628. Multiplication Mindset: How Responsive Fundraisers Build Movements - Jon and Becky

Summary

Episode Summary: We Are For Good Podcast - Episode 628 Title: Multiplication Mindset: How Responsive Fundraisers Build Movements
Host: Jon McCoy, CFRE and Becky Endicott, CFRE
Release Date: June 25, 2025

---

Introduction

In Episode 628 of We Are For Good Podcast, hosts Jon McCoy and Becky Endicott delve into the transformative concept of the "Multiplication Mindset" in fundraising. This episode emphasizes the shift from traditional additive fundraising strategies to building expansive movements through responsive fundraising and community engagement. Listeners are guided through innovative ideas, powerful stories, and actionable strategies to amplify their nonprofit missions effectively.

---

The Multiplication Mindset: Beyond Transactions

Key Discussion Points:

• Redefining Fundraising: John introduces the core idea by challenging the conventional transactional view of fundraising. He asks, "What would happen if we stopped thinking about fundraising as a transaction and really started to think of it as multiplication?" ([05:05]).

• Belief System: The multiplication mindset is portrayed not just as a strategy but as a belief system that fosters long-term growth and community-driven impact ([05:20]).

Notable Quote:

"When you really think about the long game, that's possible. ... It's a multiplication mindset. And it's really not just a strategy, although it's a strategy."
— John ([05:05])

---

The Power of Community in Building Movements

Key Discussion Points:

• Essential Nature of Community: Becky and John emphasize that community is not a mere addition but a multiplier for collective impact. They share examples of local meetups hosted in over 20 cities globally, demonstrating how in-person connections fuel greater mission success ([00:41]-[00:57]).

• Storytelling as a Multiplier: The Coleman Foundation’s origin story is highlighted as a prime example of grassroots efforts amplifying into a global movement. Nancy Brinker's recount of initiating the race in downtown Dallas through personal networks underscores the multiplier effect of committed communities ([06:49]-[07:38]).

Notable Quote:

"Community is the multiplier effect. It's fuel, it's growth, and it's collective impact."
— John ([04:59])

---

From Addition to Multiplication: Practical Strategies

Key Discussion Points:

• Transitioning Mindsets: The hosts share their personal experiences transitioning from additive to multiplicative approaches in their employee giving campaign, which led to exponential growth by empowering community involvement ([12:12]-[14:36]).

• Actionable Steps: Becky outlines eight actionable steps to foster a multiplication mindset, including:

  1. Know Your Values: Define authentic core values as "value bombs" that resonate deeply within the community.
  2. Understand Your Audience: Conduct one-on-one conversations to grasp the nuances of your community's needs.
  3. Start from Within: Leverage existing relationships and believers to catalyze growth.
  4. Create a Compelling Narrative: Develop shared stories that reflect the community’s voice and mission.
  5. Start Small: Initiate engagement with individual supporters to build momentum.
  6. Create a Platform for Engagement: Establish consistent communication channels to foster connection.
  7. Build Reciprocity: Engage genuinely without constantly seeking donations.
  8. Decentralize Leadership: Empower grassroots leaders to amplify the mission ([24:07]-[27:48]).

Notable Quote:

"We're moving from staff-led to staff-stoked, from campaigns to causes, from passive donors to active builders."
— Becky ([17:58])

---

Leveraging Technology and Ethical Storytelling

Key Discussion Points:

• Use of AI: Becky discusses the ethical integration of AI in content creation, emphasizing that while AI is a time-saver, it cannot replace human creativity and empathy. The hosts share their approach to maintaining authenticity through a voice style guide and personalizing AI-generated content ([43:27]-[44:25]).

• Ethical Storytelling: The importance of consent and authenticity in sharing beneficiary stories is highlighted. Organizations like Exodus Road and The Guardian Group exemplify ethical storytelling by protecting identities while conveying powerful narratives ([42:32]-[43:22]).

Notable Quote:

"The two things that AI cannot replicate? Creativity and empathy. And y'all, we got that in spades."
— Becky ([44:28])

---

Joy as a Multiplier

Key Discussion Points:

• Joy in Community Building: Joy is presented as a critical component that amplifies community engagement and fosters a sense of belonging. Becky illustrates this with examples like the Birthday Party Project, which brings joy to children in shelters through volunteer-led celebrations ([47:55]-[48:39]).

• Impact of Positive Engagement: Sharing joyful moments and successes helps sustain community involvement and encourages participants to bring others into the movement, creating a ripple effect of positivity and support ([46:45]-[47:31]).

Notable Quote:

"Community multiplies joy. And joy multiplies community."
— Becky ([45:00])

---

Case Studies: Successful Multiplication in Action

Key Discussion Points:

• Charity Water: The hosts discuss how Charity Water’s massive monthly giving program leverages grassroots movements to support major gifts, demonstrating the symbiotic relationship between small donors and large philanthropists ([18:36]-[19:53]).

• Michael J. Fox Foundation: Showcasing a 2000% revenue growth on Facebook within a year, this case study highlights the effectiveness of authentic, personalized engagement and leveraging community multipliers to amplify impact ([36:11]-[40:22]).

Notable Quote:

"When you show up and build with community, you're actually getting to live out your mission in a new dimension."
— John ([18:36])

---

Final Thoughts and Call to Action

Key Discussion Points:

• Empowering Believers: Emphasizing that true movement-building starts with believers who not only donate but actively participate and spread the mission’s message ([27:48]-[29:27]).

• Sustaining Engagement: The importance of consistency, celebrating wins, and maintaining a drumbeat of connection to keep the community engaged and motivated ([40:22]-[41:14]).

• Spark Joy: Ending with a prompt to spark joy within organizations, encouraging listeners to identify and share joyful elements that can enhance their community’s engagement and satisfaction ([46:45]-[48:39]).

