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Hey, I'm John. And I'm Becky. And this is the We Are For Good podcast,
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So let's get started. Becky, happy Friday,
Happy Friday, everybody. We're talking about community and doing this with you all is just so meaningful. Thank you for tuning back in to our nine trends that matter in 2023. We're doing this Friday series really diving deeply into those things that we think are really lifting, and presenting themselves as incredible opportunities to the nonprofit and social impact sector. And we are loving number five community is core. Because I mean, I gotta tell the story, John, we had seven core values to our company. We that's what we started in launched with. And about three months into the we're for good journey. I remember getting this text from John, it was like probably once a morning early, late, working really late trying to burn the midnight oil and work on consultant projects to fund this incredible community. And I get this text from John. And he says, I've been thinking about something. And he said, Have you noticed how community is just rising and baking into everything that we're doing. And I was like, actually, you're right, I see it in every possible way. And he said, I think we need our final core value. I think everyone needs to know that community truly is everything. And John, I don't know if you meant to do this, but you're literally repping that shirt, right now while we're having this conversation. But it is this awakening, and it's something we want to impart to all of you here that going it alone. And having control and trying to push out, you know, in a sort of one dimensional way your messages is just fighting against the grain in a way that that is not going to serve your organization and your mission to its fullest potential. We're all better when we come in with the spirit of openness and with community. And that's what we want to dive into today.
And what some tone setting for this because I'm sure no one was surprised that we wanted community to be in the trends because we would be advocating for that. Because there's the aspect of that the nonprofit missions closest to the communities they serve often are those that are most in touch. And you know, they preserve the dignity and really uplift the voices. But today, I want to talk about it from some different framing also, because community is getting traction outside of these walls to in the for profit corporate world is pouring into this too, which is interesting. I agree. It's gonna be part of the playbook that we need to pay attention to. But I'm seeing a lot of evolved new businesses starting today with this mindset of community is business. And we're not saying to try to like monetize people, you know, that's not the idea. But it's this mindset that if you gather people, if you gather audience, you gather influence, first, that your your product is going to be better, it's going to be more in touch and more in tune with the specific problem that you're trying to solve, it's probably going to be a lot better. This is why people want to build in public now. Because you don't want to do something behind a wall and then say, hey, it's here and realize it's so disconnected from what people want. And so if you even look at just you know how this plays out in today's world, you see these influencers that launch brands and are like million billion dollar brands, like seemingly overnight, but it's because they've been galvanizing community for years before that, that they're connecting on, like values, or maybe passions, or whatever it is that's bringing people together, so that they know, in to actively what's going to be in touch with their community. And so thinking about this conversation today as community is core, if we think about it in both of those lanes, that I think we can really unlock something really powerful here as we apply that to our nonprofit space specifically. Yeah, I
just think the philosophy of community building is no longer build it and they will come true community is building with people discovering solutions together that advance your mission. And you're really creating believers that won't let you fail. And we've experienced this firsthand with we're for good in our own community. We launched with our values, those things that were core to us. And then we learned that community is everything so our community has helped us see what's past trouble from a vision perspective. And our vision is constantly evolving, because we're listening to our community. And we want to stay in step with the believers of our mission. And so we get this question a lot like, how do I build community. And John, it's like, you don't need a crystal ball to do this, right? You just need to show up, you need to be yourself, you need to share those stories, you need to push them out. And then you need to receive them in because those value align people will draw in to that and activate.
Yeah, and like linking things together. If you've been going through this series with us, this connects really deeply to the idea of marketing as mission, which was last week's episode. But also think about the conversation with Christie Kern talking about ethical storytelling. She was really adamant of like, knowing what you stand for, you know, and like, what is the galvanizing threads. And as like, as we can live in and lean into those things, you're going to attract like minded people. But in that you want to create these spaces where people can show up and they don't feel threatened. But they feel belonging, they have integrity of just being around like minded humans. That is the secret sauce, at least of the We Are For Good community. I know. You can say community is one thing, but it's all in the one to one interactions, it's, you know, I've had a lot of conversations with people in our community to say, We that is not just another platform to just come hang with us. Because honestly, there's only so many hours in the day, it's a place for each everybody there to get to meet each other, you know, and that's what makes community dynamic is that you're not the most important voice in the room, you may have just been the first person to set up a table and pull the chairs around the table and set up the card table or whatever it looks like for your organization. But that doesn't mean that you're the only one that has a voice. And certainly not that would be you know, the opposite of community, that I think what
you're saying is it really resonates with me because you're giving community the gift of activation. And to do that you need to listen to their ideas, their challenge, their hopes, their dreams, you can we need to be challenged to show them how they can contribute to something greater than themselves. We need to share opportunities to engage. It's a very deeply personal thing. When you extend an offer to someone and say, Why do you love us? Why do you, you know, consistently show up, people want to share that story. And I can assure you, we want that unfiltered response, because buttoning it up, isn't going to create connection, sharing that raw emotion, whether that's the pain or the joy or the relief, whatever that is, it's real. And having that expressed through someone who is not on your staff, not on your board is a very, very powerful magnet.
