Latest / We Are For Good Podcast - The Podcast for Nonprofits / 520. 9 Nonprofit Trends That Matter in 2024: Media scales impact. - Jon McCoy, Becky Endicott, Carolina Garcia Jayaram and Eva Bloomfield

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520. 9 Nonprofit Trends That Matter in 2024: Media scales impact. - Jon McCoy, Becky Endicott, Carolina Garcia Jayaram and Eva Bloomfield · We Are For Good Podcast - The Podcast for Nonprofits

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the nine nonprofit trends that matter in 2024, sponsored by our good friends over at RKD Group.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: We love this value aligned partner that's helping nonprofits build long-term donor relationships through next generation tech, data and marketing strategies that are driving omnic channel experiences and donations.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Learn more at rkdgroupcom.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: Hey, I'm John.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: And I'm Becky.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: And this is the we Are For Good podcast.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: 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.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: 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.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: So welcome to the good community.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: We're nonprofit professionals, philanthropists, world changers and rabid fans who are striving to bring a little more goodness into the world.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: So let's get started.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: Becky, what the heck is happening.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Three words Media scales impact.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: I like to just sit in that.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: Media scales impact.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Okay, we added the drama around it.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: I'm ready to dive in.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we've been counting this down because the trend series has been unpacking since we launched the new year, and you know this is the time of year that we're saying these are the trends that we're seeing the most progressive nonprofits pouring into, and they're pro tips that you can really implement into your shop, whether you're small or big.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: These are disruptive ideas, and media scales impact y'all.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: Let me just say we kind of stack the deck on this one.
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: Not only do we have expert guests coming in, but we have a trend that I think really, really matters, and I can't wait to get this content into your hands today.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: I mean such good tone setting right there.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: And for those of you who are feeling a little trepidatious about it, don't be because we're not talking about you pitching to CNN, like that may be 42 steps down, but we're talking about how do we diversify our story, how do we flex it in a medium that is going to allow it to just scale and ripple and grow and get bigger and get more voices.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: That is exactly what we think it is.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: So we really think it's time to invest, fuel and activate around this power of media.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: Influence is currency, connection is currency, activation is currency.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: And if we can embrace the tension and release control of our message, you're going to find that media is going to allow that message to ripple and go.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: And it's really going to start if you can get in a mindset of thinking like a media company and step into your power there.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: Your content, your digital assets, your influence, your experts, stories, people all of that converge to build into a very valuable resource hub.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: That is like media gold.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: You layer in influencers, you layer in social media authenticity.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: I mean you have the trappings to have something that's really successful and scalable.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: That's so good.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: I mean you just said think like a media company.
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: And a few weeks ago we were saying, think like a business and we got called out that it's like you don't want to be a business.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: We're not saying go be a media company.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: We're not saying we watched succession, we know how that ends up, don't do that.
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: But we're saying think like.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: We're talking about channeling entrepreneurial mindsets of like how, how do they get content and how do they get people, how do they get people to move?
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: We want to like harness some of those principles because listen to this Alyssa Boger from the Allegiance and Pursuant Group came in on episode 432 after they've done this really massive study about what is moving Gen Z, what are the things that are underneath the surface driving their decisions, and she found almost half of Gen Z is already going to learn about a cause and be influenced about a cause by the influencers that they follow.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: I mean, flexing media is the great bullhorn or billboard for your mission.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: It's a powerful tool to amplify your message, but also to allow you to engage with a variety of audiences and ultimately scale your impact, which is what we're here to talk about.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: So let me give a little bit of context for listeners of the podcast.
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: You're not going to forget that last year we talked deeply about marketing is mission.
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: It was a trend that we lifted because we fundamentally believe that when your mission is aligned to your marketing at a value level that you're perpetuating, just like this value system that is going to attract like minded people and actually shift the mindsets and shift the narrative that's happening in the world around us where you're showing up, that's marketing is mission.
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: Well, this is 2.0.
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: How do we go ahead and not step away from all that content that we've built?
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: How do you put a megaphone on it?
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: How do we use the power of media to scale those beautiful messages that are already value aligned to our mission?
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: Okay, and I got to give Joan Gary a shout out because she came in at the tail end of last season and she left us with this Flexing the power of media, because the erode to awareness and acceptance and activation begins with visibility and understanding.
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: And Joan built her career using the power of media at GLAAD to completely shift the national conversation.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: And I mean go back and we'll drop the episode in the show notes but you'll see how media skills impact is not a new concept, but it's one that we think is not embedded into most of our playbooks, and so today we want to change your mind on that.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: This to me is the untapped potential, and if you're sitting there going, I still don't understand what this means.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: Don't you worry, we got you.
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: We have put together a playlist of nonprofit organizations, of change makers, of social enterprise and lots of influencers in the space who are actually playing this out in real time.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: I got to give a shout out to Eric Restler.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: We put in his episode that was so fantastic on how to grow your social impact and the attention economy, and Eric Restler and the friends at Cosmic they fundamentally get this.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: Certainly you can look at Scott Harrison and what they've done to flex charity water into multimedia and beautiful ways.
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: But I also want to give a shout out to Sean Couch over at the JW Couch Foundation, who is literally taking their grants and funding media, because they understand that that is going to scale maybe much more quickly than just giving cash on the front end.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: And one of those great examples on the playlist is FarmLink Project.
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: That was funded by JW Couch on their first round.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: So please go check that out.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: We'll drop that playlist in the show notes.
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: Let's move into some pro tips, john.
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think this is so applicable to everybody.
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: In the first one, I would say, is develop a compelling narrative.
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: This is your concise elevator speech.
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: Not that we're all taking these really long elevator rides anymore, right but this idea of just not reciting your mission, like how do you actually communicate what your impact is, the importance of the cause you're advocating for and of course that's your mission.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: But this compelling story is way more likely to capture the attention of media outlets.
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: Think of just like the one off stories that are the ones that warm our hearts, that are documentaries, are built around that we remember.
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: So just get clear about what your narrative is and then let's start to add some fuel to that fire.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: Oh, can see the ripple starting to happen.
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: The second one is there needs to be some evolution and an embrace of multimedia.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: Why?
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: Because not every human consumes content at the same place, in the same platform, in the same medium.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: So understanding that media is best flexed when it's diversified will really help you cast a wider net.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: So that means you're going to have to get good at content syndication.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: So embrace those photos, embrace video testimonials, blogs, memes, campaigns, stories, stats, whatever you've got.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: Every part of that can be a conversation starter.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: Take it, flex it multiple places, Guarantee your rabbit fans will take it and carry it further.
