Latest / We Are For Good Podcast - The Podcast for Nonprofits / 556. Unleashing Collective Power: Reflections from the Impact Uprising Gathering - Jon McCoy and Becky Endicott

Transcript

556. Unleashing Collective Power: Reflections from the Impact Uprising Gathering - Jon McCoy and Becky Endicott · We Are For Good Podcast - The Podcast for Nonprofits

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Hey, I'm John.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: And I'm Becky.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: And this is the we Are For Good podcast.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Nonprofits are faced with more challenges to accomplish their missions and the growing pressure to do more, raise more and be more for the causes that improve our world.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: We're here to learn with you from some of the best in the industry, bringing the most innovative ideas, inspirational stories, all to create an impact uprising.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: So welcome to the good community.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: We're nonprofit professionals, philanthropists, world changers and rabid fans who are striving to bring a little more goodness into the world.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: So let's get started.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Becky, oh my gosh impact up right, it just happened.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: Impact up.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: We impacted up Is it a verb now I don't know what it is, but, oh my gosh, you guys, like we are recording this a week out from impact up.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: We are standing in the awe of what you all have done, what you have lifted, what you have connected.
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: We are literally still seeing ripple, ripple, ripple, ripple, like on social media, in our texts.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: You guys took our breath away.
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: Is it safe?
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: To say, like we are still processing.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: Seriously, and I said this on LinkedIn and my breath literally went away because I was on mute for anybody who joined, which was the most joyful occasion.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: I was on mute for like a minute, so you need to watch the replays for that reason.
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: Julie probably edited some of it out because she's such a good producer, but that was such a wonderful moment of levity and the heavy and the light and the celebratory.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: It's just a reminder that we're all human.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: But we got to unpack some of what happened, John, because I think we're getting that question about 50 times a day from people of what you guys see, what happened on the back end, what's what's coalescing?
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: And what's coalescing y'all is something mighty and it was powered by you.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: So Okay, and if you find yourself listening and you're like what the heck are John and Becky talking about?
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: If you've missed this Impact Uprising is not just our vision around here.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: It is the movement.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: Impact Uprising is the movement of change makers coming together saying we are tired of the status quo, we want something different.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: We're leaning into that together and it manifested through this gathering that happened on July 11th and it's called Impact Up.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: It didn't just happen virtually.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: We were talking about power throughout the day and we had more than 22 speakers join the live conversations there, but then we scattered and joined in communities and we got to shout this out.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: I mean, our small vision of what this could be was taken aback.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: I mean, more than 2000 people registered to come to the virtual gathering, which took our breath away, but then more than almost 30 local meetups popped up.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: So I mean we're talking from literally New York to Oklahoma City, to San Francisco, to Sydney, australia and to Uganda, to the Orange County, california, to St Louis and so many more in between.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: So we want to unpack.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: What did that look like?
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: To have this virtual day of convening and then the local getting to talk about this and connect with people in our communities that we'd maybe never met before.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: It was a very powerful force, and so read about it at impactuprisingcom, too, if you're just discovering this.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I just think people are ready.
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: I mean, I was not aware how ready everyone was and this like let's be vulnerable here and tell the truth, we were scared to put this gathering together.
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: We I feel like it's probably just the story of everything.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: We were like is this going to work?
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: Is this going to resonate Like, is it just going to be our moms showing up?
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: That's always like what we know we can count on and I have to tell you, I felt this internal shift in me on July 11th where I was like, oh, it's not just my mom showing up, it is a massive collective of people and friends that, honestly, we haven't even met yet.
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: There was probably 15 hosts I have never talked to before who are part of this movement, and I love that.
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: I mean, I definitely want to meet you if we haven't talked yet.
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: But the fact that it's growing beyond us is the point.
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: That's the idea and that it's becoming more about what the community can lift together and the change they can be together.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: It was really just extraordinary to watch.
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: And then you put in 22 speakers from that day that are breaking down the theme of power in so many different avenues and lenses and we have to just lay some foundation and say none of this crazy dream would have happened without people who believed in us, people who believed who would show up, people who would believe to come and create original content around this, to share what they're learning and, honestly, people who would come and bring their communities and friends.