Notable Quote:

"Responsive fundraising isn't just smarter, it's more human. It's about building with others."
— Becky ([49:21])

---

Conclusion

Episode 628 of We Are For Good Podcast provides a comprehensive exploration of the Multiplication Mindset in fundraising. Jon McCoy and Becky Endicott offer valuable insights into transforming fundraising efforts by fostering deep community connections, leveraging ethical storytelling, integrating technology thoughtfully, and infusing joy into organizational practices. By shifting from an additive to a multiplicative approach, nonprofit professionals can build sustainable movements that extend far beyond traditional fundraising models.

Join the Movement: Listeners are encouraged to register for the upcoming Impact Up event on July 10th to further explore these strategies and connect with a global community of changemakers.

---

Visit We Are For Good to learn more and access additional resources mentioned in this episode.

Transcript

[Becky]

Hey, friend. If you've been feeling stuck in your mission, you're not alone. Impact up movement is happening July 10, and it's designed to help you unlock momentum with clarity, courage and community.

[John]

Yes, Impact up is a free one day virtual event for change makers who are ready to move their mission forward. Here you'll walk away with real practical tools like how to use your data to spark action, how to craft a clear and compelling elevator pitch, and how to create messaging that really cuts through and moves people.

[Becky]

We'll also tap into joy fueled fundraising inspiration and even slow down for somatic practices to help you lead with more grounding and alignment. Because real movement starts from within.

[John]

And here's what makes it even more powerful. The We Are For Good community is hosting local meetups in 20 plus cities around the world. From New York to Nairobi, from Calgary to Caracas, Venezuela. Changemakers are gathering in real life to connect, reflect and build community together.

[Becky]

So grab your free [e-mail] impactup and check the map to see if there's a meetup near you. That's weareforgood.com impactup let's get in motion together.

[John]

See you there, friends. Hey, I'm John.

[Becky]

And I'm Becky.

[John]

And this is the We Are For Good podcast.

[Becky]

Nonprofits are faced with more challenges to accomplish their missions and the growing pressure to do more, raise more, and be more for the causes that improve our world.

[John]

We're here to learn with you from some of the best in the industry, bringing the most innovative ideas, inspirational stories, all to create an impact uprising.

[Becky]

So welcome to the good community. We're nonprofit professionals, philanthropists, world changers, and rabid fans who are striving to bring a little more goodness into the world.

[John]

So let's get started. Hey, Becky.

[Becky]

Hey, John.

[John]

Oh my gosh, I'm so excited. Today we get to share the recording of the keynote we gave over at the Responsive Nonprofit Summit. Summit called the Multiplication How Responsive Fundraisers Build movements.

[Becky]

Yeah. In this talk, we explore why community isn't just nice to have, it is essential. You'll hear how responsive fundraisers are shifting from just closing gifts to opening doors for movements, how joy can actually multiply generosity, and how belonging fuels impact.

[John]

Yeah. This message feels more timely than ever as we get ready for our next Impact up gathering with the theme of movement on July 10th. So if you're craving deeper community and tangible strategies to fuel your mission, we'd love for you to join us. You can register for [e-mail] ImpactUp now.

[Becky]

We hope you enjoy this dynamic conversation.

[John]

Here's what I want to set some tone with. What would happen if we stopped thinking about fundraising as a transaction and really started to think of it as multiplication? This is such an unlock. And I think a lot of us are playing maybe a very one dimensional small game. But if you really think about the long game, that's possible. When you really think about how do we multiply, we're not just adding donors, we're not just adding dollars, but we're creating something that grows and spreads because of the people who believe in it. That's what we call the multiplication mindset. And it's really not just a strategy, although it's a strategy. It's totally a strategy, but it's just a belief system. And so we're excited to unpack that together with you all in community. But before we, before we jump in, we got to ask you kind of what you're thinking about.

[Becky]

Yeah, I mean, we, let's talk about, like, we don't want to have a one dimensional addition conversation. We want to multiply this conversation. So we're going to put community prompts in and we want to make this really personal from the start. And I want to know from you, tell me about the best community that you've ever been a part of. Drop it in the chat. Like, what made it so special? Was it the people? Was it the shared values? Was it the sense of belonging? Like, drop that in the chat. And I want to take 30 seconds because I want to know what's meaningful to you because this is a place where we want to start. And I'm going to share one of mine. I absolutely love Humans of New York. Are there any honey fans out there? I have been a lifelong. I know I'm like, my, my little Oklahoma self is like just absolutely falling in love with people who are on the streets and telling their stories. And I've been a Patreon member at the highest level, which is $5 a month. I mean, we need to talk to them about maybe multiplying this effort. But when you put millions of people together who are all giving, guess what happens when we're able to fund $50,000 for this person who can't pay for something for their medical. We're getting people back in their homes. I love being a part of that story. Totally connects with my values. And what a community of joy and authenticity. So that one's mine.

[John]

You can see how Becky just like, lights up when she talks about Humans of New York. And that's what I'm seeing reading the chat.

[Becky]

Oh, my gosh. Free mom hugs. We love Sarah. Girl Scouts. Oh, my gosh.

[John]

Small community groups. Yes.

[Becky]

All of these are incredible. Love, love, love this.

[John]

So here's the through line that I want you to see as you're thinking through the chat, or maybe what's bubbling up for you, that feeling that you remembered, that is the multiplier effect of community. But it's not just like a warm, fuzzy thing. It's fuel, it's growth, and it's collective impact. So what's neat about kind of our experiences with getting to sit across the table interviewing hundreds now of different change makers and leaders is that we get to sit on the sidelines of some of these stories that have multiplied missions. And we get to get into their heads a little bit about how did it start? What are you thinking? How did you kind of multiply over time?

