655. We Are For Good + Givebutter: Locking Arms for Impact - Jon McCoy, Becky Endicott, and Max Friedman

Summary

We Are For Good Podcast, Episode 655

Title: We Are For Good + Givebutter: Locking Arms for Impact
Date: October 29, 2025
Hosts: Jon McCoy & Becky Endicott (We Are For Good)
Guest: Max Friedman (Co-founder & CEO, Givebutter)

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Episode Overview

This episode marks a milestone for the We Are For Good community: the announcement of an official partnership and “merger” with Givebutter, a platform renowned for democratizing nonprofit fundraising. Host Jon and Becky, joined by Givebutter co-founder and CEO Max Friedman, unpack the story and heart behind this alignment. Together, they reflect on community-driven change, the evolution of both organizations, and their shared vision to supercharge resources, tools, and connection for changemakers everywhere.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Announcing the Partnership: Locking Arms for Impact

• [00:34] Jon and Becky introduce the day’s big news: We Are For Good is officially joining the Givebutter family, with the goal to build the largest community for changemakers, providing accessible tools, resources, and community.
  • Becky: “We are going to democratize it together and we're doing it for you...”
  • The notion of "locking arms for impact" forms the core philosophy: value-aligned organizations collaborating to go further together.
  • A behind-the-scenes story of how this partnership came about, rooted in mutual admiration and years of connection.

2. The Story Behind Givebutter & We Are For Good Connections

• [02:19] Max joins and shares the origins of Givebutter:
  • Started in a college dorm, inspired by Jewish values of tikkun olam (repair the world).
  • Built as a free platform because, “we had been nickeled and dimed as so many in nonprofit have experienced.” – Becky [07:37]
  • The shared missions and unique DM story that ignited the relationship between Jon, Becky, and Max.
  • Jon [06:39]: “The why behind what you're doing around democratizing access is exactly why we started Givebutter.”

3. Community, Joy, and Accessibility as Strategies

• Conversations about making philanthropy “fun”—webinars turning into dance parties, giving as positive, not just contractual.
  • Max [09:31]: “When something is fun, you want to do it again...giving feels good, and giving is fun.”
  • Focus on building joyful community experiences and accessible, people-centric technology.
  • The importance of mental health advocacy and the sectorwide challenge of burnout. Givebutter’s and We Are For Good’s investment in mental health programming as an example of responsive leadership.

4. The “Rogue Email” & Moments of Alignment

• [13:47] Becky introduces the story of the “rogue email” Max sent that sparked the merger.
  • No grand strategy—just authentic admiration and a belief in deeper collaboration.
  • Community-driven strategies: listening, activating, and leading from the front.
  • Addressing nonprofit burnout and the importance of having strong community support.

5. The Power of Merger & Value Alignment

• [15:35] Honest talk about nonprofit mergers; reframing them as superpowers, not “dirty words.”
  • Deep conviction that merger is only valuable with total value alignment.
  • Becky: “Locking arms for impact is opening these avenues for new growth...the person who benefits is the changemaker.”
  • Examples of Givebutter powering organizations like She's The First and Girl Rising—already part of both families.

6. Visions of Community & Growth

• [18:04] Jon shares hope that this partnership allows for true democratization of resources and “delivering on our outsized vision.”
  • Both teams emphasize expanded accessibility, support, and ability for changemakers to leap and take action.
  • Plans for new community-building events, local in-person meetups, and broader reach.
  • Max: “Whether you use Givebutter or not today, it’s not really the point… this is an opportunity to join forces and do something about the opportunities we see.”

7. Core Values at Work

• Discussions about living organizational values, not just writing them on placards.
  • Givebutter's values: Be Awesome, Be Butter, Be Changemakers.
  • We Are For Good's values: Community is Everything, Cultivate and Mobilize Rabid Fans.
  • Max: “People first is one of our values as well… It’s this crazy concept. We listened.”

8. Stories of Community Impact

• Each host and Max chooses a community member whose journey exemplifies the “ripple effect” of these organizations:
  • Becky: Crystal Clark of Stop Soldier Suicide, who shared knowledge learned from the podcast and catalyzed culture at her organization.
  • Max: Daphne at Humans for Education, the very first Givebutter .org signup; her feedback helped shape the platform for tens of thousands.
  • Jon: Simon from Jinja, Uganda—early Zoom meetups led to massive community building across Africa, inspiring leadership and belief.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Max Friedman [03:24]:
  “Hearing about in the last episode, you’re starting with your list of your friends and your family, and I can relate to that so deeply… all it would take just to pull up your website and look at your values, to know that we’re family...and I just can’t wait to see what it looks like at an even greater scale.”

• Jon McCoy [10:18]:
  “Joy is a vibe. It's not a strategy. It's like a sustainability thing. It's how we actually find purpose and how we have better connections in our workplaces and with our donors.”

• Max Friedman [12:13]:
  “Burnout is so prevalent. And I think Covid also really accelerated this in a unique way...it’s not just about the work being hard and under greater pressure and fewer resources, but it’s also like we’re more lonely than ever.”

• Becky Endicott [21:13]:
  “What happens when you get in Value Aligned Community is...you come alive.”

• Becky Endicott [25:32]:
  “We’re not just about to unlock giving. We're unlocking generosity, and we're unlocking the people in it.”

• Max Friedman [29:29]:
  "You never forget your first supporters, your early adopters and rabid fans."