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: And then you got the people who said I will fund this, which, hello, is a huge part of our ability to be able to do that.
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: So I want to shout out our presenting sponsors Classy, gofundme Giving Tuesday, rkd Group, attain Partners.
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: You all believed in something that had not been tested or tried, and we're so grateful for it.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: And then we had all of these other partners that came in to sponsor local meetups.
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: I mean, the big three that we were all at was Oklahoma City, new York and San Francisco, and just shout out to Good United Wingspan Group and Simple Modern who sponsored those events, and there were so many others.
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: And so I just want to say it was a collective.
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: It was not just the money, it wasn't just the people, it wasn't just the content, it wasn't just the offerings, it was the everything, and we are really standing in awe of it the morning of was sharing what our intention was for this space, and it's got to be really connected to our journey with.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: We Are For Good, and even before that.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: But how can we show up today, curious with an open hand for different ideas, different people that are going to share things that maybe we've never heard before, or things that maybe make us uncomfortable, that we've not gone into those corners before, but just to come at it with an open hand and y'all.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: I felt that from the way that people poured into this and then I felt it in the room.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: You know, I I'm on a family road trip and we happened to be near San Francisco, so that's where I plugged into the local meetup and just the tenor of that room is just like.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: Most people in the room didn't know each other, which is what's so cool, but the care that came through that.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: I'm pulling for you.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: This is what I'm working on.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: How can we lift you?
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: It just was so aligned and just a beautiful thing to behold, and that's the power of this thing.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: This movement is sparking deeper conversations.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: It's going to change.
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: This is how I think we really shift is what it comes down to.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: This is how we append the donor pyramid and flip the pyramid and think about how do we activate the people, the people of this sector and beyond, that really want to change the world together.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: This is how we do it One by one, conversation by conversation and gathering together and pulling for each other and talking about the hard stuff.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: So just feel really like you know, taking it back, as we kind of look at it from this vantage point.
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, taking it back, as we kind of look at it from this vantage point, yeah, I feel our seventh core value was embedded in that event so deeply, which is disrupt, adapt, grow, repeat.
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: And if we have a commitment to that, the shift will happen.
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: And so I want to allow us to kind of take it a little high level and I want to ask you, john, when you go up to the 10,000 foot view of what happened, I want to know, like, what the biggest takeaway was that you saw from your vantage point.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: Um, this is a hard question because I mean, like we've already emoted, like you can feel it probably from us that we feel really changed.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: But I think what I will remember about this particular impact up was the courage.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: I think what I will remember about this particular impact up was the courage.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: And because I felt it in our team that there was moments when it felt too big, too lofty, too much to pull off, but at the same time then we announce it, we share vision and it's like partners had courage to invest in an idea that hadn't been shown yet.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: You know just this concept that this could happen.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: And then we talked to our closest community around this and they have courage to say, hey, I want to, I want to lead a local meetup.
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: These are not people that are like professional organizers.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: These are people who are just like I could grab a table, I could start a conversation and to follow that courage path through to even the person who signed up.
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: And I met somebody at the San Francisco meetup that literally came up to me and hugged me and said I don't know how I ended up here, I don't even remember I got one too in Oklahoma City.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: She said I found you guys yesterday and it was like how amazing is that?
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: She's like I don't know where I saw it, but I joined and I watched all day.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: And then I'm here today and it's like the connection she had of what she's doing in the space is just so beautiful and it's like even the courage to come when you don't know anybody to carve out time, and time's such our greatest resource to come Like.
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: I'm moved by the courage that's happened in this community and I think that that we need to build on that, because courage is not one and done, but it does come more easily in community and so the more we can take those bold steps forward together, it it's just the way forward, you know, and like what is that nudge that you're feeling like?
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: Step into that.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: So that's my big takeaway.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: I'm feeling it at every corner.
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, like a dusty old man from the 1900s Like here here.
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: Yes, like more of this.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: Okay, so thanks for indulging me.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: B what are you taking away?
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: I mean, you've had a, a minute to process, but we're still so tired from you know just the physical piece of this.
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: But like, what are you seeing?
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: What are you feeling as your takeaway?
