We Are For Good Podcast - The Podcast for Nonprofits

Hillary Blout spent years as a prosecutor fighting for victims and safer neighborhoods. Then she sat across from a man serving a life sentence and realized the system had no way to look back. So she wrote a law to change that.

Today, Hillary is the founder of For The People, which pioneered prosecutor-initiated resentencing, the first law of its kind in the country. Guest co-host Carolina García Jayaram, founding CEO of the Elevate Prize Foundation, joins Jon to talk about audacity, proximity, and building alliances no one thought possible. 🩵

In this episode, you'll hear:

• How Hillary turned a single "what if" into a first-of-its-kind law, and what that teaches any leader whose idea has been called unworkable
• Why proximity is really empathy, and how bringing unlikely allies into the same room moves people who once stood on opposite sides
• How Hillary went from rolling her eyes at self-care to making joy an official organizational value
• The one question to return to when rejection gets loud: Why me, why this work, why now?

You'll walk away with a renewed sense of your why and a model for building the bridges your mission can't succeed without.

Episode Highlights:

• (1:23) Meet Hillary Blout, founder of For The People
• (2:44) Big dreams and a meandering path
• (5:53) What is prosecutor-initiated resentencing?
• (10:57) The audacity to write a new law
• (12:50) Proximity, empathy, and unlikely allies
• (18:19) Leading from a whole place: burnout, rest, and joy
• (22:24) A moment of generosity: Hillary's first funder
• (24:09) One good thing: go back to your purpose

Episode Show Notes: http://www.weareforgood.com/episode/754

Meet Givebutter. 💛 Fundraising, donor management, and marketing, all in one place.
And they just launched a whole lot more. Givebutter Magic puts AI to work, building campaigns and suggesting goals in minutes. Donors get their own branded portal for receipts and recurring gifts. Plus, send video messages right from Givebutter.

Same platform we love. Way more possible. See what’s new at https://www.weareforgood.com/givebutter.

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In 2017, a mom in Jackson, Mississippi told Aisha Nyandoro she couldn't afford pizza and a movie with her kids. She was working, in job training, and showing up for every program. She was doing everything "right." It still wasn't enough.

That conversation sparked the Magnolia Mother's Trust, one of the country's first and longest-running guaranteed income programs, giving Black mothers $1,000 a month with no strings attached. Then Aisha learned the hardest truth of all: proving it works doesn't move the money. Changing the story does. 🩵

In this episode, you'll hear:

• Why asking "what do you need?" instead of "here's what you deserve" changes everything about how your programs work
• Why proof of concept wasn't enough to unlock funding, and why narrative is the most important (and most difficult) part of the work
• The out-of-the-blue phone call that turned a stalled campaign into a $1 million gift

You'll walk away rethinking who gets to tell the story of your mission, and why it matters for every dollar you raise.

Episode Highlights:

• (3:50) Aisha's story: a granddaughter of the South
• (7:38) Springboard to Opportunities and the question that changed everything
• (11:10) Magnolia Mother's Trust: $1,000 a month, no strings attached
• (15:11) Policies move at the speed of narrative
• (21:31) Leading from a whole place: harmony over balance
• (26:39) The $1 million phone call
• (30:46) Trust is currency: the one good thing

Episode Show Notes: http://www.weareforgood.com/episode/753

Meet Givebutter. 💛 Fundraising, donor management, and marketing, all in one place.
And they just launched a whole lot more. Givebutter Magic puts AI to work, building campaigns and suggesting goals in minutes. Donors get their own branded portal for receipts and recurring gifts. Plus, send video messages right from Givebutter.

Same platform we love. Way more possible. See what’s new at https://www.weareforgood.com/givebutter.

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Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: https://www.weareforgoodcommunity.com/

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Ten years into building Krochet Kids intl., Kohl Crecelius hit a wall. Revenue plateaued. Donors said the self-sustaining model didn't need their money. And the thing that made the brand special was the thing holding it back.

So he rebuilt from the ground up. The result: KNOWN SUPPLY, a certified B Corp that helps nonprofits, brands, and companies make ethically produced merch, supporting thousands of makers worldwide.

Guest co-host Jason Locy of Whiteboard joins Jon for this one.

