most difficult) part of the work
The out-of-the-blue phone call that turned a stalled campaign into a $1 million gift
You'll walk away rethinking who gets to tell the story of your mission, and why it matters for every dollar you raise.
Episode Highlights:
(3:50) Aisha's story: a granddaughter of the South
(7:38) Springboard to Opportunities and the question that changed everything
(11:10) Magnolia Mother's Trust: $1,000 a month, no strings attached
(15:11) Policies move at the speed of narrative
(21:31) Leading from a whole place: harmony over balance
Meet Givebutter. 💛 Fundraising, donor management, and marketing, all in one place. And they just launched a whole lot more. Givebutter Magic puts AI to work, building campaigns and suggesting goals in minutes. Donors get their own branded portal for receipts and recurring gifts. Plus, send video messages right from Givebutter.
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
752. When Your Model Stops Working: How to Evolve and Multiply Your Impact - Kohl Crecelius
26 Oct 2026
00:42:20
Ten years into building Krochet Kids intl., Kohl Crecelius hit a wall. Revenue plateaued. Donors said the self-sustaining model didn't need their money. And the thing that made the brand special was the thing holding it back.
So he rebuilt from the ground up. The result: KNOWN SUPPLY, a certified B Corp that helps nonprofits, brands, and companies make ethically produced merch, supporting thousands of makers worldwide.
Guest co-host Jason Locy of Whiteboard joins Jon for this one.
In this episode, you'll hear:
Why your org's "unique differentiator" might be the very thing limiting your impact
How to know when it's time to partner instead of doing it all yourself
The surprisingly human metric Kohl trusts most to measure impact
Why ditching scale as your definition of success is the key to long-term sustainability
You'll walk away with permission to loosen your grip, and a clearer path to doing what you do best. 🩵
Episode Highlights:
(0:45) Meet guest co-host Jason Locy
(4:33) Kohl's story: crochet hooks, Uganda, and a human story
(8:20) The 80/20 model and the 10-year plateau
(12:52) Rebuilding from the ground up: the birth of KNOWN SUPPLY
(17:35) The "man in the mirror" question: what are we actually good at?
(19:20) Keeping your soul while letting go of control
(24:35) How to measure impact: jobs and thank-you notes
(31:40) A moment of generosity: mentors who believed early
(35:13) One good thing: ditch scale for the sake of scale
Meet Givebutter. 💛 Fundraising, donor management, and marketing, all in one place. And they just launched a whole lot more. Givebutter Magic puts AI to work, building campaigns and suggesting goals in minutes. Donors get their own branded portal for receipts and recurring gifts. Plus, send video messages right from Givebutter.
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
751. Why 20% Fewer People Are Giving (And What Nonprofit Leaders Can Do About It) - Allison Fine and Joan Garry
21 Oct 2026
00:34:07
20% fewer people give to a cause today than they did in 2000. Only 19% of donors give a second time. And just 14% of nonprofits can accept the assets where most wealth actually sits.
Allison Fine, president of Every.org and four-time author on technology and social change, calls it the generosity gap. In this special episode, she joins Jon and guest co-host Joan Garry, founder of the Nonprofit Leadership Lab, to talk about how nonprofits close it. 🩵
In this episode, you'll hear:
Why 97% of wealth sits in non-cash assets like stock, crypto, and DAFs, and what it costs you when donors can't give them easily
The leaky bucket: why only 19% of donors give again, and what happens when you put that number in the middle of the board table
Why the best move for a burned-out nonprofit might be to cut half its programs
How a $200 donor at GLAAD turned into a multimillion-dollar legacy gift
You'll walk away with a clear case for doing less, asking less, and building deeper relationships with the everyday donors who keep you standing. 🩵
Episode Highlights:
(2:48) Joan's new handbook for nonprofit board members
(6:18) Allison's story: from Sleepy Hollow town council to Every.org
(9:49) The generosity gap: 97% of wealth vs. 14% of nonprofits
(11:49) Burnout, boards, and the case for doing less
(19:17) Friction is the kryptonite to generosity
(22:15) The leaky bucket: why only 19% of donors give again
Meet Givebutter. 💛 Fundraising, donor management, and marketing, all in one place. And they just launched a whole lot more. Givebutter Magic puts AI to work, building campaigns and suggesting goals in minutes. Donors get their own branded portal for receipts and recurring gifts. Plus, send video messages right from Givebutter.
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
750. From 2,000 Donors to Under 100: How to Rebuild a Fundraising Program from Scratch - Becky Carlino
19 Oct 2026
00:30:09
When Becky Carlino walked in as the first-ever VP of Development at Volunteers of America of Massachusetts, the donor base had collapsed from roughly 2,000 active donors to fewer than 100. The reason? The organization had stopped talking to them.
Becky has spent 25+ years doing the relational work that makes fundraising actually work, including leading two successful capital campaigns at VOA Ohio & Indiana. Now she's rebuilding from the ground up, and her blueprint starts with one word: love. 🩵
In this episode, you'll hear:
How to rebuild donor trust after years of silence, and why the first move is simpler than you think
How shifting from a donor-hero narrative to a shoulder-to-shoulder model changes not just your messaging but the entire relationship donors have with your mission
Why your instincts as a fundraiser matter more than you think
You'll walk away with a back-to-basics playbook for rebuilding donor relationships, one newsletter, one story, and one $5 gift at a time.
Episode Highlights:
(4:28) Becky's origin story: national parks, history, and a historical society
(6:13) Why Volunteers of America is "in the love business"
Meet Givebutter. 💛 Fundraising, donor management, and marketing, all in one place. And they just launched a whole lot more. Givebutter Magic puts AI to work, building campaigns and suggesting goals in minutes. Donors get their own branded portal for receipts and recurring gifts. Plus, send video messages right from Givebutter.
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
749. Stewarding a 160-Year Legacy: How to Honor History While Driving Change - Archana Jayaram, Brooklyn Community Services
14 Oct 2026
00:28:03
Archana Jayaram stepped in as CEO of Brooklyn Community Services just as one of New York City's oldest nonprofits entered its 160th year. Her first move wasn't a bold new vision. It was a question: "What do you need?"
Founded in 1866, BCS now serves more than 14,000 Brooklynites a year across housing, mental health, education, and workforce development. Archana shares how she's honoring that legacy while listening her way toward what comes next. 🩵
In this Possible in Practice episode, you'll hear:
How to lead change inside a long-standing institution by starting with the people who do the work
Why the people closest to the problem are the ones who know what they need, and how BCS stays community-centric at scale
What young people in Brooklyn said they actually need for their mental health, and why it surprised everyone
You'll walk away with a listening-first playbook for leading through legacy, change, and chaos. 🩵
Episode Highlights:
(2:16) Archana's story: West Virginia roots and the power of mutual aid
(3:30) Inside the government–nonprofit partnership
(7:03) BCS's founding story: guided by history, not bound by it
(10:09) Staying community-centric while serving 14,000 people
(13:04) What young people said about mental health
(16:38) Leading change inside a legacy institution
(20:41) A donor who doubled his gift without being asked
(24:01) Build a ladder out of chaos: the one good thing
Meet Givebutter. 💛 Fundraising, donor management, and marketing, all in one place. And they just launched a whole lot more. Givebutter Magic puts AI to work, building campaigns and suggesting goals in minutes. Donors get their own branded portal for receipts and recurring gifts. Plus, send video messages right from Givebutter.
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
748. How One Founder’s Lived Experience Created 116,000 Anchors - Ali Borowsky, Find Your Anchor
12 Oct 2026
00:40:39
A note before you listen: This episode discusses suicide and suicide prevention. If you or someone you know is struggling, you’re not alone. In the U.S., call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, available 24/7. Outside the U.S., visit findahelpline.com to find support near you.
Ali Borowsky used to design for the NHL Winter Classic. Now she designs something far more personal: a small blue box that tells whoever finds it that strangers care. 🩵
Rooted in her own lived experience, Find Your Anchor brings color, creativity, and humanity to suicide prevention. Guest co-host Aila Malik brought Ali to the mic to share how a grassroots nonprofit with a product reached 116,000 boxes through handwritten notes, community box builds, and partners from middle schools to the San Francisco 49ers.
In this episode, you'll hear:
Why letting partners lead is the fastest way to reach communities you could never reach alone
How staying "unapologetically analog" helped a small nonprofit scale without losing its soul
What happens when 3,500 requests arrive in 24 hours and your business model is karma
How to protect your own wellness when your heart work becomes your job
You'll walk away with a fresh take on partnership, scale, and the small things that keep people going.
Episode Highlights:
(4:42) Ali's story: creating what she wished she'd had
(5:41) What's inside the box, and what an "anchor" really is
(10:39) Three ways the boxes get into the world
(13:17) Customizing boxes with nonprofit partners
(16:21) From box one to 116,000: staying unapologetically analog
(21:37) A nonprofit with a product: when your business model is karma
(24:05) What Ali has learned about win-win partnerships
(27:04) Staying well while doing heart work
(35:41) One good thing: learn three people's anchors
Meet Givebutter. 💛 Fundraising, donor management, and marketing, all in one place. And they just launched a whole lot more. Givebutter Magic puts AI to work, building campaigns and suggesting goals in minutes. Donors get their own branded portal for receipts and recurring gifts. Plus, send video messages right from Givebutter.
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
747. How One $14,410 Fundraiser Became a Global Movement - Jeremy Vallerand, Atlas Free
07 Oct 2026
00:29:07
Jeremy Vallerand and a few friends turned a Mount Rainier climb into a fundraiser: $1 for every vertical foot, $14,410 total. It was supposed to be a one-off. It wasn't.
Today, Atlas Free is a global network of 160+ organizations in 67 countries fighting sex trafficking, still fueled by the community hikes and climbs that started it all. 🩵
In this Possible in Practice episode, you'll hear:
How one climb became hundreds of community-led hikes and climbs every year, and the simple idea that made it spread: do what you love to fight what you hate
Why Atlas Free stopped sending Americans overseas and started backing the local leaders already doing the work
Why donors can tell when you only want their money, and why community has to come before the ask
What a $1 million gift and an $18.37 piggy bank taught Jeremy about stewarding every act of generosity
You'll walk away with a blueprint for inviting your community into the mission, not just the fundraising. 🩵
Episode Highlights:
(3:09) Refugees in the spare bedroom and the trip to India that changed everything
(6:52) Climb for Captives: turning a Mount Rainier climb into a $14,410 fundraiser
(9:00) "Do what we love to fight what we hate": how one climb became hundreds
(10:48) From one climb to 160+ organizations in 67 countries
(14:00) Ethical storytelling: what you choose not to say
(17:52) Monthly giving: why community comes before the ask
(20:51) A $1 million gift and an $18.37 piggy bank
(23:39) The one good thing: who you're with matters more than what you're doing
Meet Givebutter. 💛 Fundraising, donor management, and marketing, all in one place. And they just launched a whole lot more. Givebutter Magic puts AI to work, building campaigns and suggesting goals in minutes. Donors get their own branded portal for receipts and recurring gifts. Plus, send video messages right from Givebutter.