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: Okay, I I'll say it shortly, succinctly, at the beginning, but I got to give some context, of course, but change is common, it's not even just coming, it's here.
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: That's what I took away is it wasn't that people wanted change, it's that the change is already happening and people realize that it was them, they are the change, and it's not only needed, but people are just so hungry for it that they're finding, for the first time, this bravery and this courage I think that you mentioned John in stepping out and being vulnerable and raising their hand to be the change.
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: And I have this internal value.
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: I've just been wired inside me where I'm a very fearless individual.
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: I know which like scares a lot of people around me, specifically probably John and Julie.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: It helps a lot of people too.
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: And I like to be bold.
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: I want to say the thing that I think everyone is thinking, because I want to move more quickly toward change.
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: I think everyone is thinking because I want to move more quickly toward change and I have learned in my lifetime that I try to push that forward a lot faster than people are comfortable with.
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: But in a time such as this, where nothing seems normal, nothing seems grounded, it feels like we're all trying to grab hold of the thing that we want to ground us in and for us.
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: I feel like in this sector and I say this sector, I'm talking about social impact.
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: I'm not just talking about nonprofits, I'm talking about nonprofits, ngos, I'm talking about CSR.
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: I'm talking about you over there with your marketing agency pouring into causes, or maybe you have a social enterprise All of us, if you love a mission and volunteer, you are a part of this.
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: Watching the collective embrace that change was so inspiring to me.
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: It was like watching everybody have this epiphany that, oh, it's me.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: I've been waiting on me and to step into that and realizing that all of these people, us included, needed a central point to get connected to each other, to get resourced, to get learnings and to get activated, and I just have to tell you that we are freaking honored to be able to be that landing space for people that we are for good and honestly.
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: We've set up the house to be as open and inviting and inclusive and accessible as possible, and then we've also set it up so we can get the hell out of the way, so we can just let you all do your thing, because when community is empowered and it's collective, the change is just unleashed.
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: And that's what I saw happen on Thursday was the change is not coming, it is here and it is us and I'm so freaking proud of all of you.
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: I'm proud of us for leaning into that fearlessness and being the bold change makers that I know we can be to write a new path for all of this work that connects all of us in the greatest possible way.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: I mean B, that's so beautiful.
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: I feel like we should just play the outro music.
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: Like I feel hyped, I feel like we got way more to talk about.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: This is the moment, but I mean, okay, let's think about how we're going to break this conversation down, because that's a little bit of tone setting of what we're thinking of.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: But here's the deal.
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: You hear it in our voices.
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: The community is powering this thing.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: So we wanted to center voices of the community from the very beginning.
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: And in today's recap episode, what are the core themes that are emerging as well?
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, when we set out to disrupt the virtual conference, the conference, there was one thing that we thought had to be absolutely core to that notion, and it was that we didn't want people coming in to Impact Up into the summit and sitting there and feeling like they were watching talking heads talk to them, and so we really wanted community voices to be as lifted as humanly possible into the conversation, because they were co-shaping the conversation along with the speakers, with us as hosts, and that, in and of itself, was such a game changer for us, because we always talk about flipping the pyramid and that's the only way I know how to talk about this, but it's like it flipped the notion again of power and giving the power to people in the chat to share with each other, to lift their problems.
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: I've watched people sharing resources Like someone would mention something and they would be like, oh, here's something.
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: And we didn't even have to get in and facilitate that like we normally did, and they were lifting new problems and new solutions and new ideas and our speakers and our panelists were watching it and then they would riff off of it and it just felt like a big global conversation and to me it was the greatest show of collective power that we could have had, and I'm so proud of everybody who felt brave enough to step into that, so that that, I think, was really kind of setting the core tone of how we wanted community and power to show up.
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: What about you, john?
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: What else did you notice emerging?
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I, community is everything you know, it's not just a value around here, it's how we, you know, really model, try to model and try to like live out, because we think that it's like the path.
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: And so I love this whole idea of co-creating content, because we wanted to lift some of the voices of of how we saw people just showing up in the chat affirming or lifting a new idea that made us go faster.
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: As a result, it's like we feel like that is kindness, you know, in the way that Dr Kevin Sandsbury just came on the podcast and talked about what is really kindness.