In this episode, you'll hear:

• Why your org's "unique differentiator" might be the very thing limiting your impact
• How to know when it's time to partner instead of doing it all yourself
• The surprisingly human metric Kohl trusts most to measure impact
• Why ditching scale as your definition of success is the key to long-term sustainability

You'll walk away with permission to loosen your grip, and a clearer path to doing what you do best. 🩵

Episode Highlights:

• (0:45) Meet guest co-host Jason Locy
• (4:33) Kohl's story: crochet hooks, Uganda, and a human story
• (8:20) The 80/20 model and the 10-year plateau
• (12:52) Rebuilding from the ground up: the birth of KNOWN SUPPLY
• (17:35) The "man in the mirror" question: what are we actually good at?
• (19:20) Keeping your soul while letting go of control
• (24:35) How to measure impact: jobs and thank-you notes
• (31:40) A moment of generosity: mentors who believed early
• (35:13) One good thing: ditch scale for the sake of scale

Episode Show Notes: http://www.weareforgood.com/episode/752

Meet Givebutter. 💛 Fundraising, donor management, and marketing, all in one place.
And they just launched a whole lot more. Givebutter Magic puts AI to work, building campaigns and suggesting goals in minutes. Donors get their own branded portal for receipts and recurring gifts. Plus, send video messages right from Givebutter.

Same platform we love. Way more possible. See what’s new at https://www.weareforgood.com/givebutter.

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Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: https://www.weareforgoodcommunity.com/

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20% fewer people give to a cause today than they did in 2000. Only 19% of donors give a second time. And just 14% of nonprofits can accept the assets where most wealth actually sits.

Allison Fine, president of http://every.org/ and four-time author on technology and social change, calls it the generosity gap. In this special episode, she joins Jon and guest co-host Joan Garry, founder of the Nonprofit Leadership Lab, to talk about how nonprofits close it. 🩵

In this episode, you'll hear:

• Why 97% of wealth sits in non-cash assets like stock, crypto, and DAFs, and what it costs you when donors can't give them easily
• The leaky bucket: why only 19% of donors give again, and what happens when you put that number in the middle of the board table
• Why the best move for a burned-out nonprofit might be to cut half its programs
• How a $200 donor at GLAAD turned into a multimillion-dollar legacy gift

You'll walk away with a clear case for doing less, asking less, and building deeper relationships with the everyday donors who keep you standing. 🩵

Episode Highlights:

• (2:48) Joan's new handbook for nonprofit board members
• (6:18) Allison's story: from Sleepy Hollow town council to http://every.org/
• (9:49) The generosity gap: 97% of wealth vs. 14% of nonprofits
• (11:49) Burnout, boards, and the case for doing less
• (19:17) Friction is the kryptonite to generosity
• (22:15) The leaky bucket: why only 19% of donors give again
• (27:26) The $200 donor who left GLAAD millions
• (29:54) One good thing

Episode Show Notes: http://www.weareforgood.com/episode/751

Meet Givebutter. 💛 Fundraising, donor management, and marketing, all in one place.
And they just launched a whole lot more. Givebutter Magic puts AI to work, building campaigns and suggesting goals in minutes. Donors get their own branded portal for receipts and recurring gifts. Plus, send video messages right from Givebutter.

Same platform we love. Way more possible. See what’s new at https://www.weareforgood.com/givebutter.

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Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: https://www.weareforgoodcommunity.com/

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When Becky Carlino walked in as the first-ever VP of Development at Volunteers of America of Massachusetts, the donor base had collapsed from roughly 2,000 active donors to fewer than 100. The reason? The organization had stopped talking to them.

Becky has spent 25+ years doing the relational work that makes fundraising actually work, including leading two successful capital campaigns at VOA Ohio & Indiana. Now she's rebuilding from ground zero, and her blueprint starts with one word: love. 🩵

In this episode, you'll hear:

• What happens when a nonprofit stops asking and communicating consistently, and the first moves Becky made to bring lapsed donors back
• How to tell client stories with dignity by taking your organization out of the spotlight and putting the donor shoulder to shoulder with the people you serve
• Why the "pounding the desk" test beats the old advice to distrust fundraising copy you love

You'll walk away with a back-to-basics playbook for rebuilding donor relationships, one newsletter, one story, and one $5 gift at a time.

Episode Highlights:

• (4:28) Becky's origin story: national parks, history, and a historical society
• (6:13) Why Volunteers of America is "in the love business"
• (9:04) Ground zero: from 2,000 donors to under 100
• (11:47) The first six months of rebuilding
• (13:57) What builds a great fundraising program
• (15:12) Centering love in donor storytelling
• (18:31) Removing the agency from the story
• (24:17) Trust your expertise: the one good thing

Episode Show Notes: http://www.weareforgood.com/episode/750

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Archana Jayaram stepped in as CEO of Brooklyn Community Services just as one of New York City's oldest nonprofits entered its 160th year. Her first move wasn't a bold new vision. It was a question: "What do you need?"

