Latest / We Are For Good Podcast - The Podcast for Nonprofits / After 3 Years of Podcasting… An Ode to the Power of Community - Jon McCoy, CFRE and Becky Endicott, CFRE

Transcript

After 3 Years of Podcasting… An Ode to the Power of Community - Jon McCoy, CFRE and Becky Endicott, CFRE · 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.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: Happy birthday everybody.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Happy birthday.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, this day is here.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: Can you believe this?
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: Three years of we Are For Good.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: Like what is happening.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: Are we in the trying threes?
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: I don't think we are.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: I think we're like in the mad manumus threes.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: Take a tantrum Ara.
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I know, guys, it's so exciting.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: I mean it feels like the shortest and the longest three years of our lives, Totally.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: But my gosh, you guys are still here.
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: When we turned on that podcast mic and we hit the record button three years ago, could never in our wildest dreams have thought that we would be sitting here today, surrounded by all of you having these evolved conversations.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: Y'all.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: We're just going to dive in and celebrate you today, because we are a celebrating community on our birthday.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: Absolutely.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: It's like our favorite topic and we have some huge takeaways as we celebrate this birthday today.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: We want to just give you a little snapshot into our heads and our hearts of what we're seeing in this movement and the things that we're learning.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: But, y'all, we also got a big surprise that we can't wait to share with you.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: I've literally got my party popper here.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: That's how excited I am about this, because it's been three years in the making and today is the day.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, and it's really serendipitous how community became like central to what we do, because I'll say it's always been part of our DNA.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: But I think we Are For Good's given us a ton of language and a ton of belief in the power of it, and so I want to take us back.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: I mean we're feeling a little reminisce and it's birthday times.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: You get out the old photos, you dust these off.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: But I mean I think back to when Becky, julie, myself, we were sitting in Becky's bonus room like the Barbie Dream Houses.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: In one corner we were sitting on a couch over here and we had jumped our jobs.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: And we're sitting there like, oh my gosh, we started, we Are For Good.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: And here we are, first day in the quote office, what are we going to do?
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: And we sat down and I remember us looking at our values and these were like core to us because they honestly came about through our work in nonprofit.
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: And you've probably heard us, maybe mentioned one or two of these, but I don't feel like we talk about them all at the same time in any given moment.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: But these are like the bedrugs that we saw really work as fundraisers, as people that were trying to build movements and it's the kind of the galvanizing things and it's the basis that everything from like everyone matters to play the long game, to cultivate and activate rabid fans.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: These like these mantras that we believe and we saw work in our own work and then we wanted to transport those over to we Are For Good.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: And so I remember thinking, as we're playing in the podcast, we're like, okay, these have got to be central to what we do.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: It became like one of the first series that we talked through, so we'll link that up in the show notes if you want to hear our deep dive on each of those values.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: But something also happened that I think we could have seen coming and I didn't expect.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: It's that when we see the values play out in other people's story, it's like magic.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: In the podcast share, it's like you hear it from people that are leading global movements say things that we found to be true in our little Oklahoma City town here.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: And those are the moments that I'm like man, there's something more to this.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: And so we talked about the seven values and we were so proud of those seven values.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: We thought they were like this polished, like plaque that we could like get printed or something, and then something happened.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: Do you remember this, becky?
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: Yes, it was like 2 am.
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: I mean let's take you back to we Are For Good.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: I mean startups, y'all are no joke and I don't know how much of the inception story that our audience knows, but we took on six clients concurrently while we were launching we Are For Good.
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: We would work on those clients projects for 40 hours a week and then we would work on we Are For Good.
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: So it routinely had John and I.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: Doesn't add up to any good equations.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: We would not do this, but we did it for 15 months and so we would routinely be up at 2 am and I remember it like 1 30 in the morning I get this text from John and it's like wait.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: And anytime I get like a one word like hold on or wait from John, I know I just sit there and wait because I know I'm going to have to catch whatever's coming.
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: And he says I think we missed a value and I think we may have missed one of the most important ones.
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: It could be the bedrock.
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: And he said I really think its community is everything.
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: And I think that, like having that epiphany at 1 30 in the morning, where did that come from?
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: I think it's just early on, not only in the conversations.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: I think there's two sides of community.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: I mean, there's the importance of like centering it in our work, from everything from nonprofit, from how we fundraise to how we find solutions.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: Like community has to be at the core of that.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: But I think, like with we Are For Good.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: I think we saw people gather so quickly and I'm like they're absolutely the most important important part of the story for us and it's like why would that not be the bedrock?