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: It's saying the thing, you know.
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: It's like I love you enough to say the thing, and that's what we saw here the vulnerability, the courage all coming together.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: So that's let's, you know, go through some of these.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: I think they're just so powerful.
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I just keep thinking as you're talking about that.
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: There was such a sweet quote, I thought, from Carla Myers in the chat and she was even like talking about expanding community beyond, you know, just your internal community, and she said we need to invite people to be our critical friends, naming that we want our community to critique us and our ideas and when we do that, we're going to see that their offering is coming from a deep place of friendship and care.
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: And I thought that was such a powerful quote and it just celebrates not only the collective but the vulnerability, and that's something I wanted to lift is the celebration of diversity and vulnerability.
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: Y'all blessed my heart, I cannot begin to tell you and honestly, it affected all of us on the team.
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: And we saw Isla Malik, our keynote keynoter, and Jeff Shuck, who came in to talk about how we're healing and how to be conscious in our vulnerability, and they shared things they had never shared publicly about their lives that were very hard, and having people respond to that and say thank you I mean John Carlo, hey, John Carlo, over at the Human Stack.
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: He was like we need more public authenticity like this.
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: We're all human.
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: Life is a journey and that's so true, and I also want to thank everybody who noticed the intention of having a very diverse speaker panel.
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: We want to make sure that we are for good, that there is always a collection of diverse voices, of experiences, of backgrounds and races and religions and ideas.
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: All of it is going to make us richer and we are always going to share our platform with people who don't typically get a big microphone, because there are brilliant, big ideas there and we have a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion and belonging in every part of our business, and the fact that people not only saw that but felt seen and honored in that.
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: That was probably one of my biggest dopamine hits, if you really want to know the truth, during the day.
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think too it's authentic because it's representative of the community around this movement.
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: It's representative of the type of people that were showing up.
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: It was a diversity of voice and experience and all those things.
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: So I love seeing that just kind of play out in all the ways.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: But you mentioned Jeff Shuck.
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: I got to you know, lift that Jen and Jeff from Plenty really came in and offered this moment of rest and recovery.
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: It was later in the program but Jennifer led us through this beautiful guided meditation and obviously we're in a virtual room.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: But I feel us through this beautiful guided meditation and obviously we're in a virtual room, but I feel like you could have heard a pin drop.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: It was an audible pause in the day and the outflow from that was just so much gratitude.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: And how can we really start to move toward more rest in our work?
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: And I saw this come through the comments from Amanda Fruta Sorry if I said your last name incorrectly, but she said the burnout and overworking epidemic is robbing our community of service and connection.
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: Talk about threading into themes that we talk about here.
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: The retention crisis is an inside job.
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: How are we actually taking care of the people that are powering the sector?
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: And it comes down to some of these rhythms that we hope to help instill, just in how we're modeling our content to have that rest built in.
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: And I think the last one that I just want to lift is the power on this end, of watching people move from feeling powerless to feeling powerful.
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: I've never seen that in my 22 years in this work, watching so many people feel like they could step into their power, about talking about power openly through so many different lenses, and it really illuminated how to look for opportunities to share it and when to call someone or maybe a situation in and in a way that's to your point, John straightforward and kind, and I just think that it was such a powerful moment that we could embrace this thing that has made us feel powerless, and to me, that was such a hallmark of the fact that this movement is already evolving, maturing, leaving some of these long held beliefs behind.
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: And Dorothy Chang, who is just we just had her on the podcast.
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: She is such a force for good and she says I love exploring the distinctions between power over power with and power to, Because power itself is neither good nor bad.
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: What matters is how it's being applied.
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: And that was some straight and honest truth, and I am so excited that we're moving toward collective power in the way that we're reshaping and re-architecting this world that we're building and living in so exciting.
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the community.
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: The chat was just so encouraging and you'll be able to watch all of these replays as part of the Impact Uprising membership, which we'll talk about, but I wanted to talk about a couple of core themes that emerged throughout the day.
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: So some of the sessions got us curious about our own relationship with power internally, while others really focused on this external piece of how does power intersect our work and social impact, how is it holding us back or maybe advancing us forward?
