Jai Al-Attas started a record label at 16, sold it to Virgin Records at 24, and never went to college. So when he moved to LA and tried to get people from a reentry program and a homeless youth org into music industry internships, the question that kept coming back — "are these people in college?" — landed personally.

He didn't have a plan. He had a chip on his shoulder and $1,800 he needed for rent. He spent it on 10 Chromebooks instead. 🩵

Today Creative Futures Collective has moved 3,500 creatives through its programs in 10 cities across three countries — into Nike, Live Nation, Interscope, Forbes 30 Under 30, and one Ralph Lauren artist residency.

In this episode, you'll hear:

• Why renaming "internship" to "futureship" unlocked doors that had been closed for two years — and what that says about the language your org is using
• How Jai and his co-founder funded the first cohort out of their own savings, and why that upfront risk was the only way to get a case study worth showing
• Why he refuses to call any of this charity, and how that reframe changed who was asking whom for a favor
• How COVID accidentally democratized access to the creative economy — and the alumna who did her placement from a reservation in Arizona
• What to do when corporate partners write you a check but won't open the door you actually asked them to open

You'll walk away with permission to start the thing you've been waiting to be ready for. 🩵

Episode Highlights:

• (3:33) From a record label at 16 to a one-way ticket to LA
• (5:48) "Are these people in college?" — the gatekeeping that started it all
• (7:24) Futureships, and paying for them out of pocket
• (9:21) COVID, remote work, and Naomi Glasses' path to Ralph Lauren
• (12:36) Scaling with Amazon, Soho House, and 10 cities 
• (14:38) Why this was never charity — and how Untalent was born
• (19:13) Best Buy Teen Tech Centers and what partnership looks like
• (25:10) One good thing: start before you're ready

Episode Show Notes: www.weareforgood.com/episode/740

Join us at The Spread!

Givebutter's biggest innovation event of the year is here — The Spread, built entirely around co-creating with nonprofits like yours. 💛

We Are For Good is joining forces with GB to host in-person hackathon meetups on Friday, Oct. 2, in New York, Seattle, LA, Denver, and Indianapolis, so you can build alongside other nonprofits in the community.

Learn more and save your free spot today.

//

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Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com

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April Thompson took a grassroots foster care nonprofit from 33% donor retention to 66% — and grew the donor file from about 100 to over 400 along the way.

The system behind it was two touches: a personal voicemail within 48 hours, a handwritten note from a board member days later. Both logged in the CRM. That's it. 🩵

In this episode, you'll hear:

• The "one-two punch" gratitude guide that doubled retention, and how to document it so nobody loses track of the last donor touch
• Why a ringless voicemail drop is the highest-return, lowest-lift gratitude tool most small shops have never tried
• How to batch and schedule 10–15 personal thank-you messages at a time, so gratitude runs on a cadence instead of on your memory
• Why an unscripted message with the "ums" left in builds more trust than polished copy
• How the same gratitude practice recovers failed recurring gifts — and keeps the door open for donors who pause

If you've been waiting for a bigger budget to fix your retention numbers, April's answer is a lot simpler and starts this week. 🩵

Episode Highlights:

• (2:43) April's path: hotel galas, animal shelters, and learning on her feet
• (4:42) Fractional fundraising before it had a name
• (6:04) The case study: 33% to 66% with a team of one
• (7:54) The single most effective tool in her toolbox
• (10:14) Batching gratitude and recapturing failed recurring gifts
• (12:08) Voicemail drops in a year-end campaign
• (13:54) The gratitude guide: the "one-two punch" system
• (14:56) Start with the capacity you actually have
• (16:19) A moment of philanthropy: founders
• (17:49) One good thing: giving gratitude is never time wasted

Episode Show Notes: www.weareforgood.com/episode/739

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The film ended and the room went silent. Then it roared. Over the next three years, hundreds of donors gave more than $300,000 to build one young woman a home of her own.

That's what belief looks like when it shows up. Max Kringen and Annie Wood of Tellwell Story Co. have spent years studying how it gets built — and it isn't luck, and it isn't a bigger ask. 🩵

In this episode, you'll hear:

• Why a muddy story keeps donors stuck in transaction mode — and how confusion becomes a tax on every dollar you raise
• The Story Seasons framework: introduce, educate, engage, remind — the rhythm that moves someone from curious to committed across a year
• Why most organizations stall in "engage" and skip the season that actually builds reciprocity
• The input nobody plans for: your story listening strategy, and how to empower frontline staff to collect what matters
• How Tellwell engineered belonging into the Well Told Conference, down to the name tags

You'll walk away with a build sequence for turning one-time givers into people who say I want to be part of this. 🩵

Episode Highlights:

• (3:31) Three friends, one bar, and a studio built on listening
• (4:54) Annie's path from startup ecosystems to Tellwell
• (7:21) Belief over transactions: what unclear stories really cost
• (9:24) The build: introduce, educate, engage, remind
• (13:14) What it looks like when a leader finally has the word
• (17:26) Designing belonging: shielded vulnerability and place-and-replace
• (21:37) Making ethical storytelling practical, not academic
• (22:51) Story listening: the strategy before the strategy
• (25:33) Belief in the room: Ella's painting and Lizzie's home
• (30:34) One Good Thing

Episode Show Notes: www.weareforgood.com/episode/738

Join us at The Spread!

