We Are For Good Podcast - The Podcast for Nonprofits

We Are For Good
We Are For Good
  • 4.9 (274)
  • Non-Profit
  • Updated Semiweekly

The We Are For Good Podcast brings nonprofit professionals + everyday changemakers into conversations with the most innovative, heartwired leaders in social impact. Hosted by Jon McCoy + Becky Endicott, each episode unpacks fresh mindsets, practical skills + inspiring stories designed to help you work smarter, build healthier cultures + accelerate our collective impact. Join our value-aligned community—it’s free—at weareforgoodcommunity.com. About We Are For Good We Are For Good is a storytelling, learning + activating community built for nonprofit professionals + everyday changemakers. Through our podcasts + media, purpose-driven activations + global gatherings, we equip for-good leaders with the connection, skills + inspiration to grow their impact. Because we believe community is everything—and together, we can create an Impact Uprising. Learn more at weareforgood.com.

  1. 11h ago

    746. 1 in 2 American Adults Struggle with Social Connection. Nonprofits Are Part of the Solution. - Aaron Hurst

    1 in 2 American adults is struggling with social connection, and fewer than 20% are thriving. Aaron Hurst, the social entrepreneur behind the Taproot Foundation and the pro bono movement, says that's why volunteering and giving are collapsing, and why nonprofits hold the key to reversing it. Guest co-host Susan McPherson, author of The Lost Art of Connecting, joins us to dig into the U.S. Chamber of Connection's Six Points of Connection report, the first national index of its kind.  In this episode, you'll hear: Why the sector doesn't have a philanthropy problem or a volunteer problem. It has a social connection problem.The six points of connection every person needs, and the one the data says matters mostWhy your nonprofit should start measuring connection outcomes now, before the funding arrivesYou'll walk away seeing your organization for what it already is: connection infrastructure for your community. 🩵 Episode Highlights: (4:07) Aaron's origin story and journey to where he is today(7:34) "What do you most want in the world?"(12:30) The Six Points of Connection report(15:48) 1 in 2 Americans is struggling, and philanthropy is feeling it(18:19) Nonprofits as connection infrastructure(19:20) Start capturing connection outcomes now(22:24) Why loneliness shuts down empathy(25:27) One good thing: hopeEpisode Show Notes: www.weareforgood.com/episode/746 // Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com Say hi 👋 LinkedIn / Instagram / Facebook / YouTube / Twitter

    746. 1 in 2 American Adults Struggle with Social Connection. Nonprofits Are Part of the Solution. - Aaron Hurst

  2. 5d ago

    745. 3 Case Studies on Using Data + Storytelling to Grow Your Org's Impact - Urina Harrell

    A pandemic relief territory that grew 39% while every area around it went red. A fund that deployed capital fast and couldn't prove what it did. A 55-year-old nonprofit still running on paper. Urina Harrell, founder of Vox Pop Branding, walks through all three — what was broken, what she built, and what happened next. 🩵 In this episode, you'll hear: Case study 1 — Long Beach: Why workshops and education stopped moving the needle, and how rolling up sleeves alongside founders produced the only green zone on the mapCase study 2 — JLH Fund: How to build impact measurement backward, after the money's already out the door, using grantee interviews that double as marketingCase study 3 — Pools of Hope: The digital numbers the grant report never asked for — email list, reach, clicks — that turned into renewal after renewalThe two lessons that show up in all three: start from a baseline you already collect, and let a third party ask the questions your grantees won't answer honestlyThe lowest-lift first step if you have no data at all — QR code stickers, not a new CRMThree different orgs, one repeatable playbook for connecting data to story to funding. 🩵 Episode Highlights: (3:18) From nosy kid to Vox Pop: curiosity as a career strategy(5:33) Case study 1: Long Beach, when workshops stopped working(9:21) The two lessons: baselines and third-party reporting(12:25) Case study 2: JLH Fund, measuring impact after the fact(15:47) Case study 3: Pools of Hope, digital numbers as grant currency (18:30) Where to start if you have no data story yet(20:08) A quilt with her name on it (22:03) Stay curious: the one good thingEpisode Show Notes: www.weareforgood.com/episode/745 // Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com Say hi 👋 LinkedIn / Instagram / Facebook / YouTube / Twitter

