highway 80 Rescue Mission is based in East Texas and provide services to those in need not only when it's convenient but whenever the needs arise. And as another year drew to a close their needs got bigger highway 80 decided to partner with our friends at feather to expand their reach through digital campaigns, highway ad use feathers nonprofit marketing platform and support from their feather Copilot to launch retargeting ads and smart email campaigns. The result they reached 36,000 new people and brought in $13,000 in donations that's 300% More than their goal. By meeting their supporters where they were highway ad was able to expand their reach, activate new audiences and build confidence for future digital campaigns. Better is trusted by more than 1000 nonprofits of all sizes from the Humane Society and Meals on Wheels to IJM American epilepsy society. Don't rely on magic to hit your goals next year. Use feather to elevate your digital marketing campaigns and could impact in 2023. Learn more and get started today feathr.co That's feather without the last e at feathr.co. Be sure to tell them We Are For Good sent you.
Hey, I'm John.
And I'm Becky.
And this is the We Are For Good podcast.
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.
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.
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.
So let's get started. Hey guys, what's happening?
I love it when the trifecta is on the podcast. Hi, Julie.
I feel like we just recorded one of these I'm kind of freaking out that we're doing another one.
Over here wishing we had an alternate theme song where Julie was part cuz not every day we get to have Julie Khan for the incomparable Julie calm for our head of media, the producer of the podcast that unit, our co founder really have we're forget in so many ways up at the table. And so Julie, thanks for coming in today, we're really excited to do best of season six celebration.
Thanks for having me. I'm excited.
And we got through a lot this year, guys. It's not even been a year, this is a half years worth of content. And I look back at the guests that we've had on we had an insane number of theme weeks, which is probably adding to our fatigue right now. But if you're tuning in right now like this is that reminds me of The Bachelor after the rose, you're coming for the gold of what's already happened. We're going to distill it down cliffnotes nature for you. And we're just really excited to bring you what we believe are the best habits, the best insights, the best innovations of 2022. Because we want that to launch you into a new year with confidence and with hope.
Oh my gosh, I love that too. And so but every time you mentioned the bachelor, I'm like, Please don't be the person driving home in the limo crying at the end of this. So we hope this brings joy. As you kind of reflect with us on this season. As I look at this, there was 75 episodes this season. That's a lot of content. That's a lot of talking. Julie pulled this fun stat the other day. So like zooming out since we're forget podcast started in 2020. We've recorded six years of weekly content if we were a weekly podcast. So if you feel behind friends, I hope that today's episode is going to be like a playlist like we're going to lift some things, what piques your interest to go back and catch up on over the holidays. And hopefully that'll be the tone set of this conversation.
And we did a lot of series and if you're new to the podcast, you know sometimes we do a hyper focus in a week, really honing in on a particular subject. And we did five of them Enneagram for nonprofits series, which was massively popular shocked me thank you all this Enneagram two is so happy that you guys all came in for that. We did the habits of an impactful fundraiser series, we had our mental health week that is always hitting during World Mental Health Day in October. We did community week in November and lifting the voices and the people who are powering this amazing movement. And we wrapped it all up with good humans week. If you have not listened to good humans week, please go back and meet these three incredible individuals who are changing the world in a small and Precipitable way in their part of the community. It's extraordinary.
And one of my favorite highlights that we hit was during community week we officially hit 1000 friends inside of the We Are For Good community. So that was just really serendipitous for us because that's our favorite place to hang out. That's where everyone is interacting with each other getting help on where they're stuck and it's just one of our favorite places to hang out. And tie in with that we finally got to be back in person with people this past year after what people I know it felt like forever and so we were just super honored. We were able to make it to Phoenix with Virtuous Denver with our stand together foundation friends, John and Becky got to go to LA and see a lot of community members out there. We went to Albuquerque with the sociation of donor relations professionals and I got to watch these to give their first keynote, is the coolest moment ever. I was like their stage mom taking photos on the side
with my boot. Do we even talk about that I broke my toe, like two days, like a day and
we're leaving, right?
You know, whatever I was like, throw a four inch heel on the other side, it'll leave an out.