[Becky]

Okay, so we gotta start with a very familiar story, I'm sure, to everyone. Anyone heard of Coleman? We were able to have Nancy Brinker on the podcast. John broke graphic design protocol and moved from blue to pink in this instance. But if you know the origin story of Coleman, it's really, really fascinating and it's a beautiful story. If you want to go listen to the entire interview, we're going to drop that. All of these graph in the bottom right hand corner are stories that you can dive into further in our podcast. But Nancy talks about how they started. She started with a luncheon and invited a bunch of girlfriends to it, cast the vision and then said, what if we put together this race? Because she had had a vision in her head after her sister Susie passed away, she literally was dreaming one night. It's an incredible story of these group of women. She saw Susie running with a group of women with swords, and they were dressed all in pink. And she said the image. They started to build this race in downtown Dallas. And she said, we started at the grassroots level and you talk about the multiplier effect. She took those friends and they started in the early 90s. Can we talk about no social media, no texting.

[John]

And they talk about the topic.

[Becky]

You couldn't even say the word breast then. And so they are really digging into all of this stigma and actually trying to awaken a movement. And they wrote cards. They literally got on the phone, the telephone so analog like, and calls people and they had no idea. She said, we got down to the race side. It was very, very early, five something in the morning. And I just remember thinking, is anyone going to show up. And I remember that we had hundreds of volunteers who made calls. And we're just sitting there and then I see the headlights coming. Very Field of Dreams, like the headlights coming. And now when we look at Komen, there are so many believers that believe in this cause. That multiplier effect of this is really a storied moment that I think we can learn a lot from. So let's keep going.

[John]

And it's not just stories that validate these things. I want to point to a thing that happened in our country just a few months ago. So you might recognize Dr. Vivek Murthy. He's the outgoing Surgeon General for the United States. And you would think that, you know, he was going to leave this kind of final word, kind of closing his tenure. And this is a very fascinating report that he wanted to not diagnose anything, but to say, this is what many of us feel. Loneliness. Loneliness is what is a public health epidemic. His final message to America wasn't some medical breakthrough. It wasn't a new policy. It was simple and profound. It was human. It was choose community. So literally, he put together this report I want to show you. This quote sticks out to me as I finish my tenure. This is my parting prescription, my final wish for us all to choose community. Okay, it's not lost on me that we are uniquely designed to show up in this moment when so much disconnection is the norm. You know this thread that this conference that keeps lifting connection, is this currency in the attention economy? Murthy tells us that fulfillment comes in three core elements. And he put it together as really a triad. And if you think about this triad, it's an overlap of relationships, of purpose, of service, combined with the virtue of love. This is something that I think all of us should read. It's just a few pages. But to dive into the why this is not just a nice to have thing. It's essential for our survival as humanity and the people best equipped to lean into this type of community building. Y' all, it's us.

[Becky]

It's literally us.

[John]

It's literally the change makers. It's non profit leaders, the ones who have been doing this, pouring into relationships centered around purpose, centered on surface. And the very definition of the word philanthropy is love of humankind. If this is not the greatest call to action to say this is our time to lean into creating really deep value aligned community, adjacent and surrounded in our missions, I don't know what we're waiting for. Because the question that this lifts for me is that are we building community by accident? Is it kind of like we're going to give this to our intern to run over here? Are we building it on purpose? Really central to how our mission shows up. Hey friends, here's a bit of real talk. This movement doesn't happen without community. And that includes our incredible ecosystem partners.

[Becky]

Big gratitude to give butter, RKD group, donor doc, feather whiteboard and so on. These aren't just sponsors. They're mission driven allies showing up to fuel change along alongside us.

[John]

Their support helps bring you the free tools, education keynotes and summits because they believe like we do, that investing in people is what powers real impact.

[Becky]

So if you're searching for a new CRM tech tool, maybe a brand partner, direct mail partner, or even an impact strategist, we'd love for you to start with our trusted Rex. We vetted them so you don't have to.

[John]

You want to learn more, head over to weareforgood.com that's weareforgood.com recs for VIP access to orgs and amazing humans doing really great work.

[Becky]

So if we really start to take that notion and we're like, let's build intentional community rather than just engaging the donor one to one community, understanding that community is a force multiplier and it's not about doing more. If you've hung out in the we are for good space, you understand that we are grounded in mental health and wellness because we believe this sector is over capacity burnt out and we need balance in our work. And the soldiers, the warriors who are our believers, are in your mission right now. And this is about unlocking more by building with others, not just for them. So I want to talk a little bit about how we move from addition to multiplication. It might make everybody a little squishy.

[John]

We're not going full on math.

[Becky]

Yeah. Because I'm a writer and so I can't do math. I only had to do two math credits in college, so let's be honest. But we have a really incredible example of how this showed up in our life and reframed multiplication for us.

[John]

And I want to share. You know, when Becky and I were in healthcare philanthropy, we spent a decade of our careers in a healthcare community based foundation in Oklahoma City and we were launching an employee giving campaign. I got to pull up.

[Becky]

Oh my gosh, these photos. Authenticity always.

[John]

From sumo suits to sitting on conference tables. I promise we took our job seriously. But I want to take you back to when we were building this employee giving campaign, this idea of moving from addition to multiplication came very forefront. And I just wonder how many of you here today have feel like you've hit a plateau or you feel like something has stalled out and maybe one of your passionate programs that you're pouring into, or maybe a campaign that you're trying to trudge through. And that was the place we were in. We were really passionate. We had reshaped the storyline around this employee campaign. It went from just 300 donors to a thousand dollar donors.

[Becky]

And we had 10,000. Let's talk about it. We had some 300 donors, but keep going, please.