• Jon McCoy [31:56]:
  “You know, Simon is representative of everyone who's in this community. And people ask us, how did you build this movement? And I want to tell you the secret formula. And it is one person, one conversation, one-on-one. Start there.”

• Becky Endicott [36:31]:
  “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do that. The world needs you to do what you do best.”

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:34 | Announcement: The We Are For Good + Givebutter partnership unveiled.
• 02:19 | Max’s Introduction: Personal story and vision behind Givebutter.
• 06:03 | The DM that Sparked It All: Jon and Max connect over mission.
• 09:31 | Making Giving Fun: Dance parties and joyful community.
• 12:13 | Mental Health and Wellbeing: Investing in the sector’s people.
• 13:47 | The Rogue Email: How the partnership proposal happened.
• 15:35 | The Power of Merger: Value alignment and changemaker focus.
• 18:04 | Expanded Vision: Democratizing access and global reach.
• 20:26 | Core Values: Living, not just stating values; the heart of execution.
• 25:32 | Unlocking Generosity: Going beyond fundraising.
• 29:29 | Community Stories: Lifting individual impact and ripple effects.
• 33:53 | One Good Thing: Each shares their core “one good thing” for listeners.
• 36:31 | Words to Live By: Howard Thurman quote that encapsulates this journey.
• 40:10 | What’s Next: Assurance that the community, podcast, and core mission continue—now with more capacity and reach.

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Final Takeaways & Call to Action

• This partnership is about scaling impact while reinforcing core values—accessibility, community, and joy.
• The heart of We Are For Good + Givebutter is not about assimilation; it’s about each entity (and each changemaker) becoming “more of who they are.”
• Listeners are invited: “This is your invitation…tell the truth and build a new era of generosity and philanthropy.”
• The movement continues; the resources grow; and every community member is both the engine and aim of what’s coming next.

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Tone & Style

Enthusiastic, authentic, and deeply communal. The hosts blend vulnerability, humor, and actionable optimism, inviting listeners to step in and step up as changemakers—together.

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For Listeners Who Haven’t Tuned In

This richly detailed episode provides not only the why and how behind a major nonprofit merger, but also models what sector-leading collaboration, authenticity, and joy can look like. Grounded in personal stories and organizational transparency, it's both a celebration and a call to action for every changemaker.

Transcript

[A]

Hey, I'm John.

[B]

And I'm Becky.

[A]

And this is the We Are for Good podcast.

[B]

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.

[A]

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.

[B]

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.

[A]

So let's get started. Welcome back to the We Are For Good podcast. If you caught us Monday, it was a special episode where we told a little bit of our story and we were teasing that something big is coming. And friends, today is the day we're going to unpack the heart, the why, the how, and give you a behind the scenes look at what is happening. And we are so honored. But I mean, you heard this in our voices the first time. But this podcast and the conversations and the community that is around this movement has changed us. Like not just in our ideas or how we think, but actually how we want to move through this world. And this community also taught us a concept called locking arms for impact. If you're actually living out a value alignment and you're stepping into your superpower, the right next step is to look around and figure out who's value aligned that has a superpower that you could lock arms with and you could go so much further together. And that's what this edition is all about. To tell you the news, I feel.

[B]

Like you just teed me up so beautifully, John, because. And we don't want to, we don't want to drag it out anymore. We want to tell you that today We Are For Good is joining the Give Butter family. And together we are going to be building the largest community for change makers, making accessible the best tools, the best content, the best community, and the best ideas. We're going to democratize it together and we're doing it for you and friends.

[A]

These conversations, while this specifically happened more recently, we've known Max since the early days of We Are for Good and we saw value alignment really early. So we're so excited today for you to get to know the Max that we know behind the curtain of how this all came to be. Max Friedman is the co founder and CEO of GiveButter and he pulled up a chair to the podcast. So, Max, it is.

[B]

So can we freak out? I mean, yeah, we have been Sitting on this for months, I feel like.

[A]

My reaction wasn't appropriate. I'm so excited. Are you kidding me?

[B]

Oh, my gosh. Max.

[C]

Hi. Hello.

[B]

So good to have you in the hot seat.

[C]

Oh, my gosh. Such an honor to be here. I want to just hug both of you. I want to hug these mics. I know we were a little restricted in our mic setup, but. Oh, my gosh, I'm so happy. I'm so excited. I'm just also floored and honored by everything you've built and the opportunity to be a part of it. I mean, oh, my gosh, what a. What a privilege. And I also just have to say to the community that you've built and curated and grown and fostered from the ground up, I mean, hearing about in the last episode, you're starting with your list of your friends and your family, and I can relate to that so deeply, like, truly from my core. And how we built Give Butter and the values. I mean, all it would take just to pull up your website and look at your values, to know that we're. We're. We're family like we from the beginning, and it's a real honor. And going forward, I'm just, like, so excited to take that to amazing new heights. I mean, everything that you've done and everything that you've built, the reason why we're. We're excited to be a part of it is because of those values. And. And I just can't wait to see what it looks like at an even greater scale.

[B]

We love the Get Butter community so much. We love the people that work within Get Butter. We. And then we would get this feedb from our community who just loved the platform, but even loved the experience and felt seen as tiny non profits, you know, and it felt like you really embodied that everyone matters value of ours. But enough about us. We want our community to really get to know you. Max is not a stranger to the podcast. He's been on before. Episode 99. Yes. That was many gray hairs ago. But I want you to take us back. You know how it goes on the podcast. We want to get to know you, and we want to hear. And we also want to hear this evolution of Give Butter and how it came to be sure.