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: Because we need that as people too, as humans, just like we need each other, and I don't know.
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: It just seemed right.
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: It totally seemed right, because that's really what this space is about.
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: It's showing up, it's breaking through because people are finding each other, and right now we're seeing that you all are seeking out other safe places around the world, and the fact that this brand of this community means that you know you would relate to curious people, to kind people, to people who want to do good and chase generosity and curiosity.
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: And so let's talk about community as everything.
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: I mean we've had 51 plus episodes in our catalog that have community in the title, and if you search in our transcript platform, it lights up over 500 times.
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: We talk about community as core, and I have to say that I think I wasn't looking at our donors, our nonprofit community, our believers, our fans, john, when we were in-house.
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: I don't think I was looking at them as amplifiers, I think I was looking at them as investors.
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: And once I started to make that shift, everything changed for me.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: I think what I love about this topic of community is that it is just central in so many podcast episodes.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: We just, you know, have alluded to that.
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: But I just think about, you know, one of the most formative interviews for us.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: I remember sitting down with Nancy Brinker who is like right, this, incredible founder Iconic.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: Iconic of the Susan G Coleman for the cure.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: But I mean, her story is to me about community at its smallest level, not only just like the love of the sister, but like how do you wrap your friends and your support network and people around that cause.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: And then you do that in community and cities around the world, of what it's grown to be.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: I think of you know getting to meet Hannah Lowe, whose child is facing this really horrible disease, but she is a fighter.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: She's like we're going to find a solution for this, we're going to pour into research.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: And what does she do?
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: She gathers her friends, her network, her people, and it's like this is the age-old story of like how we come together.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: And I think that's the beautiful thing of philanthropy that it stitches us together in ways that we'd probably never be connected otherwise.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: And that's why we get so excited about the impact of Verizon that we talk about around here, because that's what this is about.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: We believe it's life changing and we believe it's actually going to solve the world's greatest problems.
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: Well, I can't let you just go on, hannah Lowe, without like not pausing for a second, because you know we talk so often to founders and to do nonprofit professionals and coaching coaches and stuff, but here you have, like, a mom who put together a nearly $2 million peer-to-peer fundraiser because she was fighting for her child, and if anyone wants to go and check out that episode, it's episode 342.
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: But I also think about Movember.
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: Movember grew this worldwide digital community you know, 5 million plus mustaches and they had a digital toolkit where they could help people talk about men's health.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: And guess what?
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: That population really made Movember explode.
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: And I had to lift one more that I just loved so much, which was when the skim really were on fire for getting legislation passed to get paid leave for, you know, parents in the United States not just parents, caregivers and when that you know that legislation failed in Congress, they took it to the masses and they started a campaign called Show Us your Leave and they asked major companies, brands that you and I all know and love, show us in one slide what your leave policy looks like and let's celebrate it.
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: They gathered them all with a hashtag and it created this massive movement of consumers asking their brands to take part in this.
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: This is how community is built.
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: It's built, like we said at the very beginning it's based on your values.
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: And when people and when I say people, I mean that in a broad swath, your believers, your donors, your consumers, your neighbors, whatever they are when they see themselves, when they see those core values within your company, something magical happens and they latch on.
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: And guess what?
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: If they keep seeing them, they're going to call them out to you, which I think is my most favorite part about community.
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: And I have to say that I have also been called out.
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: We have been called out by not living to our values.
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: That's happened a couple times in the last couple years, and guess what?
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: I love it.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: I'm so proud that we can receive that and really make things different, because that's what we're here for, and so I really appreciate those moments of getting to learn in real time.
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: So our view of community, I know, has changed.
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: How could it not, sitting at the feet of some of these conversations and just in the community that's surrounded this, what is change in your perspective be I mean from your point of view as you reflect on it.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: What's maybe changed of how you originally thought about it, maybe when we started to today?
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: Oh my gosh.
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: Okay, you're about to get vulnerable, becky, here as I'm working through this in therapy on my own.
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: But I've noticed that it's true in our company and specifically about community.
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: But when you let go of control, when you let go and give community, give your mission, give your words, your impact to your believers, if you can just let that go, it is the most powerful thing in the world.
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: Because guess what?
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: It doesn't become buttoned up, it becomes so authentic, it becomes something that people can take and make their own.
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: The more I let go, john, the more I let these things come into our life, the richer the story of we are for good becomes, the richer the story of generosity, philanthropy and gratitude.