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: And look, becky and I can talk to you all day about this topic because we absolutely love it so much.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: But we actually brought a couple of powerhouses into the place today to really give us the playbook of how this is playing out, you know them We've had them on in the past Our dear friends over at the Elevate Prize Foundation, who are living out media scaling impact in real time.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: We are joined by Carolina Garcia Jairam and Eva Bloomfield.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: They are, respectively, the CEO and the CMO of the Elevate Prize Foundation.
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: If this is your first time hearing about the Elevate Prize Foundation, go immediately and follow them, because you're going to see this play out in real time, because they are this incredible global purpose driven nonprofit that's really serving to amplify social impact and empower passionate problem solvers, leaders, innovators, change makers.
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: Hello, we're talking about all of us and they are on this mission to make good famous, as they're leveraging the power of media to do just that.
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: Eva Carolina, we are so excited you are back in our house.
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us again.
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: Our pleasure.
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: Thank you so much.
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: Oh, you ladies are so fantastic and I really think a lot of what we kind of broke down at the top of the hour is a lot of what we've learned watching you sort of living at your own journey.
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: So one of these trends that we're lifting is this idea around media scaling impact, and we want to really dive into this with you, like, and tap your expertise on this trend.
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: What are you paying attention to right now in the philanthropic and media landscape, and what opportunity do you think organizations have today to really seize this moment in time?
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: You want me to start, eva.
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: And then I'll hand it off to you.
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: Yeah, go ahead, I'm just faking it.
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: Eva's the real answer right here.
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: I'm just telling you.
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: It's true, I have to go first to have a better answer, but one.
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: You know, a trend that I think Eva and I would both lift up and I know that you're seeing this with so many of the great guests that you have is around this idea of proximate leadership and this idea that investing in the people who are closest to the issue, who are living the issue, who are, you know, enmeshed in the issue and the community of which they're speaking and representing, is everything, and it doesn't mean they're the only people working on it.
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: They need all of us to come in as allies and partners and supporters, but that they are the center of the decision making and the path that we're going to take in philanthropy towards the solution is a trend that I hope.
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: Number one is here to stay.
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: But second is, I think, everywhere I'm hearing of it everywhere, I don't feel like it's a new term anymore, as it was a few years ago, and so maybe it's past the trend at this point, but it's certainly one that I think is really strong, and it's connected to a second thing which I think Eva can speak to better than I can, but around the focus on storytelling right.
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: So real, authentic storytelling of course has to come from the most proximate people to the story itself.
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: So I think using people's firsthand accounted knowledge and experience in the story that they had and audience's willingness to kind of be touched and affected by that and then be impacted by the story that they're telling, again as the pathway toward the solution, as the pathway to have greater connection and understanding, is it really important trends?
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: I don't know, eva, you want to pick up on that or something else, but I feel like that's what we're so much about those two pieces.
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: I couldn't agree more.
• 11:03
  Speaker 4: I think it's all about human-centered storytelling.
• 11:06
  Speaker 4: I think we're seeing that sort of reverberate across the philanthropy space, but we're also, excitingly, I think, starting to see it reverberate across the more traditional media space.
• 11:15
  Speaker 4: So there's this really exciting opportunity for the convergence of both spaces and that, I think, is so much of what we're really trying to tap into right, Not keeping those worlds isolated from one another, Because, you know, obviously media entertainment, that's what moves hearts and minds right, that's what really inspires culture and so many ideas and so many perspectives, and I think to have kept the two in isolation from one another isn't doing us any favors.
• 11:42
  Speaker 4: I think we really need to sort of meet audiences where they are, understand what compels them, what moves them, what drives them to action.
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: So I think that's really what we're seeing right, Really putting these proximate leaders at the center of storytelling, really informing the stories that we're hearing and seeing and embracing.
• 12:02
  Speaker 4: But we're also seeing this convergence of the two worlds so both philanthropy and media, in a really exciting way, you know, and I'd say, in addition to that, really going back to this theme of meeting audiences where they are.
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: We're seeing it both in traditional media right Long-form content film but we're also seeing it through the eyes of these less traditional platforms.
• 12:26
  Speaker 4: So social media is a great space where you're seeing a lot of this authentic storytelling.
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: I think people are recognizing the power of those platforms to really move those hearts and minds and inspire action.
• 12:38
  Speaker 4: So really, at the end of the day, as it always is, it's really about just disrupting that status quo right, and being bold enough to do that.
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: But I think we're seeing audiences really hunger for it, which is really exciting.
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: It's not just an idea that's being put forward, Its audience is really embracing it as well.
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: So we're at a really exciting crossroads.
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: Gosh, I just love hanging out with you two because, I mean, you are, I believe, on the like, leading edge of this and I agree that I feel like there's a lot more momentum than maybe we first met a few years ago back.
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: But I love that you're kind of cutting through that this is a superpower that is actually baked into our organizations today and a lot of us listening today don't realize that superpower of authentic storytelling, of human centered, proximate leadership, that we just need to get the messages out.
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: You know, and I think, with y'all's mission that we feel a partner in, of make good famous using the power of culture creators, media to you know, drive more engagement around these ideas.
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: We kind of start breaking it down because we see you in these giant partnerships.
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: We see you, you know, working with the CNN heroes and working with the Streamys and all these beautiful platforms.
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: Talk to us about how you all, at Elevate Prize, are already leveraging media to scale not only what your impact is, but these missions that you highlight through your prize and through all the ways that you reach out to on media as well.
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: In Time Square yeah, julie's texting is I'm missing even the Time Square activation that y'all did.
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, that's a big one.
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: And that was our team, our team coming up with this incredible solution that had, or idea that had just such a huge impact, first and foremost, I think, on the winners themselves feeling like being seen there, like it was just such a Hollywood moment.
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: You know, it was such a big moment for them all and even hearing from other peers in the philanthropy space of how cool they thought it was.
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: You know it was.
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: It was just a really, a really cool thing to put off.
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: But, I think, just related to what you were just talking about, john and Becky both of you about the proximate leadership, the human centered storytelling, how wonderful that all is and that we are at the forefront of that.
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: Thank you for recognizing that, because when we started this work, most people thought we were crazy and now, just five years later, so many more people are doing the same things, which we're so happy to see.