Founded in 1866, BCS now serves more than 14,000 Brooklynites a year across housing, mental health, education, and workforce development. Archana shares how she's honoring that legacy while listening her way toward what comes next. 🩵

In this Possible in Practice episode, you'll hear:

• How to lead change inside a long-standing institution by starting with the people who do the work
• Why the people closest to the problem are the ones who know what they need, and how BCS stays community-centric at scale
• What young people in Brooklyn said they actually need for their mental health, and why it surprised everyone

You'll walk away with a listening-first playbook for leading through legacy, change, and chaos. 🩵

Episode Highlights:

• (2:16) Archana's story: West Virginia roots and the power of mutual aid
• (3:30) Inside the government–nonprofit partnership
• (7:03) BCS's founding story: guided by history, not bound by it
• (10:09) Staying community-centric while serving 14,000 people
• (13:04) What young people said about mental health
• (16:38) Leading change inside a legacy institution
• (20:41) A donor who doubled his gift without being asked
• (24:01) Build a ladder out of chaos: the one good thing

Episode Show Notes: http://www.weareforgood.com/episode/749

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A note before you listen: This episode discusses suicide and suicide prevention. If you or someone you know is struggling, you’re not alone. In the U.S., call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, available 24/7. Outside the U.S., visit https://findahelpline.com/ to find support near you.

Ali Borowsky used to design for the NHL Winter Classic. Now she designs something far more personal: a small blue box that tells whoever finds it that strangers care. 🩵

Rooted in her own lived experience, Find Your Anchor brings color, creativity, and humanity to suicide prevention. Guest co-host Aila Malik brought Ali to the mic to share how a grassroots nonprofit with a product reached 116,000 boxes through handwritten notes, community box builds, and partners from middle schools to the San Francisco 49ers.

In this episode, you'll hear:

• Why letting partners lead is the fastest way to reach communities you could never reach alone
• How staying "unapologetically analog" helped a small nonprofit scale without losing its soul
• What happens when 3,500 requests arrive in 24 hours and your business model is karma
• How to protect your own wellness when your heart work becomes your job

You'll walk away with a fresh take on partnership, scale, and the small things that keep people going.

Episode Highlights:

• (4:42) Ali's story: creating what she wished she'd had
• (5:41) What's inside the box, and what an "anchor" really is
• (10:39) Three ways the boxes get into the world
• (13:17) Customizing boxes with nonprofit partners
• (16:21) From box one to 116,000: staying unapologetically analog
• (21:37) A nonprofit with a product: when your business model is karma
• (24:05) What Ali has learned about win-win partnerships
• (27:04) Staying well while doing heart work
• (35:41) One good thing: learn three people's anchors

Episode Show Notes: http://www.weareforgood.com/episode/748

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Jeremy Vallerand and a few friends turned a Mount Rainier climb into a fundraiser: $1 for every vertical foot, $14,410 total. It was supposed to be a one-off. It wasn't.

Today, Atlas Free is a global network of 160+ organizations in 67 countries fighting sex trafficking, still fueled by the community hikes and climbs that started it all. 🩵

In this Possible in Practice episode, you'll hear:

• How one climb became hundreds of community-led hikes and climbs every year, and the simple idea that made it spread: do what you love to fight what you hate
• Why Atlas Free stopped sending Americans overseas and started backing the local leaders already doing the work
• Why donors can tell when you only want their money, and why community has to come before the ask
• What a $1 million gift and an $18.37 piggy bank taught Jeremy about stewarding every act of generosity

You'll walk away with a blueprint for inviting your community into the mission, not just the fundraising. 🩵

Episode Highlights:

• (3:09) Refugees in the spare bedroom and the trip to India that changed everything
• (6:52) Climb for Captives: turning a Mount Rainier climb into a $14,410 fundraiser
• (9:00) "Do what we love to fight what we hate": how one climb became hundreds
• (10:48) From one climb to 160+ organizations in 67 countries
• (14:00) Ethical storytelling: what you choose not to say
• (17:52) Monthly giving: why community comes before the ask
• (20:51) A $1 million gift and an $18.37 piggy bank
• (23:39) The one good thing: who you're with matters more than what you're doing

Episode Show Notes: http://www.weareforgood.com/episode/747

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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 most
• Why your nonprofit should start measuring connection outcomes now, before the funding arrives