Honestly, you got a lot of compliments to of how you were working the stage and that boot and one heel.
But let's be honest, too, we showed up without all the tools to be able to stand up our neon sign if you know that we're for good neon, it's kind of like got its own, like Instagram or something. Yeah, we get there. And Julie and Abby have to hop into like an Uber to get cinder blocks to basically make this thing at a table and are hauling them across town. So such good times.
Thank you loads of Albuquerque for that one. And then we got to round it out. John and Becky got to come visit me in New York City. And they got to speak at Salesforce just this past week. So it's just been so fun to be able to gather community members in real life and all of those locations, and it's people that were hugging and acting like we have known them for 20 years, and we're meeting them for the first time actually in person. So I think that was just a big highlight for us. And we want more in person events to come in the new year. So be looking for that
getting the hang with community like in real life is definitely like the highlight of the year for us. But we also just have this incredible community that's growing and it's powered by also some incredible partners. And we gotta give some shout out to the partners that have just believed in the work believed in this community that is building and so I'm just gonna run through here is crazy to reflect back on but neon one and Virtuous and good world and philanthropy together and feather and evolve giving group CCS fundraising slingshot group cosmic gravity pledge give better and salesforce.org Thank you Holy smokes. The partners that have surrounded this work like have fueled this movement and has allowed us to grow as a team and this is what is a big celebration for us is that our team is now a team of four and a half. We sent Julie off to New York this year to chase her dreams. And so we joke that Julie opened our New York City office which is really makes it sound really big time
shout out to my two bedroom apartment as
but had Abby Foxx join our team as Chief of Staff and she is like revolutionising things. And in the amazing Andie Murphy, who has just been a great friend and resource to our team as a virtual assistant that has helped us follow up on things faster, and really just try to be more responsive and all the things. So really an amazing year of growth. And the team and us just feel really so grateful for the people that have surrounded this work.
Yeah, thank you to all of you who've poured in. And I just want to say if you have heard any of those tech companies names, and you're thinking about buying tech, next year for your nonprofit, let us know we'll send a referral into you, we want to make sure that you get the VIP experience through that. And PS, that referral income goes back to power the content that is in this community. So when you let us know what tech you're buying, it really does feed more of our ability to get more free into this community. So can I move into like just tone setting real quick about this season? Because there's two things that were really lifted out that that we would say are really the hallmarks of what we learned this year. And they're really simple. It's one finding hope. In two, we want you to look over the horizon. And I want to talk about both of these because we had Jonathan Greenblatt on who is the president and CEO of the anti Defamation League and he kicked off this season. And it was one of those Can we can we share a behind the scenes visual of what happens to us when we have an incredible interview on the podcast, we try to keep it cool. We have a conversation, the guests leaves, and then I call it the like the head collapse effect where all three of us like either lay out on our desk or fall back in our chair because we're so blown away by what we just heard and experienced. And I felt that very much with Jonathan. And he gave this incredible quote it was an episode 294. He says even as we push back on hate, which we must do, we've got to pull together and find hope. That is the only way that we can come through this. And I love that as sort of a beacon for us that it's hard out there. But we must always endure because we need to find that hope. And then we had Anne Marie Daugherty on, who's the CEO of the Bob Woodruff Foundation. It's just a foundation that's constantly preparing for the future. They're innovating, collaborating and doing what we call the try stuff. And her one good thing was look over the horizon. And that was something that was put out to her organization by a three star general, that you cannot just plan for this moment. We need to be thinking ahead. And it's not only going to give us a better sense of control, but it's going to give us some wiggle room for how we're going to innovate and how we can plan to innovate.