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: But I think what we want to make sure also to drive home or I think is so important to drive home is that if you are creating the space to truly listen and to deeply listen and to be prepared for what you're going to hear, you know, and to be able to take action on what you're going to hear, and that's the other side of it that this isn't going to go anywhere if we're just telling the stories and then going on business as usual, in the way that money is being delivered or the way that, you know, impact is being measured, or there are all the things that I think have held us back in many ways, and one you know piece of work that we are really proud of and very excited about right now at Elevate has very much to do with what we've been hearing because of these stories and putting our winners at the center, and a lot of it is what we're now calling the whole leader, and it's approaching winners in ways that, again, other sectors of philanthropy have largely been ignoring around their well-being, around their mental, physical, emotional, spiritual well-being and that kind of like visibility, very similar to that.
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: It's this huge white space that's sort of largely been ignored and what you see as a result of that are things like really terrible transitions, you know, leaders leaving under really bad circumstances and it's really painful for everyone.
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: I mean, that's just one thing that we keep seeing, not just among our winners but among people in the field, and I think that if you're really listening and you're paying attention, then you have to deal with what you're listening to and what you're hearing and be ready as a foundation, as a grant giver or as media.
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: You know, listening to these stories and making these stories then say, ok, now that I have this information I've heard this story over and over again how am I going to shift our way of thinking and making an impact for these winners that we may not have had in our plan two years ago?
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: And so I just want to say, like I think that's an important sort of end point when you're talking about proximate leadership and the storytelling is, then you have a responsibility.
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: What am I going to do with the stories I just heard?
• 16:47
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I could not agree more.
• 16:49
  Speaker 4: I think it's such a valid point because, at the end of the day, I think it's so critical we're telling these stories right.
• 16:53
  Speaker 4: I think it's so essential that we're reaching people authentically and inspiring others and allowing them to realize that they have the power to make good in the world.
• 17:01
  Speaker 4: And, at the same time, we can't just tell the stories right.
• 17:05
  Speaker 4: There has to be that action behind the scenes.
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: You know, we have to hear the stories, we have to take action, we have to take care of these incredible leaders who are at the forefront day in and day out just doing incredible work, because, at the end of the day, the recognition that they are human, just like the rest of us, I think, is an essential shift in this space.
• 17:24
  Speaker 4: Right, these people have been expected to operate with so few resources and, day in and day out, literally change the world.
• 17:32
  Speaker 4: It's impossible.
• 17:33
  Speaker 4: We're all human beings, even the most extraordinary of those who are out there.
• 17:37
  Speaker 4: So I couldn't agree more.
• 17:39
  Speaker 4: It doesn't end with the storytelling, but just to take a step back, I do want to.
• 17:42
  Speaker 4: I mean, don, you brought up the Times Square example and I do think it's a really important example of what we're trying to do in the space and what I encourage others to do, which is that the billboard in Times Square, at least in my mind, is so iconic right, and it has historically been reserved for those who we have deemed worthy of occupying this idea of fame right, and that has been everything from a movie star to a Broadway show, to a brand.
• 18:13
  Speaker 4: And our hope in taking over this billboard was, in a lot of ways, to make a statement, not just to give these incredible leaders and their work and their issues that visibility, but also to make this loud, declarative statement that they are deserving of occupying the same space as those who have historically sort of been anointed right to sort of sit in the place of fame.
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: So it's very much a yes and right.
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: It's like let's take up that space, let's give these incredible leaders and their work and their solution that visibility that they are so deserving of, and let's make sure to disrupt the philanthropy space too and take care of these leaders and really acknowledge the humanity and the vulnerability behind this work.
• 19:00
  Speaker 4: So it all goes hand in hand.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: I mean John's giving me the eyes because he knows that I'm going to have to moat about this because we need to talk about media skills impact.
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: But I want to create just a pause in the conversation and just speak to you all who are listening right now.
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: Does it not feel so good, friends, to feel seen in this way, to feel like there are individuals who are seeing this 10,000 foot view and including duty of care in it, including psychological safety, including humanity and mental wellness in this?
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: Because we've just conducted this mental health survey for the sector and what it has told us is what we feared it would tell us, which is how sick this sector truly is.
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: And to know that we can be authentic, to know that we have these superpowers, that we are worthy to be between the Book of Mormon which you guys are, by the way, with your amazing billboard and Britbox, it's like to know that our brands are worthy, that this is the moment to step into it.
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: The moment to step into this superpower is not only heartening but, friends, I hope it gives you hope, because it sure as heck gives me hope right now, and I got to compliment you guys because one I wasn't kidding when I said, I'm so proud of you and we are so proud of you because every time we see anything that you're doing, it is never about the Elevate Prize Foundation, which I think is a key element here, because we said at the top of the hour is for you to really embrace media, to really scale that impact.
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: You've got to release control, you've got to release your narrative, you've got to let the community interpret that, you've got to allow that cognitive diversity to come in.
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: And you all have done that and you have centered the human being in your work.
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: And I just have to tell you I know we're about to get into this that when you announced your latest prize winners, I went in and I went down a rabbit trail with Sonya Pasi and I hope I'm saying her last name correctly, but the ecosystem she is building for survivors to thrive I'm not just talking about recover, thrive.
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: I got so into her story because of how you positioned her.
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: And so I think that these stories are not only a great balm to humanity.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: They are providing solutions, because the people who are experiencing them are on the front lines giving us the solution.
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: Talk to us about some of these winners, talk about how you platform them?
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: Because I only mentioned Sonia, she was just one of your incredible winners, but how has investing in this media transformed their impact, their reach, their credibility?
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: I would love to hear what happened after you launched, and we'll let whatever women wants to take this first, go for it.
• 22:27
  Speaker 4: Yeah, we'll start with Sonia.
• 22:28
  Speaker 4: I mean, we just announced our 2024 winners, so early days, right where we're just getting started, but Sonia was, I think, a tremendous example.
• 22:37
  Speaker 4: Thank you, becky.
• 22:39
  Speaker 4: Behind the scenes, we're talking to the incredible team of editors at People Magazine because recognizing that it is just like a cornerstone of cultural conversation right, I mean, if it reaches millions upon millions of people, and again, so much of what we're trying to do is just reach people where they are, where they're already going to read and learn about the world, and it really is this cultural platform.
