Hope is Alive: How Shoes That Fit Continues to Innovate to Reach More Kids - Amy Fass

3:08AM Dec 1, 2021

Speakers:

Julie Confer

Becky Endicott

Jonathan McCoy

Amy Fass

Keywords:

shoes

people

nonprofit

schools

community

amy

kids

mission

poverty

pandemic

story

donors

talking

child

impact

started

world

create

pair

organization

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, philanthropist, world changers and rabid fans who are striving to bring a little more goodness into the world.

So let's get started.

Hey, Becky, John, we're going back to California. We're going back to California and we get to talk about shoes today, like could I be more excited. And it's not even just shoes, every female in the world maybe except for our guest, who is a self professed does not love shoes. We love to buy shoes, it's just something fun.

And we just say okay, we I've got two sets of twins. And Becky loves to bring them gifts. And so she shows mourning, not even realizing the connection. But she walks in with a pair like sparkling high heels for one of my six year olds. And they were so alike elated.

And we like this is so ironic that this just happened this morning because we got to watch their faces. When they got in, I'm using the air quotes, a new pair of shoes. And that is the journey of what we're going to be talking about today. And I am so humbled to be able to introduce this incredible CEO and Executive Director, Amy fast is here with us with the incredible mission of shoes that fit. And so Amy's from the East Coast. She's living on the west coast, but she saw this incredible need. And here's the thing, and I'm going to let Amy break this down a little bit more when a family has to choose between rent, utilities, and food. I mean, they're not thinking about shoes, shoes are going to come last particularly as a family struggling through COVID-19. And so shoes that fit comes into that gap. It's a tiny gap, but it's a meaningful gap. And so we're going to talk about this incredible mission story. So, Amy, welcome to the we're for good podcast, we're delighted you and your mission are here. Oh,

I'm so glad to be here. And I just love the podcast. I love what you guys are doing.

I wonder Thank you. Well, we love amplifying incredible missions. And I think you know, a lot of our readers or listeners are here. And and they work in the nonprofit sector. But you know, we're all looking for something a little good, something a little uplifting. And I think you're gonna bring that story today. So you know where to begin, we want to know about you. So tell us how a girl from Baltimore gets to California and tell us about growing up and what led you to nonprofit.

That's a long meandering story. But the short short version is I was born in DC. I grew up in Baltimore, but my mom and dad both grew up in the Midwest, but all my summers visiting family in Iowa. freshman year in high school, my dad took a job in Texas, Dallas moved us all to Dallas. I ended up going to California for college didn't think I would stay here and here I am in Southern California running in a profit. It's absolutely not worth it. My life is going in no way did I think that any of these things going to add up? But that's what's so interesting to me is the way life uses everything you have in really interesting lies.

No, I mean, we completely agree to and it's so witness to that after so many interviews of hearing stories, that it's the little moments in our life that really come together. And when we can lean into that. That's where people's passion comes alive. You know, and I know that that is absolutely true for you just in the little bit of time that we have gotten to spend with you. Would you kind of give us you know, give us the big view. What is it? Tell us all things about shoes that fit? How did it begin? And what are how are the ways that you'll show up and serve today?

Yeah, so here's a bit started back in 1992. So we've been around 29 years now, October 30 anniversary, it actually started with a really interesting started with a woman who was working two jobs had to as a single mom had two kids. She heard a story about a little boy and Pomona who short version of the story even sent to the principal's office, complaining his toes had literally been turned under issues to make them fit. And the saddest part of the story. She was hearing us as you know, they took the shoes off, they massage his feet, but you cannot be in school without shoes. So they had to put those shoes back on him. LED I found it was horrified when she heard this but she also was not a person who had a lot of money to spare. She didn't really know how to help her first responses. Why didn't somebody just buy a pair of shoes and the school's responses. Do you have any idea how many kids we have in this kind of situation? That's really how we started so led worked at Harvey Mudd College here in Claremont. She got this idea took a little while to figure it out. But she thought, well, I can't solve this problem for these kids. But she put up a sign in the cafeteria, basically that saying if you want to make a difference in a child's life, buy one pair of shoes today. She convinced the school to give her The names of 40 kids just first name and shoe size. People picked up the cards within a day, all the cards were picked up within a week, they delivered 40 pairs of shoes. And that's how we started. And then we really spread family circle betrayed us. And it just spread like wildfire purely as a volunteer organization. And then we started getting some corporate partners involved, and it has just taken off, I say, we are just a simple concrete solution to a child facing poverty, you can make a real difference in a child's life. I mean, as you've talked about, on the show already, what shoes do to a kid to a person self esteem, but to a kid who's trying to fit in at school, maybe he's being bullied because he's wearing shoes that are falling apart. I know having moved around, but it's like to not be wearing the right things. But if you're wearing shoes that smell and have holes, you're going to hide, you're going to not go to school, you're going to act out. So we connect people with kids in their own communities, in school kids, and help them make a difference right in their own backyards.

