2025 Social Impact Trends That Matter: Community is the Multiplier. (Floyd Jones)

6:23PM Jan 24, 2025

Speakers:

Jonathan McCoy

Becky Endicott

Floyd Jones

Keywords:

Community building

Floyd Jones

nonprofit growth

storytelling

social media

grassroots mobilization

donor retention

community-led growth

sustainable impact

engagement strategies

viral content

donor segmentation

deep relationships

consistent effort

transformation challenge.

Y'all, you know that we cannot talk about community as the multiplier without bringing in the king of community for good y'all, Floyd Jones is in the house. And if you are new to the We Are For Good podcast or the We Are For Good community, you just need to know that Flo Jo is totally our phone, a friend when it comes to building community, Floyd understands not just the human element, the strategic component, but the impact component too. And he is a New York City based speaker coach and community builder, and he helps nonprofits and purpose driven entrepreneurs grow their communities and achieve lasting impact. As founder of Floyd Jones enterprises and back black, an initiative that has helped raised over $2 million for black LED non profits. Floyd's providing the strategies to turn followers into loyal supporters and donors with over $40 million raised for grassroots organizations, Floyd has spoken at 100 plus conferences worldwide on storytelling, partnerships and community building, and has been featured in little known outlets like casual ESPN variety and sponsored by brands like Nike and visa. So Floyd is equipping today's leaders with the tools to amplify their impact and drive sustainable growth, he is going to bring you so much energy and joy. That's why Jones get into this house for like, what? Like, the 10th time you've been on the podcast? I don't know what it is, but it might as well be, hi buddy.

So you guys have been We Are For Good. If you aren't on this podcast journey, okay, you have been tracking my growth. I'm like, y'all saw me when I just got started. Y'all saw me when I was now. I'm flying as a free bird. Now. We are given. We are for growth. We are for growth. Somebody ABB always

be branding every time

we're gonna roll that one out. It's a new track. Get ready.

That's it. We'll sing the soundtrack. Incredible singer. But when we think of community, Floyd, your name immediately comes into the viewfinder, and we're looking at this sort of community first approach. And we know that community is everything. It's the final core value of our company. And we want to know why you think it's so critical for nonprofits and really purpose driven entrepreneurs to really seize hold of that community first approach. I

always say, people are your power. People are your power. We've heard of product led growth. We've heard of, you know, in marketing led growth, but really it's about community led growth, right? I always say people are gonna come for the thing, but they're gonna stay for the people, right? They're gonna come for the product, they're gonna stay for the people. They're when they're gonna ask themselves, do I see myself here for the long haul? Why am I here, right? Why am I a believer in your organization, right? Maybe they're gonna see a nice post that you post on social media. Maybe someone's gonna invite them to your upcoming event. Maybe they're gonna go to your Gala. Maybe they're gonna see a nice film that's gonna stir them. But what's gonna make them stay? That's what you have to ask yourself. What's gonna make them stay? How are you gonna actually bring them into the community for the long haul. That's the question you have to ask yourself in 2025 I said, 2025 your goals are gonna come alive. 2025 is time for you to thrive. But the only way that you're gonna do that is if you build for believers. Is what I always say, believers lead to breakthrough. That's why community is everything. Yeah.

I mean, we believe this, you know? I mean, not only do we bake it into like our we are for goods journey, but we learned while watching movements come to life, like it was the difference of actually being led by people as opposed to being like a top down kind of approach, like it's all in the grassroots mobilization. I gotta ask you, my friend. I mean, take us into a success story where you saw this happen, like when this approach really transformed engagement at our organization, when they leaned into community,

one experience so I was working with, I was doing, like a group coaching. And this organization, they're a Bird Rescue. And shout out to Barbara if you're listening. But this is a Bird Rescue, rare birds in Alaska. Mind you. And they are a small team, small staff, and they were talking about social media. And listen, if you're in if you're a grassroots organization, you probably have heard this song about social media doesn't work for us. What's the point? Why are we even going to invest more time into social media? It's not a thing for us. Y'all, they went to our webinar. Focus on social media growth. I kid you not. Put our strategies into place. Focusing on, hey, we're we always incur. I always encourage things like, you know, why don't you do a takeover? Why don't you actually bring people in to the rest you bring them into the shelter, right? Don't just give a fancy graphic. We love these platforms that have templates and stuff like that, but people want to actually be in it with you, right that we are in a time and space where we're inundated with content. People want the real thing. They want to know why are you doing this Bird Rescue? They want to know why you're actually saving these animals the way that you're doing it. Child, tell me why. They actually posted behind the scenes footage in their shelter. And the next day, that post went viral. And we're talking now they're like, over a million views on Instagram. On Instagram, I'm sitting here, like, huh, when I tell you, she messaged so fast, talking about it works. It really works. Like, because it does. It does. And as someone who has gone viral multiple times on multiple platforms, it's about we it's not just about me. It's about we do we will see themselves in what you are doing. Are you inviting them along for the journey? Are you actually bringing them on into the grander story of what you're trying to do so they can see themselves in your story? Come on, somebody. So that's an example that just happened.