• 23:08
  Speaker 4: And so we're so excited to pitch the editors over there and thrilled that they recognized the value of telling a story like Sonia's, but not only telling her story, telling the story of the organization free from, which is all about supporting survivors of gender-based violence.
• 23:28
  Speaker 4: And again, so I love their organization because not only are they doing this incredible work, but they inherently understand the power of narrative, so they're the perfect example.
• 23:37
  Speaker 4: They understand that you know, sort of wrapping the story of gender-based violence and survival just in this tragic cloak and not focused on the individual and the solution actually isn't helping anything.
• 23:49
  Speaker 4: So they themselves are trying to disrupt the narrative, which is great, but getting you know Sonia on a platform like people to tell her story firsthand.
• 23:57
  Speaker 4: They spoke to another survivor who was supported by free from.
• 24:01
  Speaker 4: I think being able to give that visibility is not only important in shedding light on the issue, but it is normalizing right.
• 24:09
  Speaker 4: It means that we do not have to look away, right.
• 24:14
  Speaker 4: There is a human being, we all go through things and the worst thing we can do is to look away from something that feels difficult.
• 24:21
  Speaker 4: The best thing we can do is look them square on the eye and recognize their humanity and say what can I do to help?
• 24:26
  Speaker 4: And so I think being able to share a story like that on a platform like people is an important first step in normalizing this issue area that many of us may have chosen to look away from in the past.
• 24:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's such a good point, and I think your earlier point, eva, about Sonia, is just one, and so the People Magazine is a huge thing and will continue to be getting her more opportunities, I'm sure because she's perfect.
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: She's the perfect kind of winner that we think we can really supercharge the impact she's making and some earlier winners who won last year, the year before now, we're really seeing a lot of the flowers bloom right Of the seeds that we planted when they first won.
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: So one winner of ours, kaushik, who he's in India, he's based in India.
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: He started an organization called KT, which means the farm in Hindi, and this is a greenhouse and a box concept.
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: So this guy spent five years going to every kind of small tenant farm, which is the majority of farms in India and most of the developing world.
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: Right, these are folks who are farming for their own personal family needs or maybe for a few families or a small village, and that makes up the majority of farming in India.
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: And he was able to develop this greenhouse and a box concept after speaking to tens of thousands of these farmers and understanding what their challenges were and with our support, the investment that we made in him, he was able to take the cost even from $2,000 for one of these greenhouse and a box to $600.
• 25:59
  Speaker 3: So part of it was like the incredible efficiencies that he could create through the unrestricted nature of the investment, which is another trend that we love and we also see growing around the unrestricted funding.
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: But, more importantly, around the storytelling and the fame piece is that something like that, the impact or the success of a concept like a greenhouse and a box for farmers who've been doing it the same way for literally thousands of years, is just as important, or more important is how do we shift that mindset?
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: And so part of getting Katie better known across India and the world, but especially India, was so that he could be impacting so many more thousands of farms that we're losing tons of crops every year due to terrible weather events or bugs that were coming in or pests whatever was happening that was ruining their crops.
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: So after he won our award and we were investing a lot around his story and getting him better known across India, he then went on to win the EarthShop Prize, which is Prince William and the Royal Foundation's prize, which only five people a year win.
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: It's a huge, huge honor for any climate type of solution.
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: But then we got him stories in the Hindustani Times, which is the New York Times, the paper of record for India, and these are the kinds of things that then more and more people are reading about this and then the product that could save literally millions of lives is doing better because of the story.
• 27:23
  Speaker 3: So it's like you go back to that telling of the story and the story becoming People Magazine or becoming the Billboard or becoming the Hindustani Times.
• 27:32
  Speaker 3: Yes, this incredible founder becomes better known and he's so deserving of it.
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: But really it's the solution that he came up with Exactly Via the story.
• 27:42
  Speaker 3: That is, his interesting story is now affecting millions and millions of farmers and probably tons and tons of food that can reach millions of more families every year.
• 27:52
  Speaker 3: So that's the kind of thing that you go back Again.
• 27:55
  Speaker 3: It's like how are we not thinking about this in philanthropy for so many years and yet is such an important driver of the solution.
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: Oh my gosh.
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: I mean I have a lot that I need to catch up on since last talked on this, because the way that y'all are evolving and the way that you are just kind of meeting the moment, meeting the needs of these people and I think it's beautiful because you're recognizing their humanity and that's how you're serving but you're getting a bigger and bigger microphone and just this snowball that is just growing around your movement and around these missions just gets me so grateful, I mean, for y'all's vision and for how you've just shown up, because we see how y'all have worked on such beautiful behalf of all these winners.
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: So I want to talk about starting to get practical for those listening today, like I mean, obviously you just made a brilliant case for the power of not thinking so small with our strategy, thinking a lot bigger about how can we change a national conversation, how can we get platforms opened up that maybe have historically not been opened?
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: How can organizations start to think in themselves, think through the lens of a media company, to be like how do I get my story out better?
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: How do I get my message into the world?
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: How are y'all coaching and counseling your winners?
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: Obviously, you're providing this beautiful support to the whole leader too, which I just love so much, but kind of guide us of what it looks like on the back end of what you're saying.
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: Hey, do this, not that kind of thing.
• 29:14
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I can dive in.
• 29:15
  Speaker 4: I mean listen, in a world where content just continues to be a driving force in shaping our cultural values and beliefs, don't think it's going anywhere.
• 29:23
  Speaker 4: There's just no ignoring it.
• 29:25
  Speaker 4: And, at least on my end, I think there needs to be a profound mind shift in the sector.
• 29:31
  Speaker 4: We're seeing it, it's percolating.
• 29:33
  Speaker 4: We really need to see the whole realization of it, which is that this is a vertical storytelling media, branding, communications.
• 29:42
  Speaker 4: That needs to be invested in.
• 29:45
  Speaker 4: It is essential.
• 29:46
  Speaker 4: I think that's the mind shift we need to see.
• 29:49
  Speaker 4: It's a big change in the sector.
• 29:51
  Speaker 4: So change takes time but, like I said, I think we are seeing some added momentum.
• 29:56
  Speaker 4: It is picking up.
• 29:58
  Speaker 4: But I think there's an important recognition that it isn't one and done right.
• 30:02
  Speaker 4: It's not like, well, we told a story of an individual, grantee, we're done.
• 30:07
  Speaker 4: This is a long tail investment.
• 30:09
  Speaker 4: So it is.