[C]

Absolutely. I mean, y' all are coming up or just had your fifth anniversary summer. Yeah, the summer. Yeah, that's right. And we're coming up on our 10th anniversary, which is double digits.

[B]

Yeah, I know.

[C]

And so I've been doing this a long time now. Started in my college Dorm room with my two co founders roommates.

[B]

Stories never get old.

[C]

I love them.

[B]

Hi, Lauren and Ari.

[C]

Hello. We'd been fundraising all throughout our lives. Growing up with the Jewish values of tikkun olam, repair the world, making the world a better place. And you know, I'm growing a mustache. I'm getting ahead of the Movember season.

[A]

You're fundraising on your face right now. Like, you're literally fundraising.

[B]

Fundraising on your face. That's amazing.

[C]

And it's just, you know, it's not just about raising money too. It's raising awareness, like caring about something and doing something about it. And that's so core to our DNA of being a change maker is you don't just see problems, you do something about them. And we believe everyone has that in them. And a lot of why we love Give Butter and started Give Butter was to enable that change maker to make the change they want to see in the world. And there's all this friction that gets in the way and we just want to remove as much of it as possible. Possible. And we build technology, but that's just a means to an end. And that's why we're so excited about this partnership is, you know, we can do that at an even greater scale by bringing not just the technology, but the community together to activate and do things together and make change happen. So it all started there in the.

[B]

Dorm room and Arsenio hall, which ages me because no one watched Arsenio hall except for me back in the day.

[A]

We're all googling, who's Arsenio Hall?

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

I mean, okay, Max, we're throwing it back. We just have been reflecting on this five year journey and I remembered shooting you a DM because when we're starting again, we didn't have like a network across the country and we're checking out who's doing cool things and we certainly give better. Caught our eye really early on. But I remember thinking, I'm just going to reach out to Max because I was, I knew we would eventually meet you, hopefully from somebody, but like I'm just going to DM him one one day. And I'm like, hey, Max, love what you're doing, would love to get to know you or something like that. I was really probably that awkward.

[B]

Awkward.

[A]

That's pretty par for the course. And max replies in two minutes like it was 11:12 to 11:14am and you're like, hey, love what you are doing too. I'd love for you to meet our co founders. And it's like we had a meeting on the books the next couple days. And I remember when we met, the vibes were just so good because we're laughing about startup life. But at a deeper level, like, we saw the world the same way. The things that y' all were fighting for of democratizing access was core to our DNA. It's like, this is what we wanted to do from a content side. Y' all were doing from, like a tool and how you thought about the product. Did you feel that? I mean, in the first email, or am I connecting too many dots?

[C]

Absolutely. I probably was like, oh, my God, John McCoy's in my inbox freaking out. You know, I mean, from the day I first heard a podcast episode, I wish I knew exactly which one it was or saw your website. It was like an instant feeling of connection. The why behind what you're doing around democratizing access is exactly why we started Give Butter was give everybody the tools and the resources to make change. And that was what you were doing through your conversations, the topics, the community that you've built over time and opening that up to everybody so that they all can have a part of that. It definitely resonated. And we were just so excited to chat. And I feel like you're trying to.

[A]

Play it cool, but like, yeah, we were.

[B]

We were totally like, oh, yeah, hi, it's nice to meet you. And like, totally freaking out on text probably in the background, so.

[C]

Well, let's be honest, when you heard about Buttercup, you know, that definitely.

[B]

Oh, my gosh, Princess Buttercup.

[A]

This is your dog?

[B]

Yeah, let's be clear. And she has her own Instagram that she should totally go follow.

[C]

Yeah, we need to bring the Instagram a little fresh life.

[B]

But, yeah, you've been busy.

[C]

I've had a baby since.

[B]

So you. I just want to say that I think we saw so much of ourselves in YouTube because we had worked for 20 years in this sector. And I was like, how is this a free platform? How is this free tech? Like, how is that even working? Because we had been nickeled and dimed as so many people who have ever gone through the tech journey and nonprofit have experienced. And I remember we were asking you kind of about your long term vision and you're like, no, no, we're going to make it as free as humanly possible. And we were like, we want to keep our stuff free as humanly possible. We want to draw from that. And you all have iterated. Change has been constant for all of us over the years. But our theory of change and it feels like our theory of change is that community is the way, and you had this incredible theory of change, but you've still evolved in it. Like, talk a little bit about that.

[C]

Ye. Yeah. Certainly from the beginning, it was just the three of us, and over time, we've been able to build the. Build the team that we have today. And one of those early hires was Floyd Jones. Who Flo Jo. We love him. Yeah. Yes. And love you too, Floyd. And that was such a fundamental moment for us where we knew about the potential of community through the tools that we were building, because we saw it every day through our customers. The nonprofits using GiveButter were activating their community and the most inspirational ways that I never would have even thought of myself. We also started Give Butter around the time of the Ice Bucket Challenge. And so that was a big part of the. Like, how do you activate your community and go viral and engage a younger demographic in your mission? And so we. We understood that through the lens of. Of nonprofit work. And when Floyd joined, we. And we started doing these webinars, and I saw folks literally doing dance parties on Zoom like we should.