I think Scott Harrison kicked off the season with this really incredible analogy, he talked about a barbell, because you can't just go out and raise 789 figure gifts that you know, they're exploring at Charity Water, you really, you know, donors at that level are also looking to be part of something that's bigger than just their one gift. And so in a lot of ways in the barbell, you have to grow this grassroots movement around your work. And that's going to help you ratchet up and go for these bigger gifts. Because it's no longer the sum game of one person. It's the sum game of like the collective energy in the collective community that surrounding your work. And so looking at it that way allows you to uplevel in a completely different way, if you don't really center community in the way that you're kind of growing and gathering people around your work.
Love that example. I think if you're looking for another case study in Episode 350, we talked to Rob Baumgartner with the Phoenix and this is just an incredible organization. It's a sober, active community that fuels resiliency, and they just sort of harness the transformational power of connection. And I think the way that they show up as human beings and it's like you don't even have to pay to come to their gyms, or to go on their outdoor adventures, all you have to do is show up and be 24 hours sober. And the ability for someone to walk up and greet someone and onboard them. You know, they've built this community on key ingredients of just personalization and allowing somebody to be seen and their presence is grown in 184 counties across 45 states impacting the lives of 162,000 members and growing I mean, that is a powerful community.
So powerful and this is not a new trend. This is something that has been in every episode so many episodes that we talked on the podcast so we've actually put together a full playlist if you want to hear this explored through a lot of different lenses. I mean, this includes from early early days of the year for good podcast talking to free mom hugs that's built community across the country in just different worlds and families and world. Yeah, all the way to Nancy Brinker. You know, who created Komen for the Cure to SATA Loma lien with philanthropy together and the incredible work they're doing just centering community style giving, you know, just with giving circles and really being champions to that movement. So lots of really cool episodes. If you're fascinated by this and want to get some different case studies. Definitely check out the playlist that's linked in today's episode as well.
I love that you brought up Nancy Brinker because, you know, we really like to pour in the voices of the community into these conversations. And she had this thought. And this was episode 249, if you want to hear about how she built Coleman, which is absolutely fascinating in a pre social media era, and she says one night, I realized and said to myself, the only way we're ever going to get our hands around this problem is by promising our community that we will erase the problem. And she empowered the community with that vision. And boy, did they show up? I think another great comment we received was from Marcia Henday. She's with Karen kine, which is this incredible Alzheimer's community in New York City. And she's sort of lifted that her community comes from the people who have placed trust in them. And I thought that was such a great value set, that when you build that trust, and transparency, people are going to come automatically, because that trust based leadership is already there, which again, is one of our 2023 trends. And I think one last comment that we got from Mahamadou demais, who is with this great organization, teaching language for the Senegalese people, he says, community is anywhere you choose. And I just have to say that really resonated with me. Because when you create a space with like minded individuals where they can come pour in, you give them content, you give them story, you ask for it back, there's a symbiotic experience that happens. And that creates the connection. And that connection is going to help them be a part of their giving identity. And so I just think that community is core is something that everybody, no matter how big or small you are, you can start somewhere and find those people who are very passionate about the thing you do
certain good. I mean, I love lifting these voices and just rounding out these kind of thoughts from the community, Sonia Perez Lauterbach, who is coming on the podcast and just a couple of weeks. Yeah, she talks about that a collective community approach is greater than rugged individuality, because we need each other. And I just think like, what a centering comment that this is no longer a strategy or tactic. It's also just the way we need to show up in life. And I think there's just a lot here. And so as we think about how do we apply this to our missions, and we've got a really Rockstar guest that's about to get ready for the energy. But let me just give you a couple of pro tips that, you know, I really see is if you're feeling like, I don't know where the community is around our work. Trust us. They're there, like the people are there. And so you just have to start looking and looking at your data, but start with the people who believe. And I know that you know, the data folks listening here can tell you maybe some queries to look at. We always like to think of data as that lane. But also like what's your gut saying, you know, the people that would lift off a prospect list are just the people that your your rabid fans, that would not let your mission fail that believe it just a deeper level, those are the people that really are going to be the frontlines of your community work that may be in your social followers, who's engaging or who's crowdfunding on your behalf, who's talking about you already online. Those are people that you could really tap and talk to about galvanizing your own community may look like monthly donors or people that are loyal donors, people that have given more than four or 510 years, maybe multiple times in a year, there's a lot of different ways to look at this. And you really want to think about less of what's the, quote, best practice, but what's right for your organization, you know, you know, at your core, who that is, and so start to tap those people and just have a conversation, say, you know, we want to create community, you know, we want to create a landing place for people to feel connected around this and, and just be open handed to how it can start to take shape.