[John]

I mean, so in the beginning we were seeing traction and we were, you know, we ran this. It was called you and I. And at first it was very thinking about addition. How do we find one more donor? I remember walking through the halls and like, how can I find one more donor? We really want to cross a thousand people. It was staff led. It was top down. I'm going to be honest, it was transactional. In the beginning, we focused on the numbers, how many donors, how much we could raise, how to hit the goal. And it did work to a point. But we found that we plateaued because we were limited by simply our staff's ability to be the only one that was making the connection. And so I want to show you what happened over the next couple of years, because this really poignant moment came in when the believers that had bought into what we were doing, had been part of the impact, had seen what the campaign was doing, came to us and they're like, hey, we want to be activated. I remember, you know, volunteers coming and saying, I want to walk the halls and tell the story. Because I love this campaign. I love the meaning that I found in it. How can I get involved? So it really caused us to reimagine. How do we activate and give community the gift of activation? So it's not just a staff led. It's dynamic. It's a multiplication, not addition. And so what happened the next year was this. We had a huge jump. So we had plateaued. We're trying to figure out what to do. And then we had this huge spike that continued to grow us because it was no longer about just what we could control. It was about how do you build with community. It's a little wild, it's a little messy, but it's also very unorthodox. Yeah, that's very human. And it's about empowering those around you to make the story bigger.

[Becky]

Okay, so let's talk about what building with a mindset of addition. Looks like we're going to do sort of the what we're conditioned and what we remember doing, what we've always been taught. And we're going to try to really shift your mindset because building with a mindset of addition means that we're focusing on the one to one and we start focusing on individual efforts. And because there's only so few of us, what are we doing? We're forced to focus at the top with the people who have the most. Because again, capacity is not something that most of us have the ability to have in our organization. So what happens is we get siloed impact. We're very focused on that donor and that one thing that they're really inclined to be passionate about rather than the overall scope of what we're collectively pouring into. And you're absolutely limited by your internal team and your resources. And so that's really where. And this is a good model. And I want to make sure that you understand that if you've been doing this because we did it for almost 20 years and it is a grind. But when we found the unlock where we could move from addition to multiplication, things started to unlock for us. We stopped telling people to give and then we started inviting them into ownership. So now let's move into the multiplication side. Because when we let the community lead, everything changed. They didn't just give, they became believers. And here's the thing about believers. I saw somebody in the chat say, is this the same as fandom? Heck to the yes, it is fandom. It is your hype squad. I want you to think about the people who understand how to how why your mission is so critical. Why are they so connected to it? So addition, those are campaigns like that are focused on donor count, annual goals, dollars in and dollars out. But if you really move into this multiplication mindset, that shared ownership that's rallying believers, that's scaling generosity beyond what you alone can create and giving the control to your community. And let me just say, giving control to your community is a thing. I still remember when we were in our healthcare organization, we were meeting with our VP of marketing. They were talking about we're gonna do a blog. And if there are any negative comments on our blog, we're just going to delete them. That is some serious addition level mindset. Because if you can lean into the discourse, that is something that is collective healing. Because responsive fundraisers don't just close gifts, they open doors to movements. So that's the shift. And it's a time that we all Made that shift. And so understand this strategy is a belief system that we really want you to, like, glom onto. I love that I use glom. Yes. I mean, we're moving from staff led to staff stoked, from campaigns to causes, from passive donors to active builders. And so really, building with that mindset of multiplication is going to allow you to have that shared vision. You're going to expand the ownership and friends, it feels better. You're giving agency to your community to show up for you in a way that works for them and their time in their space with their story. And guess what? Their network and the people who care about them want to hear about it. And it's going to unlock so much for your mission.

[John]

Yeah. It's why we talk about this in the context of marketing is mission. Because when you show up and build with community, you're actually getting to live out your mission in a new dimension. You're getting to build dignity, and you're getting to build service in a very tangible way. And when you build alone, you really do cap your impact at some point. But when you build with community, you share ownership and the growth becomes exponential. You go from individual efforts to collective power, and it allows you to just dream at a completely different level.

[Becky]

Oh, my gosh.

[John]

So let me take this. You know, Vic Harrison's coming on later today from Charity Water. We have had the chance to talk to Scott, the co founder, a couple of times on the podcast. And I'll say, when he shared this, this, everything clicked.

[Becky]

Yeah, I remember this moment, you know.

[John]

Because they have got one of the most incredible monthly giving programs called the sp. Tens of thousands of monthly donors. Oh, my gosh.

[Becky]

It was like 67,000 to 70 monthly donors.

[John]

That's amazing. But, you know, Scott is very focused on major gifts at this point, but his team is very activated on the spring, and he said the mass fuels the major. When you succeed at growing a grassroots movement, you also succeed at the other end of the barbell. So it's not about just chasing big gifts, it's about about building believers who bring the big gifts with them. It almost validates. It's like proof of concept in the business world to say, man, there is a movement around this. There is shared ownership. And so going in and making the ask feels a lot different. When you have 80,000 people bought into this, of course you're going to be able to close that gift. So this is a different way to think about it. But think about the most innovative minds out there that are very responsive, are thinking of how do we pair this idea of multiplication through community alongside our Major gifts program? It's a huge unlock.

[Becky]

And I got to put a bookend on that because I remember Scott sharing that story. And he said, my major donors, before they wanted to give, said, how are you actually building a sustainable movement? And so major gift donors are influenced by the movement. They want to be a part of it. They want to fuel what is on the ground. So let's get reflective again. We want to hear from you. What's the difference between your donors and your believers? Because we want you to share the name of a believer in your community. And please don't share their last name. Like, just put their first name in there. When you think about somebody who is the rabid fan for your mission, they show up in such interesting ways. They could be physically, Jo, Ellen, Jim, Fern, Kara. Like, I want to ask you, how are they showing up differently? How are they pouring into the mission in unique ways? And then my, this is. This is the action point. How can you invite them deeper to go deeper into your mission? How can you hand over that agency, hand over that control, ask a bigger question and say, can you help us grow this movement? Here's what I need. And have that CTA ready to go. And I also just want to say, like, the names of people in the chat are giving me joy. Pseudonym. Oh, my gosh, such a vibe. Excellent. Yes. Oh, thank you, Kyle. I love this about Nancy.