Givebutter's biggest innovation event of the year is here — The Spread, built entirely around co-creating with nonprofits like yours. 💛

We Are For Good is joining forces with GB to host in-person hackathon meetups on Friday, Oct. 2, in New York, Seattle, LA, Denver, and Indianapolis, so you can build alongside other nonprofits in the community.

Learn more and save your free spot today.

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Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free.
Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com

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The right influencer for your mission probably isn't the biggest account in your city. It's more likely someone already following you, already talking about your cause, and already waiting to be asked well.

Trevor Boffone had three months and zero dollars to activate creators for Mental Health America of Greater Houston's new provider-matching platform. His first list of 20 got him one yes. His second approach — an open call and a radically honest ask — got him 26 pieces of content. 🩵

In this episode, you'll hear:

• Why "influencer" has nothing to do with follower count — and how that redefinition widens your pool overnight
• The first place to look for creator partners: your own follower list, filtered for local people who already care about your cause
• The activation script most orgs get wrong, and why leading with "we have no budget, we need one post, we understand if you pass" earned roughly 75% yes
• What to offer instead of money — and the moment an ask tips over into unpaid labor
• Why handing over full creative control with no scripts and no edit requests produced better content than a brief ever could
• How 26 public posts with SEO-rich captions became a discovery engine, surfacing the platform in Google and AI search months later

You'll walk away with a repeatable way to identify the creators who already believe in your work — and activate them without a media budget. 🩵

Episode Highlights:

• (2:49) From the classroom to 750K followers: learning the creator side
• (6:04) Why nonprofit content falls flat — and what creators fix
• (8:10) The assignment: activate creators for Care Connect with no budget
• (10:50) Finding the right creators: the open call that changed everything
• (12:05) Activating without paying: creative control and 26 pieces of content
• (14:48) Why scripts kill creator content
• (15:58) How to find the right influencers for your own mission
• (18:14) Story of philanthropy: Lily's Toy Box
• (19:35) One good thing: don't forget about fun
• (19:58) How to connect with Like Minds

Episode Show Notes: www.weareforgood.com/episode/737

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"There's so many brands for division in this country. Where's the brand for unity?"

That question is why Us United exists. Adam Mizel spent more than 30 years in finance and entrepreneurship before his wife Tanya asked him the question that ended that chapter: What are you going to do? 🩵

What he did was build a brand — hats, T-shirts, media, storytelling, leadership — and wrap a movement around it. Us United now runs a unity pledge, monthly cross-bubble conversations, Unity Seats at live sporting events, and a sheriff network nearly 100 strong.

In this episode, you'll hear:

• Why Adam believes a movement without a brand stays invisible, and what he built first
• The three things that still unify Americans, and how Us United turned them into the entire strategy
• Why funding a brand is harder than funding a program, and how he makes the case when there's no spreadsheet to hand a donor
• The one-to-two-minute weekly action he asks every supporter to take, and why he calls it "changing the algorithm"

If you're leading brilliant work that nobody sees or funds, this is a conversation about the gap between the two. 🩵

Episode Highlights:

• (3:10) Yelling at the TV: the question that started it
• (4:30) Flint, Sheriff Swanson, and the six-hour march
• (5:50) Where's the brand for unity?
• (6:26) Sports, music, and food: the three cultural drivers
• (7:43) Building the on-ramps: the pledge, the algorithm, 30 For Us
• (9:45) Unity Seats and the 25th anniversary of 9/11
• (12:01) Why a brand is harder to fund than a program
• (15:42) If you're not telling your story, nobody is
• (19:42) One good thing: dare to fail gloriously

Episode Show Notes: www.weareforgood.com/episode/736

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Katie Hannah printed out the rejection email and brought it to the interview. "After careful consideration, our board of reviewers has determined that your application does not make the case for membership at this time."

Most fundraisers file that away and move on. The Director of Development at Momentum Leaders sent one open-ended question instead — and it turned into a $223,000 yes for a leadership nonprofit in Birmingham, Alabama. 🩵

This is Possible in Practice, a limited series of case studies from leaders in the We Are For Good community — the ask they sent, the risk they took, and what happened next.