I love that you brought up a bird example for the right, it is taking flight because, again, walking together. I mean, yes, all of it, but I do think that what you're saying is it's not just about the way that you connect. It's how you bringing people into the experience of your mission, the experience of your community. And that's when the multiplication effort really happens, is when somebody can to your to your point, they can touch it, they can feel it. They can have a heightened level of experience. That's not just something that I can experience when I'm Doom scrolling at night on my phone. And then the beauty of community activated means they're going to go back and they're going to tell their friends, and they're going to bring their friend to the next thing, and then they're going to be their friend is going to bring somebody else, and you see the ripple that just starts to impact, because you are building community with someone, not for someone. So I kind of talk about mindsets with this aunt, Floyd, because it's not like you can just wake up the next day and say, Okay, I'm just gonna, like, follow this checklist. I'm gonna, I'm gonna do all the things to community build, because there are some practices and shifts that have to happen internally to really take your success as a community builder to the next level. Talk about some of those mindset shifts that you see are really pivotal.

That is the word, because I was just talking to my friend about this. He is incredible. He runs an organization called ATL friends. They have like 70,000 followers on Instagram, and they're posting a bunch of their they're hosting a bunch of events across the Atlantic area. And we were just, we were at dinner, talking, and we were saying, people aren't willing to invest the time it takes for the community to actually come to life. So community is really becoming such a buzzword right now, but my question is, how are we gonna go beyond the buzzword? How are you gonna actually put the building blocks in place? Necessary for that to actually take place? I always say we have to create space for community and transformation to take place, right? But that takes time. It takes time you can't just snap your fingers and expect the community to grow. Snap your fingers and expect the membership to pop up. Stack your fingers and expect your donuts to be popping up and bring in other people. It takes time, and are you willing to put the time in so you can get the transformation on the other side right? And another thing I'd be asking people inspect what you expect. Inspect what you expect, meaning, if you want your members to continue showing up for you, are you showing up for them? Yeah, is it only something you're reaching out to them when you're asking them for some money? Is the only time that you're connecting with them when you want them to do something for you. Is the only time that you're posting online when you're asking them to take an action. Or are you actually telling a story? Are you inviting them into the process? Right? It takes time. I mean, look at We Are For Good, although we are for great. Now, come on, somebody, come on. Okay, right? But how long did it take you all to get to where you're at today? Right? Look at back black. We're raising millions of dollars for black led organizations. But I remember the and you know what? It's so funny because the first iteration of back that wasn't even back black, right? I started doing a version of this campaign back when I was at gift butter, and before that, back when I was working for nonprofits, I was mobilizing black LED nonprofits on my own. We're not new to this. We're true to this, right? So what you see, what you see now, is an iteration of all the different things that we did behind the scenes, right? What you see is what happened behind the scenes, right? And so people don't understand, if you want a community like what we're trying to build and what we have, are you willing to do the work that we're doing? But in your own context,

I just gotta say, I mean so much yes to this, but here's the deal. No no shade. If you don't like

community, thank you.

Like you, that's your choice, but you can't call it a community. And it's actually just like your lead funnel that you don't care about people, because it's not a community. Consistency breathes this, though, and that is like the play. I wonder, if you talk about just what's the role consistency and sustaining that engagement really means, because it is the long game, which is one of our values, too,