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
746. 1 in 2 American Adults Struggle with Social Connection. Nonprofits Are Part of the Solution. - Aaron Hurst
05 Oct 2026
00:29:13
1 in 2 American adults is struggling with social connection, and fewer than 20% are thriving. Aaron Hurst, the social entrepreneur behind the Taproot Foundation and the pro bono movement, says that's why volunteering and giving are collapsing, and why nonprofits hold the key to reversing it.
Guest co-host Susan McPherson, author of The Lost Art of Connecting, joins us to dig into the U.S. Chamber of Connection's Six Points of Connection report, the first national index of its kind.
In this episode, you'll hear:
Why the sector doesn't have a philanthropy problem or a volunteer problem. It has a social connection problem.
The six points of connection every person needs, and the one the data says matters most
Why your nonprofit should start measuring connection outcomes now, before the funding arrives
You'll walk away seeing your organization for what it already is: connection infrastructure for your community. 🩵
Episode Highlights:
(4:07) Aaron's origin story and journey to where he is today
(7:34) "What do you most want in the world?"
(12:30) The Six Points of Connection report
(15:48) 1 in 2 Americans is struggling, and philanthropy is feeling it
Meet Givebutter. 💛 Fundraising, donor management, and marketing, all in one place. And they just launched a whole lot more. Givebutter Magic puts AI to work, building campaigns and suggesting goals in minutes. Donors get their own branded portal for receipts and recurring gifts. Plus, send video messages right from Givebutter.
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
745. 3 Case Studies on Using Data + Storytelling to Grow Your Org's Impact - Urina Harrell
30 Sep 2026
00:25:17
A pandemic relief territory that grew 39% while every area around it went red. A fund that deployed capital fast and couldn't prove what it did. A 55-year-old nonprofit still running on paper.
Urina Harrell, founder of Vox Pop Branding, walks through all three — what was broken, what she built, and what happened next. 🩵
In this episode, you'll hear:
Case study 1 — Long Beach: Why workshops and education stopped moving the needle, and how rolling up sleeves alongside founders produced the only green zone on the map
Case study 2 — JLH Fund: How to build impact measurement backward, after the money's already out the door, using grantee interviews that double as marketing
Case study 3 — Pools of Hope: The digital numbers the grant report never asked for — email list, reach, clicks — that turned into renewal after renewal
The two lessons that show up in all three: start from a baseline you already collect, and let a third party ask the questions your grantees won't answer honestly
The lowest-lift first step if you have no data at all — QR code stickers, not a new CRM
Three different orgs, one repeatable playbook for connecting data to story to funding. 🩵
Episode Highlights:
(3:18) From nosy kid to Vox Pop: curiosity as a career strategy
(5:33) Case study 1: Long Beach, when workshops stopped working
(9:21) The two lessons: baselines and third-party reporting
(12:25) Case study 2: JLH Fund, measuring impact after the fact
(15:47) Case study 3: Pools of Hope, digital numbers as grant currency
(18:30) Where to start if you have no data story yet
Meet Givebutter. 💛 Fundraising, donor management, and marketing, all in one place. And they just launched a whole lot more. Givebutter Magic puts AI to work, building campaigns and suggesting goals in minutes. Donors get their own branded portal for receipts and recurring gifts. Plus, send video messages right from Givebutter.
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
744. Make the Problem Bigger: A Different Way to Build Community - Greg Tehven, Emerging Prairie
28 Sep 2026
00:42:16
Greg Tehven runs a $5.5 million nonprofit with 40 teammates in Fargo, North Dakota — and his advice to leaders is to stop working on problems they can solve alone.
That instinct built Emerging Prairie into the heartbeat of a region's entrepreneurial ecosystem, launched Grand Farm, and turned TEDx Fargo into an event 1,000+ people build their year around. Guest co-host Stacy Huston, CEO of SixDegrees.org, brings Greg on to talk about what it actually takes. 🩵
In this episode, you'll hear:
Why "make the problem bigger" is the fastest way to get more people working on it — and more fun besides
The business model Greg borrowed from a Buddhist teacher: if a tree adds value to the community, the community waters it
How Emerging Prairie designs for radical inclusion — childcare, food choices, time of day — and why those small barriers decide who shows up
What Greg learned about receiving, not just giving, in a gift shop in India
How serving the board first changed what the board gave back
You'll walk away with a way of building that doesn't require permission, a finished plan, or a bigger budget. 🩵
Episode Highlights:
(4:05) Gravel roads and good neighbors: the making of Greg
(7:38) From burnout to the Fargo thesis
(11:17) Designing for generosity: the business model
(14:09) Tolerance of ambiguity (and the TEDx story nobody saw coming)
(21:43) Fighting for self, team, and community
(26:50) The gift shop in India: learning to receive
(30:21) Serving the board before asking the board
(34:50) What doesn't show up in a grant application
Meet Givebutter. 💛 Fundraising, donor management, and marketing, all in one place. And they just launched a whole lot more. Givebutter Magic puts AI to work, building campaigns and suggesting goals in minutes. Donors get their own branded portal for receipts and recurring gifts. Plus, send video messages right from Givebutter.
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
743. Unlock the Full Potential of Your Peer-to-Peer Program - Victoria Vighetto, ZERO Prostate Cancer
23 Sep 2026
00:19:14
When ZERO Prostate Cancer's peer-to-peer program started slipping, Victoria Vighetto didn't tell her field staff to make more calls. She walked the constituent journey herself — and found the problem sitting in an email.
The call-to-action button was too far down. The sends were landing at the wrong time for open rates. Registration was where people were falling out. 🩵
In this Possible in Practice episode, you'll hear:
Why a fundraising dip is almost never a motivation problem — and the diagnostic question to ask instead
How ZERO ran a three-day, $30K matching challenge and saw fundraising jump more than 50% while registration was still down 14%
What happened when they stopped asking field staff to pull a dozen reports and gave them a work center with a to-do list: who to call, and what to say
How to run personalization at scale for thousands of fundraisers without losing the personal part
The one place to start: register for your own event, make a donation, build a page, and find a single pain point
You'll walk away with a repeatable way to audit your own peer-to-peer program — and permission to fix one thing instead of everything. 🩵
Episode Highlights:
(2:44) Victoria's path into nonprofit work
(3:51) ZERO's mission and the $20M Blitz the Barriers initiative
(5:29) Diagnosing a revenue problem as a systems problem
(6:51) The results: 14% down in registration, 50%+ up in fundraising
(7:57) Removing friction for field staff: from a dozen reports to one work center
(9:57) Automations that meet fundraisers where they are
(10:40) What makes peer-to-peer actually work: keep it personal
(11:54) The cheer coach and the school bus
(13:28) Where to start: walk your own donor journey
(14:28) Ride-along days and leading from the friction
(15:36) A moment of generosity that stayed with her
(17:19) One good thing: make the desired action the easiest action
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
742. Money Is Medicine: Decolonizing Wealth and the Future of Philanthropy - Edgar Villanueva
21 Sep 2026
00:42:31
An elder told Edgar Villanueva that the medicine that had chosen him was money. One sentence — and it turned an angry, burned-out program officer into the person rewriting how philanthropy thinks about wealth.
Edgar is the founder and CEO of the Decolonizing Wealth Project and the author of Decolonizing Wealth, now in its second edition. His work has helped move nearly $1 billion toward the communities that need it most. 🩵
Joining us as guest co-host is Lindsey Fuller, Executive Director of The Teaching Well.
In this episode, you'll hear:
Why reparative philanthropy starts with a question most institutions refuse to ask: where did this money come from in the first place?
The one shift any leader can make today: do your own work around money, before you ask anyone else for theirs
How Liberated Capital moved $30 million to Black and Indigenous organizations with a $25/month entry point and no gatekeepers
You'll walk away with a different starting point for every funder conversation you have. 🩵
Episode Highlights:
(3:38) Growing up between the haves and the have-nots
(8:26) Behind the curtain: what he saw as a young program officer
(10:24) The ice cream party problem
(14:30) The elder, the medicine, and the book that changed everything
(20:16) Reparative philanthropy: where did this money come from?
(24:45) No wealth exists without harm
(29:04) The one shift you can make today
(33:09) Beyond self-care: why leaders have to dig deeper
(37:34) Liberated Capital: a donor community for "whosoever will"
Meet Givebutter. 💛 Fundraising, donor management, and marketing, all in one place. And they just launched a whole lot more. Givebutter Magic puts AI to work, building campaigns and suggesting goals in minutes. Donors get their own branded portal for receipts and recurring gifts. Plus, send video messages right from Givebutter.
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
741. Fundraising Problem or Distance Problem? The Reframe That Raised $1M - Connie Lewin
16 Sep 2026
00:30:54
Connie Lewin found the funders. She wrote the emails. She sent the proposals. The response was silence.
With a $1 million goal for a small nonprofit in Rwanda and no established high-net-worth donor network, Connie had to quickly step into a leadership role and take responsibility for the organization’s goal to scale its impact and operations in three years.
What finally moved the money wasn't better writing. It was closing the distance between donors and the people at the center of the mission by tapping into donors' heads and hearts and making the case for giving by connecting business strategy with empathy. 🩵
In this Possible in Practice episode, you'll hear:
The reframe that changed everything: It's not an ask. It's an invitation — and what that actually changes about who you approach and what you say
Why an unfiltered list of hundreds of prospects feels like progress but isn't
What donors are really asking when they hesitate (it's not whether your work is good)
How a 16-year-old raised over $40,000 climbing Kilimanjaro — and what it proved about belonging
You'll walk away with one question to run before your next appeal: do we have a fundraising problem, or a distance problem? 🩵
Episode Highlights:
(2:27) Connie's origin story: a fourth-grade cleanup in New York City
(3:48) Walking into Rwanda: big vision, scrappy team
(5:30) The $1M opportunity — and the plot twist
(8:21) "The response was silence"
(9:00) The reframe: not an ask, an invitation
(10:00) Three moves that closed the distance
(13:59) Funder personas and the confidence gap
(17:47) Why an unfiltered list of hundreds of prospects feels like progress
(18:49) What donors actually want to know
(22:13) Bella's Kilimanjaro climb and the power of belonging
(25:33) One Good Thing: fundraising problem or distance problem?