    745. 3 Case Studies on Using Data + Storytelling to Grow Your Org's Impact - Urina Harrell

  3. Sep 28

    744. Make the Problem Bigger: A Different Way to Build Community - Greg Tehven, Emerging Prairie

    Greg Tehven runs a $5.5 million nonprofit with 40 teammates in Fargo, North Dakota — and his advice to leaders is to stop working on problems they can solve alone. That instinct built Emerging Prairie into the heartbeat of a region's entrepreneurial ecosystem, launched Grand Farm, and turned TEDx Fargo into an event 1,000+ people build their year around. Guest co-host Stacy Huston, CEO of SixDegrees.org, brings Greg on to talk about what it actually takes. 🩵 In this episode, you'll hear: Why "make the problem bigger" is the fastest way to get more people working on it — and more fun besidesThe business model Greg borrowed from a Buddhist teacher: if a tree adds value to the community, the community waters itHow Emerging Prairie designs for radical inclusion — childcare, food choices, time of day — and why those small barriers decide who shows upWhat Greg learned about receiving, not just giving, in a gift shop in IndiaHow serving the board first changed what the board gave backYou'll walk away with a way of building that doesn't require permission, a finished plan, or a bigger budget. 🩵 Episode Highlights: (4:05) Gravel roads and good neighbors: the making of Greg(7:38) From burnout to the Fargo thesis(11:17) Designing for generosity: the business model(14:09) Tolerance of ambiguity (and the TEDx story nobody saw coming)(21:43) Fighting for self, team, and community(26:50) The gift shop in India: learning to receive(30:21) Serving the board before asking the board(34:50) What doesn't show up in a grant application(37:55) One good thing: make the problem biggerEpisode Show Notes: www.weareforgood.com/episode/744 // Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com Say hi 👋 LinkedIn / Instagram / Facebook / YouTube / Twitter

    744. Make the Problem Bigger: A Different Way to Build Community - Greg Tehven, Emerging Prairie

  4. Sep 23

    743. Unlock the Full Potential of Your Peer-to-Peer Program - Victoria Vighetto, ZERO Prostate Cancer

    When ZERO Prostate Cancer's peer-to-peer program started slipping, Victoria Vighetto didn't tell her field staff to make more calls. She walked the constituent journey herself — and found the problem sitting in an email. The call-to-action button was too far down. The sends were landing at the wrong time for open rates. Registration was where people were falling out. 🩵 In this Possible in Practice episode, you'll hear: Why a fundraising dip is almost never a motivation problem — and the diagnostic question to ask insteadHow ZERO ran a three-day, $30K matching challenge and saw fundraising jump more than 50% while registration was still down 14%What happened when they stopped asking field staff to pull a dozen reports and gave them a work center with a to-do list: who to call, and what to sayHow to run personalization at scale for thousands of fundraisers without losing the personal partThe one place to start: register for your own event, make a donation, build a page, and find a single pain pointYou'll walk away with a repeatable way to audit your own peer-to-peer program — and permission to fix one thing instead of everything. 🩵 Episode Highlights: (2:44) Victoria's path into nonprofit work(3:51) ZERO's mission and the $20M Blitz the Barriers initiative(5:29) Diagnosing a revenue problem as a systems problem(6:51) The results: 14% down in registration, 50%+ up in fundraising(7:57) Removing friction for field staff: from a dozen reports to one work center (9:57) Automations that meet fundraisers where they are(10:40) What makes peer-to-peer actually work: keep it personal(11:54) The cheer coach and the school bus(13:28) Where to start: walk your own donor journey(14:28) Ride-along days and leading from the friction(15:36) A moment of generosity that stayed with her(17:19) One good thing: make the desired action the easiest actionEpisode Show Notes: www.weareforgood.com/episode/743 // Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com Say hi 👋 LinkedIn / Instagram / Facebook / YouTube / Twitter

