We Are For Good Podcast - The Podcast for Nonprofits

We Are For Good
  • 4.9 (272)
  • 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. 721. Four Leaders on Mergers, Burnout, and Radical Honesty with Funders - Stacy Huston, Lindsey Fuller, Tammy Tibbetts, and Becky Straw

    9h ago

    721. Four Leaders on Mergers, Burnout, and Radical Honesty with Funders - Stacy Huston, Lindsey Fuller, Tammy Tibbetts, and Becky Straw

    The traditional nonprofit playbook is full of defaults nobody voted for: merge only when you're desperate, expect your team to run on empty, soften your mission to stay safe, and treat funders like they're doing you a favor. At the We Are For Good Summit, four leaders sat down to throw all of that out. 🧠 Hosted by Stacy Huston, CEO of SixDegrees.org and a social impact strategist working at the intersection of storytelling, influence, and action, this conversation brings together Tammy Tibbetts (She's the First), Lindsey Fuller (The Teaching Well), and Becky Straw (The Adventure Project) — three leaders who each named a default they've refused to accept and shared exactly what they did instead. In this episode, you'll hear: Why a merger can be a strategic first move instead of a white flag — and the single question Tammy asked herself to know She's the First was making the right callHow The Teaching Well retained 100% of its funders three years running by being radically honest about what its team actually needsThe case for treating identity as an asset, not a liability — even while peer orgs were scrubbing their websites in 2025You'll walk away with permission — and a few tactical first steps — to question the defaults that are quietly draining your organization. 🩵 Episode Highlights: Three nonprofit myths busted (1:46)Mergers as a strategic first choice (5:28)One tactical first step toward exploring a merger (8:35)The dignity of work: flipping the aid model (10:23)Doubling down on storytelling after the USAID gap (12:40)Identity as asset: leading with Sankofa (14:20)Retaining 100% of funders through radical honesty (16:26)Comfort as complacency (18:09)The "one good thing": self-care and collective care (24:21)Episode Show Notes: www.weareforgood.com/episode/721 Resources Mentioned: SixDegrees.org — Stacy Huston's organization, described as "a nonprofit for nonprofits," bringing organizations together as a collective forceShe's the First — Tammy Tibbetts's organization putting girls front and center worldwideGirl Rising — She's the First's merger partner; the unified brand going forward, led by CEO Christina LoweryThe Teaching Well — Lindsey Fuller's retention-focused organization solving the school staffing crisisThe Adventure Project — Becky Straw's organization creating good jobs in Sub-Saharan AfricaLa Piana Consulting — the firm that "wrote the textbook" on nonprofit mergers; cited for the finding that 92% of surveyed merged organizations called it a success a year later// 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

    33 min
  2. 720. Stories to Fill The Hope Gap: Why Celebration Is the Story That Changes Everything - Colby King, Kiki Arts Collaborative

    Jun 24

    720. Stories to Fill The Hope Gap: Why Celebration Is the Story That Changes Everything - Colby King, Kiki Arts Collaborative

    The Kiki and ballroom scene, built by Black and brown LGBTQ+ youth of color in New York City, has been creating art, designing fashion, performing, and building community for over 20 years. Meet Colby King 👋 He’s the founder of Kiki Arts Collaborative, an economic development platform turning ballroom artistry into sustainable careers in arts, culture, and media through creative mentorship, job training, and internship placement. In 2025, that work earned Colby the David Prize, one of five awarded annually to the most luminary nonprofits in New York City.  In this episode, you'll hear: Colby’s personal story and journey to the work he is doing today through KACWhy celebration, not charity, is the storytelling strategy at the heart of KAC's work, and what nonprofit leaders can apply to their own workWhat it looks like to build with a community instead of for it and why that distinction is at the root of everything Kiki Arts Collaborative doesYou'll walk away questioning the scarcity mindset the sector trained into all of us. You'll also be empowered with a sharper sense of how to tell stories that restore dignity instead of trading on need. 🩵 Episode Highlights: Meet Colby King and Kiki Arts Collaborative (00:44)From Dallas pews to Columbia: the origin story (02:06)The mission: lowering the barrier to creative careers (05:38)"Seeing my art as art": the Inspiration Point exhibit (08:01)Charity vs. celebration: reframing the impact story (09:59)The mom who gave away her bed: generosity that stuck (11:48)One Good Thing: "take care of your blessings" (14:04)How to connect and what KAC needs now (15:43)Episode Show Notes: www.weareforgood.com/episode/720 Series Hub: https://www.weareforgood.com/hopegap // 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