Meet Givebutter. 💛 Fundraising, donor management, and marketing, all in one place. And they just launched a whole lot more. Givebutter Magic puts AI to work, building campaigns and suggesting goals in minutes. Donors get their own branded portal for receipts and recurring gifts. Plus, send video messages right from Givebutter.
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
740. Start Before You're Ready: How Creative Futures Collective Grew from 10 to 3,500 Without a Roadmap - Jai Al-Attas
14 Sep 2026
00:31:01
Jai Al-Attas started a record label at 16, sold it to Virgin Records at 24, and never went to college. So when he moved to LA and tried to get people from a reentry program and a homeless youth org into music industry internships, the question that kept coming back — "are these people in college?" — landed personally.
He didn't have a plan. He had a chip on his shoulder and $1,800 he needed for rent. He spent it on 10 Chromebooks instead. 🩵
Today Creative Futures Collective has moved 3,500 creatives through its programs in 10 cities across three countries — into Nike, Live Nation, Interscope, Forbes 30 Under 30, and one Ralph Lauren artist residency.
In this episode, you'll hear:
Why renaming "internship" to "futureship" unlocked doors that had been closed for two years — and what that says about the language your org is using
How Jai and his co-founder funded the first cohort out of their own savings, and why that upfront risk was the only way to get a case study worth showing
Why he refuses to call any of this charity, and how that reframe changed who was asking whom for a favor
How COVID accidentally democratized access to the creative economy — and the alumna who did her placement from a reservation in Arizona
What to do when corporate partners write you a check but won't open the door you actually asked them to open
You'll walk away with permission to start the thing you've been waiting to be ready for. 🩵
Episode Highlights:
(3:33) From a record label at 16 to a one-way ticket to LA
(5:48) "Are these people in college?" — the gatekeeping that started it all
(7:24) Futureships, and paying for them out of pocket
(9:21) COVID, remote work, and Naomi Glasses' path to Ralph Lauren
(12:36) Scaling with Amazon, Soho House, and 10 cities
(14:38) Why this was never charity — and how Untalent was born
(19:13) Best Buy Teen Tech Centers and what partnership looks like
Meet Givebutter. 💛 Fundraising, donor management, and marketing, all in one place. And they just launched a whole lot more. Givebutter Magic puts AI to work, building campaigns and suggesting goals in minutes. Donors get their own branded portal for receipts and recurring gifts. Plus, send video messages right from Givebutter.
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
739. The Simple Gratitude System That Doubled Donor Retention (From 33% to 66%) - April Thompson
09 Sep 2026
00:21:18
April Thompson took a grassroots foster care nonprofit from 33% donor retention to 66% — and grew the donor file from about 100 to over 400 along the way.
The system behind it was two touches: a personal voicemail within 48 hours, a handwritten note from a board member days later. Both logged in the CRM. That's it. 🩵
In this episode, you'll hear:
The "one-two punch" gratitude guide that doubled retention, and how to document it so nobody loses track of the last donor touch
Why a ringless voicemail drop is the highest-return, lowest-lift gratitude tool most small shops have never tried
How to batch and schedule 10–15 personal thank-you messages at a time, so gratitude runs on a cadence instead of on your memory
Why an unscripted message with the "ums" left in builds more trust than polished copy
How the same gratitude practice recovers failed recurring gifts — and keeps the door open for donors who pause
If you've been waiting for a bigger budget to fix your retention numbers, April's answer is a lot simpler and starts this week. 🩵
Episode Highlights:
(2:43) April's path: hotel galas, animal shelters, and learning on her feet
(4:42) Fractional fundraising before it had a name
(6:04) The case study: 33% to 66% with a team of one
(7:54) The single most effective tool in her toolbox
(10:14) Batching gratitude and recapturing failed recurring gifts
(12:08) Voicemail drops in a year-end campaign
(13:54) The gratitude guide: the "one-two punch" system
(14:56) Start with the capacity you actually have
(16:19) A moment of philanthropy: founders
(17:49) One good thing: giving gratitude is never time wasted
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
738. The Storytelling Strategy That Turns Donors into Believers (And How to Build It) - Annie Wood and Max Kringen
07 Sep 2026
00:35:25
The film ended and the room went silent. Then it roared. Over the next three years, hundreds of donors gave more than $300,000 to build one young woman a home of her own.
That's what belief looks like when it shows up. Max Kringen and Annie Wood of Tellwell Story Co. have spent years studying how it gets built — and it isn't luck, and it isn't a bigger ask. 🩵
In this episode, you'll hear:
Why a muddy story keeps donors stuck in transaction mode — and how confusion becomes a tax on every dollar you raise
The Story Seasons framework: introduce, educate, engage, remind — the rhythm that moves someone from curious to committed across a year
Why most organizations stall in "engage" and skip the season that actually builds reciprocity
The input nobody plans for: your story listening strategy, and how to empower frontline staff to collect what matters
How Tellwell engineered belonging into the Well Told Conference, down to the name tags
You'll walk away with a build sequence for turning one-time givers into people who say I want to be part of this. 🩵
Episode Highlights:
(3:31) Three friends, one bar, and a studio built on listening
(4:54) Annie's path from startup ecosystems to Tellwell
(7:21) Belief over transactions: what unclear stories really cost
(9:24) The build: introduce, educate, engage, remind
(13:14) What it looks like when a leader finally has the word
(17:26) Designing belonging: shielded vulnerability and place-and-replace
(21:37) Making ethical storytelling practical, not academic
(22:51) Story listening: the strategy before the strategy
(25:33) Belief in the room: Ella's painting and Lizzie's home
Meet Givebutter. 💛 Fundraising, donor management, and marketing, all in one place. And they just launched a whole lot more. Givebutter Magic puts AI to work, building campaigns and suggesting goals in minutes. Donors get their own branded portal for receipts and recurring gifts. Plus, send video messages right from Givebutter.
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
737. How to Find and Activate the Right Influencers for Your Mission - Trevor Boffone
02 Sep 2026
00:21:06
The right influencer for your mission probably isn't the biggest account in your city. It's more likely someone already following you, already talking about your cause, and already waiting to be asked well.
Trevor Boffone had three months and zero dollars to activate creators for Mental Health America of Greater Houston's new provider-matching platform. His first list of 20 got him one yes. His second approach — an open call and a radically honest ask — got him 26 pieces of content. 🩵
In this episode, you'll hear:
Why "influencer" has nothing to do with follower count — and how that redefinition widens your pool overnight
The first place to look for creator partners: your own follower list, filtered for local people who already care about your cause
The activation script most orgs get wrong, and why leading with "we have no budget, we need one post, we understand if you pass" earned roughly 75% yes
What to offer instead of money — and the moment an ask tips over into unpaid labor
Why handing over full creative control with no scripts and no edit requests produced better content than a brief ever could
How 26 public posts with SEO-rich captions became a discovery engine, surfacing the platform in Google and AI search months later
You'll walk away with a repeatable way to identify the creators who already believe in your work — and activate them without a media budget. 🩵
Episode Highlights:
(2:49) From the classroom to 750K followers: learning the creator side
(6:04) Why nonprofit content falls flat — and what creators fix
(8:10) The assignment: activate creators for Care Connect with no budget
(10:50) Finding the right creators: the open call that changed everything
(12:05) Activating without paying: creative control and 26 pieces of content
(14:48) Why scripts kill creator content
(15:58) How to find the right influencers for your own mission
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
736. Meet the Nonprofit Building a Brand + Movement Around Unity - Adam Mizel, Us United
31 Aug 2026
00:23:11
"There's so many brands for division in this country. Where's the brand for unity?"
That question is why Us United exists. Adam Mizel spent more than 30 years in finance and entrepreneurship before his wife Tanya asked him the question that ended that chapter: What are you going to do? 🩵
What he did was build a brand — hats, T-shirts, media, storytelling, leadership — and wrap a movement around it. Us United now runs a unity pledge, monthly cross-bubble conversations, Unity Seats at live sporting events, and a sheriff network nearly 100 strong.
In this episode, you'll hear:
Why Adam believes a movement without a brand stays invisible, and what he built first
The three things that still unify Americans, and how Us United turned them into the entire strategy
Why funding a brand is harder than funding a program, and how he makes the case when there's no spreadsheet to hand a donor
The one-to-two-minute weekly action he asks every supporter to take, and why he calls it "changing the algorithm"
If you're leading brilliant work that nobody sees or funds, this is a conversation about the gap between the two. 🩵
Episode Highlights:
(3:10) Yelling at the TV: the question that started it
(4:30) Flint, Sheriff Swanson, and the six-hour march
(5:50) Where's the brand for unity?
(6:26) Sports, music, and food: the three cultural drivers
(7:43) Building the on-ramps: the pledge, the algorithm, 30 For Us
(9:45) Unity Seats and the 25th anniversary of 9/11
(12:01) Why a brand is harder to fund than a program
(15:42) If you're not telling your story, nobody is
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
735. Case Study: How a Grant Rejection Turned Into a $223,000 Yes - Katie Hannah, Momentum Leaders
26 Aug 2026
00:25:05
Katie Hannah printed out the rejection email and brought it to the interview. "After careful consideration, our board of reviewers has determined that your application does not make the case for membership at this time."
Most fundraisers file that away and move on. The Director of Development at Momentum Leaders sent one open-ended question instead — and it turned into a $223,000 yes for a leadership nonprofit in Birmingham, Alabama. 🩵
This is Possible in Practice, a limited series of case studies from leaders in the We Are For Good community — the ask they sent, the risk they took, and what happened next.
In this episode, you'll hear:
The exact email reply that reopened a closed door, and why an open-ended question is a near-guaranteed way to get a response
Why a "no" often means your mission didn't survive the 100-word box, not that the funder isn't interested
How to treat a rejection like a major donor visit: seek to listen, not to convince
The in-kind donor who brought toiletries for years, then walked in at Christmas with a $100,000 check
A leadership reframe from a six-year-old that will change how you think about your own career
You'll walk away with permission to get curious about the next no that lands in your inbox. 🩵
Episode Highlights:
(2:22) Katie's path from broadcast to Birmingham fundraising
(5:34) Inside Momentum Leaders: eight staff, $10.5M in salary gains
(7:56) The no: driving 90 minutes to a panel, then getting rejected
(11:44) Why your mission doesn't fit in 100 words
(13:40) Get curious about the no: perseverance as a fundraising skill
(15:34) The toiletries donor and the $100,000 check
Meet Givebutter. 💛 Fundraising, donor management, and marketing, all in one place. And they just launched a whole lot more. Givebutter Magic puts AI to work, building campaigns and suggesting goals in minutes. Donors get their own branded portal for receipts and recurring gifts. Plus, send video messages right from Givebutter.
