Meet Jeremy Bouman, Founder of RISE in Omaha 👋. Today, RISE operates in seven Nebraska prisons with a 90% graduate employment rate and a recidivism rate a third of the state average. And Jeremy has spent the last decade building a leadership team, a sabbatical policy, and a succession plan designed to outlast him.

In this episode, he breaks down exactly how, including the internal leadership academy, the innovation program open to every employee, and their newly approved sabbatical policy.

Plus: the story of a man serving a life sentence who donated $500 so someone else could take the same program that changed his life. 🩵

Tune in to hear:

• What the "Inside Out" model actually looks like, and why starting the relationship inside prison, years before release, is the thing that makes everything else work
• RISE’s human-centered internal policies, leadership academy, and innovation project + the impact on their team

Episode Highlights:

• Meet Jeremy Bouman (00:38)
• The Inside Out model: building trust before release (09:05)
• 70% system-impacted staff and why lived experience leads (09:05)
• Founder-proofing: humility, culture, and getting out of the way (14:10)
• The sabbatical policy and what happened when Jeremy took five weeks off (16:29)
• Succession planning: Rise Leadership Academy and Rise Innovation Project (21:14)
• Two generosity stories that say everything about this mission (27:29)
• One good thing: visit a prison, practice second chance hiring (29:57)

Episode Show Notes: https://www.weareforgood.com/episode/699

📅 Don't Miss These Free Upcoming Events! 👇

APRIL 29: Working Session Live: Forecast Your Monthly Giving Growth in 2026 with Dana Snyder (and the pathways to get you there!)

MAY 14: ImpactUp: Story This quarter, we're going deep on your most powerful (and underused) tool - Story. Local meetups happening worldwide. Find one near you.

//

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

Kyle S. King started his nonprofit journey as a college junior, raised $100K, and never stopped. Eight books, a publishing company, a keynote career, and the Growth Alliance later — he's spent over a decade helping mission-driven organizations do the deeper work first: aligning leadership, tightening operations, and sharpening the stories that actually move donors to act. 💪

In this episode, you'll hear:

• Why burnout isn't a wellness problem or a leadership problem — it's an organizational culture issue, and that distinction changes everything about how you solve it
• The three pillars of "contagious culture" (kindness, community, capital) and why skipping step one means you'll never reach step three
• The counterintuitive advice Kyle gives every leader who wants to grow: stop adding. Play defense first. Stop the leaks.

This conversation will challenge how you think about culture, leadership, and the small moments where real impact actually happens. 🩵

Episode Highlights:

• Meet Kyle King (00:41)
• Roots: Sankofa and the backstory that built everything (3:15)
• Contagious Culture: Kindness, Community, Capital (6:44)
• The root cause mistake nonprofit leaders keep making (10:00)
• Why burnout is an organizational culture problem (15:05)
• Leading with heart when you're running on empty (20:00)
• Play defense: building momentum by stopping the leaks (25:30)
• The barbershop story and the $800 check (30:26)
• One good thing: better people build better organizations (35:01)

Episode Show Notes: https://www.weareforgood.com/episode/698

//

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

"You don't manage volunteers. You have to inspire them."

Jeff Byard figured that out after 14 years in Alabama emergency management, six years as a senior leader at FEMA overseeing 185 presidential disaster declarations, and now as Chief Programs Officer at Team Rubicon — the disaster response organization with 200,000 Greyshirts deployed across the country and around the world.

In this episode, you'll hear:

• Why the shift from volunteer management to community building changes everything — and exactly how Team Rubicon made that shift at scale
• How 3,500 volunteer leaders lead a Greyshirt nation of 200,000 — and what that organizational structure teaches every nonprofit leader
• Jeff's One Good Thing: don't let perfection get in the way of good.

Episode Highlights:

• Jeff's origin story: Marine Corps to FEMA (3:08)
• Joining Team Rubicon and the "for impact" sector (6:36)
• You don't manage volunteers — you inspire them (7:48)
• What Team Rubicon does: 1,000 service projects a year (9:14)
• Volunteer management vs. community building (12:00)
• Veterans + "kick ass civilians": the 50/50 dynamic (14:51)
• Making volunteers your core capacity at scale (16:13)
• 10 simultaneous operations in Hurricane Helene (16:51)
• The philanthropy moment that made Jeff cry (20:55)
• One Good Thing: don't let perfection get in the way of good (25:04)

Resources Mentioned:

• Team Rubicon
• Tunnels to Towers Foundation
• Jeff Byard on LinkedIn

Full Episode Landing Page: https://www.weareforgood.com/episode/697

//

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

Trust is not a soft skill. It's the whole job.