In this episode, you'll hear:

• The exact email reply that reopened a closed door, and why an open-ended question is a near-guaranteed way to get a response
• Why a "no" often means your mission didn't survive the 100-word box, not that the funder isn't interested
• How to treat a rejection like a major donor visit: seek to listen, not to convince
• The in-kind donor who brought toiletries for years, then walked in at Christmas with a $100,000 check
• A leadership reframe from a six-year-old that will change how you think about your own career

You'll walk away with permission to get curious about the next no that lands in your inbox. 🩵

Episode Highlights:

• (2:22) Katie's path from broadcast to Birmingham fundraising
• (5:34) Inside Momentum Leaders: eight staff, $10.5M in salary gains
• (7:56) The no: driving 90 minutes to a panel, then getting rejected
• (11:44) Why your mission doesn't fit in 100 words
• (13:40) Get curious about the no: perseverance as a fundraising skill
• (15:34) The toiletries donor and the $100,000 check
• (19:15) "No means nurturing oneself"
• (20:05) One good thing: lead like a child

Episode Show Notes: www.weareforgood.com/episode/735

Join us at The Spread!

Givebutter's biggest innovation event of the year is here — The Spread, built entirely around co-creating with nonprofits like yours. 💛

We Are For Good is joining forces with GB to host in-person hackathon meetups on Friday, Oct. 2, in New York, Seattle, LA, Denver, and Indianapolis, so you can build alongside other nonprofits in the community.

Learn more and save your free spot today.

//

Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free.
Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com

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$1,500 in lifetime giving. A million-dollar gift in the will.

Tony Martignetti calls it the planned giving multiplier — the gap between what a donor gives you while they're living and what they leave you when they're gone. It's often measured in the thousands. And the donors most likely to trigger it aren't your wealthiest. They're your most loyal. 🩵

Tony has spent 29 years in planned giving — as a frontline fundraiser, a director of planned giving at two nonprofits, and now founder of Planned Giving Accelerator, where his clients have secured millions in bequests. His new book exists to prove that unlocking the multiplier at your organization takes about a week.

In this episode, you'll hear:

• The planned giving multiplier explained — and why the $35,000 average U.S. bequest is a major gift at nearly every small shop
• Why a top prospect is defined by consistency, not capacity: 10, 15, 20 years of giving beats a big number every time
• Tony's three-step, one-week launch: identify your top prospects, start with gifts in wills, cultivate and solicit
• The six myths keeping small nonprofits from ever asking — including the one that quantitative research flatly disproves
• How a historical society with one employee mailed 200 letters and got six people saying they'd include the org in their will

Your loyalty data is already sitting in your database. Here's how to act on it. 🩵

Episode Highlights:

• (3:53) 29 years of making planned giving accessible
• (5:02) The book title that takes the friction out of the topic
• (6:40) Six myths that keep the multiplier locked up
• (9:07) The three-step, one-week launch
• (10:07) Loyalty over capacity: what makes a top prospect
• (12:38) One employee, 200 letters, six bequests
• (14:28) Why your toolkit can be minimal
• (17:36) The $35,000 average bequest and the 1,000-program goal
• (18:52) The multiplier in action: $1,500 in, $1M out
• (19:51) A postal worker's $750,000 legacy
• (21:06) One good thing: don't be intimidated

Episode Show Notes: www.weareforgood.com/episode/734

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One in five adults now get their news from TikTok. Over 40% of adults under 30 do. That same feed is where younger donors are finding the causes they'll give to. Trust has shifted from institutions to individuals, and most nonprofits are still running the old playbook. 🩵

Patricia McLoughlin is General Manager of The Anthem Awards, where she reviews more than 2,000 entries a year from 42 countries. Her team turned that vantage point into the Shared Influence report, then into something more useful: a set of plays any nonprofit can run, whether you have a media budget or a staff of three.

In this episode, you'll hear:

• The difference between an influencer and a creator, and why hiring the wrong one wastes both the money and the story
• The four plays for finding and vetting a creator partner: look inward, look adjacent, name the ask, drop the script
• Why a single creator post can carry a $50,000 price tag, and what changes when you steward creators like major gift prospects

You'll walk away with a playbook you can take to your board this week. 🩵

Episode Highlights:

• (2:30) Patricia's origin story: a 46-hour dance marathon and a career decision
• (6:18) Inside The Anthem Awards: 2,000+ entries, 42 countries, and the patterns in the data
• (8:35) Why trust shifted from institutions to individuals
• (11:32) Influencer vs. creator: the distinction that shapes the whole playbook
• (14:06) Plays 1 and 2: look inward, then look adjacent
• (16:00) Why micro creators often beat millions of followers
• (17:26) Play 4: creators don't want your script
• (18:35) Put creators in your portfolio: the major gift reframe
• (19:30) What a $50,000 post means for your in-kind math
• (20:19) How to measure creator impact
• (21:41) The long game: content that outlives the post
• (23:16) Where creator partnerships are heading
• (26:42) Run one play: start with one local person
• (31:04) Patricia's one good thing: stay curious

Episode Show Notes: www.weareforgood.com/episode/733

Join us at The Spread!