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: So we're excited to lift some of these one good things submitted by the community.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: What is this one good thing?
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: Well, my friends, our friends over at MemoryFox, were like hey, wouldn't it be cool to collect.
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: What are the takeaways people in your community are feeling and sensing and taking from impact up, and so they opened up this channel that collected these voices and these videos y'all like stopped us in our tracks, and so we wanted to thread some of those comments and to kind of guide the rest of today's episode to say here's what people were taken away from this, and something that I think will be meaningful to you as well.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: So where do we want to start?
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: B?
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: Well, the first message is from April Marciszewski.
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: She's the director of donor relations at Oklahoma City University Foundation.
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: Hi, april, and so listen to what she had to say.
• 22:11
  Speaker 7: Hi, I'm April Marciszewski from Oklahoma City and my one good thing, after this wonderful impact uprising today, is listen to what hearts sing.
• 22:21
  Speaker 7: Be the most genuine version of yourself and see where that takes you.
• 22:29
  Speaker 7: I think if we can all be ourselves, then we're going to do a lot of good in the world all be ourselves, then we're going to do a lot of good in the world.
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, I love that reflection so much because, just like point to the authenticity that we talked about, it's like when someone can show up in their vibrant life, aligned with that heart song that they have within them, that's just them, you know, and the beauty of us getting to show up as ourselves like something different unlocks and you know you're getting us very fresh off of the plenty leadership retreat where we got to go through lantern, and it's like this is what it's all about Tapping in to that really core purpose that we have to see where it takes you.
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: So I love that takeaway so much.
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: Okay, this next core theme that we want to talk about is the power is already inside of each and every one of us to be the change, to move forward in a way that's healthy.
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: And this next one good thing comes from Staren Bird.
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: She's a dear friend of ours, consultant and founder of Wingspan Philanthropy, and, I would say, the philanthropist that sponsored the San Francisco meetup and also hosted it, and so Staren is really going to help talk to you about why you just need to listen to that gut, that nudge inside you, what your heart and soul are telling you.
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: So here's Staren.
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: What's up, do-gooders?
• 24:20
  Speaker 3: This is Staren Bird calling in from Wingspan Philanthropy in California.
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: Had a great time at the impact uprising yesterday and my one good thing is that the power is inside each and every one of us and we just have to access and take care of ourselves, and then we can continue to change the world.
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: Thanks for a great experience.
• 24:42
  Speaker 3: Bye.
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, that is just so great.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: And y'all we have to figure out a way to get this video to you, because Staren is like riding along in an Uber, like there's San Francisco traffic going left and right around her.
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: And she's sharing this, her amazing dog's in the background just asleep.
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: I mean, it's again so human, oh my gosh, but I think that it's just something that was resonated throughout the day.
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: Dr Bertrude Albert really delivered one of the most beautiful keynotes on the stage.
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and her story is beautiful.
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: She's been on the podcast, she's been on panels before, so you want to lean into this if you haven't watched it.
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: But her takeaway that I think is really resonant with us is the story we tell ourselves will either affirm or strip away our power.
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: She kept saying that over and over because she wanted us to really bury that deep inside of us and it's like that's what it's all about.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: It's already there.
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: You know how do we tap into it?
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: And I hope your voice is really kind inside your head.
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: I've I've struggled with that myself of having a very critical voice and then, kinder our voice can be to ourselves, the more that's going to be unlocked within us.
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: So such a great one, and we're going to move to core theme number three, which is you don't need an invitation to change your piece of the world.
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: And that comes from the incredible David Hartstein, who's the founder of Wired Impact we just had recorded an episode with him and he is also one of the hosts of St Louis's local impact.
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: So let's hear what his one good thing was.
• 26:12
  Speaker 4: My one good thing is that you don't need an invitation to change your piece of the world, and for most of us there's no invite coming.
• 26:20
  Speaker 4: So the fact that we're committed to making the world a better place means that we're already at the party, and being surrounded by other folks that care deeply about social causes and are out there just trying to change their piece of the world for the better was really energizing, both virtually during the day at the conference and then also in person at night at our local meetup here in St Louis.