up for you. I mean, consistency is essential. I'm just dropping all these brands, but my good sis, Julie, my good sense producer, Julie was just talking about that. We both go to orange theory, yeah. And right now, in orange theory, there's something called the transformation challenge. And in the transformation challenge, it's like a six to eight week program that you have to go into. And you ask yourself at the beginning, do you just want to lose fat? Do you want to build muscle? But like, yes, that's a top line goal, right? But then underneath that, there are so many other different things you have to do. You got to go to specific amount of classes. You got to actually, what's my, what's my? Um, a body fat percentage. You had to actually make a real life plan to get there. And guess what? Y'all if All I said is, oh, yeah, I want, I want to. I want to have this goal. I just want to lose this fat. I always say a goal without a plan is just a wish. It's just a wish. And let me tell you, you can wish upon a star, come on, Disney, but if you want to actually see that wish comes to fruition, come on, somebody. It's gonna take work. It's gonna take work, right? That's the gap between a wish and the dream actually coming to fruition is the work. You know what I'm saying, and I love, love, love what you said, Jon, I love what you said about it's okay if that's not your goal. Like, it's okay if you wake up one day and you're like, Yeah, I'm actually not trying to do all of that. I'm not trying to be on I'm not trying to be, you know, connecting with people on the highs and the lows. I'm not trying to have no other people, um, make, uh, events and suggest things to me, like, that's okay. Be honest, though. You know what I'm saying. Be honest, because you don't want people to sign up for something that you can't deliver, and that's where consistency comes in. Consistency is all about proving and showing up over and over and over again, and being trustworthy and keeping your promises to your people, keep your promises to your people, so they can keep the promises to you.

Yes, and I got to throw in a little pro tip here, because I feel like you're managing expectations so well and community building that you should not start out community building doing 500 all the things, all the tactics, start small. Start small, with what can be habitual, what can be put into practice over and over that people can come to depend on. It doesn't need to be someone coming out, posting in your community, whether you have a physical community, whether you're building it on your socials, wherever it is, please don't over extend yourself. Which is going to get me into my next question for you. Floyd, well, I

was going to say one more thing on that that's okay. Becky, so many people fall in love with the end product, but I really want you to fall in love with the process. I want you to fall in love with the process, with the pushes, with the pulls, with the UPS, with the downs, all of those different things, right? I'm also a singer, if you couldn't hear me blabbing on. But one thing that we used to say when we were in school, when I was in college and we were going with rehearsal, they said, You love the show, but need to love rehearsal. And that's how I feel. I actually love rehearsal. I love going back and forth. I love creating a song. I love when I'm working on a talk, when I'm working on a speech. The reason why so many people, in my opinion, resonate with the things that I do when I'm giving a speech, because I actually enjoy writing a speech. I enjoy working on a keynote. I enjoy going back and refining and add but if you're not willing to spend the time to get there, right, that's what's gonna frustrate you, because you're not gonna get the same outcome every single time. You're not gonna get the end product, but you can commit to the process, right? That's all I was gonna say. And

the process is where the magic is. That's where the nuance is. That's where people tell you, Oh, this was my childhood dog who meant so much to me, why I'm connected to this animal rescue mission that you start sharing about some of that. And I think what, what I want to make sure that you're saying is that the process is going to build upon itself. It's going to deepen relationships the more that you go back. And so I really am loving what you're saying about go with the flow, and know that everybody is coming into your community with the exact same center on their heart. They love what your mission is about. So if we can wrap ourselves around that the end points from there are just whatever you can make it and so I really love and I liked what you were saying before, just about getting in a habitual pace. But something that I worry about when we talk about community building is that there is so. Much to do. There are so many different ways you can show up. There is so many different ways you could create a sense of belonging. But in this sort of fast paced world where Nonprofit Professionals impact enthusiasts, they're spending all the plates, how do we talk about burnout as it comes to community building? How do you guide leaders toward this sort of sustainable growth in the community, while all also taking care of themselves, not over extending themselves, not adding community on top to an already full plate for Nonprofit Professionals