Yeah, I mean those conversations I remember felt like gut punches. And I love the gut punches we had this season. And I think we started off the year with some trends of like what we were seeing in conversations. But then we see trends like continue to lift as we start to have these threaded moments of people that don't even necessarily know each other. But sometimes they're in the same community and maybe don't even know each other. But they're saying the same things. They're experiencing the same things. And that's when we're like, man, we got to put a pin in that and really ponder and like, think about how that could really impact more people. And so one of those for us was the idea of purpose driven events and experiences and partnerships. That purpose element is, is everything, you know, as we kind of are coming back into having real life experiences. It's like people are changed, like, we're all different the way that we're showing up because of this lived experience collectively. And so those people that are really acknowledging, and the people that are with you are really incredible, like they're connected to you on a value standpoint. And so to really lean into that, and I think if Sarah Adolph sent out in LA, she's running the Artemis agency, which really powers a lot of celebrity philanthropy and big philanthropy in Los Angeles area. But you know, what she told us, like, we I remember coming to this, and we're thinking we're going to hear the dish on like, what's it like to work with, like Lady Gaga, and her foundation and all that, and we did get to hear about some of those things. But she's also like, look into your own network, and see who the heroes are, that you're working with every day, and find ways to make them celebrities. And I love that she acknowledges that. That's where this purpose work is who are the people that really show up and have a deep passion for what you're doing, like pour in your love and pour in the, the experience for that group of people that was episode 316. And then across the town in LA, they didn't know each other, but they're kind of both doing really powerful work. Awesome. Oh, Nima of Jean ko Foundation, he, you know, works again, with a ton of celebrities and Los Angeles that supported his mission. But his quote, This is episode 347. He said, whoever I work with whoever we meet, whether it be someone who gives us $10, or a million dollars, or someone who can go on a medical mission, or help us with scholarships, they're my partner. And they're my family. And I treat them as such. And so I think there's just this like return to values and purpose. And those organizations that are doing that have the rabid fans that we talked about so much. And Matthew Helmer, I think he may have been the first guy to have to pee to Pete in one season. Matthew Hilmar,
wearing a unicorn suit, which was amazing on Halloween, we love you better people are what?
So he came on episode 349. And he said, an event itself is not the end goal. It's critical touchpoint on the journey, if we have events that don't connect to the overall strategy and goals, stop doing them immediately. And I think it's all this return to purpose. And those organizations that are threading that stand apart, and are the ones that we want to pour into and spend our time doing, because we just have the value of time front and center nowadays.
I'm just smiling to myself remembering all these good humans that have come into our midst. And I want to just transition into this other trend that we've seen lifted, which is really about embracing technology and digital transformation. Let me just tell you, friends, this is going to be your working smarter, not harder tactic. We know that technology has an ability to humanize, it makes our work more scalable. And I think that one of the people who really crystallized this for all of us is sterren bird, and she's with a senior director of nonprofit industry over at Salesforce, and she was episode 309. And something she said that really resonated with us is, look, technology doesn't raise more money people give to people, the technology enables the nonprofit to be more nimble, and to have better actionable insights to do their work more efficiently. And this, we got to flex this stuff, folks, because we have it. And we're the first to say, hey, data is hard understanding data, understanding how to move within your tech, but spending some time getting trained up on that is going to help you see your believers so much more clearly, and be able to build to that authentic relationship. I think somebody else that was just such an advocate for this was Najib Kazaam, episode number 297. He's with the fundraising kit. And he just feels like he's one of those technology strategist who are in our corner. He says we're asking for more and more from our fundraisers without raising their salaries and without raising their budgets, so they can hire more people. The answer to that problem is technology, not anger. And I just felt really seen in that because he understands that we can do more with technology without having to onboard a lot of people and we're not going to put these very, very monotonous, rote manual task onto our people when we can automate them which is going to free us up to go do more human things.
And the next one, our last season, we talked a lot about trust based philanthropy I'm highlighting MacKenzie Scott and just all of these unrestricted gifts and what runway that gives people. But a theme that I heard over this season with so many amazing leaders that we talked to was trust based leadership. And we specifically had two amazing board chairs on Mona Sinha and Tara Abraham's. And I was waiting for kind of this like secret formula that they were going to provide. This is a little bit of maybe naive of how to be a great board chair. They're like top 10, leadership nuggets, all of those things. And they both came in, and all they spoke about was listening, partnership, respect, communication, and trust. And they said, the basis of all of those collaborations between the executive director and the board chair, is mutual respect. And so I feel like that just like pushed everything out of my brain of expecting the checklist and everything you need to do to be a successful board chair. And I feel like throughout a lot of the episodes this season, we saw trust based leadership coming in as paramount moving into the future.