I mean, already, I'm dead, because this mission is so powerful, and it's just gripping my heart. And honestly, the curling of the toes is probably what's going to stick with me in this conversation. Because I feel like I can almost see that and to endure that. And to have that as a permanent reminder of walking around of poverty is is a really painful notion. And I just love this about nonprofit, you can go into a micro space of need within the world and have such a tremendous impact. And I really you have such a breadth of experience in the nonprofit sector in fundraising. And I'm curious what you've learned about community based fundraising through this nonprofit, and maybe through any other places that you've been?

Yeah, I'd say there are two main things that I feel that I've learned. One is I really do believe people want to make a difference. I think most people want to make the world a better place, you want to leave it better than you found it, you want to feel like your life has had some meaning some impact. And I think people are somewhat distrustful of nonprofits, I think they have seen and I think sometimes it's overblown, but they've seen some abuse. So people really want to know where their money is going. So I think knowing that people want to make a difference, and then connecting them to a cause that they really their eyes light up for. I always tell people, I'm not looking for somebody who's doing great in some other area, I don't want to steal them and say, no, no dishes have been said, I'm looking for the people who are looking for some way to make an impact. But then I think you need to be really transparent about what you do. I think you need to convey the impact to the donors, so they know what they're funding and the difference that they've made. And I think you have to be really transparent about how you operate. Because I think it's up to us to create that sense of trust that together, we really are making a difference.

Yeah, I mean, I think you've got believers here nodding, too. I mean, it's very much an abundance mindset that I think is we all lean into the things that just we feel connected to are the causes that we feel that we notice, you know, in a unique way, I think there's just enough and I love these conversations, because it just grows my heart and belief of that, you know, because you've had such a tremendous career. And I know you've worked as a consultant, and you've seen a lot of different organizations as well, that you've started to pull some of your expertise together. And we hear you have a book coming out. So I'd love for you to kind of Canvas see it. Okay, give us the big view of what did you want to say, you know, there's a lot of books out there in the nonprofit world. What is it that you wanted to show up and really speak into leaders today?

Well, this was kind of my pandemic, baby. And I had to really be talked into it. I wasn't sure that I really had a book in me, but I had some people around me were like, no, no, no, you've had some unique experiences puts this together. So it's called the business of nonprofit. So it's really about running a nonprofit. And it's really a myth debunker in many ways, I think there are a lot of misunderstandings about nonprofits. Nonprofits are a huge business in the United States. I mean, there are, are over 10% of the GDP. I mean, it is amazing the number of people working in nonprofits, and the US is by far the biggest donor base. I mean, society, we are the country that gives the most by far, but we've also taken government out of a lot of our social services. So it's left this, this gap for people to come in who are entrepreneurs or have a big heart, you know, whatever it is come in, and as you say, fill these little niches. But it is a business running a nonprofit is a business but it's really a business. It's it's it's two businesses, you're running two businesses, you have to run a business that makes a profit and succeeds so that you can make an impact. If you're not successful. You're going to go away, but you have to create a social good, but you're getting other people to fund the social good. You're not selling a widget and getting money for this. So it's a really interesting combination. I think people tend to either look at the business side or look at the social It's not realize that they're married. It's that is your business. It's both sides of the house,

