technology alone can't solve the challenges nonprofits face. And that's why neon one provides software that empowers you to manage constituents all while giving you the resources and support you need to connect to what matters most your people and their passions. Learn more about how neon one is helping nonprofits create stronger connections by visiting neon one.com/we are for good. 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, hey, Happy Friday.
Happy Friday news series alert. Are you as excited as I am, John.
I mean, we've been talking about this one, at least behind the scenes for a while because if you have are new to the podcasts, we took a time last year to like, unpack the basics of a nonprofit. And we've now curated that in a playlist. So you can find that we'll link it up in the show notes. But we've wanted to like go deeper into once you know the basics of how nonprofit world kind of fits together with development comes down to like you like what, how do you need to show up in the world? How do you need to show up to your job on a daily basis to make the most impact. And that's what this series is going to be we're going to walk through different positions of the office and kind of help you dream a little bit and get your priority list right of asking the right questions and defining the metrics that matter. And we're going to invite some of our favorite friends to the podcast to to add a lot of color to these conversations, because we want you to feel really activated and know what to do and what impact really looks like for your
role. Yes, I mean, we are bringing the pros and the experts up to the table here at mom's kitchen table. And we're going to like do a subversive and disruptive guide into what feels good. When you're coming in to a shop. How do we work in a way that works for us, that works for the mission that centers self care and evolve thinking and innovation. And we've seen a lot we've talked to a lot of people, we don't have all the answers, but we're gonna go find them for you. So this new series is habits of an impactful fundraiser. And it's really just a quest to reimagine how we can learn, connect and grow in our work. And I just want to say like we all know it, development is a team sport. And I'm really sorry, John, that I just already in the app straight out of the gate made a sports reference. But really understanding what it takes to build a high performing fundraising shop is really about getting clear on individual roles of the team, and how they work together to make magic. So this series, we're going to talk about metrics, we're going to give you a lot of support on the mental health and wellness side. And we're just going to give you some clarity and KPIs and some tips to really lean into what we call that impact uprising.
Good. I mean, it's all so stacked on each other. And I think if you are coming at this conversation, where I'd encourage you to start is really examining, do you have a growth mindset about your life, but also like about this position that you're in, because the power of professional development and unlocking kind of the next layer of figuring out how to do your job more impactfully it really starts with this belief that you can evolve that you can learn the things that you don't know, it's everything is figured out double is what Marie Forleo says. And it's really true. You know, we didn't even know how to start a podcast, right? We googled that. And now we've got more than 300 episodes, it's everything can be figured out if you put the space and time but for you in the nonprofit shops right now, like that involves carving out budget that involves carving out time to pour into this and really get right, the things that are most important. And so I hope that that's a little bit of tone setting as we start to dive into this talk.
Okay, so we're talking about development, we're talking about you, how do we develop you as a person, because we want professional development to be the first thing added to your budget, not the first thing cut. So where we're going to start is really encouraging you to think about playing in a different sandbox. And we talk about this a lot. We think that nonprofit education and professional development, it hangs out in so many echo chambers. I mean, John, we you and I have said this so many times like health care, talking to health care, philanthropy, higher education and talking to higher education, philanthropy, and we want to break out of that and we really want to move toward building a plan of intention for your professional growth. I don't think I've ever intentionally thought about building a plan. For my professional growth in my career, and the thing is, once you do that, that act of intentionality ensures you're focused on growth of yourself upward mobility, not just in your position, but in your knowledge, and your contributions to the sector, your knowledge sharing. And so your development is going to be defined by you alone, your boss is not going to fight for it, maybe unless you just have an incredible boss. It's not going to be your company, your parent, your spouse, or your friends. So if you don't take responsibility for your personal development, no one else will. And let me just give you a little pat on the back. The fact that you're here listening to this podcast episode already tells us that you are a growth mindset individual who is pouring into yourself. So you've already taken the biggest step. So the biggest question is, are you playing in the right sandbox when you're seeking professional growth, and I just take it back to how we and all our conversations on the podcast with the one good thing, so I'm gonna borrow one from Abby Phelan, who said, If the path is clear, you're on someone else's. So let's go find our paths. Let's kind of explore outside our sandbox, let's see what we can do when we build a professional development plan of intentionality.