[A]

Have you been to a Floyd webinar?

[B]

I mean, if you get better webinar, they're just fun. I mean, the company is fun, and.

[C]

That'S exactly what we try to bring. You know, fundraising is hard, and there's no sort of beating around that bush, but there is definitely something to. When something is fun, you want to do it again. And that is something that gets lost oftentimes, not just in technology, but in giving and in philanthropy and in fundraising and in raising awareness is like, these things should be fun. We want to have fun, and giving feels good, and giving is fun.

[A]

I mean, you say that, Max, we've interviewed so many different people that when we have tech founders in we, we tend to expect a certain flow of people wanting to talk about their product. And I remember episode 99 with Max, we didn't know you that well, and I kick it to you to say, I mean, what's. What's a differentiator of give better? Like, what really makes it unique and the moment.

[B]

The mascot. I totally remember.

[A]

Like, we have a mascot. Like, I'm just. That's the energy. But, like, I think we've come back to this so much. Like, joy is a vibe. It's not a strategy. It's like a sustainability thing. It's how we actually find purpose and how we have better connections in our workplaces and with our donors. It's such a thing. That's not leveraged. And y' all do this so well and you've done it and you've baked it into your very platform. So I just think it's such a powerful thing.

[C]

Absolutely. It's about the name itself. Give Better. Give Better. It's a better way to give. It's for donors as well as the fundraisers. And what's not fun, really expensive software that doesn't work well for you and so contracts, all these things.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I love the way your voice dropped. It's like the fine print.

[A]

The fine print. I mean, it's pretty fun to look back because we didn't talk a ton about this in our journey. But as we found our way, we started offering different series because we saw our community, we talked to our community and the things that were pressing. We wanted to create content around that. And with Becky being really open about your personal mental health story and your.

[B]

Nervous My marbles, which always when I say that, it makes John uncomfortable, but I'm comfortable with it.

[A]

So I try to flow. But I think your openness of that discussion like really paved the way for really our candor around mental health and the sector and like how we want to have those conversations more in the forefront. And so as we brought that to life, I remember coming to get butter and asking y' all to partner and it was like it wasn't just like a yes, that fits our avatar and our flow for the week. No, we're like enthusiastically with you about investing in this for the sector and that set the course. Like Yalls investment in that has allowed us to not only have those weeks, but over the years y' all partnered with us on bringing impact up pause to life and like actually creating a pause for change makers. So what was it like for y' all to get to that? Yes. Or why is that core to how you want to build a company and build an ecosystem?

[C]

Yeah. Come at that from a few lenses. On a personal level, part of the mustache growing endeavors for November and yeah, that relates to a lot of mental health issues. Where there's higher rates of suicide in men, there's other issues that uniquely affect men. And raising awareness and money for those issues is something that I'd been doing for a number of years and so personally felt connected to it in a couple ways there. On a values level for our company and for the broader community, burnout is so prevalent. And I think Covid also really accelerated this in a unique way where it's not just about the work being hard and under greater Pressure and fewer resources. But it's also like we're more lonely than ever. We're on remote calls or on Zoom or we're not connecting in the office or with our people the way that we used to. And people had to almost kind of like relearn those skills. I remember going to a social event, you know, well into Covid, where it was like, I forgot how to like, talk to people.

[A]

My handshake has gone back too. Yeah, I don't know how to do that.

[C]

Yeah, so I see. And then in our product too, so much of our, what people use Gitbutter for is events and fundraising events and galas. Galas, whatever. You know, our gala people, apparently so. You know, but that community tie is also so important to bringing people together for. For their organization. So there's just so many lenses that I think I see this being so needed in our sector. And it was just a no brainer to support however we can.

[B]

I just think you live this. And so I want to like take everyone on this journey back to May of this year.

[A]

And the rogue email.

[B]

The rogue email. We're like coming hot out of Impact up, which was the hold Fast Impact up. And we get this email and I want to know what was the impetus of reaching out? Why we are for good, why now.

[C]

So this wasn't part of a broader plan or a master strategy that we were cooking up. It was like, truly, we saw what y' all were doing and we wanted to be a part of it. I talk to nonprofits all the time, especially this year, where it's been really challenging. And there's a lot of questions about what do we do, how do we react to the situation that's unfolding. And y' all are leading that conversation from the forefront and inviting in opportunities for people to share the challenges. It's hard. We're acknowledging and also what we can do about it and activating locally. And I think that we're just seeing that and excited about it. And so I was like, hey, I have this crazy idea.

[A]

Have y' all ever thought about.

[C]

Yes, what if we did this together? Locked arms. I mean, that's. That's one of the values, right? And I think that opportunity to do it, it was just sort of a flyer. Didn't know how you'd react. And now here we are, and I'm so pumped about it.

[A]

But you didn't know. I mean, couldn't have known, is that we were at such an impasse that what got us to this point was not going to keep working. Like, we were definitely going to personally burn out. Everything was working and nothing was working. You know, I think the community had never been more vibrant. The activations had never been more vibrant. But we needed, like, a partner that could come alongside us to fill in the gaps that we didn't have. And honestly, it's like, how could we be whole by finding somebody. And so for your email to come in at that moment was such a sign.