man is that bucketing at exactly the right time, Amy, because we talked so often on this podcast about now now is the time that we need to seize this moment post pandemic and completely level up our industry. And it starts with looking at nonprofit as a business. And it's it's talking about what John just said, growth mindset. It's about embracing entrepreneurial habits. It's about taking risk in innovating and embracing tech. And there's so much that we are so far behind in, but yet we see the path right now. And we see that this is the moment and we want to meet the moment. And so I really love what you're saying. And this sounds like a great primer book for a lot of our young professionals. But I really want to explore this theme of poverty and the United States right now. And we just had Lavelle Brewer on and we were talking about, you know, just the state of homelessness and food insecurity. And I wonder if you can set the scene for our listeners about sort of the current state, any statistics you can share to kind of paint the picture of the important work that you guys are doing on the ground in California? Well, you

know, poverty is a huge issue than I say. So I think it's somewhat hidden. You know, we tend to have, you know, a great discrepancy in our wealth. I think since we kind of live in our own little enclaves, oftentimes, we don't see what's going on, and other sides of the world, which is one of the things I most love about shoes, like get back to that in a minute. Well, we have about a 7%, seven, just under 8% poverty rate in the US, but it disproportionately affects children, children in poverty, over 11% of the population. And it, you've already kind of set the scene of what living in poverty does to families. And it's not just the children who are affected by this parents who can't meet the basic needs of their kids feel horrible. Um, it really is kind of a cyclical issue, we really feel like, you know, we work through schools, we don't work with individual families, because we want the schools to identify the kids most in need. But we really see ourselves as filling a service both for the schools, but for the families themselves. We the letters we've gotten back from parents whose kids have received shoes are just really, really moving. And I just think it's such a simple thing we can do to help poverty is such a puzzle in the US. And it, we just feel like we're, as you said, one important piece in terms of investing in a child's sense of self and self esteem. One of the things I love about this program does get back to this kind of connecting. I think some of our donors, you know, when we can we have people coming to campus with pandemic we haven't been able to, but really connecting people on an individual level, who are making a difference in a child's life and seeing what these communities are like, and investing in each other. I think that bridge and letting kids know that they matter, and are people who believe in them is one of the most important pieces of this work.

Yeah, I love the partnership piece of how you work with schools. Because I mean, I think, you know, a theme that we see too, that I think the tide is turning on this. And some of it is just because of the nature of everything changing over the last, you know, 18 months to two years. But I love the partnerships that are emerging, because we have to get subscribe to that. One, organization's never going to solve this and one school can definitely not solve it. So we have to play across, you know, well with each other. And we call it playing in the sandbox, because we like talking about kindergarten on the show. But what's you know, what are some lessons you've learned through that lens of how do you you know, kind of posture going in and trying to form these really dynamic partnerships with organizations and schools you work with?

Well, the schools are easy, because the schools I mean, the school I have just especially to the pandemic, I am just so overwhelmingly impressed by people who are teaching in schools, these principles that the links that they have gone to other teachers to connect with their kids, it's really been heartening to see. But I think with donors, I really do believe most people want to make a difference. And you just have to get them to open their eyes a little bit, I think, to think about themselves. When you I am always amazed at the number of people who have their own stories about shoes, not having had appropriate shoes about walking. You know, we had one New York banker, very high up, who actually got tears in his eyes when he's thinking about that. He was like, you know, I've never talked to anybody about this, but I used to have to walk to school. And my he lives in the Northwest because there were holes in my boots. And it was humiliating, you know, to him that he was painful. And so people have their own stories of wearing shoes that were just inappropriate, apparent shoes. When they start thinking on that really basic human level. I find that's when people's eyes light up. They're like, Oh, I this is something I can do. This is a way I can make a difference. I can't solve poverty. I can't, you know, create, you know, make my city exactly the way I want it. But I can make this difference in my community and the kids in my community and I can let To know that they matter. And I think getting to that human connection is what really makes the difference.