    18 min
  3. 719. Consistency Over Intensity: The Science of Sustainable Giving - Dr. Sanjay Bindra, GOSUMEC Foundation USA

    Jun 22

    719. Consistency Over Intensity: The Science of Sustainable Giving - Dr. Sanjay Bindra, GOSUMEC Foundation USA

    Dr. Sanjay Bindra is a practicing cardiologist who built a $2.5 million endowment at a zero-staff nonprofit in less than four years, with no campaigns and no urgency emails. Then he studied why it worked.  The result: the GIVE Study, a 12-month real-time look at how small nonprofits can achieve sustainable recurring giving through trust, behavioral design, and strong governance.  In this episode, you'll hear: Why first-time donor retention has been under 20% for decades, and the single most important thing you can do to change that numberThe difference between dopamine-driven fundraising and oxytocin-driven relationshipsThe GIVE framework: Gratitude, Impact, Voice, and Engagement, and how to apply it to build genuine donor relationships that lastWhat your org can do right now to start building a sustainable baseYou'll walk away with a replicable framework for turning one-time donors into lifelong community members. 🩵 Episode Highlights: Dr. Bindra's origin story: bananas, bread, and building from community (2:30)How GOSUMEC Foundation went from zero to $2.5M with no staff (4:59)The GIVE Study: what sparked it and what it found (10:10)First gift vs. second gift: transaction vs. relationship (11:33)The GIVE framework: Gratitude, Impact, Voice, Engagement (17:40)Dopamine vs. oxytocin: the science of donor retention (18:59)What small nonprofits can do right now (21:08)Consistency over intensity: the one good thing (27:00)Episode Show Notes: www.weareforgood.com/episode/719 Resources Mentioned: GIVE Study Playbook in partnership with GivebutterGIVE StudyFundraising Effectiveness Project (FEP) — cited for the statistic that first-time donor retention is under 20% // 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

    31 min
  4. 718. Stories to Fill The Hope Gap: How Hip Hop Therapy Is Rewriting What Healing and Storytelling Look Like - J.C. Hall

    Jun 17

    718. Stories to Fill The Hope Gap: How Hip Hop Therapy Is Rewriting What Healing and Storytelling Look Like - J.C. Hall

    An 85% graduation rate against a district average of 60% — at a second-chance school in the South Bronx where the primary healing tool isn't a worksheet or a clipboard. It's a professional recording studio. 🎙️ J.C. Hall is a licensed clinical social worker, a hip hop artist, and a 2024 David Prize winner (one of just five awarded across New York City). At Mott Haven Community High School, he's spent 13 years building a program where trauma-exposed students rewrite their own narratives — set to a beat. His own path here ran through addiction, psych wards, and a teenage years he didn't expect to survive. Hip hop kept him alive long enough to find the help that did the rest. In this episode, you'll hear: How letting beneficiaries tell their own story (instead of explaining it for them) made J.C.'s documentary land with audiences who'd never touched hip hop cultureThe case for emotion over statistics — why a felt story moves a donor to give when the logic of your mission alone won'tWhat an 85% graduation rate reveals about purpose, identity, and connection as outcomes you can actually trackIf you've ever struggled to make your mission felt rather than just understood, this conversation will change how you tell it. 🩵 Episode Highlights: J.C.'s journey to where he is today (01:57)How hip hop therapy began with one kid and a lunch-table beat (07:32)Meeting people where they are (10:50)Ephraim's story: "I'm not gonna get my Monday" (11:44)The data: an 85% graduation rate (16:44)Why the kids — not the expert — are the story (17:22)A moment of generosity that changed everything (20:29)J.C.'s One Good Thing: Don't quit 15 minutes before the miracle (23:08)Episode Show Notes: www.weareforgood.com/episode/718 Series Hub: https://www.weareforgood.com/hopegap // 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