• 30:12
  Speaker 4: I mean, certainly I think there is power in brands being known, but really the weight of that storytelling power should be behind these individuals, their organizations, their solutions.
• 30:24
  Speaker 4: So that is my biggest piece of advice is invest right.
• 30:30
  Speaker 4: This is a critical part of your budget.
• 30:33
  Speaker 4: It is not enough just to put money into the programmatic work, which is obviously essential and should in no way be diminished.
• 30:39
  Speaker 4: But there is important weight behind getting these stories out there, helping people understand the significance, the impact, the relatability of these individuals and their work, and if we don't invest, this work will only go so far.
• 30:58
  Speaker 4: I really believe that at the foundation, we really believe that, you know, it cannot be done in a vacuum.
• 31:05
  Speaker 4: Right, real impact, real, lasting, meaningful change has to be seen.
• 31:11
  Speaker 4: You have to reach people.
• 31:12
  Speaker 4: People have to understand it.
• 31:14
  Speaker 4: There needs to be a groundswell of demand for it.
• 31:17
  Speaker 4: Hearts and minds need to be moved.
• 31:19
  Speaker 4: So I, like I said, I'll end there, which is that this is a critical piece of the puzzle and that, I think, is the most essential shift that we're right on the cusp of making and really just need to see it all the way through and understand that it can never fall by the wayside.
• 31:35
  Speaker 4: It always needs to be seen as an essential piece of the puzzle.
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: Our marketing hearts are cheering so loudly.
• 31:42
  Speaker 3: Carolina do you want to jump in and add anything to this I would just say, as he was talking which is going to hate me for saying this, our team is going to hate me for saying this it's that I'm thinking back to my many years in the art world and there was an organization they're still around, very important called Americans for the Arts, and their main function was really to release reports and look at, constantly analyzing the trends that were happening in the art world.
• 32:09
  Speaker 3: But they also generated tons of data that arts organizations use for grants all the time about what was that?
• 32:17
  Speaker 3: The power of the dollar in a town where there were theaters and the multiplier effect of that kind of thing, so that we could make the economic argument of why the arts were so important that they weren't just kind of nice to have.
• 32:28
  Speaker 3: We have a similar problem and impact that the marketing is seen as this nice to have and storytelling is this nice to have.
• 32:34
  Speaker 3: But we know that it's, as Eva just so beautifully said, the center of everything.
• 32:40
  Speaker 3: How do we make that argument?
• 32:42
  Speaker 3: I know it's going to kind of fall on us and maybe a group of funders that we can bring together, and maybe partners like you all, to release some big data, some real stories not stories some real studies about how this is such an important, vital piece of the puzzle that cannot be ignored, and that we're all responsible for it.
• 33:02
  Speaker 3: All the funders are responsible for it, and we can't just be left to a few of us kind of niche foundations to approach it.
• 33:07
  Speaker 3: So, anyway, that would just be.
• 33:09
  Speaker 3: The only thing I have to add.
• 33:10
  Speaker 3: Is that an invitation to your listeners out there, anybody who wants to join us on this, because we have just started to get really incredible qualitative data looking at the first two cohorts that we've invested in, and what a difference this investment around storytelling and marketing and branding and social media and public speaking and PR, which is all the places that we invest so heavily what a difference it's made, and we need to make that case much, more, much bigger and louder for all of the philanthropy to hear, and not just philanthropy individual donors family offices impact investing.
• 33:45
  Speaker 3: All of them need to hear this and really change their mind around that this is not a nice to have.
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: I just think this is so much more than a conversation we're having.
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: It's a rallying cry, and I thank you for hitting it on the nose, eva that we have to put money in the budget to talk about these things because they cannot scale on their own.
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: And I also feel like John, we're going to drop every 2024 trend in this conversation.
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: But when you think back to trend number two, which is activate the one and this is how you start a movement by activating the one y'all.
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: We are in a modern era where media doesn't have to be these traditional media channels.
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: If you have a movement that is so bright and vibrant, your people, they can be your mouthpiece.
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: The social media is as much a form of media as any of these mainstream options, and I just think this is the moment to lean in.
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: We need your hope, we need your joy, we need your critical stories of things that hold us back, we need your stories of inequity because we need to know how to fix them, and so I really value this sort of please come with us, sort of call to action, because I think it's going to take all of us locking arms to start getting into more mainstream, and I'm using air quotes a little in New York in Times Square and I think it can be anyone's Times Square, whatever that looks like in your community.
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: So I want to talk about these different mediums because we feel the sense from the community, especially those who are sort of slow to market with this.
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: We got to have our digital marketing and our digital storytelling game.
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: That's very strong.
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: Talk to us about how you and your teams engage across all of these different media channels because you want to maximize the engagement, you want to maximize reach.
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: But where are you meeting your audiences and how are you doing it in a way that's not overwhelming, that's approachable for someone who maybe that's listening.
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: That could be a small nonprofit.
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: Talk about how you're doing that, maybe where they could start.
• 35:50
  Speaker 3: I'm glad you asked about this because, even for us, and because this is such a big part of our work, we have to also focus.
• 35:57
  Speaker 3: There's so many social media places, there's so many outlets now for communication and storytelling.
• 36:02
  Speaker 3: The place we've probably put the most emphasis in the last few years has been in Instagram as a foundation, and we've had a huge amount of success there, in particular, with a completely crowdsourced, community-driven prize that we call Get Loud, and this is a monthly prize we give out every month.
• 36:22
  Speaker 3: The issue area changes every month.
• 36:24
  Speaker 3: We open it up to nominations only for a couple of days, a very short time, and usually receive many thousands of nominations from around the world for every issue, from literacy to period poverty, everything you can imagine.
• 36:37
  Speaker 3: The community has really come out and it's always thousands of shares, thousands of reposts.
• 36:42
  Speaker 3: It's really a beloved program that we are, just as we said at the top of the show, listening to the community and what it is they care most about and, in the comments, seeing these communities of people across the world who rally around a similar issue.
• 36:57
  Speaker 3: Instagram has been so fruitful for us in terms of this one really important prize that's grown and grown and grown every month there, so our team has really invested there and that prize is focused on grass, more sort of community-based, smaller organizations under a million-dollar budget.
• 37:14
  Speaker 3: So we're happy to be supporting those organizations because they many times have not quite reached the level of impact or growth that we need to see for the Elevate Prize itself.
• 37:25
  Speaker 3: But I think, becky, there's two answers, because that's kind of the foundation's focus.
