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So welcome to the good community, where 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. Becky, what's happening?
We are so delighted to have back in the house today, Floyd Jones, he's the community and partnerships director at give butter, welcome back to the podcast, Flo Jo, we are ready to get activated.
My people. I was sitting here and I was like, I need my own theme song. Like y'all have a theme song. And I'm like, we got to work that out. So maybe your people can call my people. Does everybody
know like that? Floyd? Is this amazing international singer sings with Kurt Franklin. Like, you're amazing. So yes, totally. But we've you know, we kind of dove in, in our first episode about how do you develop strategy? How are you developing the narrative and the storytelling arc that's going to go along with your fundraising strategy. And today, we are here to talk about activation and get ready all because we want to take your fundraising strategy, and we want to build it into a movement. And we can't do that without community. And we brought the guy who knows all about it to the podcast.
Yeah, I'm so excited. Let's get into this.
I mean, the way you kind of approach your work, Floyd is like, you don't just talk about this stuff you like live it out, you know, and we know this from being your friends in real life to is that community is just the DNA of how you show up in this life. And so I love your lens about how community can feel everything good that we're doing in our nonprofit work, too. So you talked a lot about that with the fundraising strategy piece in our last episode. But I want to talk today from the lens of how does community fit into movement building really getting people activated? What's the importance there? Lead us in?
I mean, I honestly think that it really fuels everything that you do. I know that community feels everything that I do. But because I said this before, but you're not building just for people you're building with people, right? Your organization is a catalyst and a bridge, as we talked about. But it really is a catalyst to shaping the New World. It's a catalyst for shaping a new reality, right? But you can't build this reality on your own. You have to build it with other believers. And who say John build for believers, I took that I didn't say he didn't trademark it says I mean, I That's my repertoire. But you have to build for believers, right? And people who believe in what you're doing are going to come alongside you. If you love your favorite brand, what are you going to do when you love your favorite band, you're going to share that band, you're gonna say you got to check out this band, you're gonna buy tickets to that band, you're not gonna go by yourself often. How are you gonna bring? People when you believe in something, you're bringing other believers along with you, right? And that is why community is essential. And community is core. We had too many people in this world just shouting in an echo chamber. They're shouting, hoping for somebody to hear them. I'm not shouting no more when I want to change the world. I'm gonna whisper in somebody's ear. Because guess what, when I whisper and they can hear me, they're gonna pass that on. And guess what, when they pass it on, we're all gonna go together. And that is what you need.
Okay, Floyd, I mean, you've clearly brought the hype and the energy for this because we really want people to stop looking at their organizations like as a cadre of donors, we want to build these resurged organizations and missions that are filled with believers, because they're gonna bring so much more to the table than just, you know, that financial gifts. So when we talk about, like, you know, we have this love for employee giving back at our old health care organization. And we literally saw through our employee giving campaign, this movement that evolved when we centered community around it and belonging and passion. And when we were not talking about the financial goal that was before us, we were asking questions like, hey, what's important to you? And talk to us about how that makes you feel? And what's your story through that? So when you think about building organic community of belonging, tell us some of the nuances or some of the tips tricks like what are the habits you've seen around building authentic community that our nonprofit listeners and our fundraisers can glean from today?
Great question, Becky. One of the things that I'm thinking a lot about is understanding what the context of the community is, right? So for example, we talked a lot about fundraising strategy and our last Session. But community was still at the core of that that community. Its focus, though, was on fundraising. And I think that that is a really important thing that I want everyone to understand. Not all communities are built the same. However, all communities have one thing in common, and that is they have a unified mission and a purpose. A lot of people talk about community. But remember, community is just a thing. You're facilitating a space where like minded individuals come together to accomplish a goal, right? Whenever you when you think about when you join a membership, or you join a community, you join a club, all people are in that space, and you join a gym, everyone's at that gym not going to be well, some people like the gym for other purposes, but most people are at that gym, because they want to get in shape, right. And so because you're saying I want to get in shape, or stay in shape, you're going to provide programming that helps them get in shape, you're going to provide discounts that help them get in shape, you're gonna provide content that helps them get into shape, right. But the core thing is that everyone is in that space for a single purpose and a reason. So you have to ask yourself, what is the purpose and the reason for the community that I am trying to build? Right? Is it because you're working towards that grander mission? Is it because you want to build a fundraising program? One of the things for me was I created an endurance fundraising program is the first one I ever did. But I was like, you know, marathons make money, like, let's figure this out. And one of the most beautiful things is, within a few years, that program literally Niven, within one year, that program was bringing in over $80,000. But I said, Guess what, this was the organization again, back to the origin, we're providing free sports for kids, a majority of people who are involved with our organization, like sports, so running was the deviation of that, right? But once you find what the core and the real purpose of you're working towards, everything should go towards that.