I think I want to throw into more pro tips. Those are so great, John, because I do think the data and the ability to segment and actually see people and Lynn Wester talks about this beautifully and not valuing them just for the high level of comprehensive giving that they've given, but really looking at their behaviors, and tying those values to it can really uplift and build your community. I also think that leaning into innovation is absolutely key. Why? Because the world is a noisy and crowded place right now. Our good friend Jeff Rosenbaum was on the podcast. And he's such a brilliant marketer, an advertiser and he says, People are met with 5000 branded messages every single day to break through that noise you need to stand out. So identify what is unique about your organization and innovate from there. Don't rely on best practices that mean don't don't just look in your own sandbox. If you're in health care, philanthropy, don't just look at other health care philanthropies stretch out your net, look into for profit look into other sectors, which see the for profit business innovating this beautifully. And then fuel those believers with what you can is that tech, is that something that's a really creative storytelling gathering tool. We think there are ways to bring in community that's gentle, that's personal. And that leads me to the last one which is just caring for people at the core community, we're talking about people, personalization and seeing people who for who they are is extremely powerful. We've seen this working, you know, for and we're for good. Because we've applied some of these kindergarten principles, which seems super basic, can we talk about that of just being kind playing nice in the sandbox listening? Well, sharing what you have. It's not rocket science to show up generously. We know that we work in this sector, and we see the power of it every single day. So make sure that you're being human, you're showing empathy. And in the process, you're going to create something that has this cascading authentic effect that's going to build rabid fans who again, are not going to let those that mission fail. So get into your DMS, respond personally to all those emails that come in. Thank anyone personally, who's filled out a survey or come to an event. And don't be afraid to text someone, something kind, maybe a feel good story, something that showing gratitude. The thing that we're saying here is connect and connect authentically.
I mean, Becky, my heart is full talking about community. But I mean, this is truthful. If we think about community, there is somebody in our space that we've met, that just embodies this and we've gotten to hug his neck in person, we know him and this is just how he exudes how he shows up in life. And that is Floyd Jones. And we have invited Floyd to come back to the podcast to talk community is core. And you know, he serves as Director of Community and partnerships over at give butter, which is this incredible organization that centers community not only in just the way that it fundraisers, but the way that it shows up and teaches and just has embraced us as a company too. And so Floyd's passion runs deep and his love for community is even deeper. So Floyd, get back in this house. We are so excited to have you here. Whoa, Joe,
in the King of community, welcome back.
Thank you so much. Listen, I feel like if we were in real life, I would be like knocking at the door. Like, let me
look, we're like, You got to stay in the green room for just a second. Right? Right. Right. This was a trend of ours, and probably to the surprise of nobody, because community is not only built We Are For Good, but it's given us our most meaningful experiences in life and nonprofit. And I think those that center this and do this well, are those that are getting a ton of traction now and have a lot of meaning coming out of those movements, too. So I want you to tone set for us, you know, we call we're calling this trend community is core. Talk to us about this moment we're finding ourselves in and just the community, the importance of community, in our lives and in our organizations.