    26 min
  5. 717. The Funding Landscape Is Shifting. Here's What Nonprofits Need to Know - Hala Hanna, MIT Solve

    Jun 15

    717. The Funding Landscape Is Shifting. Here's What Nonprofits Need to Know - Hala Hanna, MIT Solve

    "Crisis creates clarity, and philanthropic funding is the best risk capital we have." That's how Hala Hanna reads the moment we're in, and as Executive Director of MIT Solve, she has the data to back it up. MIT Solve has spent a decade brokering the relationship between companies, funders, and the early-stage innovators closing equity gaps in health, learning, climate, and economic opportunity. Their 460 solvers are reaching 430 million lives, have mobilized $87 million in direct funding, and have collectively raised $1.4 billion. And Hala has a front-row seat to the fundamental shift happening in how money moves toward mission. In this episode, you'll hear: Why the most forward-thinking funders are moving from rewarding proximity to power to rewarding proximity to the problem, and what that means for your missionWhat corporate partners actually need from nonprofit partnerships right now, and how to position your org to meet them thereWhy pairing measurable outcomes with storytelling is the real fundraising unlock, and the one question every nonprofit leader needs to answer before walking into a funder conversationYou'll walk away with a sharper read on where philanthropy is heading and a concrete playbook for becoming the partner funders are actually looking for. 🩵 Episode Highlights: Meet Hala Hanna (01:44)What MIT Solve actually does — and the numbers behind it (03:13)From proximity to power to proximity to the problem (03:37)Why corporate donors are raising the bar (HP & Amazon) (06:59)The full accordion: rethinking philanthropic capital (10:48)Where nonprofits start: data, storytelling, and trust (13:30)Fighting the "single story" of AI (17:23)Amini: building sovereign AI in the Global South (18:02)A moment of generosity: Carrie Morgridge (20:53)One good thing: do today, not someday (22:42)The Solve Effect podcast (24:31)Where to connect (25:23)Episode Show Notes: www.weareforgood.com/episode/717 // 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

    27 min
  6. 716. Stories to Fill the Hope Gap: How Story Becomes the Strategy to Shift Culture - Ai-jen Poo, Caring Across Generations

    Jun 10

    716. Stories to Fill the Hope Gap: How Story Becomes the Strategy to Shift Culture - Ai-jen Poo, Caring Across Generations

    As Co-Founder of Caring Across Generations and President of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, Ai-jen Poo has spent decades working at the intersection of policy and culture — because she knows you can't change one without the other.  A MacArthur Fellow, Time 100 honoree, and author of The Age of Dignity, she's now launching a million-care-conversations campaign and a new production label, Give Not Take Media, to get care stories into film and television at scale. 🩵 In this episode, you'll hear: Why culture change has to come before policy change — and what that sequencing means for your organization's communications strategyHow Caring Across Generations scaled their story strategy, and what it can teach any org about how media scales missionHow to plug into the 1 Million Care Conversations campaign right nowYou'll walk away understanding why story isn't just a communications tool, it's the strategy that shifts culture, changes policy, and moves people to act. Episode Highlights: Ai-jen's grandfather and the personal roots of Caring Across Generations (2:09)Changing policy and culture — why you can't do one without the other (6:09)Care as infrastructure: the framing that changes the conversation (8:22)Why emotional truth drives behavior more than facts (10:35)Give Not Take Media and the film Take Me Home at Tribeca (13:21)1 Million Care Conversations campaign — how to get involved (16:01)A story of generosity: the donor who honored her nanny (18:07)One Good Thing: reach out to a caregiver in your life (20:19)Episode Show Notes: www.weareforgood.com/episode/716 Series Hub: https://www.weareforgood.com/hopegap // 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