[John]

I gotta say, seeing these names come through is so moving too, because 2025 has been a lot for everybody. But specifically, we've had so many conversations that, you know, folks are feeling like, I don't know where to start. I feel so sidelined. I feel so stuck. Come back to your believers. Like, this is the easiest hack to be. Like, find those people that believe they're already there, building alongside them, allowing them to buoy you in this moment. Like, we all have our people, and if you don't, you got us. Like, we believe in you.

[Becky]

We are your hype squad.

[John]

Put Becky in the chat. We're here for you. So as we think about threading together community, these believers, I just think it's worthwhile to throw up kind of a definition of community a little bit, that it's a group of people united by shared values or goals or a sense of belonging. And going back to that initial question, it came through in your answers really naturally. You know, I think it was really interesting to go back and say, my community group, we have shared values, or we get together in this way, it's how we show up. And so when you think about connecting on a values level, it's categorically different than transactional.

[Becky]

Shocking.

[John]

Yes, it's recession proof. Yes, it's multidimensional. It's not just about the currency. It's about how can I open up doors for you, how can I show up for you in certain ways. So that's a grounding moment to think about. How are we talking about community? But if you're listening right now and thinking, where do I start? A really powerful place to start is understanding and knowing your own values as an organization. And I don't mean this of like, where's the cookie cutter values? I'm like, what really lights y' all up? We call them value bombs. What are those? Value bombs that are your ride or dies. Like, this is what you stand for. In a world that is completely chaotic. What can people experience there? That's going to be a unifier of your community. The second is knowing your audience. You know, probably one of the best things you could do if you're forward facing or not is just setting up one on ones with folks and being in community with people around your mission. Having the one to one conversations cannot be replaced. Understanding the nuance, understanding what keeps them up at night and what they're thinking and seeing. So know your audience, know where they hang out online. I'm going to go ahead and say that too. Is your audience over here on Facebook or is it here in LinkedIn? Or maybe it's in a really engaging community, digital community. Third is Start from Within. That's our kind of cute way of saying you already got a lot of people around you and you need to get creative. Because when Becky and I, when we were launching we are for Good, you know what that looked like? Starting from within.

[Becky]

Oh my gosh.

[John]

It was like Becky's Spanish teacher.

[Becky]

Oh my gosh, neighbor Senora Stafford has like shared We Are for Good so much. It's little league coaches, it's people you went to school with. It's your parents, friends, they already know you. I love that you brought her up.

[John]

I mean, senora, we got to bring her up.

[Becky]

Yeah.

[John]

But I'm just saying we all have believers. Whether you are just getting started or maybe you do have a really engaged board or advisory group or donors that are already connected. Start from within because they are a great catalyst for everything that happens and then create a compelling narrative. You know, if you part of yesterday's session, we had a fire panel. So go back and download this session. Because if you haven't dusted that off lately, it is the moment to create your shared narrative where everybody's voice has stake in this, where the conversation meets the moment. It's not some tired narrative. It's how are we showing up? What is our truth? And how can we use that as kind of a magnet to find, like, valued people and like minded people? And we got four more too.

[Becky]

Yeah, we're going to keep going. I just love the shared narrative because when people see their words reflected in the mission, imagine the emotional connection that they have to it. So number five is that we want you to start small. We want you to start really small. I mean, John mentioned as we were starting, we are for good. I mean, we would take, I would take probably 45 minutes every single day that we were working, and I would send at least 10 emails and say, hey, remember me? I would send it in Facebook, like in Messenger. I would hit people in dms, I would text them, I would email whatever way that I had to connect and said, this is who I am. This is what I, what we're going to do. If you believe in me, if you believe in us, like, here's a way you can show up. And so start small. When I think of all those names, start with that individual. I saw Fern. Did you see the story of Fern? Which is so beautiful because Fern helped build three gardens, which her name was perfect for what she is. It's like, start with the ferns of the world and ask them questions, ask where they hang out, ask what their story is. That is going to help you start to build momentum. And as, as those individuals start to share, they start to show up. Whether they're showing up physically or whether they're showing up, virtually all of it powers a movement. And so that is the long game that we want you to play, because great movements are organized and they start within. And number six is create a platform for engagement. And I want to be really clear about this. When I say create a platform, it does not mean go out and buy some crazy tech. What we mean is we want you to start a drumbeat of making sure that you engage. We call it stokes. You know, like when you stoke a fire, I'm like, stoking. I've got glom. I've already thrown off the tap. I'm talking about glom. But we want you to stoke engagement because once people see you showing up, once they start to get that rhythm, they engage with it, then others start to engage, and that'll start to build to number seven, you don't want to just build it. You want to build reciprocity. We want to see people when they come in. We want to respond to their comments, we want to respond to their concerns. We want to not just ask for money every time we see them. We want, want to push out impact, we want to push out story, we want to push out levity. Enjoy your gifs. I'm sure your community will really enjoy them. Or gifts or GIFs. I mean, whichever way you go. And the last one is, you got to decentralize that leadership and remember that little donor pyramid where most of the power stays there at the top. We literally want you to flip it upside down and hand the power back to the base. And when you unleash that base, I'm like seeing the women running with the pink swords. Like, this is the level of energy and momentum that we want you to have. So write down one of these. Like, we're very action oriented. We don't want to just talk about things. Write down one of these eight steps. That's your next step. That's where we want you to start.