[B]

We are an activating community. We don't want to just sit around these podcast mics and pontificate. We want to do the thing. And so I thank you for talking about, like, leading from the front and having these conversations. But what I think some people may not realize is we are evolving with you as we are listening. And we just had a recent episode that we talked about the power of nonprofit mergers and how they're not a dirty word. They're actually this powerful super unlock. And we had she's the first and Girl Rising on the podcast. And we're like, wait a minute. Like, a merger for We Are For Good is going to be a most powerful thing. But that value alignment has got to be so in sync. And I remember both of us being so convicted in this merger process about we have to be bought into each other's values. And I just want to say that locking arms for impact is opening these avenues for new growth. And that is what we are seeing for both of us, not just for get better, but also for We Are for Good and vice versa. And at the end, the person who benefits is the change maker. And that's who we're here for, is the one. The one on the front lines.

[A]

And can I just. I mean, this is how small the world is. Like, you have been a personal. She's the first donor for. I know since we met him on the podcast.

[B]

Now I'm a Girl Rising monthly donor. I'm so excited about it.

[A]

Can we peel back one more layer that they're part of the Give Butter family already? This is what's been powering those missions behind the scenes. And so I just think that's an example of what it looks like when you bring all of the best together, you know, And I think that's what we see with this too, is we're not changing. We're actually going to be able to come more of who we are because we can all lean into our own unique superpower. We can be more focused on the things that not only bring us to life, thank goodness, but also what our community, what they care about and how we can move in that way. And same for Give Butter too.

[C]

I think in the email, or at least in the conversation following the email, I mentioned one plus one equals three.

[B]

Yeah, I remember that too. I think it was the email and.

[C]

Kind of a life motto for me. And then John one upped me with one plus one equals eleven.

[A]

Because I'm a designer. I'm like, I see the two ones, the three.

[B]

Oh my gosh, of course you did.

[A]

Because we're standing side by side. I don't know.

[C]

As ones big believers. Some can be so much greater than the parts.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So like John, when you look at this like from a 10,000 foot view, like what are you seeing this means for community?

[A]

I mean it gives me so much hope because we can finally deliver on this vision. That felt outsized for what I knew we could do. I got more belief with the community around this. But I also felt limited of like how do we democratize access for change makers on a global scale? Like how can we actually step into that goosebumps. But with a team of intelligent people that care deeply, that are value aligned, that are willing to try stuff, that are willing to invest. Let's talk about like literally investing in making this community more accessible, more available, more responsive, more. All the things that we hoped we could be, but we were limited by our own.

[B]

Whatever time ability.

[A]

Yeah, insert word here.

[B]

All of it.

[A]

So I just, I'm really excited about that. There's a home that you can feel seen, but you can also feel hella.

[B]

Supported and empowered to like leap. I felt like that was such a theme of the last episode is like, we just want you to leap. We want you to try. And now you can have a one stop shop for all of this. I mean, how. How is this gonna help get butter reimagine community?

[C]

Oh, so many ways. I mean, just talk about the in person meetups. We're so excited to connect in person in more places. We have butter slices. We call them team members that give butter. Of course, they are 30 states at this point.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Amazing.

[C]

All spread across the country.

[B]

Spread. We see what you did there.

[C]

So many puns in the world. You know, we're in a couple countries as well and it's really exciting to be able to offer the opportunity to connect locally with our each other, with the broader community that whether you use Give Butter or not today, it's not really the point. It's hey, this is an opportunity to join forces and do something about the opportunities we see to make the world a better place. And if we can remove any friction in that process and bring community along and doing that, that's a win.

[A]

I mean, so we've teased a lot that this is all about values, but I want to like talk about values because y' all have amazing values that give butter. We have ones that we've threaded through hundreds of conversations. We hear our community speak it back to us. But I want to talk about that. Values are really only meaningful if you're living them, not if they're just like unplacards. How do they show up? I don't know what that's bubbling up for you, Bea. I mean, as you think about the values that this is allowing us to lean more into as a result is.

[B]

I think I'm just thinking about what happens when you get in Value Aligned Community like John and I, and I would even say maybe Julie started this. Julie moved to New York City and like chased her dream and found her people in her place. And John just did this two year road trip, you know, 48 states.

[A]

I haven't announced where we're moving yet.

[B]

Yeah, I'm not going to announce it. I'm not going to. But you've landed where you're going to land. I've landed in Colorado and I have seen myself come alive in ways I've not seen in decades. And I've watched my family come alive. And what happens when you get in Value Aligned Community is that's it, you come alive. And so I want to talk about these values. I'm going to kind of test you both.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

And I want you to lift as we're having this conversation of value that is really bubbling up for you within John, the we are for good community. Max, within the get better community. I'm going to start with Max.

[C]

So our values are be awesome, be butter, be change makers. And then we have a bunch of leadership principles we call them, that kind of underlie. Okay, what does be butter even mean? Which is a fair question.

[A]

Yeah, what does it mean? We should know this.

[B]

Hopefully it's salted. Great.

[C]

Okay, quiz is going back to you in a second. Yeah. So be awesome comes to mind just in the sense of think bigger is the first one under there. And that's how we got here was think bigger. How do we raise the stakes? How do we set ambitious goals? And, and honestly, I hate using this word, but like manifest, you know, something really awesome and cast that vision out and then make it a reality. And that's the first one that comes to mind. And how we got here. But then people first is one of our values as well.

[B]

I love that one.