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: And it's because it's allowing more people to come in, because my agenda ain't everybody's agenda.
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: And I feel that I mean, okay, you're kind of stealing what I was gonna reflect on, because, as I thought about this in prep for this episode, I think there's like two aspects.
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: There's certainly the power of community.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: Personally, and I think we've made some of the dearest friends of our life that have made the jump and are trying to work out their own business.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's become this really unique and cool network of friends that I just am so grateful for because of this journey.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: And so there's community of that that you can just feel seen, and I love that digital community happens like those can be people that you don't even get to see all the time in real life, but you can be there for each other and I think we all need that.
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: You gotta find your people.
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: It's.
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: Secondly, is this idea that we just set up a table like you know, if you've listened to some of our founding story one of like the formative experiences of why we wanted to start.
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: We are for good.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: We always hated going to conferences that felt like everybody was really important and already knew each other.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: There's like totally that walk in here and it's like can we just all be friends, like I'm?
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: sorry if I have the credentials, sorry if I have the ribbons, sorry if I don't have not on that committee, but we just want to create an inclusive place and just stop and say, hey, time out, like this ain't working anymore.
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: And we want to create a table that was inclusive and that was fun and that would like everybody felt like they could belong.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: And so I think one point of community was that is like let's set up table.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: But two point I was what you described already, becky is like when people now in our community feel empowered or feel inspired to create their own tables Just so they can connect with at a deeper level with people.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: We've seen that with office hours.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: I look at like Evan and Michelle that's created space just to hold space for nonprofit leaders on the front lines.
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: No, consultants, no, we are for good stuff like just let's come talk.
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: I'm also seeing like little communities pop up, whether it's the international development hey, camo, thank you for creating that space and the communities that live outside of we are for good that have been inspired by it.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: Like that to me is like when it's working, when it's like things are happening out of our control, and it's beautiful where people can feel more connected with each other and we're going to be celebrating that every day of the week.
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: So community really is everything.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: Okay, we got to give a second to talk about the story of Simon.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: I mean Simon's like Community story, global community, right yeah, okay.
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: So I want, if you've hung around with us a little bit, you know about our very good friend Simon.
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: Simon, if you're listening, hello from the United States.
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: We hope all is wonderful and ginger Uganda.
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: But we met Simon In our community very early on and Simon has an incredible nonprofit organization called the smile on when who, and it is really about creating business microloans for women in his village, which, if I can tell you what is going on in rural Uganda, you will know what a big deal it is for women to be empowered to not only have their own businesses but to have their own money.
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: And Simon story is just an incredible one.
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: And I mean he was working as a custodian and a major university after being a street child, and the university chancellor saw him and said what do you want to do with your life?
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: And he said I just want an education.
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: And he said if you continue to work here, I'll get you that education.
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: And Simon went to the university and then he went and got his masters and then he went home and he started this incredible organization and he has been, I would say, the ultimate hype team member of the we are for good community.
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: He is in the community all the time, and a couple of months ago he came to us and said my laptop is dying and I really need a new device.
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: And do you all have any abilities within your community to get me a new laptop?
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: And I want to say this laptop was almost 20 years old, and so, for those of us that are tech geeks, we know how much laptops have changed in the last 20 years, and so I reached out To a couple members in this community and I said does anyone have a laptop laying around that we could repurpose and send across the world to Simon?
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: And I get so choked up when I tell about this story because someone in our community Sent mailed to me.
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: I wish I had the full list right here, but it was a laptop to iPads, a digital camera, as you know, the card that goes inside of it, five iPhones, headphones, and I'm going to tell you it took us three months To figure out the postage of getting something with lithium batteries to Uganda, but Simon got that package.
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: We threw in some we are for good shirts and stickers and candy for his kids and we will drop these photos as a part of birthday week, but we found out that was the largest gift that the smile on when who had ever received was this gift, and it was nothing more than an expression of community Coming to give back to Simon what he has poured so generously into this community.
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: And I will tell you, the donor wants to remain anonymous.
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: They are very active Part of this community.
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: But that to me was We've had some incredible stories come to us, but this is what it's all about.
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: This is gratitude, this is generosity unfolding, and it all happened in community.
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: I mean, that story is never going to get old, and I just think Simon is a beautiful example of someone that just came in, pulled up a chair at the table and, like, has impacted all of our lives and we're a world apart.
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: So I look forward to getting to hug Simon some days.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: We're going to come to you, simon, you're going to come to us one way or another.