[John]

Because here is the truth. Movements from Coleman to Charity Water to your nonprofit that you're representing, they start with believers. They don't start with just fans. I think fans come. They start with somebody who believes. And believers don't just give their money. They give their voice, their network, their heart. Believers take the mission personally. And that is a force multiplier that you cannot afford to miss. But while they start with believers, movements multiply with believers too. And this is the step that is where it gets really fun because you don't always have to be in the room room for the ripple to spread. And I distinctly remember that moment in time when that happened with We Are for Good. Because you're push, push, push for so long until you get over the point where there's so many people that have been impacted and touched that you're not always the one that's going to be sharing. And I saw some questions in the chat of where do I start with the platform? What's really natural to you? What's, what's available for your team? Where can you create a drumbeat of connection? So maybe that is a formal platform of some kind of. Or maybe it's just a regular email newsletter. Or maybe it's some kind of like, connection point on social. If you're going to post every Tuesday, make that Tuesday, like epic every Tuesday. And so people can just expect that to where, yes, you may be the one stoking it month after month or week after week. But in time, as people are connected on values, feel part of the community, feel seen, they want to start spreading that message too. Especially if you invite them to, if you ask them to, if you DM them and say, hey, would you mind helping me spread the word on this? The power of just the gift of activation is where this like, gets to.

[Becky]

Be like, that is so, so powerful. And I think I want to give an example on this, since there's some questions and confusion on engagement, and I think that's totally normal. But I think if you go back to what John was saying about who is your audience? Where are they hanging out? Like, I saw Discord server. Somebody's like, on Discord. That makes total sense. Like, we see gamification in this. People who are gaming, doing fundraising. I'm like, if you have a Gen Z audience, Discord absolutely makes. I say Gen Z. I think even Gen X. I'm Gen X. My husband plays video games. Let's get real. So I do think, like, one example maybe to look at is Cornell University has done engagement really disruptively and beautifully. And they started in the middle of COVID sending out an email that had some scaffolding. We talked about scaffolding where they, you know, would send out an email and they would send one out every single day. I mean, as a marketer, like, that kind of makes me a little cray cray. But they were so committed to engagement. But guess what? Four of those days they asked for nothing. They just shared it would be, hey, here's a great story about a couple who met here. And here's their story. And here's a screensaver for you of an iconic play on campus. And ho, here's some really great research that somebody is doing. And here's a way you can be involved in the study. It was just joy and people engaged. Their engagement went through the roof. And guess what? Their annual giving grew over 200% once they started that drumbeat. So I don't know where your community hangs out, but you do, and you know who they are. And I would say again, again, start small. That was number six. Start small. Build momentum, Test it out in a different, in a couple different places. And we're going to talk about the Michael J. Fox foundation example and how they did this specifically on Facebook too. So stay tuned for that.

[John]

Okay, I forgot that I had this slide, but I don't want to miss this point because I think if you're standing around and feeling like I don't have a lot of believers or I don't know how to get somebody to take that next step with us. If you have fans around your mission, people that are loosely connected, but maybe they don't have that deep connection which we're all in this place with certain people at all times, right? Here's some, like, quick hacks that we've seen that take it from 0 to 20. You know, the first is dialing in your impact. So when you can follow through and do what you said you're going to do. This is like 101, right?

[Becky]

Of like, oh my God.

[John]

Showing up with our own principles, integrity here. But that's what we saw with the employee giving campaign. By following through and actually purchasing the items that people thought they were, you know, sponsoring or donating to when they saw it in real life. They're like, holy cow, this actually matters. My gift was actually part of this. So making that connection is really powerful storytelling always, right? Connecting the dots from dollars to data. You have people that are going to connect with different pieces of this, we think experiences, especially now in the virtual world. Small is the new big. I was just writing about this on LinkedIn this week. A gathering of small people is such a powerful force. Cutting through and being the human that wants to sit across and hear someone's story, story and grow the ripple slowly is absolutely imperative. When you give that private DM that I that I was talking about earlier. Hey, would you mind sharing this post? I thought of you. This is a value that resonates with you. Would you mind, you know, sharing this to your community or through your company or through your organization? Partnerships that is like giving people backstage access. People want to feel seen and included in part of this. So that invitation is going to bring people along the journey from just sideline kind of passerbyer to engaged, Engaged believer. It's all about personalized engagement. My gosh. We're at the RNS Summit right here. We're at Responsive Summit. Personalization, this is something that you can bake in if you're using a platform like virtuous to like, make those experiences very personal, where we know that we know the person, we know what they care about, and we can create a deeper connection even at scale. But at the end of the day is about listen, learn, gratitude, repeat. Like, how can this be a circle of just listening and learning and making sure that we're closing the loop with those people, people. This is a formula for moving from fan to believer.

[Becky]

Okay, okay, so let's talk about how responsive fundraisers build movements. And the first one is, we already know this, that we need to be listening deeply. But I don't want you to think of it intrinsically as listening one to one with someone sitting in front of you. What are people saying to you in your email, in your socials, one on one? What are they saying to you? And I would also challenge. Are you asking those bigger questions? Are you understanding the heart of why they're in your organization? We want you to double down into that because being known and feeling that sense of belonging is so resonant right now. The second one is we need to connect not just the values to actions. I think you just gave a great example on this, John, when you say, hey, will you share this? Because I know you believe in this. Can you share this post and tell us what you think about it or about our organization or how it's impacted you? We really want to say, you know, our first core value is everyone matters here at We Are for Good. And we want to activate that in a way where we see people, we respond to what they're saying. We listen and hold space for them. You can do that too. Everybody has the ability to do that. And the third one is, can I say it like 10 times, please, please decentralize the power. We are not talking about putting your CEO on the COVID of Everything or the biggest donor. We want to see real people. We want to see people who are in the thick of your mission. We want to know their stories. Let's start platforming the people who are at that base because guess what happens? People can relate to that story. They see themselves as someone on the ground. And then we also need to close the loop. Are you circling back when somebody makes a gift? Not just when make a gift, because if you respond only when they're making gifts, it tells them what you value. But if they also are giving you feedback, if they're giving ideas, if they're bringing others in, close that loop that shows you truly care and you are actively listening. And then the last thing is create that drumbeat of connection. We want you to just keep hitting it and y' all with the with AI it takes that monkey off your back of creating content all the time. We want you. You probably have great content in your organ that you probably used once. Recycle, update it and syndicate that sucker because it is going to have power and people will be a magnet to it.