I love that I mean that quote, just steal, like, get punches me here, and you reflect that back. But so like, overall, we're saying it's time to get out of our comfort zones, and really get into a space where we are open to new ideas and new mindsets. And you kind of alluded to this, Becky, but are a lot of our sector ends up in silos, and we call them echo chambers. Because when you're only talking to people that only do that really niche kind of work that you're doing, let's say healthcare, philanthropy, which was our last decade, it ends up having programs that mirror each other, and that kind of lose their own voice and lose their own value at that core. And so we're going to really challenge you to look outside of the traditional walls. And we tried to do that here on the podcast, which is, by the way free, right education to pour into, but we're gonna pull in, you know, entrepreneurs and business owners and board members, and all kinds of different types of roles to speak into this, because there's something to learn from literally everyone. And so we're really trying to listen and be good listeners, and think, in progressive ways. And so this series is going to be kind of pulling all those things together, and lifting the veil on what is a modern way to show up for your role, it's really informed to the moment that really helps you meet the moment. So we're all trying to do right in real time.
It's just such an exciting time. And and I love talking about professional development, and I love trying stuff. And I think we're seeing that so much in our community right now. It's particularly I think about like Gen Z, they just don't see walls, they just have these innovative, brilliant crisis solving ideas, I think about our friends over it FarmLink, you know, in what they're doing to build, bring excess food into food scarcity areas, I think about gaining ground literacy, we've talked to that group, which is bringing bookmobiles to what they call book deserts, you know, places where kids don't have access to books. And so it's really about thinking outside the walls. And I think we can learn something from this level of innovation. So what does this all mean? It means that we need to grab our bundle, do you know what I'm talking about? Buy bundle the stick with the little satchel off the end of it. Oh my gosh, that's the modern way. Step out of our comfort zone of learning in the same sandboxes the same webinars and explore other channels the way in and I'm telling you come to we're for good. We love you hanging out here. But there's a lot of people doing really incredible work not only in the physical space, but definitely in the virtual space. This is not new stuff. There have been virtual teachers happening all around us all the time, there have been people who have been teaching like this in a way that connects human to human. We want you to see yourself in this. We want you to feel empowered. And we want you to just fight back against the way that it's always been done.
Okay, you said finally project. So I can't not geek out about evolved leadership that I think threads beautifully into this conversation. Aiden Reilly and Ben Collier came on the podcast earlier this season. And they talk to us about the greatest impact that their organization will likely have is the deployment of the people that are part of their organization today. And I just think like what an evolved way to think of the infinite game of just thinking how are you actually going to systemically take care of things, if you're pouring into the people that are in your organization today, knowing that they're going to go on and maybe start their own organizations or maybe pour in a different place that they can advocate for you. And I think that is kind of a calling for all leaders to think about. That's the type of training that you want to pour in and investment you want to put in because you believe in the bigger things you're fighting for. And so lots to kind of like tone set with this conversation. But let's start diving in because the other thing with this habit series that we really want To lift, it's just the importance of soft skills. And, you know, a lot of times I feel like we come back to like kindergarten principles on the podcast, because we do think they're kind of disruptive in a really divisive time. But super simple and super simple. But as we, you know, think of this new way to learn, then put emphasis on this training around soft skills. So that's our ability and readiness to communicate, as with a team, but also with our stakeholders. It's really flexing that emotional intelligence or EQ that we talked about, it's needed, especially more. So even as we're showing up digitally, it's like how can you still be human. And this really alarming, I would say, HBR article came out. That said, you know, 89%, of HR professionals surveyed believed that their organization's bad hires were typically because of soft skills. And that same group, 80% said that soft skills are becoming increasingly important to company success. So this kind of awakening of just being a good human and being able to connect on a personal level seems Elementary, but it's kind of everything it pours into the culture of an organization, and how you live out the values that you have, you know, plaque on your wall, it's actually like living those out in real practical terms
to end. And I will just say, like, when I go back into my major gift officer days, those soft skills made the cold calls so much easier, they made the first introduction to somebody so much easier if you can read the room, if you can have some self awareness, if you can do your research beforehand. It is like a suit of armor that you can put on. And so while we love how much we pour into those hard skills of trying to figure out how we do our job, how we automate, how we transact, we have to be able to understand the human to human component. And that is what we also want you to make an intentional effort to focus on as you're looking at your professional development. Taking a quick pause from today's episode to thank our sponsor, who also happens to be one of our favorite companies Virtuous, you know, we believe everyone matters. And we've witnessed the greatest philanthropic movements happen when you both see and activate donors at every level. And Virtuous is the platform to help you do just that. It's so much more than a nonprofit CRM. Virtuous helps charities reimagine generosity through responsive fundraising, volunteer management, and online giving. And we love it because this approach builds trust and loyalty through personalized engagement. Sounds like Virtuous might be a fit for your organization, learn more today@virtuous.org, or follow the link in our show notes.