• 26:43
  Speaker 4: So I am really excited about Impact Up, really looking forward to October and just, uh yeah, feeling very energized after being surrounded by everyone over the last 24 hours.
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: Oh man, I adore David.
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, oh my gosh, such a good guy, really excited for his episode.
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: But what he said there we're already at the party, like it really your lands.
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: Because impact up in a lot of ways did feel like the party you know, you're surrounded in this community that this is our time, that we don't need this invitation.
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: We're already there, like you already have the opportunity here.
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: But it connected to something Jeff Shuck was saying in the threaded conversations for Impact Up that day and he said this power can mean control, force, persuasion, and we're taught a lot by all those things but eventually none of them equip us for what our souls really need and we have to redefine Wow.
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: Holy smokes.
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: I mean, that hits me deep, and I think there's probably people out there saying how do I start to change my piece of the world?
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: And I would say by doing one thing.
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: And we talk a lot here about 1% shifts and I think when you think about a 1% shift, it feels like maybe that doesn't do much, but when the collective is pouring into the 1%, it makes an impressionable impact.
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: And so I want you to think about what is that 1% that you can do?
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: Maybe it's changing one thing in your programming, maybe it's changing the way you talk to yourself.
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: Maybe it's changing or altering and evolving the way that you message.
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: And I want to lift something that Kevin Sandsbury said that I thought was really powerful.
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: And if you're trying to decide and trying to get an alignment on where am I supposed to go and what is my purpose, he says who we all think we are is based on who we want to be, and that's propped up by your biases and your mental models and your childhood.
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: Who you're trying to be is not necessarily the way.
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: Maybe the bigger question is how are we impacting people?
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: Go from that angle and you might figure out better, with more clarity, how you can change your piece of the world, outstanding feedback from so many people to get to that collective understanding.
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, they all just kept pointing to this internal dialogue and these internal things that we can focus on, but there was a shift in the conversation.
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: Where we're about, there's external pieces too, and I want to, you know, lift a message that we received from Carly Euler.
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: She's the marketing manager at MemoryFox, powering this platform, by the way, that collected all these cool voice memos.
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: And host of Buffalo's Impact Up event.
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: What am I doing?
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: Yes, Carly was all over this.
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: This is so wonderful, but I want to lift a core theme for which is just this power of collective impact, and that's not a new theme to you.
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: Probably, if you hang around the we are for good podcast, we see this.
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: This was one of the driving forces behind creating impact up, but, of course, to hear it in the words of the community just like, is so beautiful, so let me play that for you.
• 29:43
  Speaker 5: Hi, we are for good community.
• 29:45
  Speaker 5: My one good thing from impact Up is just knowing all of the local meetups were so far widespread across the planet.
• 29:56
  Speaker 5: And that's my one good thing, because I love thinking about the collective impact that everyone in the community has.
• 30:04
  Speaker 5: My favorite thing at the beginning of a webinar is when people type in where they're calling from and what their mission is, so we can really visualize the collective impact.
• 30:14
  Speaker 5: Um, and I know that that is such a big priority for you all, so that's my one good thing.
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: I got a thread, Liza Miller, who came on the podcast on episode 521.
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: She was on a panel and she brought the heat as well.
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: Just as so beautiful from Echoing Green, but this is a quote that I think is so resonant here.
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: She says one of the most powerful voices in this conversation is the nonprofit leaders in mass.
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: If funders hear the same thing over and over again from grant partners, that's an incredibly powerful force and, y'all, that's really the intention behind impact up, Like, how can we collectively talk about these things and start shifting together so we don't feel like we're on an Island because you're not.
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: You're with like-minded people.
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: And how much more progress can we do when we get in lock arms together and move and shift and all those things?
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: So I just love this thread that's come through in so many different ways and I'm going to tee up the next one as we start to like round up this episode.
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: We heard from Tasha Van Flack and if y'all are not following her, what she's done with the nonprofit Hive, how she partnered with Amina Mohammed to bring the Toronto meetup to life, just showed so much love and care to this impact up movement and she delivered this beautiful one.
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: Showed so much love and care to this impact up movement and she delivered this beautiful um.
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: One good thing that really got us asking bigger and better questions.
