Podcast Summary: We Are For Good Podcast, Episode 678

Title: Shift 8 — Creators as Core Capacity: Build Trust Beyond Your Brand
Guest: Kathryn Baccash, Senior Director of Communications and Marketing at To Write Love on Her Arms (TWLOHA)
Date: January 28, 2026

Episode Overview

This episode dives into the evolving role of creators as core partners in nonprofit storytelling, capacity building, and trust work. Hosts Jon McCoy and Becky Endicott speak with Kathryn Baccash (Kat) from To Write Love on Her Arms (TWLOHA) about how their organization treats creators not simply as influencers or megaphones, but as deeply valued collaborators and community builders. Kat shares the philosophy, practices, and practical steps behind this approach, offering guidance for nonprofits at any stage of creator engagement.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Shift: Creators as Amplifiers of Trust and Community

• Creators belong alongside donors and fundraisers: Kat emphasizes that creators are a “huge core group of people that you can partner and collaborate with. To me, they're as important as your donors and your fundraisers.” (03:56)
• True partnership over transactional relationships: “The way that we even think about creators, it's relationship first. It's building a friendship with these people. My experience when I talk to organizations is it's so transactional feeling...if you can just remove some of the expectations from the relationship and just see what comes out of these partnerships and moments.” (01:06, repeated at 06:17)
• Creator partnerships allow access to new communities: Nonprofits often can’t reach the audiences creators have cultivated without their help. “You will not be able to get out in front of their communities… without them.” (03:56)

2. TWLOHA's Unique Approach to Creators

• Community over campaign: The focus is on building authentic relationships first. Each campaign or big moment prompts the team to ask, “Who have we been talking to? Who hasn’t championed our story in awhile?” (06:17)
• Creators are in the marketing team’s core, not an afterthought to development: “It’s definitely a storytelling front before it is a, we'll have you like, fundraise alongside of us...” (06:17)
• Continuous and personalized engagement: The roster of collaborators evolves; it’s not static or formulaic.

3. Building the Creator Playbook: Core Pillars

• Start with who’s already interested: “Look who's already following you… there are likely one or a few people who have an influence that would hit this qualifier as creator.” (11:03)
• Value alignment is critical: Collaboration starts from mutual admiration and respect; “You have to respect the creators you work with… because you need to let them be them in their space.” (11:03)
• Small gestures matter: Initial asks can be as simple as sending a care package with a kind note.
• Transaction vs. relationship: TWLOHA is intentional about honoring creators’ time and work, but avoids purely transactional partnerships unless there’s a pre-existing relationship. (13:00)
• Letting go of control: “There will be a level of control you have to give up. You need to let them be them and champion your work in the way that they would do it.” (11:03)

4. Innovative Practices: Creator Retreats

• From digital to in-real-life community: TWLOHA hosts in-person creator retreats to deepen relationships, co-create, spark inspiration, and share mission details. “We invited some of our favorites to our warehouse and our headquarters in Florida... it was a lot of creative space time, a lot of time for them to learn about what we are and who we are and to ask questions…” (17:00)
• Strength in shared experience: “Creators love spending time with other creators... being surrounded by people who… have the same challenges and you also all care about this thing—it’s such a powerful communal experience.” (17:00)
• Outcome: Sustained relationships and a strengthening of genuine advocacy post-retreat: “They do ask us like, when is the next one? Like I loved it so much.” (19:26)

5. Impact in Action

• Suicide prevention campaign as a model: During their largest campaign, TWLOHA partners with 30+ artists to create individualized takes on the campaign’s phrase, each artist engaging their own community. “The phrase is always intentionally curated and picked out to be able to disrupt the digital space in that moment and to be able to just stop people in their tracks…” (20:29)
• Collaboration, not competition: Kat discusses partnering with peer nonprofits: “[W]e will oftentimes during suicide prevention, work with other suicide prevention nonprofits. Because what's more important is the people we're helping. And I understand competition...but lives are on the line and I don't care about it.” (20:29)
• Ripple effect of creativity: Personalized messaging scales the mission. “To look at their comment sections with their community of just, ‘Oh my gosh, I didn't even know I needed this today.’” (22:53)