So we can't say this, John, without saying, you know, and acknowledging the fact that people out there are probably like, how do I make the case for this, our budgets are so lean, my leader of my organization, or my leader of my department, you know, is not the one fighting for professional development. And so we built a little script, a little, a couple of little steps, five little steps here for how to ask your boss for a professional development budget. And I want to start with number one, which is just do your research. Have you gone out and looked at what's available? Have you looked at your the things you're curious about? Have you looked at your own KPIs or the projects that are on your plate? Have you looked about how you can leverage and flex professional development to do that better, make sure that you have done all of your research, not only just in what is the right fit for what I need, but in cost, and in time, and proximity, and all of those things? It's going to give you a leg up? Yeah, I
mean, you can build this case with a lot of the free resources that you can probably, you know, pour into already, by virtue of you listening to the podcast, I think if you've hung around here a long time, we're gonna fuel you with ideas and case studies and people that are already doing it, or they have been figuring out or maybe they're mid figuring it out. But it's really just a starting place. And we realize we are throwing a lot at you, but the DMS and confirmation of saying, hey, that one conversation triggered and changed the way I thought about partnerships, and it's changed the way that I'm investing this next year, and how I, you know, talk to prospective partners, and that's literally a DM I got last night. And so it happens at scale of like, these are conversation starters, how can they lead you into, okay, now knowing this, this is where I want to make investments this next year is to really understand this, or plan the time or the space or the travel necessary to do X or Y. And so that's a good place to start. And there's no shortage of free content here. And if you're having trouble, like deciphering that, head over to our we're for good community because it's all really curated there. And we have live events too that can help point you and connect you to whatever you're looking for.
Yeah, and if you're curious about the community, it's we're for good community.com entirely free and it will hopefully be the best pep in your step gracious and loving space that you've ever been in and digitally, but you know, I love numbers. because we know how to build a case, and it's like go out there and make the case for why this is important to you. So number three is be sure to talk about the importance of community and learning. And I think this is something that has really been awakened in me since the pandemic happened is, when I used to think about how I used to learn, it would be like sitting at my computer, you know, one on one, or in the conference, taking my notes. And it was that was an echo chamber, me alone and myself. But when you have someone, you can ask questions to bounce ideas off, commiserate with or maybe vent, it allows learning and networking to grow. And it's not just your mission that's growing and your mission that's network is expanding, that's for you. And all of that begins and community, put that as a key Hallmark and look for professional development, that has cohorts that has coaching has places where you can chat with other people that is going to be essential to helping you grow and find your people
love it. And okay, we have to round out this case with knowing what kind of questions are going to pop up. And trust us, we've been on the other end of this trying to get dollars, you know, committed to professional development. So you do want to be prepared with what are the costs? What's the time, what's the time that you really need to invest to get the most out of that. And I think if you can really show the case for what is this going to unlock of a potential return on investment. For us. That's really the easiest metric if you look at because oftentimes what you're paying for what Jess Campbell calls, the Fastpass is just paying for someone's expertise that can help speed you along by maybe taking a course, or maybe investing in some kind of program, that amount of time alone that you're going to save. But also the confidence and the community that comes with that is gonna far outweigh even if you get one new program launch, or if you get one new campaign that has a stronger close rate, or whatever that may be the ROI painted alongside it is often really, really helpful. And so I think, too, you know, you can connect with people that have already taken that to give you more context. And I think this was a big selling point of reaching out to people that have already been in it and get an understanding. And you can, you know, share and get to know, people that have already made that investment. And they can share maybe some specific things that they've gotten out of that for an example as well.
And here's a little pro tip for you, if you're trying to make this case, offer to come back and share what you've learned with your team. So that knowledge sharing grows internally, that is a really cool way to have an education ripple. And it's also going to get your teammates excited about the thing that you're pouring into. Because there's no way you're going to be able to execute these things on your own unless you're probably a sharp one. So share that information. And that way the investment looks like it's not just in you, but it's something that could be leveraged to the rest of the team. And so the last step is now about go be brave, and go initiate that conversation. It's that simple. I mean, I feel like I've sat in on so many different fundraising webinars and trainings where they're like, all you got to do is get the courage to go ask. And it's like, we do this all the time with our proposals and how we ask donors for gifts, or for partnerships, let's go be brave and fight for ourselves, I'm going to pump you up, I want to get some rocky music, if I could get the copyright for it. Like I want you to feel empowered to go in there, you are worthy of this investment. And not only is it going to grow you, it's going to grow your fundraising, it's going to grow your reach, it's going to expand the brand, and it's gonna grow your mission.