Taking a quick pause from today's episode to thank our sponsor, who happens to be one of our favorite companies to neon one, neon one provides software solutions to growing nonprofits. But they really do so much more than that. They're also incredibly passionate about creating community in the social goods sector. We believe in the power of community. We've seen the greatest philanthropic movements happen when people work together to achieve common goals. Neon wine can help you do just that. They created hearing giving connections a community that brings fundraisers together and empowers them to learn from each other's experiences. With weekly checklist and an active Slack community. There's no better way to prepare for your year in success. Want to be a more connected fundraiser, join their community today at NEON one.com backslash we are for good, or follow the link in our show notes.

You hear us talk often that the greatest scarcity is capturing people's attention in today's digital age. So how are you creating and sharing content for your organization that stops people in their scroll and drives engagement with your mission, inter cosmic. The design agency we trust and nail your impact story, build brand awareness and inspire action. There's so much more than just a creative agency. They really are your thought partner and guide in this digital age. And cosmics deep expertise in the social impact space helps nonprofits grow their digital fundraising and launch advocacy platforms and mobilize supporters to join you. We love them because they use their expertise and creativity to reimagine a more just and equitable world. And they just happen to be super kind people to sound like cosmic might be a fit for your organization, Learn more today at design by cosmic.com or follow the link in our show notes.

Okay, that was so smart, so smart. The beauty of nonprofit is that we can wiggle into those spaces, where people who have tremendous needs, you know, as a result of poverty, we can go into the little slit the gap, and be able to create a moment like this that provides not just healing but coping. It provides a sense of self, which you said before, which I thought was so beautiful. And you're right, I can think of so many people who have used the adage of a warm pair of shoes to define the hardship that has helped launch them into this life. And so anyone that's listening out there two things for you. One, if the story resonates with you, please go to shoes that fit.org. And you can make a donation right now. Or you can just find a way to pour into the programs that they have there to find a way to pour into something within your community because there are little gaps that we can slide into that make such a big difference. And I just want to thank you, Amy, for what you and your team are doing. Because this is just an amazing mission. And I am clearly soaking it all.

I think you really get it. And it's just I think that you know the impact of you going in what that says that child, you know, they get the Air Jordans, but to see people in their community, giving them this, I think we really underestimate the impact that can have in a child's life and their sense of what their community means.

Well, you know, we've been so impressed with the way that y'all continue to innovate to and I think this program that you piloted in Los Angeles last year, I'd love for you to kind of talk through how, you know, you're continuing to pivot your model, obviously, some of that's probably pandemic driven, but some of it is because you've got business smarts, and you're sitting over there, Amy, how you can grow your impact? Would you kind of tell us the story of how that came to be and walk us through your innovation.

So you know, we have traditionally been very donor driven. So because we help people help in their own communities, and we you know, we're in all 50 states, we're helping kids everywhere. But some places were really big, some places were small. But when the pandemic hit, and schools were closing, and kids were at home, we kind of had this Oh, my gosh, what do we do now? You know, should we be doing something different? What we seen heard was, well, a couple things. You know, our business funding dropped off, some of our foundations held back, others stepped up, our individual funding actually increased during the pandemic, because I'm convinced that people want to make a difference. And kids were still involved with their schools. They were going to school to pick up meals, oftentimes more than once a day. They were picking up their homework, you know, some of these kids were walking to school to get sick. So we saw that the need was still there. When we would contact schools and say that we did have shoes for them. We actually had teachers who broke down in tears like, oh my gosh, this is the first piece of good news. We've gotten. Anyway, through this, we developed a model in LA where we decided you know what, rather than being here, we had these individual donations going up, some of our traditional sponsors were backing off. Why don't we just go in to LAUSD as a funder and create what we call shoe banks. Within what LA has is this community of schools each of the schools About 20 schools banded together to be a community. So we started putting our funding and trying to raise funds or take general operating funds to creating these shoe bags so that they were available whenever a child was in need. So rather than us coming in once a year and saying, okay, measure these kids look at a pair of shoes, this was a kid anytime, you know, we set up size rooms. So anytime there was a child of need, they could access that through the school, and they could get a pair of shoes they needed. And it's really taken away for them in LA now, City of Las Vegas is actually opening one kind of city wide. And we're now talking to Boston about doing something similar. And what we're doing is actually looking at the need and trying to bring funders around to meet it with us, but not doing the one to one you know, one funder one school say no, let's, let's help a whole community. So we're testing it. It's it's got its challenges, but we really feel that this is a way to scale the program, to reach more kids and to bring the community in in a much larger way.