• 37:28
  Speaker 3: Even though we are on TikTok and we're on YouTube and elsewhere and we're growing those channels as well, instagram has been the most fruitful.
• 37:35
  Speaker 3: So I think it's important what you say.
• 37:36
  Speaker 3: You have to see where are you really getting that traction?
• 37:39
  Speaker 3: And for some of our winners it's different places.
• 37:42
  Speaker 3: We meet them where they are.
• 37:43
  Speaker 3: And for a lot of our winners, they need to build their LinkedIn, like LinkedIn is the place where they need to build their thought leadership.
• 37:49
  Speaker 3: They need to reach other people in their sector and they're not maybe as interested in TikTok, but TikTok may be perfect for other certain winners.
• 37:56
  Speaker 3: So that's a big part of the kind of work we're doing and we brought in actually a new staff person this year who is basically like a nominal, fractional CMO.
• 38:05
  Speaker 3: That's going to be part of every winner's teams.
• 38:08
  Speaker 3: To understand really, get under the hood and really understand, like an answer to that question, what is the social?
• 38:16
  Speaker 3: Where should you really make these investments in terms of marketing?
• 38:19
  Speaker 3: Because there's so many places to go and we want to be really mindful because we know that hiring somebody or bringing in an agency or whatever else is a huge investment for any organization.
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: Oh, my gosh, eva, you want to get in there on this one, or you want to.
• 38:33
  Speaker 4: Sure, no, no, I certainly can't.
• 38:35
  Speaker 4: I mean yes, yes, plus one.
• 38:37
  Speaker 4: To all of that I would say the interesting thing I mean first, with any platform, when you're getting into this work, obviously you have to get back to basics.
• 38:45
  Speaker 4: You really have to identify your objective.
• 38:47
  Speaker 4: You have to understand what audiences you're trying to reach.
• 38:49
  Speaker 4: The one sort of thought I would offer there is and this is for nonprofits everywhere, for foundations everywhere, and it goes back to the whole thread of what we've been talking about, which is that so often if you ask an organization, nonprofit, what is your objective, who are you trying to reach, they say we're trying to raise money.
• 39:08
  Speaker 4: Right, we're trying to reach funders Completely valid answer.
• 39:13
  Speaker 4: The thought I would offer is that there is so much power that will ultimately lead to supporting that objective.
• 39:23
  Speaker 4: Right, if you are reaching wide audiences, it's a longer tail investment.
• 39:28
  Speaker 4: Right, it's not an overnight success story.
• 39:31
  Speaker 4: But in reaching wide audiences, in demonstrating you have a following, in demonstrating that you are reaching and impacting many people, that can ultimately lead and probably in multi-fold right really maximize that outcome.
• 39:47
  Speaker 4: It can lead to fundraising, to creating that reverberating impact you're looking for.
• 39:53
  Speaker 4: So that's the one bit I would add is don't discount those wider audiences, really recognize the power in reaching a lot of people and connecting with them authentically across whatever platform you're investing in.
• 40:08
  Speaker 3: I have to point out one thing that Eva said that I think is so important.
• 40:11
  Speaker 3: Back to the truth, telling to our sector is the long tail.
• 40:14
  Speaker 3: Like that is where we fail as philanthropy.
• 40:17
  Speaker 3: We do not invest in the long tail, so we need to see results of this grant at the end of this 12-month cycle.
• 40:23
  Speaker 3: So how can you invest in something that's going to take years, development leading to something that's going to take years?
• 40:30
  Speaker 3: So I just really want to pull that out as something so important to not think about those immediate results.
• 40:36
  Speaker 3: It's very hard for organizations, so I think it's up to funders to give that time and space for that to happen.
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: My gosh y'all are so brilliant.
• 40:46
  Speaker 2: Both of you, just the ones is.
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: There's our second value.
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: There's our second value of our company.
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: Play the long game right there.
• 40:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think an example that Becky and I felt when we were in the nonprofit space that we get in these like Staggi Hotel, like conference centers, and they're teaching us the donor pyramid and it's like this is where you need to spend your effort, and just this idea of like flipping that script completely and building an actual base that isn't transacting money today but their heart's changing or they're having a conversation at the dinner table.
• 41:18
  Speaker 2: We're leaving all that on the table if we don't come in with this mindset that y'all are ushering in and I just am so here for the work that y'all do.
• 41:25
  Speaker 2: So, as we kind of like round out this conversation, I mean, in your opinion, what key elements make a media campaign successful, not just in driving engagement but also bringing along the support for nonprofits?
• 41:37
  Speaker 4: I mean, listen, if you had to sort of break it down into a multi-step process which it's never an exact science first and foremost, but I'd say a few core elements is that when you're thinking about a campaign or rolling out a campaign, it has to be timely, it has to sort of connect with the now, this moment in time.
• 41:56
  Speaker 4: It has to be authentic.
• 41:58
  Speaker 4: I know we hear that word a lot and it's becoming a bit trite, but it's very true.
• 42:02
  Speaker 4: It has to come from a credible voice that is genuinely tied to the issue.
• 42:06
  Speaker 4: First and foremost, there has to be a degree of sparking excitement.
• 42:11
  Speaker 4: Right Again, it has to feel new, it has to feel it just.
• 42:15
  Speaker 4: It has to be wrapped in that excitement.
• 42:16
  Speaker 4: It has to inspire.
• 42:19
  Speaker 4: You have to I'd say you have to be clear about the call to action and the potential outcome, right, like, you have to be direct with your audiences.
• 42:25
  Speaker 4: What are you asking them to do and why?
• 42:27
  Speaker 4: What are you trying to build towards?
• 42:29
  Speaker 4: That's so often a core component that's left out.
• 42:31
  Speaker 4: And the last one, I would add, and it's coming from a personal philosophical place but do not be afraid to experiment and to fail with your campaigns.
• 42:44
  Speaker 4: And that goes back to this not being an exact science.
• 42:46
  Speaker 4: You have to take risks, and risks don't always pay off, but you learn from it right.
• 42:51
  Speaker 4: So I'd say those previous components, but be experimental, take risks.
• 42:56
  Speaker 4: Know that I always say to fail is not failure, right, you get right back up.
• 43:00
  Speaker 4: You learn from it, you try again.
• 43:02
  Speaker 4: But, yes, the example I would certainly point to is one of our recent winners in 2024, sunguywatch.
• 43:08
  Speaker 4: Please follow them on social media.