[John]

Okay, we got to talk about some amazing orgs that are doing this in practice.

[Becky]

I mean, you know, I love to write love on her arms. This is a total softball. I wore the to write love on her arms shirt to the last impact up. But I think Twiloha, it's an incredible organization providing mental health resources in a massive community. And talk about a movement. Waloha started with a blog and it was activated. I want to say it was like, I don't even remember on Medium or it was definitely not the sub stack era, but it was a powerful personal story of someone battling with addiction. And they started to grow this movement, and it was one to one. And after a while, they really got a digital presence. But then they noticed something, that there were a number of influencers who were responding and sharing a lot of their information. So did they take their top donor and fly them to Florida to the Tualoha headquarters? No, they took their influencers and they flew in maybe 10 to 12 influencers who had very value aligned community, y' all. They set them up. It is a vibe. I wish I had a picture of this with, like, staging with ring lights so they can make content. They put them in sessions with their staff and share personal stories, not only from the staff, but from the community. They gave them swag and merch, and they really gave them the toolkit to say, here's how you represent us. Well, here's what we're trying to do. We want you to come into the shared vision because we believe your community is a powerful one who could come in and really lift this vision. So they absolutely multiplied community by leveraging these trusted voices. And that is an incredible multiplication impact that we see is really a force multiplier.

[John]

I'm glad we're not doing actual math, because when you start multiplying communities, and I'm like, there will be math here.

[Becky]

Someone said it best. We have AI. I don't have to do math anymore, which is fabulous.

[John]

You know, community is the force multiplier for growing impact. It's not a checklist, it's a posture. And I think, you know, we talk about community all the time, and you don't want to mess this up because people can feel and sense your intention. And this is a place where you can literally show up as your authentic self, allow your team to show up authentically. And it's how you build with community. Not at them, not for them, but with them. Community is the ultimate force multiplier. And let's take this practical again with an amazing organization, the Michael J. Fox Foundation. This case study is on our podcast. So scan that QR code And listen to the full story. They break it down, y' all. They saw 2000 and that's not a typo percent growth one year from the revenue raised on Facebook. And what I think is fascinating about their case study is that we talked to Becca and Ty, who are amazing humans. Find them on LinkedIn. They're real people that you should connect with. But you know what cut through for them? Staff getting to be humans and not just nameless, faceless dming and being personal with their supporters, supporters following through on impact, telling people the story of what they're gifted. Nothing is earth shattering. It's all very basic, but it's like taking the time to not just mass blast everybody, but see the humans that are powering your community. And what it resulted in was tangible financial implications that has grown a really powerful community of multipliers, specifically on Facebook. So this is one you can literally take to the bank of Japan. Just building in the time to connect authentically does come to you in spades. So I want to lift just a couple of specific takeaways here is that people support what they can help create. You know, this is true on everything in our life. You know, when we give our community and it's not like we're giving it to them, they already have this. But recognizing their voice, recognizing their stake, that we're inviting that conversations to be bigger, of course they're going to want to spread that because they have more shared owners, ownership. And then again, back to consistency. There are teams here today that I'm sure are really small shops. We see you. We're a small shop.

[Becky]

Hey, we were a small shop.

[John]

Yeah, right now, but. Or maybe you have a bigger team. The key is consistency. Maybe that's every Monday you do something, or maybe it's every two hours you do something depending on your team. But the regular engagement, that drumbeat of connection allows your community to expect it and be part of it and to build it into their rhythms and habits too. And then you want to like celebrate those wins. Like, how do we highlight progress to continue participation? This is like Volunteer Management 101, right? Recognition is everything. How can you say, hey, thank you for doing this. How can you take one minute to send a voice memo to a volunteer to say, man, you really changed the game by just showing up today. Thank you so much. But when we amplify our message, when we lean into the power of multipliers of community, we can leverage media partnerships, people to grow our reach. It's just truly the snowball ball that you can't fully control and you got to get okay with that. But it certainly leads to more engagement across the board.

[Becky]

My type anus gets really, really sketchy when we talk about releasing control. I think I want to pause on going into joy, but we are going to talk about joy because I see so much in the chat that I want to make sure that I address because I do think storytelling and connection is so difficult when you are unable to put. We're seeing foster care, we're seeing youth. We've seen this with trafficking organizations. It's so hard when you don't have an actual face that you can put in. And I think the ethical storytelling piece on this is absolutely paramount because you have to have consent. But I do think that there are some orgs that are doing this really, really beautifully because I do think putting up a fake name and putting up a photo, you know, something that could be stock photo, which we never do advocate for stock photo except in these situations because we want it to be human. But I think if your community understand, even if you have a little something at the end of every story that says, this is not this person, this is not their name, and this is why we protect it. What a powerful thing. I think some organizations who are doing this really well are the Exodus Road out of, I think Denver, Colorado, think of us as a foster organization trying to rewrite child welfare. The Guardian group out of Oregon is doing this really, really well. So I hope a couple of those organizations, you can write that down and go check out of their content. I mean, even the Exodus Road has a podcast that they talk about this in really unique ways. So I believe there is a way to storytell without putting the actual name and face on that. And I really appreciate everything that's in the chat.

[John]

Okay, can I also say this is. You're getting us on our pulpit.

[Becky]

Yeah, here we go.

