Podcast
We Are For Good Podcast - The Podcast for Nonprofits
Hosted by We Are For Good · EN
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.
146episodes
Episodes
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710. Stories That Fill the Hope Gap: Closing the Hope Gap with Story - Afdhel Aziz
Yesterday00:21:23Summary readyThere is a growing gap in our world between hope and despair. And storytelling might be the most powerful tool we have to fill it.Welcome to Stories That Fill the Hope Gap, a 10-part limited series created in partnership with Good is the New Cool and We Are For Good. Every Wednesday for the next 10 weeks, we are bringing you a changemaker who is using story to cut through noise, build connection, shift culture, and move people to action.We open with the conversation that started it all: the keynote Afdhel Aziz delivered live at ImpactUp: Story, framing the big idea that runs through every episode that follows.In this episode, you'll hear:What the Hope Gap is, where it came from, and why it matters for every changemaker telling stories right nowWhy pop culture, social media, and news are all feeding despair, and what that means for how we communicateGallup's 2026 finding that hope is the number one thing people want from their leaders, outpacing trust, compassion, and stability combinedAfdhel's 3-step storytelling playbook: start with hope, spark wonder, inspire courageous actionWe need your stories to help fill the hope gap. Share yours at weareforgood.com/hopegap. 🩵Episode Highlights:Welcome to the series: what Stories That Fill the Hope Gap is (0:03)Grief, fear, and this moment we are in (5:19)Storytelling: the single greatest tool to change civilization (8:00)The current crisis of storytelling (9:00)Despair is paralyzing. Hope is galvanizing. (12:00)Gallup 2026: hope outpaces trust, compassion, and stability combined (12:30)Meet The Solutionaries (13:30)The 3-step playbook: start with hope, spark wonder, inspire courageous action (17:30)Share your story at weareforgood.com/hopegap (19:58)Episode Show Notes: https://www.weareforgood.com/episode/710Series 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.comSay hi 👋LinkedIn / Instagram / Facebook / YouTube / Twitter
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709. Working Session: Fundraising as a Team of One: What to Do When You Don’t Have Time for Everything - Christina Martin Kenny
3d ago00:28:06Summary readyMeet Christina Martin Kenny 👋 She is a career fundraiser and the founder of Guava Tree Strategies. She has been a fundraising team of one more times than she can count, and she literally wrote the handbook on surviving it: The Solo Fundraiser Survival Guide.In this Working Session, she is bringing the entire playbook to help you figure out what to prioritize, what to let go of, and how to actually move the needle when you feel like you are juggling everything and dropping all of it.In this Working Session, you'll hear:How to stop doing everything and start doing the right thingsHow to match your time to where your money actually comes fromHow to replace your to-do list with three weekly priorities that actually move the needleWelcome back to Working Sessions: hands-on, clarity-filled conversations designed to help you move real work forward inside your organization.Let's get to work.Episode Highlights:Outsourcing doesn't have to cost money (5:00)It's okay to do less: the diverse revenue myth (6:05)Revenue matches time: the core framework (8:00)Time tracking exercise: where are your hours actually going? (8:30)The Good Enough Checklist (11:10)Good bones: your donation processing platform (11:30)CRM basics and the three metrics that matter (12:30)Automated acknowledgement letters: plain text beats branded (15:00)From overwhelm to activated: the three weekly priorities (17:00)Revenue driving, relationship building, system strengthening (19:00)Tiny Tasks Before 10 (20:00)One good thing: protecting your time is a strategic decision (21:00)Episode Show Notes: https://www.weareforgood.com/episode/709👉 Christina's Good Enough ChecklistMake the most of Monthly Giving Awareness Week 💛During Monthly Giving Awareness Week (May 11-16), Givebutter is giving back. For every new monthly donor who gives $5 or more, your nonprofit earns a $10 donation. $25,000 in matching funds are available to organizations just like yours! Get all the details and get started today here! //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.comSay hi 👋LinkedIn / Instagram / Facebook / YouTube / Twitter