• 43:11
  Speaker 4: You will have the inspiration will just erupt everywhere.
• 43:15
  Speaker 4: But what they've done so brilliantly, they've amassed this incredible following on social.
• 43:21
  Speaker 4: Not just incredible following, but incredible engagement, which is the other piece of that puzzle.
• 43:26
  Speaker 4: People are really watching their content.
• 43:28
  Speaker 4: They're engaging.
• 43:29
  Speaker 4: They want more, they want to understand how they can be a part of the solution.
• 43:32
  Speaker 4: Sunguywatch is.
• 43:33
  Speaker 4: They're based in Indonesia, they're focused on cleaning up the rivers and they do so in such a magnificent way.
• 43:40
  Speaker 4: Please go learn more about their work.
• 43:42
  Speaker 4: But what they've really cracked the code on is showing the work right, being really transparent about it.
• 43:50
  Speaker 4: I think, again, that goes back to being clear about the potential outcome, right, really saying, if you are investing in this work, this is where we started and this is where we end.
• 44:01
  Speaker 4: They show the cleanups happening in real time so you can really understand the range of impact happening on the ground.
• 44:11
  Speaker 4: The other thing they do so brilliantly it goes back to this idea of that authentic voice and being transparent.
• 44:16
  Speaker 4: It was founded our winner is Sam, but it was founded by him and his brother and his sister.
• 44:21
  Speaker 4: It is a family organization, which is just incredible.
• 44:25
  Speaker 4: And particularly he and his brother also have a strong social media presence.
• 44:31
  Speaker 4: So you really see the human behind the work.
• 44:33
  Speaker 4: And that gets back to that idea of authentic voice.
• 44:36
  Speaker 4: And again, they're very direct about expressing vulnerability, expressing how things are, a process, expressing how they've tried something and failed and how they've gotten themselves back up and they've improved upon it.
• 44:48
  Speaker 4: So I think, a tremendous example of what you can do on social media to both show the impact of the work, the potential solution and the hardship, and show the human beings behind the work.
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: Okay, John, you're not gonna be surprised, but I have a SunGuy watch story and I didn't even know I had it.
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: But I literally okay, I have to like take this 2.0 because they use these incredible time-lapse videos which of course?
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: is an amazing feature for storytelling and I have a newly 10 year old daughter and both my girls big environmentalist and we watched one of these on Reddit and it's like very ASMR.
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: Do you guys know what that is?
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: I had to educate myself and my daughter calls this oddly satisfying and it's like you see the very, very dirty river and you watch all of these people pouring into it and it's getting cleaner and they have like these buoys on it and we literally were watching this and all of a sudden, what became an oddly satisfying video with my daughter was like oh wait, where is this at?
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: Oh, they have kids.
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: She noticed there are kids that are helping out in some of these areas and she's like I can do that.
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: Think about how media educates us.
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: That's just wild that.
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: I just saw that video and I'm like I remember watching that video.
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: But that's the point when we flex media in this way, when we put it in places where people digest in interesting ways that we're in digesting content, it does so much more than fundraise.
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: It creates awareness, it creates empathy, it creates story, it creates longevity, it creates, it creates, it creates.
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: There I go with the, et cetera.
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: That is a fantastic example, bravo, bravo.
• 46:38
  Speaker 3: That's an important point, because you're not going out of your way to teach your daughter.
• 46:42
  Speaker 3: It's not this teachable moment you are watching.
• 46:44
  Speaker 2: A fun Reddit Like this was supposed to be like a junk food moment, right Like if you scroll, it's like, yes, it's like watching something funny.
• 46:50
  Speaker 3: And it was like oh, this is like amazing.
• 46:52
  Speaker 3: You know, that's exactly where it should show up.
• 46:54
  Speaker 3: And I would just add one thing, that story of Sam, which I think is also so important and Eva said this earlier it's that once you've invested in which they have for many years, in the creation of this large audience, they also have a lot more options.
• 47:08
  Speaker 3: Right, they have a lot more choices of what they can do.
• 47:11
  Speaker 3: They don't have to just now depend on these really traditional places to look for funding or for support.
• 47:17
  Speaker 3: So now, after years of doing this cleanup, which is over 6,000 pounds of garbage is collected daily from those rivers, over 6,000 pounds.
• 47:26
  Speaker 3: And so now, after years, they've gotten really into the idea of what can we do with the plastic?
• 47:31
  Speaker 3: You know how can we recycle, upcycle this plastic?
• 47:33
  Speaker 3: So they've started a design firm, a for-profit design firm.
• 47:37
  Speaker 3: And this is going back to the trends.
• 47:39
  Speaker 3: Okay, that we started this with.
• 47:41
  Speaker 3: This is a trend that I am so behind right now and that I wanted just so, like you know, put skates on and make it go so much faster, which is this idea of nonprofits figuring out another kind of business entity that can spin off of the nonprofit in order to start attracting investment that cannot typically go into nonprofit investment, ie impact investing, which is a whole huge nut I am on a mission to crack because I'm bringing those dollars over the nonprofit.
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: You can teach that one.
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: Carolyn, I'm kind of on a point for you.
• 48:16
  Speaker 3: And this is a perfect example of an organization that is keeping their nonprofit intact, very healthy, growing, winning big awards from foundations like ours.
• 48:25
  Speaker 3: And then no, no, no, because now we have millions of people paying attention.
• 48:28
  Speaker 3: We're not gonna spin off this gorgeous, super high-designed outdoor chair that was created from the plastics that we got in this river in Bali.
• 48:37
  Speaker 3: And now we have this whole opportunity to not just generate a whole new area of revenue for the nonprofit, but to grow, like Becky said, the solution itself and to bring greater awareness into the mainstream.
• 48:50
  Speaker 3: So I go to my friends who run Design Miami, which is one of the biggest design affairs in the world, and I say, hey, look, look at this story that we helped them place Thank you, erin, who's on the phone with Fast Company earlier this last month about this chair, and say, here, design Miami, look at this amazing chair that our winner, can you put this in the next Design Fair in December here in Miami?
• 49:13
  Speaker 3: And they're super interested.
• 49:15
  Speaker 3: So again, it's like connecting all these dots the story, the media, the building, the audience, the what it can lead to, the long tail.
• 49:25
  Speaker 3: It's just so beautiful, and I mean this guy just won and so he had this audience, but this is somebody we can really work with to take this to the next level.