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
734. The Planned Giving Multiplier: Why Your Most Loyal Donors Are Your Biggest Opportunity - Tony Martignetti
24 Aug 2026
00:23:46
$1,500 in lifetime giving. A million-dollar gift in the will.
Tony Martignetti calls it the planned giving multiplier — the gap between what a donor gives you while they're living and what they leave you when they're gone. It's often measured in the thousands. And the donors most likely to trigger it aren't your wealthiest. They're your most loyal. 🩵
Tony has spent 29 years in planned giving — as a frontline fundraiser, a director of planned giving at two nonprofits, and now founder of Planned Giving Accelerator, where his clients have secured millions in bequests. His new book exists to prove that unlocking the multiplier at your organization takes about a week.
In this episode, you'll hear:
The planned giving multiplier explained — and why the $35,000 average U.S. bequest is a major gift at nearly every small shop
Why a top prospect is defined by consistency, not capacity: 10, 15, 20 years of giving beats a big number every time
Tony's three-step, one-week launch: identify your top prospects, start with gifts in wills, cultivate and solicit
The six myths keeping small nonprofits from ever asking — including the one that quantitative research flatly disproves
How a historical society with one employee mailed 200 letters and got six people saying they'd include the org in their will
Your loyalty data is already sitting in your database. Here's how to act on it. 🩵
Episode Highlights:
(3:53) 29 years of making planned giving accessible
(5:02) The book title that takes the friction out of the topic
(6:40) Six myths that keep the multiplier locked up
(9:07) The three-step, one-week launch
(10:07) Loyalty over capacity: what makes a top prospect
(12:38) One employee, 200 letters, six bequests
(14:28) Why your toolkit can be minimal
(17:36) The $35,000 average bequest and the 1,000-program goal
(18:52) The multiplier in action: $1,500 in, $1M out
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
733. The Creator Partnership Playbook Every Nonprofit Leader Needs - Patricia McLoughlin, The Anthem Awards
19 Aug 2026
00:35:19
One in five adults now get their news from TikTok. Over 40% of adults under 30 do. That same feed is where younger donors are finding the causes they'll give to. Trust has shifted from institutions to individuals, and most nonprofits are still running the old playbook. 🩵
Patricia McLoughlin is General Manager of The Anthem Awards, where she reviews more than 2,000 entries a year from 42 countries. Her team turned that vantage point into the Shared Influence report, then into something more useful: a set of plays any nonprofit can run, whether you have a media budget or a staff of three.
In this episode, you'll hear:
The difference between an influencer and a creator, and why hiring the wrong one wastes both the money and the story
The four plays for finding and vetting a creator partner: look inward, look adjacent, name the ask, drop the script
Why a single creator post can carry a $50,000 price tag, and what changes when you steward creators like major gift prospects
You'll walk away with a playbook you can take to your board this week. 🩵
Episode Highlights:
(2:30) Patricia's origin story: a 46-hour dance marathon and a career decision
(6:18) Inside The Anthem Awards: 2,000+ entries, 42 countries, and the patterns in the data
(8:35) Why trust shifted from institutions to individuals
(11:32) Influencer vs. creator: the distinction that shapes the whole playbook
(14:06) Plays 1 and 2: look inward, then look adjacent
(16:00) Why micro creators often beat millions of followers
(17:26) Play 4: creators don't want your script
(18:35) Put creators in your portfolio: the major gift reframe
(19:30) What a $50,000 post means for your in-kind math
(20:19) How to measure creator impact
(21:41) The long game: content that outlives the post
Meet Givebutter. 💛 Fundraising, donor management, and marketing, all in one place. And they just launched a whole lot more. Givebutter Magic puts AI to work, building campaigns and suggesting goals in minutes. Donors get their own branded portal for receipts and recurring gifts. Plus, send video messages right from Givebutter.
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
732. Measuring What Matters: The 3-Step System for Measuring Your Impact - Ginneh Baugh, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America
17 Aug 2026
00:32:44
Big Brothers Big Sisters has been collecting data for 120 years. When an economist finally studied it, the case for support changed completely: young people who were mentored are 20% more likely to attend college and earn 15% more.
Ginneh Baugh, Chief Impact Officer at Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, has spent two decades helping nonprofit leaders measure what actually matters. Her system is three steps — know your data, show it as a story, grow the movement around it. 🩵
In this episode, you'll hear:
Know: Why you don't need 25 data points — you need two you know inside and out
Show: How to turn a stat into something a human can feel (1 in 3 kids lacks a mentor → in a classroom of 30, only 10 have someone in their corner)
Grow: What happens when you take that story to funders, volunteers, and businesses — and why 85% of young adults are asking for a mentor
You'll walk away with a repeatable way to measure what matters, no matter the size of your team. 🩵
Episode Highlights:
(3:12) Ginneh's origin story: teachers, mentors, and one very clarifying IRS internship
(5:52) The path to Big Brothers Big Sisters and a network hungry for data
(7:56) Data maven meets storyteller: why the pairing cuts through
(9:26) Step 1 — Know: two stats, inside and out
(13:04) Step 2 — Show: falling in love with your data by getting curious first
(16:12) The career confidence crisis and the rise of young adult mentoring
(20:41) Step 3 — Grow: why the future of work won't be automated, it will be mentored
(23:34) What happens when an economist studies your impact data
(25:18) A playground in Nashville and a gift from MacKenzie Scott
Meet Givebutter. 💛 Fundraising, donor management, and marketing, all in one place. And they just launched a whole lot more. Givebutter Magic puts AI to work, building campaigns and suggesting goals in minutes. Donors get their own branded portal for receipts and recurring gifts. Plus, send video messages right from Givebutter.
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
731. What the World's Most Effective Nonprofits Have in Common (And You Already Have It Too) - Scott Curran
10 Aug 2026
00:35:03
Scott Curran has helped former presidents, Fortune 500 companies, and street-corner nonprofits turn good intentions into real impact. After a decade as general counsel of the Clinton Foundation and ten years building Beyond Advisors, he kept noticing the same thing: the world's most effective changemakers and the hometown hero nobody's heard of have the exact same nine things in common.
So do you. That pattern became his new book, Better Good — a framework any organization can start using today with a Post-it note. 🩵
In this episode, you'll hear:
What every effective organization has in common — and why the billionaires and major foundations you're comparing yourself to are struggling with the same things you are
The nine-factor social impact framework: your profile, platform, and passions, plus your time, talent, and treasure, plus scale, sustainability, and storytelling
How two people with nothing extra — a suburban mom of five and a med student fighting a rare disease — built global organizations from what was already in front of them
You'll walk away with a clear inventory of what you already have, a free action plan, and your next rung on the ladder. No new money, credentials, or permission required. 🩵
Episode Highlights:
(3:06) What's lifting for Scott right now: awareness and intentionality
(4:35) Stubborn optimism and the pattern hiding in plain sight
(9:22) The billionaire who didn't have it figured out either
(10:21) Why we undervalue what we already have
(14:25) The hidden framework: nine factors
(18:21) Nancy and Watts of Love
(21:59) Every Cure, hometown heroes, and why success leaves clues
Meet Givebutter. 💛 Fundraising, donor management, and marketing, all in one place. And they just launched a whole lot more. Givebutter Magic puts AI to work, building campaigns and suggesting goals in minutes. Donors get their own branded portal for receipts and recurring gifts. Plus, send video messages right from Givebutter.
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
730. Capacity Is the Strategy: How to Make Your Org More Sustainable - Brooke Richie-Babbage, Chidi Asoluka, and Casey Lardner
05 Aug 2026
00:26:32
Most nonprofit leaders treat capacity like a fuel tank — something you deplete and refill. Brooke Richie-Babbage makes the case that capacity is something you design, and that the strain you're feeling is information about that design, not about your dedication.
She's joined by two leaders who've rebuilt theirs in public: Casey Lardner, Executive Director of Genspace, the world's first community biology lab, and Chidi Asoluka, Founder and CEO of NewComm, which went from a classroom experiment with 18 kids to a student-led organization delivering projects for the NYC Department of Health and Mount Sinai. 🩵
In this episode, you'll hear:
Why sustainability starts with clarity — you can't design the right systems until you know what you're running toward
The mindset shift from vision holder to architect of systems, and how Chidi stopped being the bottleneck in his own org
How Casey unlearned "strain equals effort" and started treating burnout as a diagnosable syndrome, not a cost of doing business
The roles-and-responsibilities work that has to land before shared decision-making or partnerships can actually lighten your load
What frees up when operational work leaves the founder's plate: time in the field, time to think, time to dream
You'll walk away with a practical way to read your own strain as data — and a starting point for building an org that keeps running when you step back. 🩵
Episode Highlights:
(1:18) Meet Casey and Chidi: what feels real right now
(3:22) The founder bottleneck
(6:19) Unlearning hustle-as-virtue in a growing org
(8:09) "It's too soon to panic"
(9:41) From teacher to architect: building repeatable systems
(11:52) Clarity first: defining who you're not
(14:54) Roles, ownership, and Invitation Power
(17:34) What sustainability actually feels like day to day
(21:20) Where to stop pushing and start redesigning
Meet Givebutter. 💛 Fundraising, donor management, and marketing, all in one place. And they just launched a whole lot more. Givebutter Magic puts AI to work, building campaigns and suggesting goals in minutes. Donors get their own branded portal for receipts and recurring gifts. Plus, send video messages right from Givebutter.
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
729. The 4-Step Formula to Get Your Mission Seen by Media, Partners, and Donors - Jenn DeBarge Goonan
03 Aug 2026
00:26:11
Jenn DeBarge Goonan has sent thousands of pitch emails to editors, producers, and partners. She's distilled what works into four steps — and they work whether you're chasing press coverage, a corporate partner, or a major donor meeting.