in that especially community shouldn't be added on top, like if it's just something that you're adding on top, I don't think you're doing it right, community embedded within Right. Like, if you're not building with your people in mind, you're it's already, it's already gonna set yourself up for failure. Okay, so that's one. The second thing that I would say is pace yourself with everything. I mean, this year in particular. I mean, I've Jon and Becky are my friends. So you all know all of the different things that I had to traverse and all the different ups and downs. And so this year, I literally started booking my trips in advance. And one thing that I do is I actually color code my calendar so I can see when I have a break coming up. And I was like, Hold on, why? Why I got a break every month, and then I was, I started to feel bad. I was like, Oh, I'm going on here. And not everyone is like me going abroad, right? But, like, I have a quick weekend trip here, or a quick thing here that I'm doing here, but now I'm giving myself something to look forward to, so I can actually put on the, put on the on the gas pedal, where I'm in the, in the midst of things, you know what I'm saying? So yes, that's, you know, actually taking physical rest and going somewhere. For me, I also realize that quality time is my love language, so I built in quality time, right? I'm making sure that I'm spending real time with the people who I love, so I can get my cup filled up again, right? So that's a couple practical things. Let's talk about in your work. If you don't put down all 5011 goals that you have set this year, let me tell you that right now. Okay, I don't want not. We're not doing 11 million resolution. I want revelation in 2025 okay, less resolution, more revelation, meaning what is going to change, right? And how are we gonna sustain that change. It's not gonna happen by doing 22,000 things. So now, one of my biggest things that changed when I turned 30, to be perfectly honest, was me setting less goals and being okay with it. Like, literally, these past couple of years have been me being like, you know, I'm gonna set less goals. I'm okay just handling that one thing, and I'm gonna do that one thing real well, and I'm gonna see that one thing real through. But guess what, when I did that, and when I lean into that, now we're getting six figure grants for my organization, not just quick little things, we're getting real sick. Because, guess what, when I go to a funder, I said, I only want to do this actually, like, I'm only going to accomplish this one both. And they're like, Wow, we want to partner with you on that. That's why I always say alignment determines your assignment. I always talk about donor retention. I'm just going to get real practical, right? So many times we said, I want to start the monthly recurring giving program. I want to get a major donor, I want to get corporate partnership, I want to get the grant, and yes, I want those things for you too. But how are you doing on it currently? So here's, here's what we're going to do. We're going to we're going to do some donor segmentation. And I know segmentation ain't sexy, and a lot of people say, you cussing at me. Now I'm going to say, we're going to focus on the donors who are actually giving me between XYZ amount and ABC amount, right? Why not? Because that number is more important than another number, but because the data is telling me I have a I have 60% of my donors are falling in this bucket. So I need to know who are these people, who are these people, and how do we go deeper with these people? How do I cement their commitment to these people? How do I say, Hey, I noticed a trend. I noticed that you've been giving a specific amount for the last three years. How do we just make it official? Let's let's start dating. Let's make it official. Can you do a monthly given now, you know what I'm saying, but you're only gonna do that when you take time to actually know your people. So pick one thing. Where are you going deep in your in your development operation this year, where are you going deep in your marketing operation this year. Where are you going? Deep in your program and volunteer recruitment operation this year, right? And when you go deep, that's what you're going to see, deep results, yeah, right. That is what community longs for. It longs for a well, we don't want no puddles, no more, what? Okay, we want depth this year. All right, that's what your community needs. It craves depth because that's how you're gonna build deep relationships, that's how you're gonna get deep commitment, and that's how you're gonna get deep community. And results, boom.

I mean that alignment is everything, because you have that clarity, the things that are inevitably going to come at you are either gonna fit with that or not. And it becomes so much more clear as those things start to come in and as the challenges kind of arise. So I love that. I mean, Floyd, you've got pro tips for days. You've built a lot of communities. You come alongside organizations to help them build. What are some rapid fire like, what is on your mind that you want to say, do this in thinking about community building this year as a great multiplier.