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708. Working Session: How to Build a Story Engine for Your Nonprofit - Amanda Green
1w ago00:19:43Summary readyMeet Amanda Green 👋 She is a journalist turned Communications Consultant with more than 20 years of newsroom and public relations experience, including 12 years in TV newsrooms. She is the founder of In Your Voice Media Works, where she helps cause-led organizations build their own internal newsrooms: the systems, the workflows, and the editorial instincts that turn scattered content into a sustained story engine.Her take? Content calendars and campaigns don't build momentum. If you want storytelling to drive real change, you need to think like a media organization.In this Working Session, you'll hear:Why nonprofits need to stop asking "what should we post this week?" and start asking "what is the story, and how do we work it?"Amanda's 5-step story framework: define your beat, work your story pipeline, report and produce, publish and distribute, and measure and adjustHow to run a 10-minute editorial meeting that gets every department contributing stories, from your board to the person who sweeps the floorsWelcome back to Working Sessions: hands-on, clarity-filled conversations designed to help you move real work forward inside your organization.Let's get to work.Episode Highlights:Meet Amanda Green (1:22)Think like a media company: the mindset shift (2:30)Stop asking what to post. Start asking what the story is. (2:50)The editorial mission statement and guidelines (4:00)Audience analysis and building editorial judgment (5:00)How to run a 10-minute editorial meeting (7:00)Step 1: Define your beat (8:00)Step 2: Work your story pipeline: story leads and channel leads (8:30)Step 3: Report and produce (10:00)Step 4: Publish and distribute (10:30)Step 5: Measure and adjust (10:45)Community as storytelling: the "everybody has a story" approach (11:00)Story is the heartbeat of connection (13:00)The 3-tab spreadsheet story planner (15:00)One good thing: listen to the people in your community (16:47)Episode Show Notes: https://www.weareforgood.com/episode/708//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.comSay hi 👋LinkedIn / Instagram / Facebook / YouTube / Twitter
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707. How to Break Philanthropy Out of Hypothesis Mode - Casey Lardner, Ph.D., GenSpace
1w ago00:30:48Summary readyIs philanthropy stuck in hypothesis mode?In science, there are two kinds of research: hypothesis-driven, where you predict the outcome before you run the experiment, and exploratory, where you map the landscape and stay open to what you find. The biggest breakthroughs almost always come from the second.Meet Casey Lardner 👋 She is a neuroscientist and the Executive Director of Genspace, the world's first community biology lab in Brooklyn, New York. Part biology lab, part design studio, part classroom, part community space, Genspace has been opening the doors of science to artists, entrepreneurs, students, researchers, and curious humans since 2009.In this episode, you'll hear:Why philanthropy is stuck in hypothesis mode and what the sector is missing because of itWhy uncertainty isn't a problem to solve. It's the work.How to lead your organization with the curiosity and rigor of a scientistThis one will change how you think about impact, innovation, and what we might be leaving on the table. 🩵Episode Highlights:Meet Casey Lardner (0:37)What Genspace is: lab, classroom, studio, community (8:16)Hypothesis-driven vs. exploratory science: the difference (10:00)What hypothesis-driven philanthropy is costing the sector (11:09)Who carries the risk of uncertainty? (15:00)How Genspace secures exploratory investment from funders (17:52)How to start thinking like a scientist as a nonprofit leader (20:59)Casey’s One Good Thing: Curiosity as a habit of mind (26:32)Episode Show Notes: https://www.weareforgood.com/episode/707Make the most of Monthly Giving Awareness Week 💛During Monthly Giving Awareness Week (May 11-16), Givebutter is giving back. For every new monthly donor who gives $5 or more, your nonprofit earns a $10 donation. $25,000 in matching funds are available to organizations just like yours! Get all the details and get started today here! //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.comSay hi 👋LinkedIn / Instagram / Facebook / YouTube / Twitter
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706. How to Turn Around a Nonprofit From the Inside Out - Marisol Pineda Conde + Lindsey Fuller