Jenn launched Lululemon into the U.S. market, built campaigns for Ben & Jerry's, and now runs JAG Communications, where she's spent 20 years making mission-driven work visible. 🩵
In this episode, you'll hear:
Step 1: Why every note has to be a one-of-one, and the 10 minutes of research that makes it land
Step 2: Lead with connection, not credentials — including what to cut (the attachments, the links, the three paragraphs about your org)
Step 3: Make one specific, realistic ask instead of three, and why "a 20-minute conversation" outperforms everything else
Step 4: Silence is not rejection — the "10% more value" follow-up that turned two dead pitches into TV coverage
The one-page message guide that has to exist before any of the four steps work — and how to build it this week
You'll walk away with a repeatable formula for outreach that actually gets answered, plus the foundation that makes it credible. 🩵
Episode Highlights:
(2:44) From high school cheerleader to social impact cheerleader
(4:48) Why passionate leaders end up sounding like word soup
(5:30) The one-page message guide north star
(7:22) How to build it: your ED first, then five anonymous interviews
(9:43) Partnerships: find the overlap before you pitch
(12:29) The 4-step formula, steps 1–3
(15:33) Step 4: don't assume silence is rejection
(16:41) The formula in action: two follow-ups, two placements
(18:33) Social math, Substack, and the 57 million
(20:23) Operation Warm: "This is my first coat ever"
(22:58) One good thing: make it easy for people to help you
Meet Givebutter. 💛 Fundraising, donor management, and marketing, all in one place. And they just launched a whole lot more. Givebutter Magic puts AI to work, building campaigns and suggesting goals in minutes. Donors get their own branded portal for receipts and recurring gifts. Plus, send video messages right from Givebutter.
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
728. How to Tell Stories That Fill the Hope Gap: 3 Lessons from 8 World-Changing Leaders - Jon and Becky
29 Jul 2026
00:25:11
The gap between hope and despair has grown from 4% in 2010 to 27% today. That's the "hope gap" — and it's the reason Jon and Becky spent 10 episodes sitting with eight change leaders who are filling it, one story at a time. 🩵
In this series finale, they pull out the throughlines: what actually made these missions land, and what any nonprofit can copy starting Monday.
In this episode, you'll hear:
Why clarity is a superpower — and how to say what you do, who you serve, and why the problem is solvable in 30 seconds without losing the emotion underneath
The head-and-the-heart formula: why "factually true" and "emotionally true" aren't the same thing, and why your story needs both
How your personal story becomes your mission story — and how to build a culture where staff, volunteers, and board members feel safe enough to share theirs
The stats that stopped the room cold — from mental health to caregiving to what social platforms serve kids in under three minutes
The "one good thing" you can steal from Sesame Street: research + education + creative production, working together
You'll walk away with three portable lessons and a simple challenge: find the stat, find the human, put them together, and lead with hope. 🩵
Episode Highlights:
How the series came together — meeting Afdhel Aziz (1:44)
Story as infrastructure: why narrative shapes culture (3:10)
Theme 1 — Clarity is a superpower (5:42)
The stats that stop you cold (7:24)
Theme 2 — The head and the heart is the formula (9:32)
The Heath story: when a number changed everything (11:23)
Theme 3 — Your personal story is your mission story (13:04)
Building the container: safety, dignity, co-creation (16:46)
Meet Givebutter. 💛 Fundraising, donor management, and marketing, all in one place. And they just launched a whole lot more. Givebutter Magic puts AI to work, building campaigns and suggesting goals in minutes. Donors get their own branded portal for receipts and recurring gifts. Plus, send video messages right from Givebutter.
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
727. Working Session: The Automation Playbook That Added $200K at Year End - Rachel Bearbower
27 Jul 2026
00:21:46
One client reclaimed 15% of their lapsing donors and added $200,000 by year-end. No new campaigns. No bigger team. Just a stewardship system running quietly in the background. Rachel Bearbower built it.
As founder of the Nonprofit Automation Agency, Rachel has helped clients climb from 35% to 50% donor retention in a single year, recover nearly $20,000 in lapsed gifts in 90 days, and hand 20+ hours a month back to overstretched teams — all without losing the human touch. 🤖💛
In this episode, you'll hear:
The exact case study behind the $200K: what a 15% retention lift looks like when you automate stewardship instead of scrambling to remember it
The five stewardship automations that carry a new donor through their first 100 days — from the instant acknowledgement to the second-gift ask
How to automate a thank-you draft straight into your inbox so it still sounds like you — exclamation points and emojis included
Why your CRM should be your single source of truth, and the quiet data-cleanup mistake wrecking your list
The one thing that has to happen before any AI tool works: clean data
You'll walk away with a first automation you can build this week — start with the highest-leverage thing you're not doing, test it on one or two donors, then scale. 💛
Episode Highlights:
Meet Rachel and the Nonprofit Automation Agency (0:52)
The two connected problems: retention and capacity (1:55)
The five donor-stewardship automations (3:32)
Thinking beyond week one: the first 100 days (7:17)
Case study: a 15% retention lift worth $200K (8:09)
Where to start + why your CRM is your source of truth (9:16)
Keeping automation human (11:31)
Tools: Zapier, native integrations, and using Claude (14:40)
Your first automation today (15:38)
One good thing: the DIKW pyramid and clean data (18:06)
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
726. Stories to Fill the Hope Gap: Turning County-Level Wins Into National Change - Hannah Fried, All Voting Is Local
22 Jul 2026
00:20:36
Most of us picture democracy being decided on Election Day. Hannah Fried spends her life on the part nobody watches — the quiet, local decisions made months and years before a single ballot is cast.
Hannah is co-founder and CEO of All Voting Is Local, a national nonprofit working year-round in eight states to remove voting barriers for Black, Brown, and Native American communities. She and her co-founder spent years saying "somebody should start an organization" focused on the local officials quietly deciding how elections run — then realized they were the somebody. They built it from her kitchen table with no money, got incubated by The Leadership Conference, and went independent in 2022.
In this episode, you'll hear:
Why the decisions that make or break your right to vote — where polling places go, what hours they're open, how vote-by-mail works — get made by local officials long before any ballot is cast
The playbook for turning one county-level win into a national conversation — and why story is the engine that does it
Why "it's never too late to get involved" is more than a platitude, plus the concrete ways any person can plug in this year
If you've ever wondered whether slow, local, unglamorous, years-in-the-making work actually adds up — this conversation is your answer. 🩵
Episode Highlights:
Hannah's journey: from voter protection to founding All Voting Is Local (1:54)
The mission: making democracy's invisible infrastructure visible (5:17)
The eight states where AVL works (6:41)
The Apache County win: adding polling places for the Navajo Nation (7:08)
From local to national: the Day of Action in Selma & Montgomery (10:24)
How to get mobilized — where anyone can start (12:39)
A moment of generosity: her daughter as her greatest teacher (14:49)
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
725. How to Fund, Storytell, and Scale What Feels Unsolvable - Sam Teicher, Coral Vita
20 Jul 2026
00:29:55
Half the world's coral reefs have died since the 1970s. That's the kind of number that makes a person feel too small to matter. Sam Teicher has built his whole approach around refusing to let it. Sam is the co-founder and Chief Reef Officer of Coral Vita, a company that grows coral in land-based farms and plants it back onto dying reefs. He could have built a nonprofit to do it. He built a for-profit instead — after a UN-funded project collapsed when a small, restrictive grant didn't renew — and started with just $1,000. A decade later, Coral Vita runs farms from the Bahamas to Saudi Arabia and has earned Sam the Earthshot Prize and a Forbes 30 Under 30 nod. 🌊
His work is a masterclass in three things every mission-driven leader is wrestling with: how to fund it, how to storytell it, and how to scale it — when the problem itself feels unsolvable.
In this episode, you'll hear:
Why Sam walked away from a grant-dependent model — and what his frustration reveals about the limits of restrictive, short-cycle funding for any small org
Why Coral Vita builds with communities (local jobs, free land for partners, on-site education centers) instead of parachuting in — and why the jobs piece is non-negotiable, not a nice side effect
Why "feel first, then think" storytelling beats leading with statistics when your cause feels too big to solve
What "hope as a discipline" actually looks like when the odds are genuinely bad — from a self-described optimistic realist
You'll walk away rethinking sustainable funding, community-led impact, and how to keep a team going when the problem feels bigger than you. 🩵
Episode Highlights:
From a DC kid to a lava-rock lagoon in Hawaii: Sam's origin story (2:30)
White House climate team to founding Coral Vita (4:43)
What coral reefs actually are — and the $2.7 trillion case for saving them (8:54)
Why local jobs are non-negotiable, not a side effect (13:06)
Storytelling a problem this big without paralyzing people (16:54)
Adopt-a-coral and the "optimistic realist" (18:04)
What you can do right now (21:29)
A moment of generosity: pink booty shorts in Samoa (24:46)
Meet Givebutter. 💛 Fundraising, donor management, and marketing, all in one place. And they just launched a whole lot more. Givebutter Magic puts AI to work, building campaigns and suggesting goals in minutes. Donors get their own branded portal for receipts and recurring gifts. Plus, send video messages right from Givebutter.
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
724. Stories to Fill the Hope Gap: The Fight to Hold Big Tech Accountable - Imran Ahmed, Center for Countering Digital Hate
15 Jul 2026
00:29:55
A 52-year-old man who'd spent too long online reading conspiracy theories walked up to Imran Ahmed's colleague — a member of parliament and mother of two — and killed her, screaming internet slogans as he did it. That was the moment Imran realized the online world and the offline world had quietly become the same world.
Imran Ahmed is the founder and CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a US–UK nonprofit that produces the hard evidence lawmakers, advertisers, and parents use to hold social media and AI companies accountable. 🧠
In this episode, you'll hear:
Why the algorithms rewarding hate and lies aren't broken — they're working exactly as designed, and what that means for your mission's message
What CCDH found when they opened a TikTok account as a 13-year-old girl (the numbers are worse than you think)
Why social media is the one industry in America you essentially can't sue — and how that single gap created what Imran calls "technology tyranny"
The STAR framework — Safety, Transparency, Accountability, Responsibility — that's giving lawmakers a simple, values-based way to regulate platforms
Why copying the outrage playbook will never work for the good guys, and what a four-star general taught Imran about winning an information war instead
You'll walk away understanding the information environment your organization actually operates in — and why Imran still believes, without a shred of naivety, that the good guys win. 🩵
Episode Highlights:
Growing up in Manchester and the road into politics (2:27)
What the Center for Countering Digital Hate does (7:41)
Deadly by Design: what TikTok feeds a 13-year-old girl (8:51)
The one industry you can't sue — and "technology tyranny" (12:43)
The information environment every nonprofit operates in (18:15)
Fighting an information war: a lesson from a four-star general (18:15)
Moving people with data and story (21:11)
A story of generosity: Mr. Haydens and Humpty Dumpty (23:10)
Meet Givebutter. 💛 Fundraising, donor management, and marketing, all in one place. And they just launched a whole lot more. Givebutter Magic puts AI to work, building campaigns and suggesting goals in minutes. Donors get their own branded portal for receipts and recurring gifts. Plus, send video messages right from Givebutter.
