We Are For Good Podcast - The Podcast for Nonprofits

When strategy feels like a moving target, how do you hold fast to what really matters?

In today’s episode, Ori Carmel shares how to hold fast to your true mission when everything feels uncertain, and how our quick decisions might be holding us back. 👀

Tune in to hear:

🤔 Understanding decision-making systems

📈 How to connect data to meaningful narrative

📍 Defining your unique organizational "why"

This episode is a game-changing eight-step framework for measuring what REALLY matters. We're talking beyond vanity metrics, cutting through the noise, and getting crystal clear on your organization's unique purpose. 🎧

Episode Highlights

• Finding Your True North (04:10)
• Visioning for Nonprofits (06:34)
• Understanding Decision-Making Systems (09:00)
• Navigating Complexity in Nonprofit Decisions (12:40)
• Navigating Crisis in Philanthropy (20:53)
• Metrics that Matter: Impact vs. Activity (24:46)
• Framework for Impact Measurement (26:57)
• The Importance of Organizational Reflection (30:56)
• Resources for Social Impact Success (39:02)

Episode Shownotes: www.weareforgood.com/episode/618

Resources Mentioned:

• "Man's Search for Meaning" by Victor Frankl
  “Thinking Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman"
• "Higher Ground" by Allison Taylor (2024)
• Sowen’s Social Impact Report 

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Meet Ali, the CEO of GreenLight Fund and former leader of Fresh Lifelines for Youth. He joins us to share how his lived experience fuels his commitment to equity-driven leadership and community transformation. 🩵

In this conversation, Ali unpacks GreenLight Fund’s unique model for scaling evidence-based nonprofits into new cities—and what it means to center community voice in every step. He speaks candidly about navigating leadership transitions, anchoring in values like justice and generosity, and why listening to those closest to the challenges is key to building lasting solutions. You'll hear timely insights for leading through change and striving for deeper, more sustainable impact. 🎧

Episode Highlights

• Ali Knight’s Journey and Lived Experience (04:39)
• Understanding the Greenlight Fund Model (06:21)
• Hyper-Local Solutions to Community Needs (08:42)
• Navigating Local Contexts for Impact (11:23)
• Empowerment Through the Selection Advisory Council (14:00)
• Real-World Impact: Success Stories from Greenlight (20:22)
• Values that Anchor Leadership in Turbulent Times (25:29)
• Moments of Philanthropy and Community Trust (28:58)
• Ali’s One Good Thing: Listening to the Community (32:01)

Episode Shownotes: www.weareforgood.com/episode/617

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In this episode of our Hold Fast series, we’re leaning into what it really means to lead with purpose—especially when the weight of funding pressures feels unrelenting. Iara Peng joins us for a heart-opening conversation that invites nonprofit leaders to breathe a little deeper and reimagine funding as a partnership, not just a transaction.

With compassion and clarity, Iara offers a vision for building trust-based relationships rooted in alignment and shared purpose. You’ll walk away with practical ways to pause the hustle, reclaim time for strategic thinking, prioritize fewer but better-aligned funders, and lean into storytelling as a spacious, powerful tool. It’s the reminder we all need: you are already enough. Your work matters. And there’s a more intentional, more human way forward. 💛

Homework:

• What originally called me to this work?
• Where do I feel most alive and aligned in my work right now?
• What does it look like for me to lead with trust and not fear this week?
• Bonus: at your next team or board meeting, bring one of those questions and invite reflection.

Episode Shownotes: www.weareforgood.com/episode/616

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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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Sustainable leadership is not about being identical—it’s about being aligned.

In this episode of Gather At The Well, co-leaders Lindsey and Marisol pull back the curtain on the real work of co-leadership—what it takes to align, recalibrate, and lead with intention. They share how they’ve built a leadership model rooted in alignment, trust, and professional authenticity at The Teaching Well. 

From weekly syncs and systems audits to somatic check-ins and tough conversations, they offer practical tools and honest reflections on what it takes to lead together with intention. You'll hear how they navigate misalignment, build psychological safety, and stay grounded in shared values without sacrificing individuality.

This is a masterclass in shared leadership, psychological safety, and critical hope—rooted in love, truth, and a belief that we are stronger when we lead together.

Tune in to hear:

🤝 How co-leaders (and leadership teams) can align their values, decision-making styles, and leadership approaches
📆 Practical tools and rituals for co-leadership alignment, like weekly syncs and systems audits
❤️ How to navigate misalignment with curiosity, care, and honest conversation

Episode Overview

• Tone-Setting (1:00)
• Building a co-leadership relationship: creating unified vision, establishing psychological safety, and discussing values alignment (6:00)
• Alignment and calibration practices + weekly meeting structures (12:00)
• Dots and Squeezes Somatic Practice (16:00)
• Lindsey and Marisol’s six core co-leadership values (23:00)
• Homework + Critical Hope (32:00)

Explore the Shownotes: www.weareforgood.com/episode/theartofmulticalibration

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In this special episode of our Hold Fast series, we’re bringing you a replay from our March members-only meetup featuring nonprofit legal and operational powerhouse, Scott Curran.

As the former Chief General Counsel for the Clinton Foundation, Scott has navigated massive change and complexity — and he joined us to help you do the same. In this timely conversation, Scott walks us through the essential operational steps every nonprofit should be taking to prepare for a period of federal upheaval and uncertainty.

We cover everything from accounting and legal, to HR, leadership development, and board structure — with actionable takeaways you can put into practice right away. It’s grounding, insightful, and exactly the kind of clear-headed guidance we all need right now.

✨ Want to be part of conversations like this in real time? Join our membership for just $30/month and never miss a member meetup again.