So good. I think you know, I love that question. Because I think often about what does community mean today, right, especially right now in this post pandemic world, and where you turn the TV, and it's like, so another thing has gone awry around the world. And, you know, one of the I was listening to a PBS article, and it was actually published only a few weeks ago. And one of the things that they were saying is that a lot of studies now even showing that in America alone Americans are some studies or some rates are up to 60% are reported that they're feeling lonely, right? And at the top level 36% are saying feeling extreme loneliness, right. And it's so interesting, because I feel like there's such a dichotomy, right? We are in the most connected time in history, right? We are in the most connected time in history, when you walk around with your cell phone, right? You have like a mini computer in your hand. Right? So anytime you go online, you can know what's happening on the other side of the world, yet we live in the most disconnected time in history. And this is a dichotomy. This is such a dichotomy. It feels so strange, because you can order food, literally with two clicks, but you can't find a friend in that same amount of time. Right. And so it's so interesting, because people are feeling lonely, depression rates are higher than they ever have been. Suicide rates are higher than they ever have been right. And then I also think to myself, that our nonprofits and our communities and our social change makers, and I'm like, why are we still complaining that we can't find volunteers? Why are we still complaining that we can't find people to come to our events? Why are we still complain that we don't find have listeners for our content? Why are we still complaining that the people aren't there because the people are there and the people are asking to be met. But my question to the organization is, are you listening? Are you listening? Because people are asking, not only are they asking, they are crying out, but so many of us have shut our ears off. We're focused on the next dollar. We're focused on the next grant deadline. We're focused on the next dollar. Right, but are we focusing on the next person who needs us? Right? And so that's the dichotomy and the shift that we find ourselves in. And the thing that keeps racking my brain is how do people say that they don't have enough when we are there's an abundance of people who need us, right. And so but I also think that there's hope, right, there's hope because we take a step back and we look at the data right? We also see peer to peer giving trends are on the rise, right? We see digital giving trends are on the rise. Of course, I'm a fundraiser at Hearthstone, I bring it back to the fundraising. But what that tells me though, is that there are still contingent people who are reaching out, there are still contingent people are saying, hey, I want to invite you in. Because so many times we think that fundraising and marketing is just about the next number. It's just about getting more engaging more, right? But what the change, right and the way that organizations that are thriving right now, they don't think of it like that. They think of, hey, this isn't me inviting you into something bigger. This is me inviting you into a deeper community. This is me inviting you into something that's bigger and beyond ourselves, right? You cannot attach yourself to a mission. You don't have to sit in the silos, you have to stay on the sidelines. You don't have to be lonely anymore. You can come and be a part of something bigger and better and bolder than yourself. So my question honestly is, are you listening? And if you are listening, how will you respond?
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You're right. And we're seeing this in the data. I mean, I saw this week, you know that Twitter just had the biggest drop off of new users that it's had, you know, in almost a decade, people are shrinking their social circles, they are running away from negativity and and derisive sort of content and behavior. And I just think to myself, nonprofit, this is your time. Because if we can center communities in joy, and belonging, and wellness, and celebration, and of here's a need, and here's how we need help and hear how you're a part of it, we have the opportunity to be that epicenter of joy and connectivity. So thank you for tone setting with that. And I'm wondering from your vantage point, because I just every time you're on, we get all these messages. And people are talking about I love Floyd's energy, I love his positivity. And I think that's what you need to have a community that's baked in something that is bigger than ourselves. So who's doing this? Well, Floyd, like when you look around? Who are the rock stars that are really building up community right now from your purview?