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: Let me play that.
• 31:35
  Speaker 6: Oh man, it's hard to think of one good thing from the Toronto event.
• 31:38
  Speaker 6: It was incredible.
• 31:39
  Speaker 6: It was so cool to meet all these people in person that I admire and adore and are doing incredible work and it just felt like just this incredible moment of connection and people were so honest and lovely and really talked about some hard things and big question marks that are unique to the Toronto space but also maybe are prevalent everywhere.
• 32:02
  Speaker 6: And we were about, you know, 25 of us and that was smaller than I thought it might be, but what an incredible group of changemakers that are really at the forefront of nonprofit and are looking at it and going what can we do different?
• 32:19
  Speaker 6: And so it was lovely.
• 32:20
  Speaker 6: Thanks so much for organizing this.
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: Lovely indeed, and I am not chagrined by 25 people showing up in Toronto.
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: I think that is a massive start to this movement and I think this concept of asking bigger questions we've put that slide in.
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: I don't know how many presentations that we've done, John.
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: It's like a default starting slide.
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: It almost is.
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: It's like do we need the bigger question slide?
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we could fit it in just about anywhere.
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: But I think this call to how do we approach this word differently, more humanely, more authentically, more collectively, more innovatively, like, if you want to see what's working, it's the missions and movements that are embracing those qualities humanity, authenticity, collective, I mean, it's all of it coming together.
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: And so when you ask these bigger questions to yourself and to your team and to your community, what you're getting are these authentic answers back that are going to surprise you and they're going to illuminate paths of opportunity and things that are currently working, things that don't, maybe things that are causing harm, maybe reasons people are tuning out.
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: But just asking the bigger question and saying that we don't have all the answers, and being confident and courageous in that, but knowing that in the collective we're going to find a ton of truth, a ton of amplification, and we're going to scale everything that we're doing.
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: And so thank you, tasha, for lifting that huge theme and this is the time to step into asking bigger questions.
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: So I'm ready for it, john we're going to put a bow on this, but we are hyped y'all and ready for Impact Up version two, coming soon to a city near you.
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: So, as we start to round off this episode, I mean Impact Up y'all is not one and done Like we intentionally created this as a cadence because we have been in community with thousands of change makers and we each need refilling and reconnecting and you know that, that just kind of camaraderie that comes when you can gather together.
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: And so this is a quarterly event and it's a quarterly gathering of this community that's so vibrant.
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: But here's the deal, Y'all we want you to keep learning, we want you to keep connecting and not just to wait for impact up to do that.
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: And so around here at we are for good, we've been truly moved by this movement and I don't want to pass by this lightly, Like we have done some deep soul searching of what is we are for goods purpose in this, how can we best serve and come alongside this community.
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: And we realized along the way this is a movement and to be part of this movement means you need to be surrounded in community every day and there's a lot of people that want to get surrounded by that community every day and this is the place for that.
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: So if you're that type of person that wants to keep learning and growing and connecting.
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: We've opened up around.
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: That's called impact uprising founding membership and what this idea is that you can be a founding member of this new membership coming to we are for good which gives you basically all access to all the content we've been creating for four plus years.
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: So imagine 500 plus podcast episodes, all the webinars, all the pro tools, all those things.
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: So it's got this backbone of content, because we do need content, we need to know best practices or we need to hear stories and experiences, but more than that, when you join the impact uprising membership, you're surrounded in this community.
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: That's saying hey, we want to disrupt this together and we want to be there for each other.
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: All the time.
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: And so this is your invitation to come and join the Impact Uprising membership.
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: You can join us for an annual fee of $300 or $30 a month, because we want to make this as accessible as possible to you, but we want this to be part of your identity as you join us.
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: If you feel moved by these conversations, we want to have you alongside us in that.
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: Y'all.
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: This is modern professional development at its finest with built-in community.
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: We've got an AI-backed tool, so please join us at impactuprisingcom backslash join.
• 36:34
  Speaker 2: You can take that.
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: You can go get into our show notes and go explore what that means, because we need you here.
• 36:41
  Speaker 2: And if you can't afford $30 a month or $300 a year, please tell us, because we want to find somebody who can cover that for you, because we want to make sure that accessibility and connection are open to literally every single person.