You'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: hope

Episode Show Notes: www.weareforgood.com/episode/746

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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 map
• Case study 2 — JLH Fund: How to build impact measurement backward, after the money's already out the door, using grantee interviews that double as marketing
• Case study 3 — Pools of Hope: The digital numbers the grant report never asked for — email list, reach, clicks — that turned into renewal after renewal
• The 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 honestly
• The lowest-lift first step if you have no data at all — QR code stickers, not a new CRM

Three 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 thing

Episode Show Notes: http://www.weareforgood.com/episode/745

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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 besides
• The business model Greg borrowed from a Buddhist teacher: if a tree adds value to the community, the community waters it
• How Emerging Prairie designs for radical inclusion — childcare, food choices, time of day — and why those small barriers decide who shows up
• What Greg learned about receiving, not just giving, in a gift shop in India
• How serving the board first changed what the board gave back

You'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 bigger

Episode Show Notes: http://www.weareforgood.com/episode/744

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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 instead
• How 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 say
• How to run personalization at scale for thousands of fundraisers without losing the personal part
• The one place to start: register for your own event, make a donation, build a page, and find a single pain point

You'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 action

Episode Show Notes: http://www.weareforgood.com/episode/743

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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 theirs
• How Liberated Capital moved $30 million to Black and Indigenous organizations with a $25/month entry point and no gatekeepers

You'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: http://www.weareforgood.com/episode/742

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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 say
• Why an unfiltered list of hundreds of prospects feels like progress but isn't
• What 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 belonging

You'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: http://www.weareforgood.com/episode/741

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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 using
• How 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 showing
• Why he refuses to call any of this charity, and how that reframe changed who was asking whom for a favor
• How COVID accidentally democratized access to the creative economy — and the alumna who did her placement from a reservation in Arizona
• What to do when corporate partners write you a check but won't open the door you actually asked them to open

You'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 ready

Episode Show Notes: www.weareforgood.com/episode/740

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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 touch
• Why a ringless voicemail drop is the highest-return, lowest-lift gratitude tool most small shops have never tried
• How to batch and schedule 10–15 personal thank-you messages at a time, so gratitude runs on a cadence instead of on your memory
• Why an unscripted message with the "ums" left in builds more trust than polished copy
• How the same gratitude practice recovers failed recurring gifts — and keeps the door open for donors who pause

If 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 wasted

Episode Show Notes: http://www.weareforgood.com/episode/739

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The film ended and the room went silent. Then it roared. Over the next three years, hundreds of donors gave more than $300,000 to build one young woman a home of her own.

That's what belief looks like when it shows up. Max Kringen and Annie Wood of Tellwell Story Co. have spent years studying how it gets built — and it isn't luck, and it isn't a bigger ask. 🩵

In this episode, you'll hear:

• Why a muddy story keeps donors stuck in transaction mode — and how confusion becomes a tax on every dollar you raise
• The Story Seasons framework: introduce, educate, engage, remind — the rhythm that moves someone from curious to committed across a year
• Why most organizations stall in "engage" and skip the season that actually builds reciprocity
• The input nobody plans for: your story listening strategy, and how to empower frontline staff to collect what matters
• How Tellwell engineered belonging into the Well Told Conference, down to the name tags

You'll walk away with a build sequence for turning one-time givers into people who say I want to be part of this. 🩵

Episode Highlights:

• (3:31) Three friends, one bar, and a studio built on listening
• (4:54) Annie's path from startup ecosystems to Tellwell
• (7:21) Belief over transactions: what unclear stories really cost
• (9:24) The build: introduce, educate, engage, remind
• (13:14) What it looks like when a leader finally has the word
• (17:26) Designing belonging: shielded vulnerability and place-and-replace
• (21:37) Making ethical storytelling practical, not academic
• (22:51) Story listening: the strategy before the strategy
• (25:33) Belief in the room: Ella's painting and Lizzie's home
• (30:34) One Good Thing

Episode Show Notes: http://www.weareforgood.com/episode/738

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The right influencer for your mission probably isn't the biggest account in your city. It's more likely someone already following you, already talking about your cause, and already waiting to be asked well.