Can I tell you just an observation I had about just interviewing Moana and Tara just so closely back to back, they dispelled the power dynamics that I feel like I always saw a nonprofit with board. I couldn't believe how generous and gracious they were to listen to their EB to just ask how can I help but it was just a completely different mindset, I think, than what I'm used to seeing. And I think that needs to be our future. When we're talking about volunteers and board members, and people who are leaned in at a high level, the equity in those partnerships has got to be equal. And if there's an imbalance where your board member has way more power, you don't feel like you can talk to them about different things. I just think this is the future for us equitable partnerships with volunteers, and if they are based in trust, the equity is so easy to give, and the conversation is so wonderfully open and wide. And we're collectively moving in the same space. I'm here for it.
And we're that's just two conversations with board chairs. I think we heard that with leaders to talking about their teams, and especially with remote work, especially with the conversation with innovation. So many of these leaders use the exact word trust with their teams on how you become an innovative nonprofit is to trust your team to try things. That's what we talk about all the time. So I would just encourage everyone moving into the new year, whether you're a leader or a board chair, whatever your position is lean into that trust based leadership and Mona and Tara's episodes are a great place to start.
Agreed. I mean, those conversations still feel so close, even after it's been a few months since we recorded them. So okay, do you remember when Dr. B came in the house,
I was ill prepared for how amazing she would be
talking about evolves leadership, you know, but Dr. Virtuous Albert, really one of the most formative conversations to me of the entire podcast since we started, she started p four h global, and they do a lot of work in Haiti, training up teachers in the community, because there what that unlocks, but her story, the trend that I want to lift the doctor be brought to this house is we need to keep our compassion in check. And she came into the house and saying there's danger in compassion, because her story was coming up and showing up with the best of intentions to Haiti with like suitcases full of clothing and supplies, was all the right intention and all the right deliver all the wrong delivery of tactics, and just unpacking. How do we come into this with curiosity, centering community centering dignity in our work, and how that changes, you know, and how we need to be open handed to what shapes our mission delivery takes to basically center the people at the at the very center of our mission that are we're trying to serve. So one of these quotes that makes you kind of shaking your boots a little bit and you're like, you know, questioning different aspects of life. She said in Episode 304. When it becomes more about you and what you want, and how you feel and the actual change. That's when there could be a savior complex. And you know, she kind of dismantled a lot of that, but it's a conversation that I'd encourage you to go back to and sit with and just reflect on how your program is being delivered. Because she's so humble and so just kind of lights away, generous with her, and then you gotta go find her on Tik Tok and you gotta go find her on Instagram. If you want to see how an evolve leader is showing up and dispelling myths on the daily. That's Dr. Bertram Albert, so we're super fans of her.
Okay, we got to talk a little bit about culture and if you've spent any length of time in the We Are For Good community, you know that we don't have a pillar For Dei, because it is baked into the foundation of every thing that we do. And we don't think that dei work diversity, equity and inclusion work. We don't think this is a trend. We want this baked in to our culture at every level. And the trend that we really saw lifted this year was, don't just move the needle on this, change the culture. And I know that is a big ask, but we talk a lot on this podcast about 1% shifts, this is not something we want a 1% shift on. We want people buying into the idea that inclusion, diversity, equity, justice, all of those things need to be represented in our mission, because we are fighting for those things on the front lines, not just with our beneficiaries, but with our staff, with our people. Everyone deserves to feel that sense of belonging and someone who I thought just really expressed this well, it just set the tone because she was the one that said get rid of the needle. We don't need to look at the needle, we need to change this culture. It was all in Nikkei, a Mensa. And she talked about D biasing the workplace and how do we create safe working environments. This was an episode 310. And one of her power quotes that just resonated with me as she said, you have to plan in advance ways to catch and mitigate bias in everything, not just in hiring. And she breaks that down in that episode. And I think a beautiful way go back and check that out. And the other person I thought who expressed this so well was otusa. EADS and she was episode 312. And she talked about how do we build equitable systems within our organizations to grow impact. She said, when it comes to D ij, you have to look internally first, it takes looking at ourselves to really do any impact in the workplace that hit us right between the eyes. So before you start pushing out any sort of dei or social justice language, we got to look inside, we got to look at our people, we got to look at our boards, we got to look at our organization and say the work needs to start here because once it is baked in to the DNA of the organization, that's going to be such a natural output in your content in your engagement and in your fundraising strategies.