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: But I mean, look, we're in this reckoning moment and I think there's not a more common conversation I feel like I have with friends right now, with colleagues that are in the nonprofit space.
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: But it's tough, people are burnt out, people are having hardship, our work is harder, we're trying to figure out how we're going to do this sustainably, and we think one of the key antidotes to this is community.
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: And so you know, we dedicated a week of the summer evolution to just talking about burnout, talking about mental health, and we want to connect you to the resources there.
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: So this will be part of what's linked in the show notes.
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: But there was a framework that was shared this summer episode that we relifted, that I just wanted to give to you.
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: If you're feeling the burnout, you're feeling compassion, fatigue, here's some steps to take and this is of such value really resonate with me the last few weeks.
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: But one is just to grieve and that is like acknowledgement that this is how I feel and that's okay, like it's understanding what you're feeling in this moment.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: Then second is remember, going back to the why.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: That's kind of what we're doing on this episode today and it's kind of cathartic, let's be honest, to be like.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: Why are we?
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: You know, why did I want to get into this work?
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: Was my connection to the cause?
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: Was my passion at the deeper level?
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: And then you want to spend time investigating are the things that you believe about this moment, are they actually true and where can you like shore up and really like dive into those things?
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: And then second or next is plan, and that's about like literally putting together a plan of how am I going to take care of myself, what am I going to do, what am I going to change?
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: Who can I sync up with, what can I add to or take away to be able to move forward and then partner, because one of the most powerful lessons learned in that episode with Ashley and Eleanor is that self care was never meant to be done just alone, like it's done in community, and I think that's why it's so powerful to lift this that when you have authentic community and you're walking through some of those hard things and verbalizing them, we want to create space for that.
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: But finding that in your own life, that's the only way to really move through this, and so I hope that that really helps.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: As you kind of hear that, we'll make sure that that episode's linked.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: But we've also put together a playlist of community because if these stories are stoking something with inside you News flash, this is such a thread and so many conversations and you will see the connected thread as you listen to more of these stories that we listened to lift.
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: So look for the playlist of community is core will link that up in the show notes today too.
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: Can I please share two stories within our community that gave me life the last six months, because the we are for books group is a phenomenon.
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: We had four members of our community I got a name out here Evan Wildstein, jordanna Merkin, taylor Johnson, cfre and Natalie Monroe.
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: They came to us and they said what if we had a quarterly book club where we're all reading the same book, we're all reflecting what we got out of it?
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: You know how it's helping us shape our corner of the world.
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: What a beautiful expression of community.
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: And the second one that I love was started by Nathan Chappelle and he said I want to start seeing we're for good shirts in airports.
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: I'm going to start wearing my we're for good shirt every time I travel Because I know that this is going to start a movement where I'm going to start seeing people that I don't even know are going to be my friends Across the world in different airports.
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: And the second he posted that on LinkedIn.
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: We just started getting photos from all over of people in their shirts, and John and I have started doing it every time we travel too.
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: And it's just this cool little movement.
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: It doesn't have to be An extraordinary grand gesture.
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: We can do little.
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: One percent shifts that help us be the light that we're going to see in the world and that started within our community.
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: I'm just here to like, put a peace, sign up and say we are with you.
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: Friends, keep coming with these great ideas, keep using the space for good and, however you see it manifesting, love it so much.
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: Well, okay, we're like we're celebrating our birthday of the podcast is officially three years and we got to do a little bit of reflection about, like, what we've seen in podcasting.
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: And so One thing that I got to lift is a value that I think I started this whole conversation with.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: Today is playing the long game.
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: And if you go back to before we ever recorded our first episode, I was binge listening to all this like entrepreneurial stuff because we didn't know anything about podcasting.
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: So we're trying to learn about, like, how do you do these things?
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: Who does it?
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: Well, all those sorts of things.
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: And a guy named Lewis Howes is a prolific podcaster.
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: He's had more than a thousand episodes, he's written multiple New York time bestselling books and all these things.
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: He's interviewed all the greats.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: And I found this random interview of him talking about podcasting and he said If you don't commit, when you're starting a podcast, to staying in it consistently for three years, you might as well not expect it to turn into anything, because it just takes time for things to swell and grow and all those sorts of things.
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: And I remember like sharing that early on to the team and I think I was like we don't have to podcast forever, but I just kind of want to get to the three year mark.
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: But I just got to speak to the principle behind it, which is playing the long game, and I think it changes how you show up in life if you've got your vision, if you've got your eyes set out beyond today.