    743. Unlock the Full Potential of Your Peer-to-Peer Program - Victoria Vighetto, ZERO Prostate Cancer

  5. Sep 21

    742. Money Is Medicine: Decolonizing Wealth and the Future of Philanthropy - Edgar Villanueva

    An elder told Edgar Villanueva that the medicine that had chosen him was money. One sentence — and it turned an angry, burned-out program officer into the person rewriting how philanthropy thinks about wealth. Edgar is the founder and CEO of the Decolonizing Wealth Project and the author of Decolonizing Wealth, now in its second edition. His work has helped move nearly $1 billion toward the communities that need it most. 🩵 Joining us as guest co-host is Lindsey Fuller, Executive Director of The Teaching Well. In this episode, you'll hear: Why reparative philanthropy starts with a question most institutions refuse to ask: where did this money come from in the first place?The one shift any leader can make today: do your own work around money, before you ask anyone else for theirsHow Liberated Capital moved $30 million to Black and Indigenous organizations with a $25/month entry point and no gatekeepersYou'll walk away with a different starting point for every funder conversation you have. 🩵 Episode Highlights: (3:38) Growing up between the haves and the have-nots(8:26) Behind the curtain: what he saw as a young program officer(10:24) The ice cream party problem(14:30) The elder, the medicine, and the book that changed everything(20:16) Reparative philanthropy: where did this money come from?(24:45) No wealth exists without harm(29:04) The one shift you can make today(33:09) Beyond self-care: why leaders have to dig deeper(37:34) Liberated Capital: a donor community for "whosoever will"Episode Show Notes: www.weareforgood.com/episode/742 // Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com Say hi 👋 LinkedIn / Instagram / Facebook / YouTube / Twitter

    742. Money Is Medicine: Decolonizing Wealth and the Future of Philanthropy - Edgar Villanueva

  6. Sep 16

    741. Fundraising Problem or Distance Problem? The Reframe That Raised $1M - Connie Lewin

    Connie Lewin found the funders. She wrote the emails. She sent the proposals. The response was silence. With a $1 million goal for a small nonprofit in Rwanda and no established high-net-worth donor network, Connie had to quickly step into a leadership role and take responsibility for the organization’s goal to scale its impact and operations in three years. What finally moved the money wasn't better writing. It was closing the distance between donors and the people at the center of the mission by tapping into donors' heads and hearts and making the case for giving by connecting business strategy with empathy. 🩵 In this Possible in Practice episode, you'll hear: The reframe that changed everything: It's not an ask. It's an invitation — and what that actually changes about who you approach and what you sayWhy an unfiltered list of hundreds of prospects feels like progress but isn'tWhat donors are really asking when they hesitate (it's not whether your work is good)How a 16-year-old raised over $40,000 climbing Kilimanjaro — and what it proved about belongingYou'll walk away with one question to run before your next appeal: do we have a fundraising problem, or a distance problem? 🩵 Episode Highlights: (2:27) Connie's origin story: a fourth-grade cleanup in New York City(3:48) Walking into Rwanda: big vision, scrappy team(5:30) The $1M opportunity — and the plot twist(8:21) "The response was silence"(9:00) The reframe: not an ask, an invitation(10:00) Three moves that closed the distance(13:59) Funder personas and the confidence gap(17:47) Why an unfiltered list of hundreds of prospects feels like progress(18:49) What donors actually want to know(22:13) Bella's Kilimanjaro climb and the power of belonging(25:33) One Good Thing: fundraising problem or distance problem?Episode Show Notes: www.weareforgood.com/episode/741 // Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com Say hi 👋 LinkedIn / Instagram / Facebook / YouTube / Twitter