Trevor Boffone had three months and zero dollars to activate creators for Mental Health America of Greater Houston's new provider-matching platform. His first list of 20 got him one yes. His second approach — an open call and a radically honest ask — got him 26 pieces of content. 🩵

In this episode, you'll hear:

• Why "influencer" has nothing to do with follower count — and how that redefinition widens your pool overnight
• The first place to look for creator partners: your own follower list, filtered for local people who already care about your cause
• The activation script most orgs get wrong, and why leading with "we have no budget, we need one post, we understand if you pass" earned roughly 75% yes
• What to offer instead of money — and the moment an ask tips over into unpaid labor
• Why handing over full creative control with no scripts and no edit requests produced better content than a brief ever could
• How 26 public posts with SEO-rich captions became a discovery engine, surfacing the platform in Google and AI search months later

You'll walk away with a repeatable way to identify the creators who already believe in your work — and activate them without a media budget. 🩵

Episode Highlights:

• (2:49) From the classroom to 750K followers: learning the creator side
• (6:04) Why nonprofit content falls flat — and what creators fix
• (8:10) The assignment: activate creators for Care Connect with no budget
• (10:50) Finding the right creators: the open call that changed everything
• (12:05) Activating without paying: creative control and 26 pieces of content
• (14:48) Why scripts kill creator content
• (15:58) How to find the right influencers for your own mission
• (18:14) Story of philanthropy: Lily's Toy Box
• (19:35) One good thing: don't forget about fun
• (19:58) How to connect with Like Minds

Episode Show Notes: http://www.weareforgood.com/episode/737

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"There's so many brands for division in this country. Where's the brand for unity?"

That question is why Us United exists. Adam Mizel spent more than 30 years in finance and entrepreneurship before his wife Tanya asked him the question that ended that chapter: What are you going to do? 🩵

What he did was build a brand — hats, T-shirts, media, storytelling, leadership — and wrap a movement around it. Us United now runs a unity pledge, monthly cross-bubble conversations, Unity Seats at live sporting events, and a sheriff network nearly 100 strong.

In this episode, you'll hear:

• Why Adam believes a movement without a brand stays invisible, and what he built first
• The three things that still unify Americans, and how Us United turned them into the entire strategy
• Why funding a brand is harder than funding a program, and how he makes the case when there's no spreadsheet to hand a donor
• The one-to-two-minute weekly action he asks every supporter to take, and why he calls it "changing the algorithm"

If you're leading brilliant work that nobody sees or funds, this is a conversation about the gap between the two. 🩵

Episode Highlights:

• (3:10) Yelling at the TV: the question that started it
• (4:30) Flint, Sheriff Swanson, and the six-hour march
• (5:50) Where's the brand for unity?
• (6:26) Sports, music, and food: the three cultural drivers
• (7:43) Building the on-ramps: the pledge, the algorithm, 30 For Us
• (9:45) Unity Seats and the 25th anniversary of 9/11
• (12:01) Why a brand is harder to fund than a program
• (15:42) If you're not telling your story, nobody is
• (19:42) One good thing: dare to fail gloriously

Episode Show Notes: http://www.weareforgood.com/episode/736

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Katie Hannah printed out the rejection email and brought it to the interview. "After careful consideration, our board of reviewers has determined that your application does not make the case for membership at this time."

Most fundraisers file that away and move on. The Director of Development at Momentum Leaders sent one open-ended question instead — and it turned into a $223,000 yes for a leadership nonprofit in Birmingham, Alabama. 🩵

This is Possible in Practice, a limited series of case studies from leaders in the We Are For Good community — the ask they sent, the risk they took, and what happened next.

In this episode, you'll hear:

• The exact email reply that reopened a closed door, and why an open-ended question is a near-guaranteed way to get a response
• Why a "no" often means your mission didn't survive the 100-word box, not that the funder isn't interested
• How to treat a rejection like a major donor visit: seek to listen, not to convince
• The in-kind donor who brought toiletries for years, then walked in at Christmas with a $100,000 check
• A leadership reframe from a six-year-old that will change how you think about your own career

You'll walk away with permission to get curious about the next no that lands in your inbox. 🩵

Episode Highlights:

• (2:22) Katie's path from broadcast to Birmingham fundraising
• (5:34) Inside Momentum Leaders: eight staff, $10.5M in salary gains
• (7:56) The no: driving 90 minutes to a panel, then getting rejected
• (11:44) Why your mission doesn't fit in 100 words
• (13:40) Get curious about the no: perseverance as a fundraising skill
• (15:34) The toiletries donor and the $100,000 check
• (19:15) "No means nurturing oneself"
• (20:05) One good thing: lead like a child

Episode Show Notes: http://www.weareforgood.com/episode/735

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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: https://www.weareforgoodcommunity.com/

Say hi 👋
LinkedIn/Instagram/ Facebook / YouTube / Twitter