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: And we showed up like we're not going to consider stopping for three years, you know, and it's kind of an unspoken rule that it's like we didn't miss a release date and we followed through and we recorded on days that we were tired and burnt out and sort of those things because we were subscribed to like we're going to do this and the compounding effect not that all of our problems are solved or that we feel like we've like done everything we want to do, but I will speak to that.
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: At this moment there's so much happening, you know, as a result of just showing up consistently, and that's the thing that I would point to and I think the friends that have surrounded us and that have cheered us on along the way would say the same thing is like there's power and just the consistency, whether you are good at the beginning or not, like you get better with just going through the motions and kind of refining as you go, and so I think there's so much of a lesson there for just about everything in life Play the long game.
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: It was a really long way to say just play the long game, and I believe it to be true more than ever now.
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: You were right, and consistency is the key, and I think that that's a hallmark that we can kind of take away from this conversation is how often are you showing up for your community?
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: Are you only showing up, you know, when the direct mail is hitting?
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: Are you only showing up on Giving Tuesday?
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: Are you only showing up when you're asking?
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: Then that's a culture shift that needs to be made, because we need to show up in good times and in bad.
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: Our donor relations friends would have taught us this so beautifully.
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: It's that you need to be this constant and consistent source, and so I think that leads to like kind of the last little value that we're going to lift up here.
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: When you show up consistently, when you're building that rhythm and that heartbeat where people are used to looking at what you're saying and talking about and what you're sharing, it's a drumbeat of the rhythm, of how they're getting information, where they're getting story and inspiration.
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: We got to talk about how you cultivate and activate the rabbit fan, because we're not just looking at donors anymore.
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: I think that was just a very 1.0 model.
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: I think that's also to what we were saying before.
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: It's an extractive model.
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: When you look at individuals like donors, you're just wanting something from them, and the reality is we can get something from each other.
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: In fact, we can lift each other.
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: And so when I think about our core value of cultivate and activate rabbit fans, there's a couple hallmarks I want to lift about how you can do that.
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: Well, you can create a space of belonging, not just a space where you talk about stuff, but about a space where people feel seen, valued and known.
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: That means reacting to what they say.
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: That means talking back to them.
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: That means sending a DM.
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: It means when you see their gift come in, you can comment and say hey, I see you here and I see you over here, we see you all throughout our organization.
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: Like, that's amazing.
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: That creates a different shift in cultivating and activating a rabbit fan.
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: I also think you have to set a tone for generosity, and it's got to be more than just giving dollars.
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: Yes, we know why we're here.
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: Yes, we need those dollars to keep our lights on and to keep us paid and to keep us doing this work.
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: But it's not just about the money.
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: It's about how people can show up to give, and when I look at the economics of the world right now, there's a lot of people who don't have a lot to give in terms of dollars, but they have other assets they can bring to the table and we need to appreciate and value that as much as we do the dollar.
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: And when you do that, people respond generously.
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: And when you ask for something because you're not always asking they show up and they show up generously and they'll give what they can give.
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: And if they can't give, they find a way to amplify it.
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: So remember, we are cultivating and activating rabbit fans.
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: We are not just asking donors for gifts to our organizations.
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: That's the path.
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: It feels better too.
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: And the bigger zoomed out picture of that is that when you're showing up generous, it looks like saying, hey, this donor may not be a great fit for our organization, but introduce them to another one like that will come back to you.
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: Like the power of connection.
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: Introductions has been paramount to our ability to make friends in this space and to like truly grow with, is the impact uprising.
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: So If you hear something, I mean where's a lesson in this is like don't white knuckle everything in your organization.
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: You know when you stay in line with your vision, but you're open to innovation and adaptation.
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: Things are going to surprise you.
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: I mean, for us in this journey it's look like you know, growing our core values from our original list of seven to that eight community which really is everything to adapting frameworks as we see things change and to just being in this posture of always listening to the community, just so we can become better and more intentional and serve the people that we are here to serve.
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: Okay, so we teased at the beginning that something was coming, and it's that portion of the episode we're so excited to share, this big announcement we've been working on for a while.
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, we've been working on this specifically.
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: Can we give a shout out to our unicorn, julie con, for our producer and head of media has been working on this concept for over a year and let me just tell you we believe education is for everyone and we really work to make our teaching is forward thinking, as accessible, as affordable and is Inclusive is humanly possible.
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: Also, if you can't talk from this episode, we deeply believe in the power of community.
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: So to keep our podcast content and community free and accessible, we just really need the support of generous friends and believers to help power and sustain our content, and that is why I like want to do a drum roll, john, what's happening?