So I the thing that popped into my head was the four seeds of community building. If you know me, you know I love alliteration, you know I love some that can help you remember. So that's all I have. But for me, I started thinking about this model when I started thinking about donor acquisition and bringing donors deeper with you, right? And a lot of times when we're thinking about the traditional model, it's all about going getting your donor to give more, right? We're always thinking about how to get your donor to give more, and how do we get them to operate more and just continue? And also, the thing is, we put the gift on the pedestal, right, like the gift is the highest goal. But I'm like, No, I want you to go deeper. And so that's why I thought about the four Cs of community building. Are you ready? Come on now. You ready? Come on now, go first. Is catalyst. How are you capturing the attention of the people? If you listen earlier in this conversation, I've talked about the example of social media, right? That video going viral, that's a catalyst, right? That's gonna bring people in the door. That's gonna say, Okay, we want to know what's in store for us now that we're in this journey, right? You caught my attention. So maybe that's when you're making good media about your about your organization, you know, maybe that's when you're making a good short film, that's when you're making your social media assets and whatnot, right? That's going to be a core component of your catalyst. Two is communicate. So now that you get them in the door, how are you communicating with them. And I'm not just saying ask them for donation, right? This is you telling your story. This is you hearing their story, right? This is you inviting them in. How are you getting in for a longer journey? And this is why Moves Management is incredibly important, right? And again, it's not just moving them up the ladder to a different donation. It's saying, how are we actually building a long term relationship? I want you to know what important events are in our cycle. I want you to know the important things that are happening, but I also want to know what's happening in your life, and me saying happy birthday to you, and me knowing what's going on with your community, with your company, right? So that's communicate. Three is convert. So now you're giving them the opportunity, right? You're saying, okay, hey, now here's what we want to get involved. One example of this that I love is not just invite people to a one, one size fits all thing. Maybe a person is better for the monthly giving, like I talked about, after you've seen them donate over a certain amount of time, you're inviting them to join a monthly giving program. Or maybe one thing that I used to do is I used to plan endurance fundraising opportunities. So I would invite people to, say, to go to do the New York City Marathon, right? Or whatever city you're in, if there's a marathon, you're inviting them in that way. Or maybe you're inviting them to join your board, right? You've seen them become consistently, give you some be a leader. So you're saying, Okay, now you're best here, but the only way you're gonna direct people to the right position is if you know who your people are, right? You have to know your people, to put them in the right position. Come on, somebody. And then the last C is catapult. So we had catalyst. Share the spark, communicate. Share what's going on. Convert, share the opportunity. And catapult is share the baton. Share the baton. Now the ball is in their hand. They're saying, I'm going to be a leader for your organization. Not only am I going to join your board, but I'm going to now be the board chair, and only a few people, a few people gonna get to catapult now. And that's okay, not everyone's gonna be the leader, but in the We Are For Good. Example, who's now running your city meetups, they're coming to you saying, we're ready. We want to lead this city meet up. They're saying, Okay, we want to leave this book club. Y'all just, just study. We Are For Good. Okay? They embody all my scenes. Okay? They just do it so perfectly. But when you see people who are so excited that they are now taking the baton on themselves, that they're iterating, they're ideating, they're coming to you with ideas, maybe you have a good community. That

is the master class quickly and succinctly on how to build community. Thank you for that breakdown, because something really magical happens at the end of that. It's not just the life the donor life cycle that we're used to seeing, you know, when someone makes a gift and we put them in the thank you and we put them back in. No, this is again, a multiplier, because when you get somebody that's asking you, you know, or giving you ideas, or sharing their story, they're at another level, and they're going to bring so many people into the love of your mission, whether that's online, whether that's telling them at the water cooler or maybe in their Sunday school class, wherever people meet. And so that is the long game play that we want to get you to flow, Joe, you are the master of community. We thank you so much. We gotta round this out with a one good thing bring it home, my good

thing for community. This hit me today when I was making my afternoon tea. Not you. No one starts out about a. By No one starts off as a butterfly. You gotta start as a caterpillar. That means you're crawling on the ground, okay? That means things are hard. Things are difficult. You're in the mud. But you start with a caterpillar, then you get into your cocoon, okay, then there's a the chrysalis, and all the things that hasn't happened. Then you gotta fight out of that cocoon. You gotta actually break out, go on YouTube and actually look what the picture is. You gotta fight your way out. Meaning, sometimes you're in your mindsets that are keeping you stuck, sometimes you're in situations that are keeping you stuck. Sometimes you're in piss that are keeping you stuck, and you're on people who are keeping you stuck. But baby, you gotta break out of that cocoon. You gotta break out of your shell. You gotta break out other things that are keeping you down. And you down. And you gotta say, 2025 my goals are coming alive. 2025 I'm gonna touch the sky, and then, baby, when you break out like a coon, then you are a butterfly, and baby, when you're a butterfly, that's when you're gonna touch the sky. That's when you can get to a new level. That's when you're gonna have the beautiful colors. And guess what? Those colors come from experience. The things that are on those wings, they come from experience. You wouldn't have those colors if you weren't on the ground first, you wouldn't have those colors if you weren't a caterpillar first. So baby, that's what my growing good thing is today, it's okay if you're a caterpillar, because soon you're gonna touch the sky.

Floyd jones.co, go check him out right now, my friend, just love the way that you love community. You love change makers. You make us all feel like it's possible, and get us recentered To how to take care of ourselves in this work. Always an honor to sit in your presence, my friend. How can people connect with you and what you're up to this year? Point us to all the ways

Floyd jones.co is my website and on all social media the Floyd Jones stay in touch with me. We got so many good things coming if you're a black LED nonprofit, if you're a change maker, a nonprofit leader, we got all the things for you. Floyd jones.co, and on social media the Floyd Jones

and not only is the content absolutely fantastic, but you get a friend and an ally in Floyd Jones. So please go connect with Floyd. He's extremely active on LinkedIn, a lot of the social channels. You are amazing, my friend. Thank you for coming in here and multiplying our enthusiasm about the possibilities of community. You make us see what is possible. Love you all love you. Back.