And I'm going to round us out with the last one and probably my favorite one is the rise of collective giving, or giving circles. So we were so excited to interview SATA lo Moline in Episode 307. And she talked about the history of giving circles and it was right before her big TED Talk came out. So I felt like we got kind of like a behind the scenes look at what philanthropy together is working on. And I just love this rise of collective giving and giving circles because I feel like it's formalizing what I saw growing up or just the philanthropy that I was familiar with. Because everyone my age, we grew up with GoFundMe, we grew up with donating our birthdays for causes. So I've given to my friends causes since I was in high school. And so it's really refreshing to see that this is kind of taking center stage. Because it's just eliminating these power dynamics and the formality of galas. And all these big events that a 26 year old like me may not have $200 to spend to go to a gala. But if I had a giving circle in my community, that's exactly the type of giving people my age not trying to generalize, but people my age would probably be interested in because it centers community its centers giving through collective values. And so it was just really amazing to hear what philanthropy together is working on. So go back and check out episode 307 If you're interested in starting one.
Taking a quick pause from today's episode to thank our sponsor, who also happens to be one of our favorite companies Virtuous. You know, we believe everyone matters and we've witnessed the greatest philanthropic movements happen when you both see and activate donors at every level. And Virtuous is the platform to help you do just that. It's so much more than a nonprofit CRM. Virtuous helps charities reimagine generosity through responsive fundraising, volunteer management and online giving and we love it because this approach builds trust and loyalty through personalized engagement. Sounds like Virtuous might be a fit for your organization. Learn more today@virtuous.org or follow the link in our show notes.
Hey friends, have you ever thought about starting a giving circle you know where you team up with others in your community to pool your dollars and time for causes that you care about? Our friends at philanthropy together are leading a movement to diversify and democratize philanthropy, and we are here for it. They start new giving circles and help existing giving circles throughout.
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So, okay, we want to transition because those are some trends we saw. But we also want to just like, leave you with some ideas, as we're looking at 2023 What are some really big things we want you to remember? And I'll start y'all is, everyone is a philanthropist. And I'll say we've been saying that for at least the last, I don't know, 15 years and our work, you know, but this year, and some of these conversations just confirmed more than ever, and really what we see happening, and I want to lift Alison Moore, she's the CEO of comic relief, one of the most incredible thinkers to that's really coming into this space with a media mind, that's disrupting the sector in the best of ways. And she challenged us with this quote, she said, when you say, democratize philanthropy, it sounds like a very fancy way to describe it. But it really means that you don't have to be a Rockefeller or Bezos to give anybody can give and make a difference. And she also shared that 75% of millennials describe themselves as philanthropist so Newsflash, they already think that, you know, and I think the stats are on GivingTuesday supported that too, you know, the millennials that were aware that this was actually a thing, they participated in it, the majority of them. So there really is this awakening happen. And I think what we see with Gen alpha is even more to that degree as well. And we can't talk about democratizing philanthropy without talking about our dear friend, Richie Kindle, you know, we don't even call him our kinship Brother, he is our Kindle ship, brother, so different ship brother, but he said this quote, and this love this piece, there are ways of being that are a balm for deeper structural problems in this world. And the balm for those are being a whole human being in your family, in your neighborhood, and in your broader community. So if you want a real challenging conversation that allows you to like zoom out and kind of consider the bigger things of life, go back to Episode 345. And I promise that conversation with Richie will realign you and kind of challenge you to think bigger, about what's at stake right now.