I mean, so good, because I think it just adds so much more color to your mission, as everybody speaks into that everybody has a voice and the thing Becky lifted, this last episode of just gathering those stories from the community is where it's at, you know, having that different lens. And so I want to talk about just how do we gather people? How do we gather volunteers, because we're talking to a lot of organizations that are small, you know, or we're scrappy, that we don't just want to have volunteers, we need to have volunteers to make this thing work. So what are some advice, you know, some tips that you have, as you start to gather to mobilize these movements, whether it's through recruiting ambassadors, or maybe just having family members, friends, give us some advice?
I love that you said the words get scrappy, because I feel like so many people are afraid to do that, right? So many people say I need volunteers and all and whatnot. And so I say when you say show me volunteers or show me donors, I always ask well show me what's your outreach strategy. I work at one of the fastest growing companies in America. We're a multi million dollar organization. I'm a director and oversee department and I still build an outreach strategy. Whenever I'm launching anything, I don't care. When I first started giving, I'm giving better give back or when I first started the outreach program for black limping month, I give better I have I go back to my database, I go back to my spreadsheets, I bring up my contacts, I knock on the doors, when we're getting ready to launch this year for giving Tuesday, guess what, I'm going to be on the road, I'm going to be at conferences, because guess what, nothing can compete with FaceTime. Nothing can compete with FaceTime. If you're trying to build a mobile as a community or bring other people to you, they need to know you, they need to trust in me to like you, you need to be able to have emotional and social awareness. Okay, I'm reading a book called Emotional intelligence 2.0. If you have never read it, please pick it up. Because let me tell you that book gonna change your life. Okay. But let's talk about the only way to actually make a real impact is to be able to actually build relationships, real impact starts with relationships, okay? And it's so incredibly important that you actually go deep with other people. That means actually getting out of your comfort zone and saying, What do you like, what you dislike actually asking them? Hey, I noticed that you were interested in my cause? Why are you interested in my cause, hearing their story. And guess what? Building a community sometimes doesn't scale? And a lot of times, we're thinking about what's the fastest thing to get? How do we scale how do we do XYZ thing, but guess what, going deep, it might not scale in the short term, but I promise you it is going to scale beyond your wildest dreams in the long term. Because you have that emotional and you have that relationship currency, you have that social currency with people and that does not go away overnight. That is something that you take time to build and develop. And when people can know you and vouch for you, they're going to bring other like minded people around towards you. That's how you're gonna get your volunteer. That's how you're gonna get your board members. That's how you're going to get your top donors. That's how you're gonna get your greatest advocate is by going deep with your people.
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I mean, because it honestly connects to what Floyd was saying in the last episode that we want to come into the community and like lock arms with other organizations like not build all these many kingdoms. But the world is so much better. When we show up in an attitude of abundance, you know that there is enough to go around, and that I may know a funder, that's a better fit for you than for me. Like that's the world we want to live in. And it only is going to work when we actually show up that way, you know, and so you're triggering lots of thoughts like experiences, but I've got to shout out some of the We Are For Good community here because they have taught me so much about what it's like to show up as like a believer of your mission and why this matters so much more. But Floyd you say with not just for I mean this idea of with you have to have an open hand of how it's going to look you know we could have many months ago set up and say hey, you would make a lot of business sense to start a book club because people would get on board with it. That was never our strategy. But we saw this bubble up from the community and I got a shout out Giordana and Taylor and Natalie and Evan, who saw gap who wanted to gather or shared like value like minded people in our community that they're like, Hey, can we start a book club just to create more community to create more collisions for good to create more open space? And is that one of the most beautiful aspects of all of We Are For Good, and it was completely organic, you know, it's when we step out of it, they can step in and own have more ownership into us. Like, this is what this is about, you know, and it feels so much more in alignment. So I'm like, How can we do more of that, you know, more open handedness know what our vision is, but be open handed to how it takes shape. Like that's a much healthier place to show up.