Givebutter's biggest innovation event of the year is here — The Spread, built entirely around co-creating with nonprofits like yours. 💛

We Are For Good is joining forces with GB to host in-person hackathon meetups on Friday, Oct. 2, in New York, Seattle, LA, Denver, and Indianapolis, so you can build alongside other nonprofits in the community.

Learn more and save your free spot today.

//

Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free.
Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com

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Big Brothers Big Sisters has been collecting data for 120 years. When an economist finally studied it, the case for support changed completely: young people who were mentored are 20% more likely to attend college and earn 15% more.

Ginneh Baugh, Chief Impact Officer at Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, has spent two decades helping nonprofit leaders measure what actually matters. Her system is three steps — know your data, show it as a story, grow the movement around it. 🩵

In this episode, you'll hear:

• Know: Why you don't need 25 data points — you need two you know inside and out
• Show: How to turn a stat into something a human can feel (1 in 3 kids lacks a mentor → in a classroom of 30, only 10 have someone in their corner)
• Grow: What happens when you take that story to funders, volunteers, and businesses — and why 85% of young adults are asking for a mentor

You'll walk away with a repeatable way to measure what matters, no matter the size of your team. 🩵

Episode Highlights:

• (3:12) Ginneh's origin story: teachers, mentors, and one very clarifying IRS internship
• (5:52) The path to Big Brothers Big Sisters and a network hungry for data
• (7:56) Data maven meets storyteller: why the pairing cuts through
• (9:26) Step 1 — Know: two stats, inside and out
• (13:04) Step 2 — Show: falling in love with your data by getting curious first
• (16:12) The career confidence crisis and the rise of young adult mentoring
• (20:41) Step 3 — Grow: why the future of work won't be automated, it will be mentored
• (23:34) What happens when an economist studies your impact data
• (25:18) A playground in Nashville and a gift from MacKenzie Scott
• (28:44) One good thing: make it sweet

Episode Show Notes: www.weareforgood.com/episode/732

Join us at The Spread!

Givebutter's biggest innovation event of the year is here — The Spread, built entirely around co-creating with nonprofits like yours. 💛

We Are For Good is joining forces with GB to host in-person hackathon meetups on Friday, Oct. 2, in New York, Seattle, LA, Denver, and Indianapolis, so you can build alongside other nonprofits in the community.

Learn more and save your free spot today.

//

Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free.
Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com

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Scott Curran has helped former presidents, Fortune 500 companies, and street-corner nonprofits turn good intentions into real impact. After a decade as general counsel of the Clinton Foundation and ten years building Beyond Advisors, he kept noticing the same thing: the world's most effective changemakers and the hometown hero nobody's heard of have the exact same nine things in common.

So do you. That pattern became his new book, Better Good — a framework any organization can start using today with a Post-it note. 🩵

In this episode, you'll hear:

• What every effective organization has in common — and why the billionaires and major foundations you're comparing yourself to are struggling with the same things you are
• The nine-factor social impact framework: your profile, platform, and passions, plus your time, talent, and treasure, plus scale, sustainability, and storytelling
• How two people with nothing extra — a suburban mom of five and a med student fighting a rare disease — built global organizations from what was already in front of them

You'll walk away with a clear inventory of what you already have, a free action plan, and your next rung on the ladder. No new money, credentials, or permission required. 🩵

Episode Highlights:

• (3:06) What's lifting for Scott right now: awareness and intentionality
• (4:35) Stubborn optimism and the pattern hiding in plain sight
• (9:22) The billionaire who didn't have it figured out either
• (10:21) Why we undervalue what we already have
• (14:25) The hidden framework: nine factors
• (18:21) Nancy and Watts of Love
• (21:59) Every Cure, hometown heroes, and why success leaves clues
• (26:19) One good thing: someday starts now

Episode Show Notes: www.weareforgood.com/episode/731

Join us at The Spread!

Givebutter's biggest innovation event of the year is here — The Spread, built entirely around co-creating with nonprofits like yours. 💛

We Are For Good is joining forces with GB to host in-person hackathon meetups on Friday, Oct. 2, in New York, Seattle, LA, Denver, and Indianapolis, so you can build alongside other nonprofits in the community.

Learn more and save your free spot today.

//

Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free.
Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com

Say hi 👋
LinkedIn / Instagram / Facebook / YouTube / Twitter