That's such a good question. Really quick, I want to I'm going to answer that question. But one thing that you were just talking about was the idea of choice, right? And people are leaving organizations or leaving platforms or leaving specific things. And the thing that I keep thinking about I read a stat the other day that some 86% of Gen Z wants to get involved. They want to actively volunteer, actively spend their time doing that's making an impact and making a difference. And that trend is just going to continue to rise, right? Look at how people are spending their dollars, it's no longer important to say, oh, yeah, we're gonna give a grant or something like that. No, we want to actually say where are you putting your funds, put your money where your mouth is, right? And when you do that, then you get to the dollars flow, you're gonna see the people actually come on board, right. And so I think it just so it's so interesting, because they're like we said, there's this whole people want to fill that. But it can be us it can be we can do that. And I think an organization that is doing this so well. They're gonna laugh if they hear this because I shut them out literally all the time. But the whole booth, they're based in Atlanta, they're my one of my favorite, favorite favorite organizations. Check them out, check out their visionary and CEO there. They're just doing something amazing. And the thing that is so beautiful. They're creating these actual booths, like actual real booths, and they're putting them on college campuses. They're putting them in cities across the country. They're putting them in hospitals, and you can actually go In and you can hear an amazing spoken word poem. You can hear a performance, you can hear poetry, but you can hear stories of hope. And it's taking off, it's going viral. If you look them up online, you can see people talk about them literally all the time, they've gotten celebrities and say, you know, important artists and stuff like that involved. And it's so beautiful, because the thing that I love is that we need hope now more than ever, we need hope now more than ever, and it's a simple solution that I say, we're going to come out here and cure poverty, we're not saying we're gonna come out here and end homelessness, they're saying we want to provide hope, one booth at a time. And think about the beauty in that if they like one spark, and this is why I show up and do what I do every single day, right? If I can flip the light switch up on my life, and it shines a light for somebody else, that now you can take your light and you can shine a light for somebody else, and you pass that light on. And pretty soon, there's not going to be enough darkness to contain that light. You know what I'm saying? All you have to do is shine. But shining starts with saying yes. Shining starts with saying yes. Even when it's difficult, even when doesn't feel good. Even when it's hard. You're allowing yourself to say yes to yourself. Right. And I think that the hope book, they said yes. And again, you know what, you know, I always have a CTA, if you're listening to this, are you gonna say yes,
I'm saying yes. Okay.
You already know.
I mean, I said this at the top of the conversation, but I think if we can get really clear about what we are for not just what we're against, but how can we galvanize people about that we are for these things, these causes this, this whatever we're trying to create in the world, people are attracted to that kind of vision and kind of uplift when we're looking for this. And so I think that I think that you're meeting the moment, but even in like the election cycles, it's like, I think we're most drawn to not what divides us. But what gets us excited of like, this future, you know, and I think of the campaign's that really united us around that how much more of an uplift that is. And that's what we can do. Like we are uniquely postured as missions that exist for the betterment of society and for humanity, we're uniquely qualified to be able to step into that power, we just have to actually, you know, orient ourselves that way and lean into it.
And if you need a starting point for that joy, where do I find the joy? Where do I find the hope? Start with your values. And let me tell you why. Because I love that you brought up Gen Z Floyd, because our reach search is showing that Gen Z doesn't care about your nonprofit, they don't care about your name, they care about the purpose, you know, they care about the cause. And so they may have, you know, an affinity toward Children's Cancer Research, you know, but St. Jude may not be the perfect candidate for them. But if you express your values and say, Hey, this is what we're about, we're about transparency. And this is what it should. And this is how it plays out. That is going to be a magnet to people who are looking for those value sets. And then if you can prove that you're living that way, that is going to create such confidence and trust. And I also want to lift one of the things you said that we lifted at the top of the hour, which is personalization of the one on one. This is why I love the hope booth example, because they take that question, and they socialize that one person to one. And we get we get a lot of pushback on this. If I'm being honest in the We Are For Good community where people say why are you meeting with people one on one? Why do you give up so much of your calendar time to meet with your community. And this is just something that we have done. And it's because when you see someone and hold space for them, you know, whether it's 30 minutes or an hour or 10 minutes, or whatever it is, there is a compounding effect to feeling seen, and to feeling that someone gets you. And guess what, just about everybody, we've talked to one on one, they've told at least five people about us, and the community grows bigger. And we love meeting their friends. And we love talking about how to make those connections. So I hope everyone is seeing how this is not just something that you build, and you check all the boxes, you've got to align your intentions, your values, those tactics and strategies, they have to be rolled up and you got to give that power to your people.
Come on somebody and I would. I honestly would hope speaking of Hope booth Come on somebody, I would hope that you would be willing to meet with your people one on one. Like I would hope that if you're not willing to speak to your donor who is like actually supporting your organization, and keeping your organization marching and helping you complete your mission, if you're not willing to meet with them one on one, then what are you willing to do? Like that's my real question. Because if we something that wraps my brain and I keep talking about this all the time is that organizations shouldn't exist just to stay open. You know, you shouldn't exist just to stay open. You should exist to accomplish a purpose. Right? And so many of us so many organizations, but also so many people are running around aimlessly feeling purposeless? Why do we feel purposes not because you don't have a purpose. It's because you're looking at Charity waters purpose, you're looking at another organization's purpose you're looking at so and so down the streets purpose. And that's what is leading us into this place that's also leading us into this desolate place, right. That's why we are the most connected. But we were also the most disconnected, because the connection isn't based off of authenticity, the connection is based off of the classes and you can switch your your next finger to right, you're looking at a next time, a newsletter and a new time feed and a news feed and whatnot. But what you should be feeding is your soul. What you should be feeling is what is inside of me, what you should be feeling is what what is actually happening inside of me. And why. Because when you tap into that deeper place, when you go into that deeper place, when you actually go towards what matters. That is when you draw people to you. Because people recognize real people want the real thing, they want to tap into what is honest, they want to tap into what is true, it doesn't matter if you're Gen Z or beyond, you want authenticity, you want to be seen, you want to be heard you want to be listened to and you want to know that what you are doing matters. And if you're only doing it for the like, if you're only doing it for the click, if you're only doing it for how many people are going to view me and see me, It's Uncle last
year for good podcast, that is all we need.