    24 min
  7. 715. Working Session: The Email Infrastructure Every Nonprofit Needs - Katelyn Baughan

    Jun 8

    715. Working Session: The Email Infrastructure Every Nonprofit Needs - Katelyn Baughan

    Most nonprofits treat email like a megaphone. They show up loud when they need donations and go completely quiet in between. Katelyn Baughan has worked with UNHCR, Amnesty International, the Trevor Project, and the National Breast Cancer Foundation, and she has seen this pattern cost nonprofits thousands in unrealized donations. Her fix: stop thinking about campaigns and start building infrastructure. In less than 20 minutes, Katelyn walks you through the automated email system that works in the background to build donor relationships, nurture loyalty, and raise more money, even when you're not hitting send. 📧 In this episode, you'll hear: The difference between email campaigns and email infrastructure, and why most nonprofits are missing the piece that actually builds long-term donor loyaltyThe three foundational automations every nonprofit should have running right now: subscriber welcome, new donor onboarding, and monthly donor welcomeWhat deliverability actually means (it's not the same as delivery), and how to find out if your emails are landing in spam without you knowingStart building your system this week. Your donors are waiting to hear from you. 🩵 Episode Highlights: Working Session Intro (0:29)The Megaphone Problem: Rethinking How Nonprofits Use Email (2:20)Infrastructure vs. Campaigns: The Plumbing Analogy (4:18)Where to Start: Building Your Welcome Series (6:08)The Three Foundational Automations Every Nonprofit Needs (7:32)New Donor Onboarding: The Window You Can't Miss (8:23)Deliverability vs. Delivery: What the Difference Means for Your Inbox (13:41)Google Postmaster Tools and How to Use Them (14:35)One Good Thing: Stop Worrying About Bothering Donors (15:49)How to Connect with Katelyn (18:32)Episode Show Notes: www.weareforgood.com/episode/715 Series Hub: https://www.weareforgood.com/wsl#podcast // 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

    20 min
  8. 714. Stories to Fill the Hope Gap: The 3 Part Formula Behind Sesame Street’s Storytelling - Scott Cameron

    Jun 3

    714. Stories to Fill the Hope Gap: The 3 Part Formula Behind Sesame Street’s Storytelling - Scott Cameron

    Scott Cameron is a two-time Emmy Award-winning creative leader who has spent his career executive producing international adaptations of Sesame Street, bringing this iconic brand to audiences in 190 countries and 31 languages. He joins us for this special episode to talk about what 57 years of research-driven storytelling has taught him about how story actually changes people. 🌟 In this episode, you'll hear: How the Sesame model — a Venn diagram of creative production, education, and research — creates content that changes behavior, not just awarenessWhat happened when Sesame Workshop partnered with the IRC to bring Elmo and Cookie Monster into mobile health clinics in conflict-affected Jordan, and why the research surprised everyoneWhy knowing your North Star is the only thing that keeps a mission-driven organization from playing whack-a-mole with every new trendWalk away from this conversation with a framework for intentional storytelling, and a new appreciation for the most trusted institution already sitting in your community. 🩵 Episode Highlights: Scott's Origin Story: Growing Up With Sesame Street (2:53)The Origin of Sesame Street: A 1966 Dinner Party (5:57)The Sesame Research Model: Where Story Meets Science (9:35)Funding Disruption and What Sesame Did Next (12:27)Bringing Sesame to Conflict Zones: The IRC Partnership (13:37)The ABCs of Emotion: What Research in Jordan Taught Them (16:02)AI, North Stars, and What to Actually Pay Attention To (19:00)The Most Trusted Institution in Your Community (21:36)Netflix, PBS, YouTube and Going Global (24:07)Creating Digital Ecosystems and What Comes Next (27:00)Episode Show Notes: www.weareforgood.com/episode/714 // 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

    42 min
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4.9
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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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