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
723. How American Express Is Building the Next Generation of Nonprofit Leaders (and What It Means for Yours!) - Madge Thomas
13 Jul 2026
00:34:04
Madge Thomas leads a leadership academy most nonprofit professionals have never heard of — one that's quietly spent nearly two decades and $100M+ training over 165,000 nonprofit leaders worldwide. As president of the American Express Foundation and head of corporate sustainability at American Express, she's built it on a deceptively simple premise: invest in the leader, not just their programs, and the impact ripples outward — to the organization, the community, and long after any single initiative ends.
Madge makes the case that the people powering nonprofits are the sector's most under-resourced asset — then shows how the Academy is changing that with funding, peer cohorts, alumni grants, and a curriculum rebuilt for this moment: AI training with Microsoft, storytelling with TED, and resilience for a shifting funding landscape.
If you've ever poured everything into your programs with nothing left for yourself or your team, this episode names that tension out loud — and offers a different way through.
In this episode, you'll hear:
Why investing in individuals instead of just programs creates a "two plus two makes five" ripple effect that most funders never think to measure
How the Academy stacks funding, a peer cohort of ~75 leaders, and alumni grants to attack nonprofit burnout at the root — by removing the impossible choice between developing your people and running your programs
What today's nonprofit leaders need that they didn't a decade ago, including AI training built with Microsoft and storytelling training built with TED
You'll walk away with a new lens on where philanthropy should focus — and a reminder that you don't need a $100 million budget to start a ripple. A ripple starts with one tiny fracture in the surface. 🩵
Episode Highlights:
Little Madge in Perth: the values that started it all (2:28)
The ripple effect of investing in leaders (4:00)
20 years, $100M, 165,000+ leaders — and the stories behind the numbers (5:12)
Why bet on people instead of programs? (10:12)
Burnout, and removing the choice between people and programs (12:31)
What nonprofit leaders need now: time, network, and dollars (15:49)
AI as augmentation: building an AI-confident sector with Microsoft (20:08)
Holding AI and humanity together (21:08)
A moment of generosity: Mrs. Wilson and the uniforms (25:30)
Meet Givebutter. 💛 Fundraising, donor management, and marketing, all in one place. And they just launched a whole lot more. Givebutter Magic puts AI to work, building campaigns and suggesting goals in minutes. Donors get their own branded portal for receipts and recurring gifts. Plus, send video messages right from Givebutter.
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
722. Stories to Fill the Hope Gap: Storytelling That Turns Crisis Into Action - Dr. Lisa Hunter Romanelli, The REACH Institute
08 Jul 2026
00:19:15
There are 12 million kids in the U.S. with a mental health concern, and four out of five never get treatment — not because the care doesn't exist, but because it takes an average of 15 years for proven research to reach the providers families actually visit.
Dr. Lisa Hunter Romanelli has spent her career closing that gap. As CEO of The REACH Institute — and its very first employee 19 years ago — she's helped train nearly 10,000 primary care providers in evidence-based children's mental health care, with a goal of 16,000 by 2027. 🧠 But this conversation is really about storytelling. Lisa has taken a public health crisis and made it feel solvable, and she shares exactly how she does it with donors and partners.
In this episode, you'll hear:
Why leading with the solution — not the broken thing — is what actually moves donors to act
The "train the trainer" multiplier model: how reaching one pediatrician reaches hundreds of kids a year
How a single trained provider in Oklahoma City recognized a teenager's hidden anxiety and changed the course of her life
Where a leader 19 years into the work still finds hope — and the "whole leader" practice keeping her grounded
Why generosity shows up as far more than cash, and how to recognize every currency your community offers
You'll walk away with a more hopeful, more honest way to tell your own organization's story. 🩵
Episode Highlights:
Meet "little Lisa": From her mom's depression to child psychology (2:56)
One psychologist isn't enough: Meeting Dr. Peter Jensen and building REACH (3:02)
The 15-year research-to-practice gap and REACH's mission (5:50)
Why pediatricians are the front line for kids' mental health (6:22)
The story of "Mia": How one trained doctor changed a life (8:13)
Lead with the solution: Telling donors a story that creates hope (10:33)
Where a 19-year leader still finds her hope (11:40)
Generosity beyond cash: A board member's quiet gift (13:17)
One good thing: The "whole leader" and finding moments of presence (15:16)
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
721. Four Leaders on Mergers, Burnout, and Radical Honesty with Funders - Stacy Huston, Lindsey Fuller, Tammy Tibbetts, and Becky Straw
06 Jul 2026
00:34:00
The traditional nonprofit playbook is full of defaults nobody voted for: merge only when you're desperate, expect your team to run on empty, soften your mission to stay safe, and treat funders like they're doing you a favor. At the We Are For Good Summit, four leaders sat down to throw all of that out. 🧠
Hosted by Stacy Huston, CEO of SixDegrees.org and a social impact strategist working at the intersection of storytelling, influence, and action, this conversation brings together Tammy Tibbetts (She's the First), Lindsey Fuller (The Teaching Well), and Becky Straw (The Adventure Project) — three leaders who each named a default they've refused to accept and shared exactly what they did instead.
In this episode, you'll hear:
Why a merger can be a strategic first move instead of a white flag — and the single question Tammy asked herself to know She's the First was making the right call
How The Teaching Well retained 100% of its funders three years running by being radically honest about what its team actually needs
The case for treating identity as an asset, not a liability — even while peer orgs were scrubbing their websites in 2025
You'll walk away with permission — and a few tactical first steps — to question the defaults that are quietly draining your organization. 🩵
Episode Highlights:
Three nonprofit myths busted (1:46)
Mergers as a strategic first choice (5:28)
One tactical first step toward exploring a merger (8:35)
The dignity of work: flipping the aid model (10:23)
Doubling down on storytelling after the USAID gap (12:40)
Identity as asset: leading with Sankofa (14:20)
Retaining 100% of funders through radical honesty (16:26)
Comfort as complacency (18:09)
The "one good thing": self-care and collective care (24:21)
SixDegrees.org — Stacy Huston's organization, described as "a nonprofit for nonprofits," bringing organizations together as a collective force
She's the First — Tammy Tibbetts's organization putting girls front and center worldwide
Girl Rising — She's the First's merger partner; the unified brand going forward, led by CEO Christina Lowery
The Teaching Well — Lindsey Fuller's retention-focused organization solving the school staffing crisis
The Adventure Project — Becky Straw's organization creating good jobs in Sub-Saharan Africa
La Piana Consulting — the firm that "wrote the textbook" on nonprofit mergers; cited for the finding that 92% of surveyed merged organizations called it a success a year later
Meet Givebutter. 💛 Fundraising, donor management, and marketing, all in one place. And they just launched a whole lot more. Givebutter Magic puts AI to work, building campaigns and suggesting goals in minutes. Donors get their own branded portal for receipts and recurring gifts. Plus, send video messages right from Givebutter.
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
720. Stories to Fill The Hope Gap: Why Celebration Is the Story That Changes Everything - Colby King, Kiki Arts Collaborative
24 Jun 2026
00:18:25
The Kiki and ballroom scene, built by Black and brown LGBTQ+ youth of color in New York City, has been creating art, designing fashion, performing, and building community for over 20 years.
Meet Colby King 👋 He’s the founder of Kiki Arts Collaborative, an economic development platform turning ballroom artistry into sustainable careers in arts, culture, and media through creative mentorship, job training, and internship placement. In 2025, that work earned Colby the David Prize, one of five awarded annually to the most luminary nonprofits in New York City.
In this episode, you'll hear:
Colby’s personal story and journey to the work he is doing today through KAC
Why celebration, not charity, is the storytelling strategy at the heart of KAC's work, and what nonprofit leaders can apply to their own work
What it looks like to build with a community instead of for it and why that distinction is at the root of everything Kiki Arts Collaborative does
You'll walk away questioning the scarcity mindset the sector trained into all of us. You'll also be empowered with a sharper sense of how to tell stories that restore dignity instead of trading on need. 🩵
Episode Highlights:
Meet Colby King and Kiki Arts Collaborative (00:44)
From Dallas pews to Columbia: the origin story (02:06)
The mission: lowering the barrier to creative careers (05:38)
"Seeing my art as art": the Inspiration Point exhibit (08:01)
Charity vs. celebration: reframing the impact story (09:59)
The mom who gave away her bed: generosity that stuck (11:48)
One Good Thing: "take care of your blessings" (14:04)
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
719. Consistency Over Intensity: The Science of Sustainable Giving - Dr. Sanjay Bindra, GOSUMEC Foundation USA
22 Jun 2026
00:32:08
Dr. Sanjay Bindra is a practicing cardiologist who built a $2.5 million endowment at a zero-staff nonprofit in less than four years, with no campaigns and no urgency emails. Then he studied why it worked.
The result: the GIVE Study, a 12-month real-time look at how small nonprofits can achieve sustainable recurring giving through trust, behavioral design, and strong governance.
In this episode, you'll hear:
Why first-time donor retention has been under 20% for decades, and the single most important thing you can do to change that number
The difference between dopamine-driven fundraising and oxytocin-driven relationships
The GIVE framework: Gratitude, Impact, Voice, and Engagement, and how to apply it to build genuine donor relationships that last
What your org can do right now to start building a sustainable base
You'll walk away with a replicable framework for turning one-time donors into lifelong community members. 🩵
Episode Highlights:
Dr. Bindra's origin story: bananas, bread, and building from community (2:30)
How GOSUMEC Foundation went from zero to $2.5M with no staff (4:59)
The GIVE Study: what sparked it and what it found (10:10)
First gift vs. second gift: transaction vs. relationship (11:33)
The GIVE framework: Gratitude, Impact, Voice, Engagement (17:40)
Dopamine vs. oxytocin: the science of donor retention (18:59)
What small nonprofits can do right now (21:08)
Consistency over intensity: the one good thing (27:00)
Meet Givebutter. 💛 Fundraising, donor management, and marketing, all in one place. And they just launched a whole lot more. Givebutter Magic puts AI to work, building campaigns and suggesting goals in minutes. Donors get their own branded portal for receipts and recurring gifts. Plus, send video messages right from Givebutter.