2w ago00:48:33Summary readyMeet Linsey Fuller and Marisol Pineda Conde 👋 Together, they have spent five years turning around an organization that started with one month of runway, rebuilding it from the inside out with new curriculum, new revenue streams, new systems, and a set of staff blessings that are rewriting what it looks like to actually live your values as a leader.The wellness stipend. The physical health screening. The financial literacy program with a 401k match. The micro sabbatical arc that guarantees every person on the team protected rest at every milestone.In this episode, you'll hear:How Lindsey, Marisol + team rebuilt The Teaching Well from the inside out: new curriculum, new revenue model, new brand, new systems, all while keeping the lights on with one month of runwayThe Five Blessings: the wellness stipend, the physical health screening, the financial literacy program, the 401k match, and the micro sabbatical arc that guarantees every team member protected rest at every milestoneWhy "desperation does not drive donorship," and how earned revenue became the most liberating source of funding The Teaching Well hasThis one will change how you think about what it means to lead. 🩵Episode Highlights:The honest state of The Teaching Well five years ago (7:31)What they rebuilt: curriculum, brand, revenue model, systems (10:00)Financial sustainability vs. financial solvency: understanding the difference (11:19)Building an earned revenue reserve as a staff protection reserve (14:29)Why they call them Blessings, not benefits (16:19)Blessing 1: Physical health, wellness stipend, and the medical screening (20:00)Blessing 2: Financial freedom, 401k match, and collective financial literacy (25:00)Blessing 3: The micro sabbatical arc (29:28)Fear, funders, and the business case for investing in your people (35:00)The Teaching Well's earned revenue model (38:15)"Healing is messy work. Choose each other." (45:00)Episode Show Notes: https://www.weareforgood.com/episode/706Make the most of Monthly Giving Awareness Week 💛During Monthly Giving Awareness Week (May 11-16), Givebutter is giving back. For every new monthly donor who gives $5 or more, your nonprofit earns a $10 donation. $25,000 in matching funds are available to organizations just like yours! Get all the details and get started today here! //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.comSay hi 👋LinkedIn / Instagram / Facebook / YouTube / Twitter
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705. Working Session: How to Keep More Monthly Donors + Increase Generosity - Dave Raley
2w ago00:30:30Summary readyMeet Dave Raley 👋 He is the founder and CEO of the Center for Sustainable Giving, author of The Rise of Sustainable Giving, and one of the most trusted voices in the recurring giving space. He has worked with thousands of nonprofit leaders to grow their monthly giving programs. In this Working Session, he is tackling two of the most overlooked opportunities in monthly giving: reducing churn and upgrading the donors you already have.In this Working Session, you'll hear:Why churn is a more powerful metric than retention, and why the reframe from "I retained 42% of my donors" to "I lost 58% of my donors" changes everythingThe two types of churn and how to fix them: involuntary (credit card failure) and voluntary (donor chooses to leave), plus the systems to address bothHow to keep monthly donors engaged using three words: affirm, engage, and appeal, and why your recurring donors are actually your best additional gift prospectsHow to upgrade your existing monthly donors with a timely, specific ask, and why most organizations are leaving this on the table entirelyEpisode Highlights:Meet Dave Raley (0:43)Churn vs. retention: the reframe that changes everything (2:17)58% of donors don't give again: making it real (4:17)Monthly donor churn vs. single gift churn (4:32)Involuntary churn: credit card failure and what to do (6:40)Two solutions: automate and outreach (7:55)Voluntary churn: acknowledge, affirm, and save the gift (9:16)Three words for monthly donor retention: affirm, engage, appeal (13:15)Recurring donors give 25% more annually on average (16:21)How to upgrade your monthly donors (19:19)Dave's one good thing + free resource (26:54)Welcome back to Working Sessions: hands-on, clarity-filled conversations designed to help you move real work forward inside your organization.Let's get to work.Episode Show Notes: https://www.weareforgood.com/episode/705Make the most of Monthly Giving Awareness Week 💛During Monthly Giving Awareness Week (May 11-16), Givebutter is giving back. For every new monthly donor who gives $5 or more, your nonprofit earns a $10 donation. $25,000 in matching funds are available to organizations just like yours! Get all the details and get started today here! //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.comSay hi 👋LinkedIn / Instagram / Facebook / YouTube / Twitter