Right? I just think you're you're poking the bear, because these are some things that we feel so passionate about. But I think it's easy to want to model or replicate the thing that you see, when you realize it actually goes back to that core. You know, you could even put time on your calendar. But if you're not showing up to actually go and listen, it doesn't even matter. You know, I mean, the posturing to doing these things, is everything. We think of the iceberg a lot of just like what's happening below the surface is just as critical. So I wonder, let's start applying this to like someone listening today. How can you infuse this type of behavior, this type of belonging and creative community into a mission? How can we get activated today, Floyd?
I mean, it starts with the one like you guys started me on something that I'm just like, I can't stop now. But it starts with the one right? So I am the Director of Community forgive butter, right and give it our has over 15,000 active users over 1 million change makers, people who've made donation centers. Right, I still meet with organizations, one on one, I still talk to them one on one, we just launched, we're getting ready to launch a peer review board where we're going to actually have nonprofits come and speak to us and talk to our product team, our engineering team and saying this works, this doesn't work, right? If you are not connected to your customer, if you are not connected to your user, if you're not connected to your community, actually at the core, then it's not going to work because you're not building for them at that point you're building for yourself, right? So stop what you're doing. If you're looking for how do I start building this community? Stop. Stop looking, right and start asking, stop looking and start asking because your people are right here. What does that look like on a tactical standpoint, go to your email, database, whatever email database you're using, and see who opened up my email, who actually opened up my email. Great. I just noticed this person, I hope you have a CRM, if you're listening to this, and this person, they open up multiple emails, right? One thing I love about get better. And this is not a given a pitch, I promise. But one thing that I love, and the reason why I love it is because we actually show you who is opening up your email and how often they're opening up your email. And why is that important? Because now you can go and reach out to that person directly and say, Hi, I noticed that you've been very engaged in my organization. And I want to get to know you on a deeper level, send them a letter, send them an email, send a text message, or whatever you need to do, send it to them, and reach out to them right? And then get you a list of 1015 20 different people who meet those criteria, right? If they meet the criteria of engagement, right? Then you email them and then you actually see who responds back. If you get 10 out of 20. That's 50%. Guess what just happened? You now have a focus group, you didn't even know you were doing it. And now you have a focus group because these people are saying I'm engaged with your mission. I'm engaged what you're doing. And now you're gonna go to that focus group. And guess what you got to do that focus group, you're gonna listen to them? You're gonna say, why did you get involved? What what do you like? What are the programs that you enjoy? What do you enjoy the most about our program? This is survey 2.0. Right? Because sometimes surveys you send out a survey just to send the survey and you never read those. You don't read those responses. Okay? Those are starting to sit in your in your in your Google Sheets, okay? All right. No, you can't avoid this. You can't deny this. Talk to them. Listen, learn and then have that impact your strategy, have that and say, okay, hey, this is my now customer profile. Okay, come on one on one. We're gonna get back go back to the basics. This is not my profile. This is not my target audience is the people who are actually in my community the most engaged and what am I going to do? I'm going to actually try to find more of those people. Okay. So where do these people hang out? What is people going to shop? What is what are their other their interests are right, you're gonna go and reach out to and you're gonna start building along along those lines. Why is that important? Because now those people have similar interests beyond your mission, and they're gonna find ways to go get together my beautiful my biggest thing is the best and healthiest communities replicate themselves, right? What does that mean, you now have sub communities, you now have sub threads in there, you're gonna have people who are doing things beyond you, you are the person who bring them all together, but you are not the person who are, why they're sustaining and why they're continuing. You know what I mean? That is what a healthy community is. And so if you want to start building a healthy, vibrant community that can expand, be sustained and scale, it starts with a simple ask. That's what I got for 2023.