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
718. Stories to Fill The Hope Gap: How Hip Hop Therapy Is Rewriting What Healing and Storytelling Look Like - J.C. Hall
17 Jun 2026
00:27:33
An 85% graduation rate against a district average of 60% — at a second-chance school in the South Bronx where the primary healing tool isn't a worksheet or a clipboard. It's a professional recording studio. 🎙️
J.C. Hall is a licensed clinical social worker, a hip hop artist, and a 2024 David Prize winner (one of just five awarded across New York City). At Mott Haven Community High School, he's spent 13 years building a program where trauma-exposed students rewrite their own narratives — set to a beat. His own path here ran through addiction, psych wards, and a teenage years he didn't expect to survive. Hip hop kept him alive long enough to find the help that did the rest.
In this episode, you'll hear:
How letting beneficiaries tell their own story (instead of explaining it for them) made J.C.'s documentary land with audiences who'd never touched hip hop culture
The case for emotion over statistics — why a felt story moves a donor to give when the logic of your mission alone won't
What an 85% graduation rate reveals about purpose, identity, and connection as outcomes you can actually track
If you've ever struggled to make your mission felt rather than just understood, this conversation will change how you tell it. 🩵
Episode Highlights:
J.C.'s journey to where he is today (01:57)
How hip hop therapy began with one kid and a lunch-table beat (07:32)
Meeting people where they are (10:50)
Ephraim's story: "I'm not gonna get my Monday" (11:44)
The data: an 85% graduation rate (16:44)
Why the kids — not the expert — are the story (17:22)
A moment of generosity that changed everything (20:29)
J.C.'s One Good Thing: Don't quit 15 minutes before the miracle (23:08)
Meet Givebutter. 💛 Fundraising, donor management, and marketing, all in one place. And they just launched a whole lot more. Givebutter Magic puts AI to work, building campaigns and suggesting goals in minutes. Donors get their own branded portal for receipts and recurring gifts. Plus, send video messages right from Givebutter.
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
717. The Funding Landscape Is Shifting. Here's What Nonprofits Need to Know - Hala Hanna, MIT Solve
15 Jun 2026
00:28:05
"Crisis creates clarity, and philanthropic funding is the best risk capital we have." That's how Hala Hanna reads the moment we're in, and as Executive Director of MIT Solve, she has the data to back it up.
MIT Solve has spent a decade brokering the relationship between companies, funders, and the early-stage innovators closing equity gaps in health, learning, climate, and economic opportunity. Their 460 solvers are reaching 430 million lives, have mobilized $87 million in direct funding, and have collectively raised $1.4 billion. And Hala has a front-row seat to the fundamental shift happening in how money moves toward mission.
In this episode, you'll hear:
Why the most forward-thinking funders are moving from rewarding proximity to power to rewarding proximity to the problem, and what that means for your mission
What corporate partners actually need from nonprofit partnerships right now, and how to position your org to meet them there
Why pairing measurable outcomes with storytelling is the real fundraising unlock, and the one question every nonprofit leader needs to answer before walking into a funder conversation
You'll walk away with a sharper read on where philanthropy is heading and a concrete playbook for becoming the partner funders are actually looking for. 🩵
Episode Highlights:
Meet Hala Hanna (01:44)
What MIT Solve actually does — and the numbers behind it (03:13)
From proximity to power to proximity to the problem (03:37)
Why corporate donors are raising the bar (HP & Amazon) (06:59)
The full accordion: rethinking philanthropic capital (10:48)
Where nonprofits start: data, storytelling, and trust (13:30)
Fighting the "single story" of AI (17:23)
Amini: building sovereign AI in the Global South (18:02)
Meet Givebutter. 💛 Fundraising, donor management, and marketing, all in one place. And they just launched a whole lot more. Givebutter Magic puts AI to work, building campaigns and suggesting goals in minutes. Donors get their own branded portal for receipts and recurring gifts. Plus, send video messages right from Givebutter.
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
716. Stories to Fill the Hope Gap: How Story Becomes the Strategy to Shift Culture - Ai-jen Poo, Caring Across Generations
10 Jun 2026
00:25:38
As Co-Founder of Caring Across Generations and President of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, Ai-jen Poo has spent decades working at the intersection of policy and culture — because she knows you can't change one without the other.
A MacArthur Fellow, Time 100 honoree, and author of The Age of Dignity, she's now launching a million-care-conversations campaign and a new production label, Give Not Take Media, to get care stories into film and television at scale. 🩵
In this episode, you'll hear:
Why culture change has to come before policy change — and what that sequencing means for your organization's communications strategy
How Caring Across Generations scaled their story strategy, and what it can teach any org about how media scales mission
How to plug into the 1 Million Care Conversations campaign right now
You'll walk away understanding why story isn't just a communications tool, it's the strategy that shifts culture, changes policy, and moves people to act.
Episode Highlights:
Ai-jen's grandfather and the personal roots of Caring Across Generations (2:09)
Changing policy and culture — why you can't do one without the other (6:09)
Care as infrastructure: the framing that changes the conversation (8:22)
Why emotional truth drives behavior more than facts (10:35)
Give Not Take Media and the film Take Me Home at Tribeca (13:21)
1 Million Care Conversations campaign — how to get involved (16:01)
A story of generosity: the donor who honored her nanny (18:07)
One Good Thing: reach out to a caregiver in your life (20:19)
Meet Givebutter. 💛 Fundraising, donor management, and marketing, all in one place. And they just launched a whole lot more. Givebutter Magic puts AI to work, building campaigns and suggesting goals in minutes. Donors get their own branded portal for receipts and recurring gifts. Plus, send video messages right from Givebutter.
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
715. Working Session: The Email Infrastructure Every Nonprofit Needs - Katelyn Baughan
08 Jun 2026
00:20:09
Most nonprofits treat email like a megaphone. They show up loud when they need donations and go completely quiet in between. Katelyn Baughan has worked with UNHCR, Amnesty International, the Trevor Project, and the National Breast Cancer Foundation, and she has seen this pattern cost nonprofits thousands in unrealized donations.
Her fix: stop thinking about campaigns and start building infrastructure.
In less than 20 minutes, Katelyn walks you through the automated email system that works in the background to build donor relationships, nurture loyalty, and raise more money, even when you're not hitting send. 📧
In this episode, you'll hear:
The difference between email campaigns and email infrastructure, and why most nonprofits are missing the piece that actually builds long-term donor loyalty
The three foundational automations every nonprofit should have running right now: subscriber welcome, new donor onboarding, and monthly donor welcome
What deliverability actually means (it's not the same as delivery), and how to find out if your emails are landing in spam without you knowing
Start building your system this week. Your donors are waiting to hear from you. 🩵
Episode Highlights:
Working Session Intro (0:29)
The Megaphone Problem: Rethinking How Nonprofits Use Email (2:20)
Infrastructure vs. Campaigns: The Plumbing Analogy (4:18)
Where to Start: Building Your Welcome Series (6:08)
The Three Foundational Automations Every Nonprofit Needs (7:32)
New Donor Onboarding: The Window You Can't Miss (8:23)
Deliverability vs. Delivery: What the Difference Means for Your Inbox (13:41)
Google Postmaster Tools and How to Use Them (14:35)
One Good Thing: Stop Worrying About Bothering Donors (15:49)
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
714. Stories to Fill the Hope Gap: The 3 Part Formula Behind Sesame Street’s Storytelling - Scott Cameron
03 Jun 2026
00:43:05
Scott Cameron is a two-time Emmy Award-winning creative leader who has spent his career executive producing international adaptations of Sesame Street, bringing this iconic brand to audiences in 190 countries and 31 languages. He joins us for this special episode to talk about what 57 years of research-driven storytelling has taught him about how story actually changes people. 🌟
In this episode, you'll hear:
How the Sesame model — a Venn diagram of creative production, education, and research — creates content that changes behavior, not just awareness
What happened when Sesame Workshop partnered with the IRC to bring Elmo and Cookie Monster into mobile health clinics in conflict-affected Jordan, and why the research surprised everyone
Why knowing your North Star is the only thing that keeps a mission-driven organization from playing whack-a-mole with every new trend
Walk away from this conversation with a framework for intentional storytelling, and a new appreciation for the most trusted institution already sitting in your community. 🩵
Episode Highlights:
Scott's Origin Story: Growing Up With Sesame Street (2:53)
The Origin of Sesame Street: A 1966 Dinner Party (5:57)
The Sesame Research Model: Where Story Meets Science (9:35)
Funding Disruption and What Sesame Did Next (12:27)
Bringing Sesame to Conflict Zones: The IRC Partnership (13:37)
The ABCs of Emotion: What Research in Jordan Taught Them (16:02)
AI, North Stars, and What to Actually Pay Attention To (19:00)
The Most Trusted Institution in Your Community (21:36)
Netflix, PBS, YouTube and Going Global (24:07)
Creating Digital Ecosystems and What Comes Next (27:00)
Meet Givebutter. 💛 Fundraising, donor management, and marketing, all in one place. And they just launched a whole lot more. Givebutter Magic puts AI to work, building campaigns and suggesting goals in minutes. Donors get their own branded portal for receipts and recurring gifts. Plus, send video messages right from Givebutter.
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
713. The Case for Playing the Long Game in Philanthropy - Matthew Oh, FOREFRONT Charity
01 Jun 2026
00:37:20
Matt Oh was an engineer with a stable career and a 9-to-5 when a mission trip to India stopped him in his tracks. He saw something he couldn’t unsee — women and children spending 10 hours a day walking to collect dirty water.
In 2015, he founded FOREFRONT Charity with a few college friends and one water well. Today, more than 100,000 people across India, Kenya, and East Africa have been impacted through clean water, education, medical care, and empowerment. 105 water wells drilled. A school built, in which 20% of the students once worked in child labor, that now serves more than 250 first-generation students. A 90% program efficiency rate. Clearly, an engineer is running this. 💡
In this episode, you'll hear:
Why “treating symptoms” is a stewardship failure, and how Matt’s five whys framework helps you fund root-cause solutions that create lasting change
What 11 years of local partnerships taught FOREFRONT about trust, and why sustainable change is slow to build, easy to lose, and worth protecting
How FOREFRONT came within $1,000 of shutting its doors twice, and what those struggles taught them
Walk away from this conversation with a new lens on donor stewardship, a challenge to stop moving fast when the community you serve needs you to stay, and proof that the long game is worth it. 🩵
Episode Highlights:
From Engineering to Purpose: Matt's Origin Story (3:36)
The Five Whys: Applying Engineering Thinking to Nonprofit Impact (9:15)
Root Cause vs. Symptoms: What Real Stewardship Looks Like (10:19)
A Decade of Local Partnerships and What Trust Actually Requires (14:10)
Persevering Through Hard Seasons (18:14)
FOREFRONT Forward: Scaling What Works Globally (19:54)
The School Story: What Grit Really Looks Like (25:09)
One Good Thing: Play the Long Game (31:29)
How to Connect and Support FOREFRONT Charity (33:04)
Meet Givebutter. 💛 Fundraising, donor management, and marketing, all in one place. And they just launched a whole lot more. Givebutter Magic puts AI to work, building campaigns and suggesting goals in minutes. Donors get their own branded portal for receipts and recurring gifts. Plus, send video messages right from Givebutter.