I mean, we feel like you're totally going to win the hearts and the minds of everybody on your team with this case for pouring into professional development. But something that our friend Mallory Erickson came on the podcast and shared was just this power of the 1% shift. And if you feel like you're up against a wall, that you cannot turn your entire organization around in a you don't need to have that entire weight on your shoulders. Okay, so let's relieve you of that. But you probably have the influence to make a 1% shift. And if that means starting something, making one shift, or one pivot to a program that has just been aggravating you that it needs some kind of love. This is a chance to do that. It doesn't always have to be a full change, of course, what is the 1% shift, you can you know, add a podcast to your queue, you can you know start in that path and that journey. So we're here for you. And we wanted to kind of unpack what's coming in the upcoming weeks because this series while this was a tone setting about pouring into yourself, what's coming is the goods like the tactical goods, the magic, the goods that we are for goods, okay, here we go. This is really going to give you play by play as we look at our positions, what really matters and so okay, we've tasted and after we want to kind of walk through what episodes are coming up. Okay, so
we've got 10 that we're going to be unpacking over the next 11 weeks. And so we're going to be diving into habits of an impactful major gift officer Annual Giving Officer and Executive Director, donor relations officer, Digital Marketer, John, take it from here,
I mean, and then we're gonna also zoom out of like habits of a good events and experience team, impactful board member and impactful operations team and impactful storyteller, you know, we're already planning to geek out on that one. And then just habits of an innovative nonprofit will be our last one. Because there's things and that the reason we chose the word habits is because as you instill these values that kind of come on a regular basis, what are the things that are playing the long game, it's our value baked into this series of what are the small things that you can do on a recurring daily, weekly basis, that's going to result in an ordinate amount of scale, and purpose, you know, or for whatever you're chasing. And so I think this series is going to give you kind of a 2.0 lens for how to have a real thriving development shop. And we can't wait to introduce you to all the friends we're inviting to the series, we're not going to name drop today. So you can just wait in suspense, as we announce each week. But we have some of the most incredible thought leaders and people on the frontlines of each of these areas coming back to teach you their wisdom, through this lens of habits. And so we're so excited. We
are so excited. And I will say that the framework of these conversations is going to be a little different than what you're used to on the podcast, we're going to hit this format with some reoccurring things do this not that KPIs that matter, KPIs that don't matter, daily habits, you know, and actions for success in your role, we've got a roll up of about six things that we're going to be hitting each episode. So you can come with your notepad, write it down, we want you to think about it, manifest it and then make it happen.
Okay, so I hope we've convinced you and we would love to invite you into our professional development experience, because this is something that we don't just feel passionate about. It's something that we saw as a gap and wanted to step into that gap. We wanted to serve the people that we were in nonprofits of looking for a way to connect all the dots. And that's what We Are For Good PRO really is. And so if you head to We Are For Good PRO, we've just launched the community, the pro community on our one year anniversary of Pro, which is really exciting. It does all of this. It's about training. It's about teaching, but it's also about threading you together. And connecting you with like minded people who want to push the envelope together who want to share what's working and what's not. And just commiserate and check in with each other. Because this is like hard work. And we want to do it together in community. So head on over to We Are For Good pro.com To learn more about that if you want to come hang with us, and your professional development journey. Like we would love that.
And hey, let me throw another little log on the fire here. If you'd like I can't afford pro it's $360 a year. Don't you worry. We got you a scholarship. We've got great friends out in the sector who have covered scholarships. So come in, you can go to We Are For Good pro.com backslash scholarship, fill one of those suckers out and let's get you in our community. Let's get you learning find a community somewhere. It may be us. But we don't care because we just want you learning somewhere with like minded friends. So know that we're cheering for you. We're so excited about this incredible habit series. And we cannot wait to see you there.
Yeah, thanks for hanging with his friends. See you soon.
Happy Friday.
Hey, friends, thanks so much for being here. Did you know we create a landing page for each podcast episode with helpful links, freebies and even shareable graphics. Be sure to check it out at the link in this episode's description. You probably hear it in our voices but we love connecting you with the most innovative people to help you achieve more for your mission than ever before. We'd love for you to join our good community. It's free. And you can think of it as the after party to each podcast episode. You can sign up today at we are for good.com backslash Hello. One more thing If you loved what you heard today, would you mind leaving us a podcast rating and review? It means the world to us and your support helps more people find our community. Thanks friends. I'm our producer Julie confer and our theme song is Sunray by Remy Borsboom