When I think about looking to 2023, I really want to talk about wellbeing. And I want to talk about mental health because the trend I want to lift is really leaning into vulnerability and balance within your teams. And we have heard you friends, we constantly have an ear open, we have a channel open in our community, our DMS are always open. We're hearing your struggle with mental wellness right now of self care. And I think somebody that really brought it home to me was Dr. Taryn Murray stay schools. She was episode 334 And a part of our mental health week. And she was really focusing in on the power of resilience. And something she said that resonated, she said, the bigger the gap between the inside self and the outside self, the more energy we're gonna burn, because we're essentially running two versions of ourselves. We're running two separate operating systems simultaneously. Are you feeling that friends, because I can tell you, I'm feeling that right now. And it becomes such a hard thing to manage when you're trying to manage these two. So we're saying, let's do some work. Let's lean in and talk about how we're feeling. Let's ask for help. Let's check on our people. If they're not okay. We need to find ways to show up that are supportive. We can all be a light to someone else. And I think Matthew Helmer, we've talked about the DRGs unicorn, Matthew Helmer, whom we love so much, he gave this really great mic drop moment on his episode 349. He said, The antidote to exhaustion is not necessarily rest. The answer to exhaustion is wholeheartedness. The things we do half heartedly wears us out. So my challenge to you in 2023 is what fills your cup. What brings you to a sense of wholeness and wellness, make space on your calendar, and my say calendar and air quotes like that could be your weekend, that could be your evening to pour into those things and fill your heart back up. Because self care is a human right. And it is the most important thing that we can do to make sure that we're showing up for our missions.
I shared that Matthew quote with my roommate, and we talked about it all the time ever since. So I love that one. And the next one, the next item that we want you all to remember, it ties in with this because it has to do with vulnerability and authenticity is to share your story constantly and authentically. We could probably go back and tally up on how many times throughout the last season we heard the word authentic, and it would be off the charts. Obviously we love talking about marketing, storytelling, digital strategy, and we had a ton of solid episodes that built the case around why it's crucial to lift your head up from the busy work and share not only your mission One story, but your personal story that connects to it, because we can just see that that is a magnet that's drawing people to organizations. And so Rafi Norbord with Nexus marketing joined us finally in Episode 301. And he built the business case for why you should be leaning into marketing, which I really loved because sometimes we live in the theoretical land. And he gave us the business case for why why you should be leaning into SEO. So definitely go back and check out that episode. And tie spells who we met in Denver with stand together Foundation, we got to meet her in person. She talked about storytelling, and she shared individuals can't join in or work towards or connect with you in community or your work if they can't see the vision. So if you're not constantly sharing that vision, sharing these stories, you can't just expect these donors and these volunteers to show up at your doorstep. And then finally, Julia Campbell and Episode 358, on our habit series, she shared that it's so important to bake storytelling into the daily culture of your organization and build that habit. So her and Becky and jawed y'all were, that was one of the like we could have, we could have gone for three hours, I think on that episode. But y'all talked a lot about bringing stories into every conversation, whether it's a team huddle, a donor meeting, a board meeting, and something that actually just happened a couple of days ago that I started to notice, a lot of the thought leaders or directors of organizations that I follow, and some actual donors to have been sharing a little bit behind the scenes of maybe struggles of their organization of how they maybe had wished that they had reached a certain dollar amount by now 10 years in or when they when people ask about their impacts, they say I thought we would have been doing a lot more by now. And I found that I, I trust them even more by the way that they're sharing, but that they haven't met their expectations. Exactly. And so as a donor, I think I always thought, at least when I was in a fundraising shop, that everything needed to be buttoned up so that your donors thought everything was great. But some organizations that I'm a donor to I'm more attracted to them sharing and like allowing me to be a part of that journey with them as a donor. So don't be scared to even talk about the messy stuff in your organization. Because just from the perspective of a donor, I feel like it's made me trust them even more.
I agree. And it like it emboldened people to be deeper fans for you. And this happened to me today, with Tammy Tibbett, she posted something really, that's the one thing that was like, Oh, my gosh, I just want to support them with everything.