I love that y'all. This just that just centered me in so many different ways, because I want to give you a practical tips as well, if you're listening to this, one of the most fun things that I did, I created a junior board. And the first thing that I did, I said you're the volunteer lead and you're their number one job was to find other volunteers and to help with recruitment for volunteers for our for our programs. You know, I'm working with another organization right now that is an international organization. So they have people literally all around the world from California to New Zealand, okay, like all over the place, guess what I did. People love a good title, okay, you're the you're the new programs lead, you're the team lead lead, like during the paperclip, push, like you got to give people a try. Not just creating title out of nowhere, though. It's saying, hey, I want to help you not have ownership. Just like a book club, the book club is going to be cemented within the fabric of your organization, because it didn't stem from you. Y'all provided the space you are facilitators, but you create a space for now greatness to take place, or for a kid more good to take place, right? And now people in your community feel ownership and they're doing the work. And now it's going to be woven into the fabric of what you're doing, which is the most beautiful thing. When an organization or when a community can thrive and exist without you. That's when you know you've actually built a true community. That's when you know what's been a true. I say I you know, I love this type of director of community, but I was like, if anything about me, right, then it's not real. Yes, I can be I can be a cheerleader. I can, you know, do the fashion lights, I can show fireworks. But the most beautiful things when people come on, and they start having these engagements without me when they start saying when are we going to do this next thing? When is this going to happen? Right? Like that is the true impact. And that's what we should all be working towards.
Preach it. I mean, the day that We Are For Good becomes the Becky and John show is the day I want to quit because it's not about us. It's about everything that's building underneath us. It's about the people. It's about the mosaic and like I just want to pitch this to you Floyd because I feel like John kicked us off. Like he gave us an example. Like when was a time you were you became the believer for an organization? And how did that manifest and I'm like literally thinking of one for myself and I love the we're for books example, do you have one that's sticking out to you?
I would say every organization that I've worked with, I feel like I dive deep and get really, really passionate about building that community. Um, off the top of my head I can think of I'll give you an example of an organization that I think is doing a good job of this one is prospectors theater, I think I've given them this as an example before, but I absolutely love the prospect of theater, because they they always have this phrase of like sparkle on and I'm like, oh my god, like here we go. But not only that, they're sending us popcorn, they're calling me on the phone, they're sending me a handwritten letters and we're actually diving deep and and really engaging in it's like, Guess what I do when I have an event coming up with someone's popcorn, or you're looking for a new recommendation for a snack, you gotta you gotta check out there, because they make their own popcorn in house too. And I'm like, This is so incredibly beautiful, powerful and poignant, because they build something that people can feel and feel like they can be a part of. Right. And I think that that is what sets the community apart.
I love that. I mean, I was literally just thinking, you know, I have such a heart for public education. I've got educators all around me and my family. But you know, our faith based community, our church like adopted, like a title nine school who the kids literally didn't have enough to eat. And this came about because my children wanted to pack, you know, Spring Break food bags for all of these kids with their backpack program. And the day I saw them light up at like, this isn't enough food for them for an entire spring break like we more than this was when we went out and started augmenting the bags with other things that we wanted to give and then they wanted to start delivering them, you know, to the front doorsteps, and then I wanted I wanted to show up and pack them myself when I took my sabbatical. I was like that's the one volunteer thing I want to do is show up and pack these bags on Thursdays because I wasn't getting to do the produce because you can only do that on a certain day when they're actually going to pick it up. And to see those kids, you know, their faces and their joy, like, it just took me from being a donor to that event to being a complete believer and wanting to show up in any way for these kids. And I'm telling you, friends, you have got rabid fans like that out there in your midst who have not been tapped yet. And if you can find those really powerful ones who are willing to pour their story, and their heart and soul into it, you got the beginnings of a movement building just underneath you.