Today we're bringing you something special: Aila Malik's live keynote from the We Are For Good Summit, followed by a real-time coaching Q&A with our community.

Aila has spent nearly a decade working alongside nonprofit leaders at their most defining moments: leadership transitions, burnout, mergers, and organizational inflection points. Her firm has partnered with hundreds of organizations, and her framework for building trust has changed how leaders think about culture, credibility, and change.

In this episode, you'll hear:

• Why trust isn't a soft skill — and why treating it like one is silently breaking your organization
• The three layers of trust (workability, credibility, vulnerability) and exactly where most leaders get stuck
• How to rebuild trust after a leadership transition, a broken promise, or a loss of confidence
• What Aila told a room full of summit attendees about why people resist change — and why the answer isn't strategy, it's safety

Episode Highlights:

• The Sector as a Response to Broken Narratives (1:42)
• The Three Layers of Trust (8:15)
• Building Credibility (10:10)
• The Vulnerability Layer (12:47)
• Live Q&A: Trusting Funders and Long-Term Partners (17:33)
• Navigating Trust in Organizational Transitions (20:00)
• When Stakeholders Have Different Goals (24:27)
• Trust Repair and Apology Tours (30:03)
• What Young Organizations Should Know About Trust (33:47)
• Middle Management as Trust Infrastructure (35:00)
• Aila's One Good Thing (40:01)

Resources Mentioned:

• Connect with Aila + Venture Leader Collective

Full Episode Landing Page: https://www.weareforgood.com/episode/696

//

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

Sara LaBarge grew up on the Menominee reservation in Wisconsin, won a Gates Millennium Scholarship as a teenager, and went on to lead strategic partnerships at Native Forward Scholars Fund — the largest direct scholarship provider to Native students in the country. When MacKenzie Scott called (twice), their organization was ready. This conversation is about what that readiness actually looked like.

Native nonprofits receive less than 0.5% of all philanthropic funding. Native Forward has been building anyway — for 55+ years. And the frameworks Sara uses for partnerships, accountability, and trust-based giving are some of the most practically useful we've heard for any fundraiser navigating high-stakes funder relationships right now. 🩵

In this episode, you'll hear:

• What the "dreaming phase" looked like inside Native Forward after their first MacKenzie Scott gift — and how they moved from scarcity thinking to strategic deployment fast
• How to identify true alignment with a partner before resources change hands, and why accountability to that alignment is what makes partnerships compound over time
• How Native Forward is handling a 35% surge in scholarship applications while protecting 55+ years of mission integrity
• Sara's One Good Thing: why passion alone isn't enough, and what discipline and alignment unlock

Episode Highlights:

• Sara's origin story: growing up on the Menominee reservation (3:00)
• Winning the Gates Millennium Scholarship (3:31)
• What scholarships unlock beyond financial support (7:07)
• The funding gap + MacKenzie Scott gifts (10:39)
• Building readiness to absorb and deploy a gift at scale (13:03)
• Strategic partnerships and the 35% surge in applications (15:25)
• What authentic partnerships look like in practice (17:06)
• Relationships as currency and values in action (20:15)
• The philanthropy story that changed Sara (22:03)
• One Good Thing: discipline and alignment (24:43)

Resources Mentioned:

• Native Forward Scholars Fund
• Yield Giving — MacKenzie Scott's giving platform and essays

Full Episode Landing Page: https://www.weareforgood.com/episode/695

//

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

Meet Eliza Blank, the new CEO of The Farmlink Project 👋 We’re exploring what happens when a founder-CEO mindset collides with one of the most urgent food systems problems of our time.

Eliza bootstrapped and scaled The Sill from a single idea to 12 stores across seven markets and $25M raised. Now she's applying that same startup lens to Farmlink, which rescues and redistributes over a million pounds of food every week.