6. Advice for Nonprofits New to Creator Collaborations

• Choose the right leader: “If that leader… doesn’t feel like it could be them, who on your team has a natural inclination for being in that space already? A core piece of doing this well is being immersed in it.” (25:59)
• Start small & build: Don’t expect instant virality—value quality of engagement over scale. “Starting with a campaign is a lot of pressure… I think starting low expectations really helps these creator relationships build and grow.” (28:00)
• Let go and experiment: “You will… have to let a little bit of control go and to just try things. The creator relationship is so dynamic and unique and it’s individualized.” (28:00)
• Go for realistic wins: “Coming up with your quick pitch, coming up with your minimum ask, what would it look like, what would feel like a win?” (28:00)
• Relationship building takes time: “There’s definitely a warming period. Definitely a nurturing. Start small and just build. It’s relationship building.” (30:40)

7. Empathy as the Key to Creator Partnerships

• “Try it yourself” exercise: Kat’s advice for building empathy: “The best way you can even remotely understand or get more comfortable with the idea of creators and the content in the world is maybe creating something yourself even if you don't post it… just to experience how vulnerable it is.” (31:59)
• Empathy bridges vulnerability and authenticity: “Having that ability to just empathize and understand of what those people do on a daily basis and putting themselves out there in a digital space is just so unique...” (33:29)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On shifting away from transactions:
  “My experience… is it's so transactional feeling... a lot of it's right there for you if you can just remove some of the expectations from the relationship and just see what comes out.” — Kat (01:06, 06:17)

• On trust and amplification:
  “Trust is the work now. And I think creators seem really unique because you get to ride along with the trust that they built with their audience by partnering.” — Becky (04:47)

• On value alignment:
  “You have to respect the creators you work with… because you need to let them be them in their space and to champion your work in the way that they would do it.” — Kat (11:03)

• On the power of community-led design:
  “You start to think about it, it goes from staff led to community led, which is what I think is so beautiful for you.” — Becky (09:46)

• On experimenting and reducing fear:
  “As a leader, you will probably have to let a little bit of control go and to just try things... The creator relationship is so dynamic and unique and it's individualized.” — Kat (28:00)

• On empathetic leadership:
  “The best way you can even remotely understand or get more comfortable with the idea of creators... is maybe creating something yourself even if you don't post it.” — Kat (31:59)

• On small actions with huge ripple:
  (Story about yard signs and a 19-year-old spreading suicide prevention messaging at his university) — Becky (23:36)

• On minimal yet powerful messaging:
  “Do you remember the sign, what the sign said… it was two words. How can you make something so impactful with two words? Please stay. Please stay. Oh, I get chills when I think about it right now.” — Becky (34:27)

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Timestamp | |------------------------------------------------------|-------------| | What it means to put creators at the core | 03:30–06:17 | | Creator relationship-building philosophy | 06:17–09:46 | | The “creator playbook”—how to find and nurture | 11:03–15:19 | | On in-person creator retreats | 16:50–19:26 | | Campaign example: Suicide prevention & amplification | 20:29–23:36 | | Practical advice for nonprofit leaders | 25:59–30:40 | | Why empathy for creators matters | 31:59–34:08 |

Actionable Takeaways

• Redefine your “core capacity” to include creators as vital partners, not add-ons.
• Treat creator partnerships as relationship-building, empathy-driven, and community-oriented efforts.
• Start with who you know and who’s already supporting you, then expand intentionally with respect and mutual value.
• Let go of expectations for instant results—a long-game, low-barrier, nurturing approach prevails.
• Immerse yourself and your team in creator culture; experiment and build empathy by creating content yourselves.

Where to Learn More

• To Write Love on Her Arms: twloha.com / @twloha on all major platforms
• Connect with Kat Baccash: LinkedIn: Katherine Baccash
• We Are For Good Community: weareforgood.com

“It’s relationship building. There’s definitely a warming period. Definitely a nurturing. Start small and just build.” — Kat (30:40)