I agree. I think another example, I was gonna say that just came to my head, I used to volunteer for an organization called a musical heart. And we were it was a group of professional musicians who performed or presented music and hospice centers. So for patients who are at the end of life, and it was one of the most powerful music experiences of my life, like just being able to spend time with people in their final hours of life. And so because of that, I would anytime I would go anywhere, I would tell people about it. And I'd be like, you need to hear my musical heart and recruit, you know, refer other musicians to the organization in some way other different things to keep it going. And that's what happens. I think there's a difference between having a call that someone cares about, and then having a call that somebody embodies, right, like it's in them, they live in breed that they want that thing to succeed. And I think that that is a that's what you're really trying to work towards, again, building for those believers.
Okay, my friend, you know, we're gonna have to ask you some do this, and not that as we've been talking about activation movement, building this episode, what are some things you've seen, we're not shaming here, but what some things that you've seen that give you some improvement, and how's a better way to go about it,
I would say kind of similar to in the fundraising vein, but talk to one person, don't try to talk to everybody, especially as you're beginning out, people have messages to so many different, you know, customer segments and whatnot. I don't, I don't want to do that, too, I guess donor segments, volunteer segments. But the same just applies, figure out who you are talking to. And then if you're talking to everyone, you're actually not talking to anyone, right? And I've had to learn that time and time again, be very clear and succinct. And the best way to figure out who you're talking to figure out what do you already have, right? Like, who's already subscribed to your email list was already following you on LinkedIn, who's already following you online, right? And then begin to churn and messaging around those people. What do they care about? What do they want? What's on their head? What's on their heart? It's so incredibly important. So I would say speak to one person,
can I add one on there, too? I think we said this in the last one, but have one call to action. I mean, if you're not going to do one thing, build that community have him do one thing. And maybe it's because we're centered on the one good thing here all the time. But when you can have one clear call to action, you're only asking them for one thing, they can either do it now or they can't do it, you know, or they'll make time for it later. But when we sometimes say make a gift and volunteer and buy a ticket and come follow us on social, I mean, it just gets a little disjointed. Let's keep it really singular. And let's get them warmed up at the beginning. So that would be mine, as well.
Okay, so we're at the end of the episode, and you know, Floyd, we want you to bring it home with what's a one good thing you leave our community today, as we round this out.
One good thing I would say the thing that comes to me is let community be at your core. Let community be at your core. Because there are so many other things that fuel us in this space. So many of us are just fighting to stay open. So many of us are fighting us for the next grant. Some people are fighting for the next check, right? But let community be at your core. I started beginning but connection, and then the coins, relationship and then the revenue. Right? All of those things make people become your center, because people are your power, right? I always said people are your partners on your piggy banks, right. So focus on making those people to truly be your partners to lock arms with you. And that is how you make community, your core.
And that is why we have Flo Jo on the podcast over and over again. Because I really feel like my friend, you truly embody this new way to live, work, build cobuild together, it feels better this way. And guys, I just want you to know you don't have to go at this alone. And so please, like, hang with us. Because if you're like how in the world can we put this into practice? Don't you worry because Floyd has hooked us up with the incredible Martini set and we're going to be going into her story and we're going to talk about it through the lens of developing the strategy, putting together your story and then activating it for good and so thank you, my friend for coming in here blowing the roof off the place yet again. We always have the best time when we learn from you and just soaking up all your great energy.
Go I love you and I'm so great. Before I have one quick thing, but I was just looking at your title, We Are For Good, right? And the word we write if me the M upside down is W, right? And it made me think about what community is. Community truly is turning everything that is central to our culture upside down, right? It's countercultural. It's countercultural to be focused on your neighbor. But the reason why it's the most sustainable is because it's the thing that our soul needs the most. And so I want you all to know that this, this We Are For Good community is so incredibly intentional. And that is why we are seeing it be sustained. And if anybody could take anything away, flip it on its head, whatever you think it is, flip it on its head, because if you put people first and you focus on we instead of me first, nothing will take you out. huddles ever,
like you. It it supports what we've said forever, which is flip that donor pyramid upside down, start with the base, you're going to find some believers in that base. And guess what those believers are going to find all the way to the point and they're going to do it together and it feels better. So thank you, for them.
They surrounded they won't let you fail, you know. So I think that's the power of this conversation. So thank you so much for coming into this house and check out good butter. If you're listening and you need a platform. Our friends have built an incredible thing. So thanks for sharing that with the community.
Absolutely, Sam.
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