• 49:34
  Speaker 2: I mean, man, my heart has grown.
• 49:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, y'all are epic and the way you think.
• 49:39
  Speaker 2: I just am so excited that we can be torch bears of this movement.
• 49:44
  Speaker 2: The Chalera Building that we can spread you help a lot this helps a lot.
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: We're so grateful.
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: Come back saying yes.
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: I mean I've been thinking John about, like Haley and Denison, that with Spill, the Tea Cafe that we had on, who was a Get Loud winner, and we have followed their journey.
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: They're in our classroom now learning and it's just like the way that we can uplift each other in different ways and keep the story going is just beautiful.
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: And I cannot mention Spill the Tea without saying hi, Maddie.
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: So hope everything's going great in Hawaii.
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: Yes, with our friends.
• 50:18
  Speaker 2: Okay, so we can't have you on the line and not ask you for your one good thing.
• 50:22
  Speaker 2: You know it's a piece of advice.
• 50:23
  Speaker 2: Maybe it's your mantra.
• 50:25
  Speaker 2: What is something that you want to lift with our community today, carolina?
• 50:27
  Speaker 2: And then we'll go to Eva.
• 50:29
  Speaker 3: I mean for me.
• 50:30
  Speaker 3: I go back to the get loud award because it's the place where we are building a community of people who we're listening to, and it's our Greatest way to collect the voices and interests, and it's why we found spill the tea, you know, like we're finding these incredible leaders and organizations.
• 50:45
  Speaker 3: So for me, the good thing is to hopefully join our community because we get smarter, john, as you keep pointing out like we keep Evolving.
• 50:53
  Speaker 3: We're evolving because we're growing our fan base.
• 50:56
  Speaker 3: This was always the idea of building this global fan base for good Wasn't to make ourselves feel good, even though it feels great, but it's so that we have many more voices that are informing the decisions, the investments, the partnerships, all of it.
• 51:10
  Speaker 3: That's our good thing, my good thing.
• 51:12
  Speaker 4: I mean, I'll just add to, I'll just plus one.
• 51:14
  Speaker 4: Get loud always.
• 51:15
  Speaker 4: But I think my good thing is just what get loud was really intended to represent, right, which is that To do good in this world does not mean you have to be perfect, right, it just means that you have to show up.
• 51:31
  Speaker 4: That was the whole intention behind the get loud award, and that's why we opened the nominations to the public, because we entrust in the public to point us in the right direction.
• 51:41
  Speaker 4: And I think it comes back to the power of storytelling, right, which is this idea of bringing stories of authenticity and Vulnerability and imperfection and good to the forefront and Entwined in our day-to-day lives.
• 51:58
  Speaker 4: That's a whole idea, right, it goes back to SunGuy design, which is that this work shouldn't live off in the shadows.
• 52:04
  Speaker 4: We should be watching these videos on Reddit.
• 52:06
  Speaker 4: We should be buying these chairs that live in our backyard.
• 52:09
  Speaker 4: You know, social good deserves to be entwined in the fabric of our day-to-day and, similarly, we deserve to have stories of people who are doing good in the world and their buy are inspired to do the same.
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: I just want to thank you all for how good your souls are.
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: You have such good souls like I.
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: Am so heartened that you were in this work and that you make it Generative every time you show up.
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: It's never about you, it's about the collective, and that is so much felt in your brand.
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: And I got to say follow these friends as Instagram if you want to watch this playing out in real time.
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: Please come.
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: Check out the elevate price foundation.
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: I would even wager to say I think your LinkedIn game is extremely strong and Carolina and Eva both have incredible thought leadership, so go find them any other places that anybody can connect with you.
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: Learn any more.
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: Any other links you want to drop.
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: We want to give you that space.
• 53:05
  Speaker 3: We have a great newsletter.
• 53:06
  Speaker 3: I have to say, you know, I really love our newsletter and it's a great place, especially for the nonprofits that follow you, to just learn more about Opportunities or things that we're doing.
• 53:17
  Speaker 3: We have a lot of big stuff coming out in the coming year.
• 53:19
  Speaker 3: We are launching in November and whole new initiative called cities.
• 53:24
  Speaker 3: It's we don't have a full name for it, but it's right now entitled cities and we're gonna be going to cities around the world these week long impact campaigns.
• 53:32
  Speaker 3: It's a big, big initiative.
• 53:34
  Speaker 3: We're launching it in Miami this fall and that's, you know, it's not social media, but it's something to follow, and so I think the newsletter, our websites excellent.
• 53:42
  Speaker 3: These are all very old school things that I we put so much into them and they're so beautifully designed and we're on all social media.
• 53:49
  Speaker 3: So I know you know we're on tiktok and YouTube and all of it.
• 53:51
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you can find us anywhere at elevate prize.
• 53:54
  Speaker 4: We're on all the socials but, yeah, no shame in going to a website Elevate prize, or you can always find us there and please sign up for our newsletter.
• 54:02
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that was a great call to action.
• 54:04
  Speaker 3: Those nominations are.
• 54:05
  Speaker 3: You know, they're open to the public.
• 54:07
  Speaker 3: We love getting nominations from friends and organizations, many wonderful ones, I'm sure, listening to this show who might have great future prize winners ready to nominate for us matters.
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: So come check it out.
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: We will have a rich show notes page with all kinds of tips and tricks, but we will have the newsletter linked up.
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: We will link up to all of these things we mentioned.
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: Come, come be a part of this amazing community.
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: We need you, we need every one of you.
• 54:33
  Speaker 1: Eva Carolina, keep going.
• 54:35
  Speaker 1: You guys are doing the amazing work Good to see you I got you.
• 54:40
  Speaker 4: Thank you both.
• 54:42
  Speaker 2: Thanks so much for being here.
• 54:43
  Speaker 2: Friends, and you probably hear it in our voices, but we love connecting you with the most innovative people to help you achieve more for your mission than ever before.
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: We'd love for you to come join our good community.
• 54:54
  Speaker 1: It's free and you can think of it as the after-party to each podcast episode.
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: Sign up today at we are for good Dot-com.
• 55:01
  Speaker 2: Backslash hello and one more thing if you love what you heard today, would you mind leaving us a podcast rating interview?
• 55:06
  Speaker 2: It means the world to us and your support helps more people find this community.
• 55:10
  Speaker 2: Thanks so much, friends.
• 55:11
  Speaker 2: Can't wait to our next conversation.