    741. Fundraising Problem or Distance Problem? The Reframe That Raised $1M - Connie Lewin

  7. Sep 14

    740. Start Before You're Ready: How Creative Futures Collective Grew from 10 to 3,500 Without a Roadmap - Jai Al-Attas

    Jai Al-Attas started a record label at 16, sold it to Virgin Records at 24, and never went to college. So when he moved to LA and tried to get people from a reentry program and a homeless youth org into music industry internships, the question that kept coming back — "are these people in college?" — landed personally. He didn't have a plan. He had a chip on his shoulder and $1,800 he needed for rent. He spent it on 10 Chromebooks instead. 🩵 Today Creative Futures Collective has moved 3,500 creatives through its programs in 10 cities across three countries — into Nike, Live Nation, Interscope, Forbes 30 Under 30, and one Ralph Lauren artist residency. In this episode, you'll hear: Why renaming "internship" to "futureship" unlocked doors that had been closed for two years — and what that says about the language your org is usingHow Jai and his co-founder funded the first cohort out of their own savings, and why that upfront risk was the only way to get a case study worth showingWhy he refuses to call any of this charity, and how that reframe changed who was asking whom for a favorHow COVID accidentally democratized access to the creative economy — and the alumna who did her placement from a reservation in ArizonaWhat to do when corporate partners write you a check but won't open the door you actually asked them to openYou'll walk away with permission to start the thing you've been waiting to be ready for. 🩵 Episode Highlights: (3:33) From a record label at 16 to a one-way ticket to LA(5:48) "Are these people in college?" — the gatekeeping that started it all(7:24) Futureships, and paying for them out of pocket(9:21) COVID, remote work, and Naomi Glasses' path to Ralph Lauren(12:36) Scaling with Amazon, Soho House, and 10 cities (14:38) Why this was never charity — and how Untalent was born(19:13) Best Buy Teen Tech Centers and what partnership looks like(25:10) One good thing: start before you're readyEpisode Show Notes: www.weareforgood.com/episode/740 // Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com Say hi 👋 LinkedIn / Instagram / Facebook / YouTube / Twitter

    740. Start Before You're Ready: How Creative Futures Collective Grew from 10 to 3,500 Without a Roadmap - Jai Al-Attas

  8. Sep 9

    739. The Simple Gratitude System That Doubled Donor Retention (From 33% to 66%) - April Thompson

    April Thompson took a grassroots foster care nonprofit from 33% donor retention to 66% — and grew the donor file from about 100 to over 400 along the way. The system behind it was two touches: a personal voicemail within 48 hours, a handwritten note from a board member days later. Both logged in the CRM. That's it. 🩵 In this episode, you'll hear: The "one-two punch" gratitude guide that doubled retention, and how to document it so nobody loses track of the last donor touchWhy a ringless voicemail drop is the highest-return, lowest-lift gratitude tool most small shops have never triedHow to batch and schedule 10–15 personal thank-you messages at a time, so gratitude runs on a cadence instead of on your memoryWhy an unscripted message with the "ums" left in builds more trust than polished copyHow the same gratitude practice recovers failed recurring gifts — and keeps the door open for donors who pauseIf you've been waiting for a bigger budget to fix your retention numbers, April's answer is a lot simpler and starts this week. 🩵 Episode Highlights: (2:43) April's path: hotel galas, animal shelters, and learning on her feet(4:42) Fractional fundraising before it had a name(6:04) The case study: 33% to 66% with a team of one(7:54) The single most effective tool in her toolbox(10:14) Batching gratitude and recapturing failed recurring gifts(12:08) Voicemail drops in a year-end campaign(13:54) The gratitude guide: the "one-two punch" system(14:56) Start with the capacity you actually have(16:19) A moment of philanthropy: founders(17:49) One good thing: giving gratitude is never time wastedEpisode Show Notes: www.weareforgood.com/episode/739 // Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free. Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com Say hi 👋 LinkedIn / Instagram / Facebook / YouTube / Twitter

    739. The Simple Gratitude System That Doubled Donor Retention (From 33% to 66%) - April Thompson
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The We Are For Good Podcast brings nonprofit professionals + everyday changemakers into conversations with the most innovative, heartwired leaders in social impact. Hosted by Jon McCoy + Becky Endicott, each episode unpacks fresh mindsets, practical skills + inspiring stories designed to help you work smarter, build healthier cultures + accelerate our collective impact. Join our value-aligned community—it’s free—at weareforgoodcommunity.com. About We Are For Good We Are For Good is a storytelling, learning + activating community built for nonprofit professionals + everyday changemakers. Through our podcasts + media, purpose-driven activations + global gatherings, we equip for-good leaders with the connection, skills + inspiration to grow their impact. Because we believe community is everything—and together, we can create an Impact Uprising. Learn more at weareforgood.com.

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