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: Okay, I love that you use the AI tool that's built into.
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: We are for good pro, which comes with this membership, because this was our dream for these founding members for this new membership to be able to have access to this content.
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: So you can get in, you can keep learning, you can ask questions, you can use the AI chat tool.
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: We don't want we don't want this to take a lot of time.
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: We want to get you connected to the people that are not only just doing this but are happy to share with an open hand, so you can meet friends, you can get unstuck.
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: So we hope you will join us at impactuprisingcom slash.
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: Join.
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: Okay, it would behoove us to not point to some resources, right B, I mean.
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it's like if you are feeling on fire and you're like I'm ready to roll, you have your Rocky gloves on, you are running up the steps, Like we want to make sure that we give you all of the tools that we gave out at this impact up event.
• 37:47
  Speaker 2: It is completely open, free to each of you If you go to impact uprisingcom backslash resources.
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: We have rolled up all of the freebies that we shared at the gathering.
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: We've also put in there the Giving Tuesday and RKD Field Guide, which just came out literally the day before Impact Up, and it's talking about what's happening right now.
• 38:10
  Speaker 2: Data is power and they have gone deeply into the data, not just of the financial giving of the sector, but what's really helping mission scale.
• 38:19
  Speaker 2: They've broken it down in a really succinct way and we definitely want to make sure that you get that resource.
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: So pour into these resources.
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: There's so much here for the taking and we just want to help you feel surrounded in this and not just content, but in community, so you're in the right place.
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: I hope this conversation has stirred you and got you excited.
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: Because have we announced when the next impact up is B?
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: Because I feel like we got to tease that we don't even need to tease it.
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: Registration's already live for the October impact up.
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: You can join us on October 10th 2024 because it's going to be some heavy topics B you want to give a little preview.
• 38:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I am so excited that we are aligning the next quarterly impact up event with world mental health day, and the theme that we're going to be exploring is healing, and so this impact up and they're all for you.
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: But this one is your chance to come in and get some respite and to get some pause and to gather and heal, not just yourself but with others.
• 39:19
  Speaker 2: We're already planning ways that we can put community and micro communities together during that event, but I can tell you, we are going to bring healers, we are going to bring people who are going to help you breathe easier.
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: We're going to bring people who have been there and know exactly what your burnout, your exhaustion and your fatigue look like and how do we come back from that to be the most beautiful, vibrant beings that we can be for this work.
• 39:45
  Speaker 2: So it's 1010.
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: Easy to remember.
• 39:48
  Speaker 2: John, I know you love alliteration and really clean numbers as a designer, but please come and attend with us, because we want every impact up to be bigger and better, but this one specifically is for you and for you to heal.
• 40:03
  Speaker 2: So bring a friend and, honestly, we'll be healing alongside you too, because we're also sitting in that exhaustion and fatigue and we're gonna be learning just right beside you.
• 40:12
  Speaker 2: So, but we gotta end this conversation the way we always do, john.
• 40:16
  Speaker 2: One good thing.
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we're kind of breaking the rules and coming together for our one good thing today, but here's what feels resonant as we kind of close out this episode and I hope you feel just the hope that came through this event.
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: But here's the deal y'all, let's just get activated in some way and we've given you a lot of jumping off points today.
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: Definitely, the people in this community, I hope, have inspired you to just take action before you're ready.
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: Maybe you're still scared, channel that courage, but just start somewhere today.
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: And so really grateful that you hung with us.
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: I hope this gave you a little bit of FOMO and a little bit of lens into, like, what we're processing through in real time, but we want you to be part of these conversations.
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: So come find us, come pour into the next one on October 10th, and we're just really grateful that you're here.
• 41:00
  Speaker 2: Come to this gathering and we heard this over and over again that you are the insurgents.
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: You are the individuals who are challenging the status quo.
• 41:09
  Speaker 2: Be the insurgents for good.
• 41:11
  Speaker 2: We need you in this movement and however, you're willing to show up and we thank you for trusting us and letting this be a home base for you of community connection and content, and we are always rooting for you, friends.
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: You got this.