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: So, friends, we're launching good friends.
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: We call you friend all the time because we truly believe it, but we wanted to wrap something around this where People that believe you listening, that believe in this podcast, that want to support this mission an easy way to connect with us.
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: This is listener support for the we are for good podcast.
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: You can check it all out at we are for good, dot com slash friends.
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: It'll be linked in the show notes.
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: Let me just give you, like the behind the scenes of this.
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: There's so many people, there's community that is surrounded this movement and, of course, we want you to be invested in this, not just in your listenership, in the way that you support and share, and we're so grateful for that.
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: We want you to be tangibly part of this movement and because we were committed to keeping this content free, but we want to do that with you, like, it's so much more joyful to do that together, and so we put together the easiest way to do it and we've wrapped some amazing, really cool benefits alongside this that we can't wait to show you.
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: But it's we are for good, dot com slash friends.
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: You can select the way that you want to pay, whether it's monthly or annually.
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: There's even some different levels depending on what is a good fit for you.
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: But here's the deal when you subscribe to good friends, you get to pick the podcast player that you are going to get a custom feed that's custom feed from me and Becky straight to you.
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: Not only has you know the content you expect from we are for good but also some exclusives.
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: Like we have been working hard behind the scenes to say what's the greatest value that we can provide to you, and we're really excited to share not only specific a ma episodes where we're going to speak to you directly of just the burning questions that we can tap experts and we can share our experiences In just a real, you know, casual format to, but also we are bringing to you the good brief, and the good brief is the answer to the overwhelm.
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: We know we share a lot of content and we feel it to.
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: We're in these conversations where our mind it's like that emoji of the head exploding.
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: We're committed each month to sharing with our good friends the good brief, which is where we're sharing the greatest takeaways, the frameworks, the things that are really sticky and a really easy to digest format.
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: You get all of that bonus content delivered to your personal feed in your podcast player and just gonna be so fun, and so this is our invitation we would love to have you part of this, good friends, and be a supporter of the work that we are really so delighted to bring to you.
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: I remember, john, joining my first like sort of patreon podcast storytelling group and it was humans for New York and I put five dollars in a month and that's literally where our starts is five dollars.
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: You can help power this content, because we do want to keep it free and we want to keep a democratic platform.
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: But I want to give like a little taste for the AMA For this month because if you've hung around here you know we talk about.
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: The impact arc is our secret sauce, it is the framework by which John and I run everything through all of our movements, through building, and it's historically been a three part process staging, storytelling, syndication.
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: Well, guess what?
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: Y'all just like that eight core value we figured out one was missing and we're diving into stoking, which is the fourth key element of the impact arc.
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: In our first AMA we're gonna talk about why it's not just enough to post your content, what happens when you start engaging, when you start getting signals, and it goes right back to that cultivate and activate and mobilize those rabbit fans.
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: And guess what?
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: The act of stoking is gonna create some believers.
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: So that'll be our first episode.
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: And, john's right, you get the cliff notes from the entire month worth of podcast all rolled in.
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: We hope it's an amazing deal for you.
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: We have sought to make this such a premium because we've had so many people say how can I help?
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: And in the past we say share the podcast, you know, with a friend, bring you know, bring somebody into the community.
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: But today we're coming out, we're saying we want this community content to be fueled, to be created, to be invested into, be perpetuated through community, and we would be entirely honored If you would take that first step and become a good friend.
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: So happy birthday to you all.
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: It is not just our birthday this.
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: Every year we will come in on our birthday and have a celebration of community, because it's the spirit of what you all are creating here that gets us out of bed and joyful to be in this work, joyful to be able to know you, to know how we can power good better in the spaces we are.
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: You don't have to be a nonprofit professional, you don't have to be a philanthropist.
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: Good humans are welcome here, anyone who wants to foster and do good through our efforts with learning, growing, including, amplifying and just getting active in the passion and the joy that we want to see in the world, so thank you for hanging out here with us.
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: So if all this talk today has struck a chord or maybe the podcast has touched you in some way, you can check it all out at.
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: We are for good dot com slash friends.
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: There's really a level that fits any budget and we did that by design and it's a one time gift that even option is available to just.
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for your support.
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: Truly an honor to be in this with you, friends.
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: And thank you for celebrating our birthday with us, because it is a day to really celebrate you and celebrate all that has been fostered in this incredible space.
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: Go out, go do something kind for someone today.
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: Y'all happy birthday.