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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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Today, instead of our regular episode, we wanted to share an episode from a podcast hosted by Tulaine Montgomery, the CEO of the venture philanthropy New Profit. She’s also a dear friend, a We Are For Good podcast alum, and brilliant thought leader we trust and follow to lead with conviction and heart. In Say More with Tulaine Montgomery, she talks to people who are dedicated to making the world a better place, all while taking care of themselves and supporting each other. While she normally interviews changemakers, she also records solo episodes where she looks back at her previous interviews.

How we can undertake challenging work as changemakers while also savoring the beauty of relationships, laughter, and joy? In this episode, Tulaine explores the joy in changemaking: why it's important and how to sustain it. Tune in. 🎧

Helpful Links:

• Subscribe to Say More with Tulaine Montgomery on Apple or Spotify
• Listen to Episode 378 - Unlocking the Impact of Proximate Leadership - Tulaine Montgomery

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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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The world is changing—fast. As a nonprofit leader, how do you hold fast to your mission when everything feels uncertain? In this episode of our new Hold Fast series, we’re joined by Brooke Richie Babbage, founder of Bending Arc Consulting and host of the Nonprofit Mastermind Podcast, to break down what real resilience looks like in practice.

Brooke introduces her powerful framework for building a resilient organization—one that doesn’t just survive uncertainty but thrives through it. She shares the three core elements of resilience (Strategic Clarity, Capacity, and Capital) and walks us through her 4-step process for designing organizations that are strong, adaptable, and built to last.

If you’re leading a small team with limited capacity, feeling overwhelmed by uncertainty, or struggling to scale your impact, this episode is for you. You’ll walk away with practical, actionable steps to stabilize and grow your organization.

Plus, Brooke’s “One Good Thing” will change the way you think about resilience in your daily work.

Tune in to learn:
✅ What resilience really means for nonprofit organizations
✅ How to build clarity, capacity, and capital—even with a small team
✅ A step-by-step approach to designing a resilient, high-impact nonprofit
✅ How to move from feeling stuck to executing with confidence

Let’s build something that lasts. Listen now. 🎧✨

What's your nonprofit's growth stage? Take Brooke's quiz to find out!

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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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How do we stay steady when we need it most?

In this episode of Gather At The Well, Lindsey explores what it means to hold fast — to your values, your purpose, and your inner knowing. Through grounding somatic practices, personal reflections, and the rhythms that keep her team at The Teaching Well aligned, she offers a framework for leading with clarity and care.

This episode is full of tools to help you slow down, tune inward, and lead from a place of steadiness. You’ll walk away with:

 🧘‍♀️ Somatic practices you can use in real time
 📅 Weekly, quarterly & annual rhythms for aligned leadership
 🔁 The “Keep, Stop, Start” framework for intentional reflection
 🫶 A reframe for what it really means to be resilient

Because holding fast isn’t about freezing — it’s about showing up, soft and steadfast, again and again. “You’re here in this moment. You’re holding fast.”✨

Episode Highlights: 

• Tone-setting: Staying steady when you need it most (1:00)
• Somatic Practice: Grounding Exercise (4:00)
• What does it mean to “Hold Fast”? (7:00)
• Strategies for staying grounded (10:11)
• Weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual alignment strategies for you and your team (13:00)
• Somatic Practice: Anchor yourself in moments of unrest (15:00)
• Creating collective resilience (19:59)
• Somatic Practice: Gaze stabilization (26:00)
• Self-Care and community support (29:46)
• Advice for the busy leader + personal resilience strategies (36:00)
• Homework: Find 3 ways to tend to self - one somatic, one self care, and one social
• Critical Hope: Holding fast doesn’t mean freezing. It means showing up as the change leader that you are.

Full Episode Shownotes

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Everything is changing - fast. 

How do you hold fast to your mission while so much is uncertain? 

We'll be exploring this question at ImpactUp: Hold Fast this Thursday 4/10 from 10:00 - 2:00 CST with expert panels, a powerful workshop, and live coaching with legal, marketing, fundraising, and leadership experts. Bring your pressing problems and leave with a plan.

To kick off our week and help us get grounded, Jennifer Mulholland, Co-Principal of Plenty joins us to share a 10 minute guided meditation. Come back here to recenter when feeling overwhelmed or stressed. As Jennifer teaches, "The more we choose ease, the more life meets us with ease."

The world needs resilient changemakers—now more than ever. We Are For Good’s ImpactUp is here to help you navigate uncertainty, unlock funding, and lead with clarity.

Join us this Thursday from 10:00 - 2:00 CST for ImpactUp: Hold Fast. Register for FREE 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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What does it mean to truly center community in philanthropy? 

Meet Rachel D’Souza, Founder and Chief Purpose Officer of Gladiator Consulting. 🤝 A leading voice in the Community-Centric Fundraising (CCF) movement, Rachel shares her perspective on systems change in resource development, balancing donor expectations with equity, and how to drive long-term systems change over short-term solutions.

In this moment of unprecedented challenge for social impact orgs, Rachel offers a roadmap for survival, collaboration, and meaningful change. Nonprofit leaders need a new approach—one that centers community, embraces vulnerability, and dismantles outdated systems. Listen in for bold insights, real talk, and a call to action for the future of fundraising. 🎧

 Key Takeaways:
✔ What Community-Centric Fundraising is and why it matters
✔ How nonprofits can own their narrative in donor conversations
✔ Creative approaches to self-funding and collaboration in the sector

Resources Mentioned: 

• Community Centric Fundraising website
• Follow Rachel D'Souza's work through Gladiator Consulting
• Connect with Tosha Phonix, Executive Director of A.C.R.E.S.

Learn more: www.weareforgood.com/episode/613 

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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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