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704. How Special Olympics is Using AI + Technology to Scale Belonging - Nathan Cook
3w ago00:32:12Summary readyMeet Nathan Cook 👋 He is the Chief Information and Technology Officer at Special Olympics International, where he is using technology to do something remarkable: help a movement that serves 5 million athletes across 172 countries finally operate as one. He is building a digital center of excellence, co-creating AI tools with athletes, and asking a question that should reshape how every nonprofit thinks about technology: what if we built this with the people we serve, not just for them?In this episode, you'll hear:How Special Olympics went from fragmented, program-by-program systems to a unified digital platform, and what it meant when 50% of athletes could suddenly self-register and own their own information for the first timeThe story of Med Buddy, an AI-powered healthcare assistant that sits in the room with athletes during medical visits to translate, advocate, and improve care for people with intellectual disabilitiesWhy AI has an ableism problem: the research Special Olympics has conducted on bias in large language models, and what organizations need to know before AI gets embedded in more decision-makingEpisode Highlights:Meet Nathan Cook (2:33)Nathan's path to this work: programming robots as a kid (3:04)Why Special Olympics' fragmented systems were limiting the mission (4:16)Technology at scale: how 50% of athletes can now self-register (5:04)Building with athletes, not just for them: universal design in action (9:04)Meet Med Buddy: AI as a healthcare advocate in the room (13:34)Advice for nonprofits hesitant about AI (18:07)AI bias and ableism in large language models (22:04)A generosity story: a mom who finally talked with her son (25:08)One good thing: eat the water beetle (28:03)Episode Show Notes: https://www.weareforgood.com/episode/704Make the most of Monthly Giving Awareness Week 💛During Monthly Giving Awareness Week (May 11-16), Givebutter is giving back. For every new monthly donor who gives $5 or more, your nonprofit earns a $10 donation. $25,000 in matching funds are available to organizations just like yours! Get all the details and get started today here! //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.comSay hi 👋LinkedIn / Instagram / Facebook / YouTube / Twitter
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703. People Power: How to Turn Volunteers Into Core Capacity - Sara Lomelin, Nicole Stewart, Nicole R. Smith, CVA, and Susan McPherson
3w ago00:37:44Summary readyWe're living in the loneliest moment in modern history. And at the same time, people have never been hungrier for hope, for joy, for meaningful connection. Your volunteers are at the center of that tension. And if you're not treating people power as a strategy, you're leaving your mission's most powerful asset on the table.Recorded live at the We Are For Good Summit, this conversation brings together four extraordinary leaders: Susan McPherson, founder and CEO of McPherson Strategies and author of The Lost Art of Connecting; Nicole Stewart, Executive Director of Boston CASA; Nicole R. Smith, Executive Director of ALIVE, the National Professional Association for Leaders in Volunteer Engagement; and Sara Lomelin, CEO of Philanthropy Together.In this episode, you'll hear:What ALIVE's data shows about organizations that treat volunteers as strategy vs. afterthought: 80% more volunteers, 60% higher engagement, and donors who are twice as likely to giveBoston CASA's three non-negotiables for scaling a volunteer program without burning people out: exceptional training, strong supervision, and a mission-anchored cultureHow to operationalize people power right now: from launching a giving circle to giving volunteers a role, not a receiptWhy skills-based volunteering is surging even as companies go quiet on CSR, and what that means for nonprofitsPeople are looking for hope. They're looking for joy. They're looking for meaningful connections. You are the one they've been waiting for. 