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
712. Stories to Fill The Hope Gap: How Art is Healing Veterans - Richard Casper, CreatiVets
27 May 2026
00:34:31
This episode includes themes of combat trauma, mental health, and suicidal ideation. If you or someone you know is struggling, please reach out to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988.
Meet Richard Casper 👋 Richard is a Marine Corps veteran, Purple Heart recipient, CNN Hero, and co-founder of CreatiVets, a nonprofit that helps wounded veterans heal from PTSD and TBI through songwriting, visual art, and performance. His own healing started with one chalk pastel and a tribute to his friend Luke. That moment sparked a mission that led to 700+ songs, 25 million streams, and thousands of lives changed.
In this episode, you'll hear:
How CreatiVets reaches the veterans who will never ask for help, and the storytelling model that makes showing up irresistible
Why every song they write becomes a new story to share with the world, and what that means for how nonprofits think about content
The story of James: a veteran who found hope at a country music festival
How to build programs that give people tools for life, not just for the length of a program
The vision for a 24-hour creative arts center where any veteran can walk in and start to heal
Episode Highlights:
Richard's origin story and the call to serve (0:44)
Camp David, survivor guilt, and choosing to go to Iraq with his unit (3:42)
How a room full of strangers understood Richard’s story before he did (8:46)
Meet the mission of CreatiVets (12:51)
Designing programs that give veterans tools for life, not just for the program (15:21)
James's story: the moment a CreatiVets sign saved a life at a country festival (19:37)
Why story is the most underused tool in the nonprofit sector (22:23)
CreatiVet’s vision: a 24-hour creative arts center for veterans in Nashville (28:57)
Meet Givebutter. 💛 Fundraising, donor management, and marketing, all in one place. And they just launched a whole lot more. Givebutter Magic puts AI to work, building campaigns and suggesting goals in minutes. Donors get their own branded portal for receipts and recurring gifts. Plus, send video messages right from Givebutter.
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
711. How Fiscal Sponsorship Is Rewriting Who Gets to Lead Change - Vincent Jones
26 May 2026
00:28:55
What does it actually mean to fund community power? Not a one-time grant, not a single big donor relationship, but real, sustained infrastructure for the leaders closest to the problems. Vincent Jones has spent three decades figuring that out.
Meet Vincent Jones 👋 He is the CEO of Beyond Impact, formerly known as Tides Advocacy, a national 501(c)(4) intermediary that serves as fiscal sponsor, funder, and convener for more than 90 projects across 20 states. Beyond Impact sits at the part of philanthropic infrastructure most nonprofit conversations never reach: what happens when giving goes beyond foundations to include how communities build power, influence policy, and drive long-term structural change.
In this episode, you'll hear:
Why philanthropy's current funding structure is a design failure and what a better model actually looks like
What fiscal sponsorship is (explained simply), and why it's the infrastructure that lets community leaders focus entirely on the work
A moment of generosity that changed how Vincent sees his own worth, and what he wants every listener who has ever doubted themselves to hear
This one will change how you think about who holds power in your organization and how you fund the work that matters. 🌱
Episode Highlights:
Meet Vincent Jones (02:09)
Why philanthropy's funding structure is a design failure (06:12)
Democratizing donors: the Uplifting Change Initiative at Liberty Hill (07:20)
The real cost of last-minute, cycle-based funding (10:24)
What fiscal sponsorship actually means (12:22)
Beyond Impact's 90+ projects (13:16)
A moment of philanthropy that changed Vincent's life (20:45)
One good thing: "Do good, have fun, and help others do the same." (25:11)
Meet Givebutter. 💛 Fundraising, donor management, and marketing, all in one place. And they just launched a whole lot more. Givebutter Magic puts AI to work, building campaigns and suggesting goals in minutes. Donors get their own branded portal for receipts and recurring gifts. Plus, send video messages right from Givebutter.
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
710. Stories That Fill the Hope Gap: Closing the Hope Gap with Story - Afdhel Aziz
20 May 2026
00:21:56
There is a growing gap in our world between hope and despair.
And storytelling might be the most powerful tool we have to fill it.
Welcome to Stories That Fill the Hope Gap, a 10-part limited series created in partnership with Good is the New Cool and We Are For Good. Every Wednesday for the next 10 weeks, we are bringing you a changemaker who is using story to cut through noise, build connection, shift culture, and move people to action.
We open with the conversation that started it all: the keynote Afdhel Aziz delivered live at ImpactUp: Story, framing the big idea that runs through every episode that follows.
In this episode, you'll hear:
What the Hope Gap is, where it came from, and why it matters for every changemaker telling stories right now
Why pop culture, social media, and news are all feeding despair, and what that means for how we communicate
Gallup's 2026 finding that hope is the number one thing people want from their leaders, outpacing trust, compassion, and stability combined
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
709. Working Session: Fundraising as a Team of One: What to Do When You Don’t Have Time for Everything - Christina Martin Kenny
18 May 2026
00:28:36
Meet Christina Martin Kenny 👋 She is a career fundraiser and the founder of Guava Tree Strategies. She has been a fundraising team of one more times than she can count, and she literally wrote the handbook on surviving it: The Solo Fundraiser Survival Guide.
In this Working Session, she is bringing the entire playbook to help you figure out what to prioritize, what to let go of, and how to actually move the needle when you feel like you are juggling everything and dropping all of it.
In this Working Session, you'll hear:
How to stop doing everything and start doing the right things
How to match your time to where your money actually comes from
How to replace your to-do list with three weekly priorities that actually move the needle
Welcome back to Working Sessions: hands-on, clarity-filled conversations designed to help you move real work forward inside your organization.
Let's get to work.
Episode Highlights:
Outsourcing doesn't have to cost money (5:00)
It's okay to do less: the diverse revenue myth (6:05)
Revenue matches time: the core framework (8:00)
Time tracking exercise: where are your hours actually going? (8:30)
The Good Enough Checklist (11:10)
Good bones: your donation processing platform (11:30)
CRM basics and the three metrics that matter (12:30)
Automated acknowledgement letters: plain text beats branded (15:00)
From overwhelm to activated: the three weekly priorities (17:00)
Revenue driving, relationship building, system strengthening (19:00)
Tiny Tasks Before 10 (20:00)
One good thing: protecting your time is a strategic decision (21:00)
Meet Givebutter. 💛 Fundraising, donor management, and marketing, all in one place. And they just launched a whole lot more. Givebutter Magic puts AI to work, building campaigns and suggesting goals in minutes. Donors get their own branded portal for receipts and recurring gifts. Plus, send video messages right from Givebutter.
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
708. Working Session: How to Build a Story Engine for Your Nonprofit - Amanda Green
13 May 2026
00:20:17
Meet Amanda Green 👋 She is a journalist turned Communications Consultant with more than 20 years of newsroom and public relations experience, including 12 years in TV newsrooms. She is the founder of In Your Voice Media Works, where she helps cause-led organizations build their own internal newsrooms: the systems, the workflows, and the editorial instincts that turn scattered content into a sustained story engine.
Her take? Content calendars and campaigns don't build momentum. If you want storytelling to drive real change, you need to think like a media organization.
In this Working Session, you'll hear:
Why nonprofits need to stop asking "what should we post this week?" and start asking "what is the story, and how do we work it?"
Amanda's 5-step story framework: define your beat, work your story pipeline, report and produce, publish and distribute, and measure and adjust
How to run a 10-minute editorial meeting that gets every department contributing stories, from your board to the person who sweeps the floors
Welcome back to Working Sessions: hands-on, clarity-filled conversations designed to help you move real work forward inside your organization.
Let's get to work.
Episode Highlights:
Meet Amanda Green (1:22)
Think like a media company: the mindset shift (2:30)
Stop asking what to post. Start asking what the story is. (2:50)
The editorial mission statement and guidelines (4:00)
Audience analysis and building editorial judgment (5:00)
How to run a 10-minute editorial meeting (7:00)
Step 1: Define your beat (8:00)
Step 2: Work your story pipeline: story leads and channel leads (8:30)
Step 3: Report and produce (10:00)
Step 4: Publish and distribute (10:30)
Step 5: Measure and adjust (10:45)
Community as storytelling: the "everybody has a story" approach (11:00)
Story is the heartbeat of connection (13:00)
The 3-tab spreadsheet story planner (15:00)
One good thing: listen to the people in your community (16:47)
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com
707. How to Break Philanthropy Out of Hypothesis Mode - Casey Lardner, Ph.D., GenSpace
11 May 2026
00:31:18
Is philanthropy stuck in hypothesis mode?
In science, there are two kinds of research: hypothesis-driven, where you predict the outcome before you run the experiment, and exploratory, where you map the landscape and stay open to what you find. The biggest breakthroughs almost always come from the second.
Meet Casey Lardner 👋 She is a neuroscientist and the Executive Director of Genspace, the world's first community biology lab in Brooklyn, New York. Part biology lab, part design studio, part classroom, part community space, Genspace has been opening the doors of science to artists, entrepreneurs, students, researchers, and curious humans since 2009.
In this episode, you'll hear:
Why philanthropy is stuck in hypothesis mode and what the sector is missing because of it
Why uncertainty isn't a problem to solve. It's the work.
How to lead your organization with the curiosity and rigor of a scientist
This one will change how you think about impact, innovation, and what we might be leaving on the table. 🩵
Episode Highlights:
Meet Casey Lardner (0:37)
What Genspace is: lab, classroom, studio, community (8:16)
Hypothesis-driven vs. exploratory science: the difference (10:00)
What hypothesis-driven philanthropy is costing the sector (11:09)
Who carries the risk of uncertainty? (15:00)
How Genspace secures exploratory investment from funders (17:52)
How to start thinking like a scientist as a nonprofit leader (20:59)
Casey’s One Good Thing: Curiosity as a habit of mind (26:32)
Meet Givebutter. 💛 Fundraising, donor management, and marketing, all in one place. And they just launched a whole lot more. Givebutter Magic puts AI to work, building campaigns and suggesting goals in minutes. Donors get their own branded portal for receipts and recurring gifts. Plus, send video messages right from Givebutter.
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com