I mean, such good advice. And I'll tell you, I feel like we're living proof, give butters Living Proof, we see so many communities that are doing this. And I want to give everybody some love about that. Don't beat yourself up that you know if this doesn't happen overnight, because I even think about the we're for good community, you remember how slow it was to build John, that was like total long game play. And then again, I would say like even in the last month, we've had two really incredible conversations with rabid fans who have come up that said, I want to I want to lead a we're for good, you know, book club, I would like to read lead a we're for good discussion, you know, community to go deeper on some of these really heavy topics and talk about what reality is like. And the last thing I just want to say on this is every single one of us who's worked in nonprofit, understood on day one, the power of listening, and the ability to listen well is a transformational quality. However, when you're building community, you got to take that 2.0 And you got to follow Floyd's advice, and you got to respond. And you have to listen. And when you respond, you respond empathetically, you will respond in a way that says I see you as a human being. So they don't think you're a little robot and AI robot on the back end that's automated, be human. And I guarantee you that community is going to feel it and they're going to lock arms with others. So okay, Floyd, we're wrapping it up here. You know, you got to bring it on home with a one good thing today, what would be your one good thing that you'd offer up to the community?
Well, besides you as a as my one good thing, come on somebody because that's yours, hearing about all the things and all the growth. My one good thing and like if there has to be one takeaway is just continue to listen, like I know that we talked about that throughout this throughout this, this episode. But it really, really, really is important. And it can be as grand as like what we're doing a gift butter and actually launching a listening, you know, you know, cohort and committee where we're actually inviting users in or it can just be as simple as inviting a donor out to lunch or inviting a constituent out to lunch and, or and speaking to them and hearing them. I really, really, really believe that segmentation is key segmentation leads to success, right? And the healthiest communities know the members in their communities, they know their profiles in and out, if I were to ask you, who is the typical, we're for good, or y'all it would take you 2.2 seconds. And you're not talking about a vision or a dream. You're talking about who was actually there. You know what I mean? I always say a story gets you started. But a structure sustains you, you know what I'm saying? You need that story to start the community, right? But if you're listening to this, chances are you actually have a community and you're questioning how do we grow? How do we get them to be stronger? How do we get them to go to the next level, right? And get them to go the next level by actually meeting them where they're at listening to them, talking to them, and actually letting them tell you what they want and inviting them in. Also, that's another thing I'd say is invite them in, right? We sit and we focus on here's my five year strategy, check out our annual report like getting that, okay. And I'm like, Oh my God, but my biggest thing is okay, hey, this is where we're hoping to go. But where do you want to go? Where do you hope to see this organization in five years? Where do you want to be? How do you see yourself involved in the mission of this in the next five years, right? That is how you get buy in. And that is how you really, really, really get more fans, more supporters and more people to help you go to the next level because you can't do it by yourself.
Flo Jo, you have got the magic. We love it. When you come in our house. You are just a wellspring of enthusiasm, joy, and really innovation and I think that that is absolutely key when building community.
You know, I this has hit me really quick and I have to say, what is the first word in We Are For Good? We Yes. And I one that's an I know that's intentional, even if you didn't know was intentional. I know it's intentional if I know you too, right. But you all You have to ask yourself, right? We is the key. We is the key. When you share your dreams and you share your host. It's the same thing as turning the light on, you're shining a light so that somebody else can start to see as well. And guess what another beautiful thing is that when you shine a light and someone sees a path, they can say, hey, I'm going in that same direction. Let's go together.
So glad we didn't call it John and Becky for good. Serving.
I can't wipe the chills off my arms. I mean, man, this has been incredible. And this is truly what I think of you when I think of community Floyd. I mean, you live this out it flows from you connect the dots for how people can find you online connect with all the cool things going on at get better to
so many good things happening I give but our go to get bro.com obviously, but another thing is we've been stepping up our LinkedIn community tenfold. So come and find me on LinkedIn, the Floyd Jones come and find me on LinkedIn. Let's get connected. We're gonna be chatting all things community every single week dropping new tips. And you can of course, when you find me you're gonna find good butter as well. So let's say connected let's join the fam. And let's get there together. My hope my dream, my joy, my job is to make sure that you get to the other side of where you're called to be. So come and join. That's good. Let's get together. Okay,
drinking that Kool Aid. Thank you my friend.
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