Like I want to be a part of that moment when they celebrate what they're searching for. So I
think, Well, okay, this leads to the fourth one to round out what are things to take with you. And if we were to rename our company, I kind of like this is what we would rename our company because I just believe it, bones. But community is everything. We are not getting tired of saying that because we believe it more and more every single day. But it's not just us saying that I mean, people that we deeply respect and look up to are saying this, and they're finding research that backs it up. And so I think of Nathan Chapelle, who came on with the launch of their new book, The generosity crisis. And they really looked at retention as it relates to community connection. And it's like, nearly doubled. I mean, retention is at 70%. For people that feel a connection to the organization, you know, what's industry standard is around 40%. So just the thought of the more we can build this radical connection, that way we can lean in authentically, when you start stacking this together, you get surrounded by people that don't will not let you fail as a mission. And then Richie Kendall, he's got to bring it home with this quote of you can grow your brand, not by extracting value out of your community, but instead by providing value to your community. And I hope you feel that in this place. That's what really drives us to wake up and pour into this and have these conversations. But when you deliver value, it really does create this reciprocity in this just incredible aura that surrounds community that feels poured into that they want to pour back in and all the different ways other channels that will unlock. And so I have to emote, because we get the chance to hug a lot of next this year. People on Zoom, you know walk up and be like, Oh my gosh, you're so much taller than I thought you'd be on Zoom. You know, I never kind of fun moments. Can I just say, of all the times that we get to meet somebody that we've only met virtually, and we haven't known for more than a couple of years at most at this point with this journey. I never felt surprised like I always felt like wow, this person is exactly how I thought they would be because the community surrounding this movement is so deeply authentic. And there is power in building digital community. Like I really believe in the power of it. And I think it can be revolutionary if you haven't poured into that at your mission, like what that can do and the relationships and the personal development. betting creates is just through the roof. So community is everything we're gonna keep saying it, I guess we should stick for we're for Good is our name, but I still love
as a marketer, I like them both. But I want to I want to just share something personal that I saw happened last week, we were in New York City, we're at this great event with Salesforce, we gathered probably, I don't know, 10, maybe a dozen of our friends came from all the boroughs of New York to have dinner and drinks with us. I mean, we have people coming from Sussex, New Jersey. But the coolest thing wasn't just the hugging of next and the meeting in real life, it was sitting back in the chair, and watching them understand and get to know each other, to get on their phones and exchange LinkedIn information to talk about their dreams and the things that they were working on and hearing somebody say, Oh, I know somebody that does that you should talk to so and so in the spirit of generosity, and that's what I want to say about community as everything as you're building a community, however, that looks to you and your mission, we have sort of an internal value hole that We Are For Good that if we can be generous, we're going to rise to that challenge. If we can give a little bit more, we're gonna do that. Yes, we're balancing that with our mental health right now as well. Because we know there's a lot of need. But I just think if you can walk into life, not just in your business in your work, but the way you show up generously, that is going to come back to you in so many ways, and it will leave ripples that you cannot even imagine in your week. So that would be the thing that I say with center everybody as you move into 2023. And you're really all about embracing community. So we've talked a lot, we've given a lot of episodes here, but you know, we got to finish it up with a one good thing. So I'm going to put John on the spot, and I'm going to make you go first, John, what's your one good thing is we kind of wrap up season six?
Well, I think I'm gonna do what I always get guests in trouble for when you can have like a twofer. But I feel like they connect. But like there's so much power in belief, you know, and there's a lot of days I remember starting we're for good that we sat around right here in this office and looked at each other. And we talked about our impact uprising as our vision. And we're like, you know what, as crazy as it seems, I believe it. And I look back now. And I'm like, that belief is truly what has driven us to do this. Because when you believe in something you show up differently, you show up at a different level for it like you're all in. And this Will Rogers quote I ran across this season and I saved it in my Google Doc, if you'd have a Google doc of your favorite quotes, like start this today, this changed my life. So there's a three for but here's his quote, know what you're doing. Love what you're doing, and believe in what you're doing. And I feel like if you if those things are in alignment, and really showing up with belief that it's possible, like you'll never even grasp, like what could be unlocked. And I feel like that's true playing out in front of us right now.
Wow, Mike drop with that, John. Excellent. Julie, what about you?