[C]

And of course, how we got here was listening. It's this crazy concept. We listened and from the very beginning it was building something that provided value and taking that feedback and iterating and iterating and iterating and iterating over and over and over again until we got to where we are today. And I believe that's just us, what's going to continue to propel us into the future. And that's a very people centric thing. It's just hearing what people have to say and how you can improve their lives. And then if I can, can I do a third?

[B]

Of course you can.

[A]

Keep going. We're loving this, boss.

[B]

Go for it.

[C]

So be the change. And that's just core to the change maker idea of you see something, you do something about it. And again, give butter, give better. Who's the giver here? Is it the donor? Is it the fundraiser? It's everybody. It's everybody.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

I mean, that makes me think of our community as everything. I know we say it a lot, but it means so much because it's about not who has the mic, but it's like, how can we share the mic? How can we grow the table? And I just think of like, how much. I don't want to say better, better. How much better we are because of how the table has grown, because of like the perspectives that have come in. But it is listening if you're just in community, but not listening if you're the only one talking. That's not really community, you know, but like the power of listening is a great unlock. And so I feel so much alignment. What's bubbling up for you as one?

[B]

You know, the one that's bubbling up for me that I don't feel like we talk about very often is cultivate a mobilize rabid fans. You have believers all around you. Your mission has so many believers right now. They may not be presenting as, you know what you're looking for in terms of a major gift or your gala chair or whatever you're looking for. But there are people that believe that have that we have not valued completely. If we're only valuing the gift, they can bring the financial gift. We're leaving so much on the table. We're leaving network effect, we're leaving story, we're leaving their lived experience, we're leaving their ability to show up and volunteer. And I think this is the time we are in such A weird season in life and in our world. And the paralysis is so real. And I think this is the time that we're calling you to act, to activate yourself, to activate that rabbit fan, to call them in to this bigger idea, because you already care about the same things. They came to you because they believed in your values. They believed in what you're doing. That is the basis and the nexus of this relationship. And so now is the time to get up, get back on the field. Understand that you have a unique role to play in this world that no one else can play, as do every one of your believers. And now is the now we've got this momentum. You have literally the platform. You have the tools. You're going to have the free community, the ideas, the integration, the events, the gatherings. And you don't have to be a member of an association or you don't have to have five different. What do we used to call those? The flare.

[A]

It's like the ribbon.

[B]

Yeah, the ribbons at the conferences that give you legitimacy. It's like, come as you are. You have something unique to bring. Everybody does. Recognizing that we're about to build some movements, we're not just about to unlock giving. We're unlocking generosity, and we're unlocking the people in it.

[A]

So good. I mean, actually, a conversation on the podcast is lifting for me. It was in the early days with Susan McPherson, and you gotta look her up and read her book, the Lost Art of Connecting. She's incredible. But she taught us just the power of partnerships. When we stop at just thinking at the money aspect, even in, like, the corporate sense, like, what you're leaving off the table when you don't think about the employees, like, how that could be unleashed from a service perspective and how it could be maybe unleashed from, like, what's their superpower? Maybe it's tech. Like, getting creative is how we have to move forward because the world's evolving and we're dimensional. Like, people are more dimensional than just the line item that they can give. So I love that we're talking about this. It's always about the people. And there's so many people of our story that we would love to lift. And I just want to give a moment to ask, who's a person that maybe represents this journey that we want to kind of give space for and reflect on how it changes?

[B]

We're gonna talk about the people. You're gonna make me pick a favorite child. You hate this. You hate this exercise.

[A]

You should start. Go for a baby.

[B]

Okay. I do have someone that's percolating up. There's an incredible woman who I know is listening to this episode. Crystal Clark.

[A]

Oh, my gosh.

[B]

She stopped Soldier Suicide. I remember getting this DM from Crystal back in, like, I think it was, like, 2022, so we were maybe 2 years old, and it was on LinkedIn, and it was so kind. It was like, hey, you don't know me, but I have been binging your podcast, and I'm getting so much out of it, and I've realized that I don't want to keep it to myself. And so I've started taking notes and dropping those nuggets into our Slack channel for our team, and we begin to socialize them, and from there, we built this friendship. And she starts taking them from Slack into meetings, and they start putting Cornerstone part of the meeting in there. And then we start meeting all these Stop Soldier Suicide employees. And the mission is just so powerful. And then Crystal starts to grow, and she has, like, a team of 14 or now. I mean, she's in donor engagement. She is the head of donor engagement. And the way that she has unleashed their community and the innovation that they have created has been so inspiring to us. But then Crystal also raises her hand and hosts Impact up dc, you know, several times. And so to get to meet her, we went to the D.C. meetup in April of this year, and to, like, hug her and feel like I had known her for years, and to watch the evolution of her mission and that mission go from something that was powerful to something that was so utterly vibrant was so inspiring. So she's the one that's popping up for me. What about you, Max? Who's popping up for you?

[C]

I have to pick our very first.org Sign up through our newsletter, Daphne at Humans for Education. She going back to the theme of listening and also trust, you know, really was so inspirational. In the early days of how we shaped and built givebutter was so gracious with her feedback, and it's been so hard to scale that, too, as we've grown, you know, across so many different types of users. Nonprofits, all 70,000 nonprofits have used GiveButter. And holy crap, how do you scale listening at that size and channel that feedback? And we just had a product launch event where we had 16,000 customer requests resolved, 200 new updates to the platform, and anyone can go on and request a feature and upvote it, and it's democratizing that ability to give that feedback. And Daphne was such a inspiration. And. Okay, how do we take this Beautiful thing, which is, you know, amazing grassroots, nonprofit organization that's building schools in Kenya and empowering youth and bring that same feedback loop and trust that gets built over time from, hey, I have a idea or something that I'd like to see in the platform and closing that loop and bring that to everybody. And, you know, Daphne's been with us from the very beginning. You never forget your first supporters, your early adopters and rabid fans. And so I have to. I always think about her.