🩵Episode Highlights:How volunteer expectations have shifted post-Covid (3:00)People want belonging, not transactions (4:09)Volunteers as your best marketing money can't buy (8:21)Volunteers as ambassadors, donors, and storytellers (10:42)Boston CASA's non-negotiables for scaling without burnout (16:37)CSR in 2026: skills-based volunteering and what companies are doing quietly (22:58)Operationalizing people power: giving circles, storytelling, clarity (24:11)Episode Shownotes: https://www.weareforgood.com/episode/703Make the most of Monthly Giving Awareness Week 💛During Monthly Giving Awareness Week (May 11-16), Givebutter is giving back. For every new monthly donor who gives $5 or more, your nonprofit earns a $10 donation. $25,000 in matching funds are available to organizations just like yours! Get all the details and get started today here! //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.comSay hi 👋LinkedIn / Instagram / Facebook / YouTube / Twitter
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702. Working Session: Planned Giving Without the Overwhelm - Pedro J. Rivera
4w ago00:15:57Summary readyMeet Pedro J. Rivera 👋 In 30 years at the intersection of law, philanthropy, and fundraising, he has launched three planned giving programs and raised $150 million for nonprofits and universities. In this Working Session, he's here to give you a clear entry point into planned giving, no matter where you're starting from.In this Working Session, you'll hear:How to talk about legacy giving in a way that feels naturalHow to find your best planned giving prospects with data you already haveA 30-day action plan to move planned giving from overwhelming to doableEpisode Highlights:What is planned giving, really? (0:21)Why right now: The Great Wealth Transfer (3:18)How to talk about legacy without making it weird (4:48)Finding your best prospects: the 7-10 rule and more (5:50)Weaving planned giving into what you're already doing (8:21)The 30-day starter plan (12:05)One Good Thing: stop assuming donors don't want to talk about this (14:07)Welcome back to Working Sessions: hands-on, clarity-filled conversations designed to help you move real work forward inside your organization.Let's get to work.Episode Show Notes: https://www.weareforgood.com/episode/702//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.comSay hi 👋LinkedIn / Instagram / Facebook / YouTube / Twitter
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701. 93% of Funding Gone Overnight: A Case Study in Crisis Leadership - Jennifer Rupp
Apr 2000:39:43Summary readyAt 4am on April 3, 2025, Jennifer Rupp's phone wouldn't stop buzzing. 93% of Michigan Humanities' budget. Gone overnight. What happened next is a story about crisis leadership, radical transparency, and why connection isn't a soft strategy. It's the only strategy. 🙏In this episode, you'll hear:What Jennifer did in the first 24 hours after losing 93% of her budget, and why transparency was her most important toolHow she decided which programs to cut and which were non-negotiable (and the framework you can use to make those calls)Why "when division is the crisis, connection is the strategy" isn't just a philosophy at Michigan Humanities, it's their entire operating modelJennifer’s One Good Thing: flip the funding triangle. 85% of your money comes from individuals. Are you spending 85% of your time there?This one's going to stay with you. 🩵Episode Highlights:Meet Jennifer Rupp (00:48)The 4am email that changed everything (09:44)How federal humanities funding actually works (10:46)The pivot: transparency, triage, and staying mission-aligned (13:55)What programs fell and which were non-negotiable (17:09)Crisis leadership lessons you can only learn by walking through it (22:28)From front porches to back decks: why we've lost the art of gathering (25:15)The Great Michigan Gathering: a three-year plan to rebuild community (26:43)A powerful story of generosity in Jennifer's life (33:10)Jennifer's One Good Thing: flip the funding triangle (35:05)Episode Show Notes: https://www.weareforgood.com/episode/701Make the most of Monthly Giving Awareness Week 💛During Monthly Giving Awareness Week (May 11-16), Givebutter is giving back. For every new monthly donor who gives $5 or more, your nonprofit earns a $10 donation. $25,000 in matching funds are available to organizations just like yours! Get all the details and get started today here! //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.comSay hi 👋LinkedIn / Instagram / Facebook / YouTube / Twitter
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