So my st. I moved to New York City in June from growing up in Dallas and spending a lot of time in Oklahoma with these two and at school. And my like saying to myself, the last five ish months has been look up. One because I'm five, three, and I miss all the beautiful tops of the buildings here because I'm trying to shuffle my way through a chaotic city. But generally in life, I am shoving my way through chaoticness. And so it's kind of started off just as lookup to take in my surroundings of a new city. But it more so has been look up to embrace where you are in life. And I think nonprofits especially like write this on a sticky note. Because you're probably in the hustle of year end. And if you just look up and celebrate the last 12 months, you probably will have a lot to be really proud of. And I'm really excited about moving into the new year. So don't forget to pause and look up whether you were short or tall, because it'll really send it to you and be really humbling. So minus look up.
We need to impart some of that wisdom and a we're for good. We need to put on the brakes every once in a while and look up. You know, I want to round this out with just a huge dose of compassion and love for everyone. You guys all know, I'm like deep Empath and I honestly need to love on people in my life to feel myself being filled up. But the thing I want to leave you with, with my one good thing is that self care is a human right. And this means that it is just making a practice of self care in your life. This is what I want you to do in 2023. I want this to be a practice centered around you as an individual. I want it to include the way you work, your nutrition, your lifestyle, your hygiene is the way that you process through your work. It's a practice of encouraging you to listen to your body and listen and recognize what Your own needs are and asking for help when it just becomes too much. And I just think that engaging in a self care routine is just been proven to reduce and eliminate anxiety and depression, it improves concentration, it minimizes your frustration. And at the end of the day, it gives you more happiness, joy, energy, and we want that poured into you. Because we know the more joyfilled that you feel, you're going to be able to pour that back into your mission into the people that you love. And I hope you're pouring that into yourself. So please make 2023 a time that you create rest,
holy cow, I don't know what we say after that. But that's not just a one good thing. It's like a call to action, you know, that all of us need to prioritize and lean into. So we do have a few calls to actions in addition to this, because you know, us we teach this thing we teach to always have a CTA, we probably hear this more than just about anything else. But we know we create a lot of content. And so if you feel stuck of like where to start, we've rounded up the top 15 episodes in terms of what you're saying by your downloads this season. And we've created a playlist and that is going to be linked in today's episode description are at the We Are For Good website.
And the second thing we want to say is we're listening community and we're an activating community. So when you get stuck, reach out to us, let us know what content would help you let us know what trainings and frameworks you need. You can reach us at Hello at we are for good.com or just you know, DMS we're so accessible, we want you to get unstuck.
And the last one is if you in the new year are looking for community, the invitation is always open to come join We Are For Good community.com If you're looking for people to collaborate with meet friends in your city and across the globe. We'll be hanging out in there and we'd love to see you in the community.
Y'all. It's been a year it has been a season. Like let us just in with gratitude and a heart just full of love for you all because you have blown our minds and what this community could be. We have seen it pick up steam in the last four months like you cannot even imagine not just in downloads but community engagement. If we can keep showing up generously for each other. I just think there is just no limit to what this community can do. I
feel so much gratitude for you being here. So don't be a stranger. Come find us. We Are For Good community.
Happy New Year. Have a great holiday everyone.
Hey, friends, thanks so much for being here. Did you know we create a landing page for each podcast episode with helpful links, freebies and even shareable graphics. Be sure to check it out at the link in this episode's description. You probably hear it in our voices but we love connecting you with the most innovative people to help you achieve more for your mission than ever before. We'd love for you to join our good community. It's free. And you can think of it as the after party to each podcast episode. You can sign up today at we are for good.com backslash Hello. One more thing If you loved what you heard today, would you mind leaving us a podcast rating and review? It means the world to us and your support helps more people find our community. Thanks friends. I'm our producer Julie confer and our theme song is Sunray by Remy Borsboom.
Today we're reimagining nonprofit professional development for good we are over the moon excited to announce the launch of We Are For Good PRO. Here you'll discover new workshops, live coaching and exclusive content added monthly investing yourself grow alongside community and take your mission to the next level. Learn more at We Are For Good pro.com