[B]

Max likes rabid fans. Great.

[A]

Okay, I'll let that one Daphne and hear her story.

[B]

I know. Okay. Who's yours?

[A]

So I think you teased that in the early days, we had Just Zoom meetups on Fridays. It's like we were trying to get to know people, and we just powered up. You never know who's going to hop on Zoom. And there was this day that a guy named Simon joined from Jinja, Uganda, literally on the other side of the world. And this was probably in the first 12 months. For sure.

[B]

For sure.

[A]

And so Simon runs a nonprofit there in his community. He has a beautiful family, Sarah and his three boys.

[B]

Hi. Cindy and Cyrus.

[A]

Yeah, they have slowly become just like family. For we are for Good. And so as Simon poured into the content of the podcast, he would keep reaching out, and he's like, this is literally changing my life, and it's changing my village, and it's changing the people that I can share these ideas and these resources with. And so a few years later, when we launched Impact up, when we shut off the email to, like, who's going to host a meetup? Of course Simon wanted to host a meetup, but I don't think my brain went there. But. But Simon replied, and he's like, I want to do it in Jinja. And. And he didn't just take it as, like, a challenge or something. He took it as, this is my way to spread this belief that I have and how this has changed my life and has changed my organization, and I want to change the continent of Africa. And in that first meetup, he gathered 200 people after a monsoon.

[B]

Do you remember that? It had, like, rain delay.

[A]

The photos, like, they waited for the rain delay, and they got together 200 people. And then a few months later, we had our next Impact up, and now only had a couple countries come in, but, like, five or six countries had come in. And then the next meetup, a few more countries. Torres now has more than 20 countries across Africa represented at this meetup. And I was catching up with him the other Day. And if I'm lucky, his wife Sarah will hop on in the background for a minute. I'll get to see hi to his kids. And they said, you know, we believe that we're going to build the next generation of nonprofit leaders here in Africa. And we have a vision to reach 20,000 leaders. And I have no doubt that that's going to happen like Simon believes, you know, and that's the power of belief in this through line of how you can just by opening up the door, growing the table, everyone has something to offer. It changes you.

[B]

You know, Simon is representative of everyone who's in this community. And people ask us, how did you build this movement? And I want to tell you the secret formula. And it is one person, one conversation, one on one. Start there seeing somebody, seeing who they really are, holding space for them, hearing what their problems are, hearing what is important in their life, having that human connection. And from that, if we can just help each other and resource each other a little bit or just hold space for each other, something shifts in us as human beings.

[C]

And.

[B]

And Simon is. And Crystal and Daphne, they are the movement. You know, it started with one person. And every one of those three people that we just mentioned brought in so many people into Give Butter, into We Are For Good, because they believed. And that is what we are unlocking here. And that is the power of what I feel like our two companies and these two belief systems coming together is gonna unlock so much for the world, for people that are not even in the nonprofit space. People that are parents, people that are community organizers, people who care, give a crap about something in this world enough to show up for it, to give to it. And that is what we are emboldened to unlock. So, okay, we're starting to wind down a little bit. And you know how we wind down, Max, you've done this before. We're gonna start getting into our one good John.

[C]

Yes.

[B]

I mean, this is a really big deal. This is such a big moment for us. This is such a big moment for Give Butter. And when I say us, I'm talking about the whole community. How are you gonna distill this down to one good thing? I can't wait to hear it.

[A]

I wanna relieve the pressure that I'm not. Okay.

[B]

It's not gonna be that we all exhale.

[C]

Great.

[A]

I would say what's lifting for me? I try to like, leave this open to just like, like get a read for how I'm feeling in the conversation. But there's a superpower and encouragement and we were at a staff retreat, like, a year ago. Shout out to Jeff Schuck and Jennifer Mulholland. Thank you for giving us the clarity we needed in that time and space. But it became this through line that is like, I love encouraging people. Like, it's like part of my DNA. Like, I feel better, they feel better. It's just like a way to show up. But what stuck out to me in that moment is Jeff said, you realize that that is meaning that you're passing on courage to someone else. And I just think back to, like, our journey of, like, the people that have spoken out. This helped me, this changed me, this opened up this for me. The gift of that is passing on courage. And it's like, never in our lifetimes do we need more courage than to show up right now. And we can do that. We can literally encourage each other in community. So I don't know, a little cheesy, but a little bit that's on brand for me, I guess.

[B]

You are so good at that. It really is your superpower, I can tell you that. For over you always. I feel like you've been saying we've been together for about 20 years, and that's been like eight years of saying we're almost been together 20 years. But I have been the beneficiary of John's encouragement and courage for over 20 years. And so I love that you put that in there. Max.

[A]

Max, what you got?

[B]

Yeah. What you want to do?

[C]

Is it okay? John, it's Darry. Jason.

[A]

Oh, gosh.

[B]

Oh, I'm here for the punch. He took it.

[A]

I'm so here for the punch.