I love that you brought that up, because the whole time you've been talking, I've been thinking Amy needs to franchise, she needs to franchise this sucker. And I would love Oklahoma City to be a pilot.

Week, that's one of the wonderful things we can be anywhere we are everywhere.

I love in anyone who's listening to this, you may this may really resonate with you reach out to Amy and see if there's a fit for your community. And I am so excited to get to this question, because it's my favorite question. And I just think you're going to knock this one out of the park. But we want to know a story of philanthropy that has deeply touched you. And it could be with shoes that fit it could be with any of your prior organizations, but just knowing that you've had such a lifelong career in the nonprofit sector. What's a moment that stuck with you, Amy?

Well, my first year is executive director going to a delivery and there was one little girl there it was with the company. So it was the whole school, all of the kids were getting chutes was a big party. And when you do a big party like that, and you've talked about what happens when kids get new shoes that they've never had, I mean, they just start right, they put the shoes on, they start running around, it's just organized chaos. Organized, I say if you're lucky, it's just chaotic, but it's joyful. It's very joyful. But there was one other girl who was kind of sitting off to the side, and she just was holding her box and not doing anything. So I went over and I saw kind of a teacher there, you know, I went over and said something to her kind of sat down on the floor. And she was very shy. And she kind of looked up in a very quiet voice. I've never had a new box before, she didn't even open the box to look at the shoes, she was hugging the box, I lost her, I actually I had to kind of walk off that that just really hit. You know, we just don't know what people are experiencing. In life, it was a very moving story to me. The other I'll say, and this is on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, it's when I worked for you super clean, I was doing higher education, fundraising, and it was my first fundraiser with the Vice Chancellor going to a donor that I didn't know very well, but Berkeley do things really quickly. And I put together what I thought was a very aggressive ask for somebody that we didn't know $100,000. And we ended up walking out with a million was a total failure, according to the Vice Chancellor, because we had really undershot ourselves. But I sat on that actually, it was kind of an interesting day. But I've sat on that story for a long time. But you know, we just underestimate people's pain. And we underestimate people's capacity to help. I just think we underestimate people. So one of my big challenges to myself was just to listen more, to speak less just to listen more and let people let you know what they're willing to do or what they need.

Okay, I have to respond to the failure comment because I want to break down stigma in nonprofit, we have literally been taught, I feel like in my major gift days, I've been taught that if someone gives more than what you've asked for, you have failed, failed yet? Or if they say yes, too fast, or if they say yes, too fast. Yes, I am here to tell you folks, that is not a failure, that is perhaps the greatest win of the entire day. Because you can never fully know what's going on inside somebody's mind, in their family, in their heart. And if somebody gives you an expression that is so much larger than what you've given that, my friends is an invitation, that is an invitation for a lifelong journey. And the only thing to say is congratulations team. Way to go. We have got somebody in here who believes so largely in our mission, they're willing to invest at this level. Let's cultivate the absolute crap out of it. And let's just keep going with this donor. Okay, stepping off my soapbox, John.