[John]

Because this is comes back to marketing is mission like it's an opportunity to live your values in the way that you story tell. So how can we not perpetuate more harm, use language that's harmful? How do we model and create more expansion, more growth, more good through the way that we storytell. So this is really key. We got to lift Maria Bryan's amazing podcast.

[Becky]

Yeah, that's fantastic.

[John]

That wind Bearing Witness. So go find that when Bearing Witness.

[Becky]

Is a fabulous podcast about like ethical storytelling and trauma informed storytelling. It's excellent. Okay, I gotta take one more because I see the AI conversation because I do think that there's a little bit of an Ethical discussion and R about AI versus authenticity. But I can tell you what we've done as an organization, because authenticity and showing up and being real humans is baked into the core of who we are. It's why you understand that I struggle with math. And it's why you understand that I've had, you know, a mental health crisis of my own that I've shared on the podcast. But I do. I want to say that we use AI every single day and we are for good, but we fund funnel all of our content into it. We have a voice style guide that really guides all of our AI. And it's like, this is how we talk, this is how we show up, and we fuel every piece of content into that. So it sounds like us. I have when I'm shocked sometimes when it comes out and I'm like, actually, I think I would say that.

[John]

So minus the M dashes.

[Becky]

But I never take AI for face value, ever. I always go in win. I soften, I humanize. It is an absolute time saver. But it is not the end all be all. Because what can. What are the two things that AI cannot replicate? Creativity and empathy. And y' all, we got that in spades. So, okay, we gotta get into joy as a multiplier, because community is a joy. And when you come, like, let's think about the world right now. Like, anybody feeling like, like a little anxious, Anybody a little concerned, like, and it's hard when we get into our news feeds and it's negativity and it's heaviness, but what do we double click on? What cuts through joy? And community multiplies joy. And joy multiplies community. It multiplies belonging. It multiplies participation, laughter, gratitude. Gratitude, momentum. And when people feel joy in your work, guess what? They stay. And then they bring others, and then they give more. And what we say is what starts here is going to ripple. And that is why we think joy has got to be that piece where we really have a superpower. So let's dive into that just, like, a little bit more. Let's take 10 seconds and let's, like, talk about how community can be a joy multiplier. Because, y' all, it is gonna going to increase our happiness. It's going to. And I. And I want to say the reciprocity and joy is beautiful because it's not just for your community, it's for you too. Community is going to provide a sense of belonging. It's going to reduce that feeling of loneliness I saw. Social isolation is such A problem, you know, right now. And it's true. And so. And it's also going to break through and cut through that noise during challenging times. It's going to be the differentiator in your content and the way people feel. And guess, guess what, when you even share your obstacles, you know, the things that we were never taught to, like, share. Guess what? When we overcome them together, then we have increased gratitude and joy that we made it happen.

[John]

Yeah. So we've put up some slides. We're starting to run out of time and we really want to have a little joyful prompt here.

[Becky]

Yeah, we do.

[John]

But the ripple effect of joy spreads beyond the group. So think about that. At the very heartbeat of our mission, there is something deeply joyful that we're fighting for. Like, how can we be a multiplier of that? So we want to ask you to do something.

[Becky]

Yes. I mean, take 10 seconds today. What's one way you could spark joy for your organization? And I'm saying this could be so very simple. Put it, put something in the chat. What's something that is incredibly joyful? What gives you that dopamine hit? Like me, puppies, videos of soldiers reuniting with their families, families after war. Like, what have you got that can make joy such an incredible amplifier for your organization?

[John]

We want to see it in the chat. Like, literally. Don't just think it. Like, what is something that you could spark joy? Because I think we can inspire each other right in this moment. And where is Abigail? Abigail, where are you? That's what I saw in the chat. There is incredible missions that live and breathe this. When we talk about, you know, marketing as mission. Let's look at the birthday party project. Oh, my God, create so much joy in the space.

[Becky]

Do you all know about the birthday party project? This is your joy. If you don't have one today, scan this QR code. This is one of those napkin on a plane stories where this organization, which is all across the country, now goes into traditionally domestic violence shelters or group homes. And when women have left abusive situations, they go in and they have birthdays every month for children who are in that organization. They get their own present, their own cake, their own decorations, get themes. And it is totally volunteer led. And I'm telling you, the photos on their Instagram, the video will bring you life. It is such an incredible thing. What a great dopamine hit for today.

[John]

So keep community coming back because they bring other people and a whole lot more. You know, we could throw a stat up here, but you know, this is true. If you go back to that first question of, like, what's a community that stuck with you? You didn't tell me some data reason why it stuck with you. It stuck with you because. Because you felt that connection, you felt that belonging, and you probably invited other people to join you. So that's what we're trying to do. Because community building is really community staying. Because as that community stays, it expands and it multiplies, and that's what's possible, because we're so connected at a value level and a love and a purpose and a service level. So it's really a moment that we need to lean into this in a deeply authentic way.

[Becky]

So this is the charge, right, for you, responsive fundraising isn't just smarter, it's more human. This isn't about doing more, it's about building with others. It's about building and multiplying belief. It's about movements that keep growing long after the campaign ends.

[John]

So I want to leave you with this. How are you going to multiply the mission? By unleashing the power of your community, not a copy and paste of somebody else's or of charity waters over here. What's your authentic community? And we can go beyond just building another network and truly, like, ignite a movement that's centered in purpose and values that you're trying to instill into the world. So, friends, we have completely got this, right?

[Becky]

We've got this together, we have got this. This is the new world. And I want to just give you a free mom hug again as I'm bringing it back to the yes that you can do this. And you're not alone. Your community, your rabid fans, your fan channel, whoever, your hype squad, they are there. They are waiting to be activated. They are waiting to share their stories. They are waiting to share everything. Give them that gift of activation and know it's going to come with rest for you, too. Let's build more together.

[John]

Grateful that you're here, my friend.