[C]

Thank you. So I've referenced being a dad a couple times. I. I feel like I have to just bring it home one more time, which is, you know, and last time I. My one good thing was the productivity hack. So I think this one, you know, is maybe taking a different tune.

[A]

But I was totally trolling you in that last episode with that comment, by the way.

[C]

I. I got it and I loved it. Thank you for that. Yeah, it's just she's. We're launching this on her first birthday, and it's just Rosie's birthday.

[A]

I'm sorry. We were all having dinner, like, reflecting on this moment last night, and I think we had that recognition that is this literally happening on the same day as Rosie's birthday? Like, that's awesome. It's so cool.

[C]

And she's my. Why? You know, it's like, I want to make the world a better place for her, and I Think that's what we all want, you know, to leave the world. Better for the future, future generations. And it's really hit home for me, you know, we're coming up on 10 years with give Butter. I'm like, what do the next 10 years look like? And I can't wait for her to watch this episode one day and say, hey, you can do whatever you want. You can make the world a better place.

[B]

I want that. I want the world to feel like a beautiful place where any of our kids can roam.

[A]

I mean, B, you're not gonna escape giving a one good thing what you got.

[B]

You know, I've used this quote so many times, but I think it's become like a heartbeat and a mantra for me. There's a brilliant sort of philosopher and theologian and just good human who passed away in the 80s named Howard Thurman, and he has this quote that just hits me every time, and he says, don't ask what the world needs. Needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do that. The world needs you to do what you do best. And so, in this moment, maybe because I'm feeling like I'm coming alive again and coming out of whatever sort of darkness I feel like any of us are ever battling in our lives, I feel like I'm coming alive. I feel like it's coming out of my writing. It's coming out in the way I connect. It is coming out in we are for good. I see it coming out in Give Butter, and I'm like, the world is waiting for all of us to step forward and say, this is our moment. We're going to do what makes us come alive, and we're going to watch the vibrancy ripple into communities that we couldn't even imagine that we could have gone there on our own. But this ripple is going to carry us. And so that's what I want people to unlock. Find what makes you come alive. Don't ask your boss what they need. Don't ask your spouse what you need. Ask yourself what you need and come alive.

[C]

Boom.

[A]

Wow. While this is certainly chapter two of the we are for Good story, it feels like it is a new beginning. At the same time, like, we are so enthusiastic, so happy to be here. Max, thank you for your belief in us. Thank you for your team's trust in us and for just seeing us, you know, from the DM to signing papers that made this official, like, we are so excited to be here and for our community to be here. And we've never wanted to do this alone, and that's certainly the story, is that we're doing this with our community. So we're so excited for our community to get to know more about what's happening. Like, we've put together a full release. We've got blog posts. You've got this episode because we're excited to unpack. Like, what does this mean in a lot of different spaces and where we're headed next?

[B]

Max, I want to thank you and give butter. When you came in and talked about, hey, would you be open to exploring partnership, you couched it and said, we don't wanna change a thing. We want, we are for good to do exactly what it's doing. We don't wanna control it. So thank you for coming in and saying, you're good enough as you are and keep going. And we're gonna put that on fire. So thank you for that. And I wanna make sure that people understand that you have the power and you are the architects of what is going to be built moving forward. You are bringing the lived experience. You're bringing the expertise you. All the little hiccups, and this is for you. We are in it in lockstep. This is not about John and Becky. This is not about Max. This is not about get butter or we are for good. This is about all of us. And we need you to come into this to tell the truth and to build a new era of generosity and philanthropy. So this is your invitation. Come in, celebrate with us. We're gonna take a hot minute and celebrate and then take a long nap, and then we're gonna get to work, because there are solutions out there and there are ideas that we haven't unearthed, and there are stories within you that we want to tell, and we want to build to it. We want to celebrate with you. We want to hug you when it's hard, we want to hold space when you need to heal, and we want to get you going to live your best and most vibrant life and to spread generosity as far as it can go.

[A]

So, I mean, just to get really clear, the core things are not changing. The community that you know and love will continue to thrive. You've given us the belief that what we started is going to continue to ripple. That's very core. So the podcast goes on, and we've got the community that gathers in all the different ways, from impact up to just showing up for each other virtually in between. And of course, we have some new ideas up our sleeve. We haven't even fleshed this out because we're Listening. This is a great time in our community to start asking, what do you dream of? Where's the next step for we are for good. How can we show up to better support?

[C]

You know, we want to enable and empower and support this community and so exactly. It's listening. It's trust. It's trust building. You know, trust is earned, not given. And we know that. And so we recognize we're coming in. You know, we've sponsored many times we are for good episodes and impact up and hopefully we're not a foreign, you know, name, but if, you know, you're not familiar with givebutter, you know, we're excited for you to learn more but it's also about again, how can we continue to enable and grow and support the amazing, amazing community and content that you all are building and just go bigger? And so we wanted to get the news out as soon as we had it to share and we're going to take the rest of this year to dream even bigger for next year. And I can't wait to see what that looks like and come on in a year and say, whoa, look at what we did. It's going to be awesome.

[B]

Or in 10 years. Holy smokes. I mean, this is day one. This is literally day one. You are at the forefront. We are pulling together our communities. We are pulling together everything that we know, but we're pulling together our heart to serve you in a way that works for you. It is free, it is empowered and it is belonging. So thank you for believing in us. Give butter team. Let's flip that pyramid and change everything. Let's do it.