No, I mean, I'm sitting here, pumping my fist. I'm excited. I completely agree. It's like, where's the long game? You know, Amy subscribe to the bigger picture here. This conversations like got me amped up and I can see why you've had so much success because I think coming in as a leader and choosing to listen, at every level of the organization. It's like the things that that we talk about are so basic. because it's what really matters. And it's what matters at the end of the day for why people are gravitating to your mission to, I have to like point something out, because I'm just sitting here, just seeing how stories connect. And you know that the girl holding that shoe box, like, it just got me, you know, because we've heard enough stories just through the podcast alone to know, I know that that did something long term in her life to whether the organization's lost track of where that you know, girl is, I know, she remembers that. And that did something for her. And we forget the possibility of impact that happens from the donor that's getting that feel good, you know, moment, but it's the impact. It's the staff, it's you, it's us, it's now this podcast audience. It's like, that's the power of philanthropy, and it just is so much bigger and brighter than we could ever think. But let me just throw this together, we started our season with the CEO, editor in chief of dev x, which is this multinational, right media group that tells the story of the developing world. And his name is Raj Kumar. And you know, we getting ready for his interview, we're like, Man, this guy's impressive. He was part of the Clinton administration, he is this media guy, he has been on the ground at these incredible, you know, worldwide events that have shaped and change the world. And we hear like, Hey, Raj, do tell us your story. And you get back to this the beginning of the season. And he said, You know, I had the opportunity to grow up visiting family in India, and his distinct memory is playing soccer with kids, and realizing that not all the kids had shoes on their feet. And like that was a formative life experience. I think he was like, six, you know, and he is as an adult, that is literally gone and built this table to tell the story of the developing world. And you can't tell me that that moment in his life, over a pair of shoes didn't completely change the trajectory of the type of impact that has now happened through dev x and all the touch points. And so I just am saying your mission deeply matters. And I am just taking it back at the people that choose to invest in the small things, because the small things really do matter. So thank you for that.

Man. That was really good. John, I feel very, very inspired. I'm sad to get to this. But because it means we're the near the end of our conversation, but we ask all of our guests, what's your one good thing? What would be your one good thing that you could offer to our community today? Amy,

I would just say one of the things I feel like I've learned. So funny how you go through life, and it's really simple things, but people are everything. I just think in your orange organization, the people you work with, or everything that people you're serving are everything, your donors are everything. I really believe you can teach people skills, you can teach all sorts of you can't teach art. And I think cultivating that kind of culture that you know, I always say that our secret sauce really I think is that we are really about kids, we're not about shoes, I'm shoes are something that we give to kids, because we know what's really important to kids, and it makes a difference. But all the decisions we make are because we want to invest in the children. I mean, they are our future. And I think they're they're just it's so important that we invest in these kids and let them know how valuable they are to society, we could scale really quickly if we're willing to just take big trucks of shoes and just drop them off in Pershing Square in LA or other places in different cities and let people sift through them and pick out what they need. And we wouldn't really know where they're going. But you get lots of shoes out that way. But that's not the way we operate. We're really very, we want to connect donors to kids, we want kids to know that somebody picked out a pair of shoes, in their size, good quality, athletic shoes that they can be proud to wear. We really want that connection and we want to invest in these kids. Keep we want to keep them in schools. But though all the decisions we make really are about what is in the best interest of our children.

I mean, I think this whole conversation has just validated everything that we hold true and dear about what we think is the power of building a philanthropic movement. It's it's not just about raising money. It's about building believers. It's not about just shoes, it's about taking care of kids. And this is just one real beautiful, tangible way to do that. And so, goodness, Amy, we're very lit up with excitement. We want to connect in all the ways where are y'all on social? How can people reach out to you how can we get your amazing book that is coming soon. Tell us all the things of how to connect

all the things so they the easiest, is that our website, we're just www shoes that fit.org But we're on Facebook, she's at the charity, we're on Twitter. You can find us all over the place. We've got a blog that we keep going on our website, my book should be coming out in a couple weeks. We're in kind of some final little tweaky edits here but it'll be coming out and I'm excited and very nervous about that. You know I love talking about she's a fit. Talking about me is a little more uncomfortable but but it really is about running a nonprofit and what it's like so I'll let you know when it's out so you can take a look at it and let me know what you think.

Yeah, check the show notes. We'll make sure and keep those up to date.

Don't you nervous? Amy because you know, your business. You know this business. You know what you're talking about? We were just saying? We are drinking the Kool Aid the Amy fast kool aid because this is the way that we need to be thinking much bigger about our solutions. And I can't wait to get my hands on this book, I think it's going to be really an important tool for the nonprofit sector. So thank you so much for coming into our space sharing just your bright light of your mission. And we're just rooting for you and hope for the best.

Well, thank you so much. It's been a pleasure talking to you guys, and I love the podcast. Thank you.

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 Boris boom