In this episode, you'll hear:

• Why Eliza's team talks about their own obsolescence every day, and what that mindset unlocks for mission-driven orgs
• Why growth for growth's sake is a red flag, and how Farmlink thinks about scale vs. depth instead
• How to build a community of fanatics around a cause most people don't even know exists yet

Episode Highlights:

• From The Sill to Farmlink: Eliza's origin story (3:22)
• What the startup model has to teach the nonprofit sector (6:14)
• Brand building and community as a growth strategy (9:16)
• Scale vs. depth: why Farmlink talks about its own obsolescence (13:19)
• The Field Fellowship: investing in the next generation of food systems leaders (16:41)
• One Good Thing: pick a lane and compound it over a lifetime (26:01)

Resources Mentioned:

• The Farmlink Project
• Abundance
• God's Love We Deliver

Full Episode Landing Page: https://www.weareforgood.com/episode/694

//

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

In today's episode, Jon and Becky sit down with Afdhel Aziz, founder of Good is the New Cool, to unpack why the way most nonprofits tell their story is quietly killing their impact, and what the new playbook looks like.

Afdhel has spent 30+ years advising brands like Disney, Coca-Cola, Gap, and Adidas on purpose-driven storytelling. But his most urgent work right now is closing the hope gap - a measurable 27% chasm between hope and despair in society, tracked by Yale. He believes nonprofits sit at the center of the solution. And he's here to show you exactly how to get there. 🩵

In this episode, you'll hear:

• The Yale data behind the 27% hope gap and a reframe for your whole team
• A three-step storytelling playbook that any org can put to work immediately
• How to reach the 90% of people who want to help but don't know where to start (hint: it's not another heavy documentary)

Episode Highlights:

• Afdhel's origin story: From Sri Lanka to 30 years of brand storytelling (3:08)
• Why "Good is the New Cool" - and why that message is more urgent than ever (5:01)
• The 27% Hope Gap: What Yale's data tells us about where society is right now (6:53)
• The 90/10 problem in nonprofit storytelling - and the shift that changes everything (12:57)
• The Solutionaries: What impact storytelling can learn from Hollywood (19:09)
• Activists vs. advocates + the three-step playbook: Hope → Wonder → Courageous Action (24:33)
• Afdhel's One Good Thing: The top regret of the dying — and why authenticity is Afdhel's answer (32:41)

Resources Mentioned:

• Explore Afdhel's work and connect
• Choose Love
• The Solutionaries
• "Hope at Work" by Barbara Perry + Harry Hudson
• "The Book of Hope" by Jane Goodall
• "The Top Five Regrets of the Dying" by Bronnie Ware

Full Episode Landing Page: www.weareforgood.com/episode/693

//

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

In this Working Session, Jon and Becky are joined by digital strategist Josh Burns to rethink how nonprofits approach online giving — moving beyond quick wins and into strategies that actually build momentum. Together, they explore why so many organizations feel stuck growing digital revenue and how a shift toward relationship-first thinking can unlock more sustainable, long-term results.

From understanding the “digital donor gap” to building a simple growth framework rooted in human behavior, you’ll learn how to align your digital presence with real-world connection — and turn passive audiences into engaged, giving communities.

Top 3 Takeaways:

• Online Giving Starts With Human Connection — Not Conversion: Digital channels may be the medium, but people are the mission. Learn how to ground your strategy in empathy, proximity, and real relationships so your messaging resonates beyond the screen and inspires meaningful action.
• Use a Simple Growth Framework to Guide Strategy: Break down your digital ecosystem into three key stages — awareness, consideration, and action — and understand how each channel (social, website, email) plays a role in moving supporters toward deeper engagement and giving.
• Play the Long Game With Story + Community: From email nurture to community-building spaces, discover how consistent storytelling and intentional engagement create the trust that leads to higher conversion over time — not just one-off gifts.

This episode is packed with practical, low-lift ways to strengthen your digital presence — whether you’re just getting started with email, refining your storytelling, or rethinking how you engage donors online.

Welcome back to Working Sessions: hands-on, clarity-filled conversations designed to help you move real work forward inside your organization.

Let’s get to work.

Episode Highlights:

• Understanding the “Digital Donor Gap” (04:47)
• Why Data + Humanity Must Work Together (06:52)
• Digital Should Drive Real-World Action (07:27)
• Breaking Silos: Learning From Programs + Donors (10:30)
• The Feel–Know–Do Storytelling Framework (13:19)
• The Digital Growth Framework: Awareness → Action (14:47)
• First-Party Data + Building Direct Relationships (18:10)
• Community-Building as a Growth Strategy (20:14)
• Playing the Long Game With Email + Story (23:11)
• Tracking Metrics + Setting Realistic Goals (25:05)
• One Good Thing: Get Out of Your Comfort Zone (30:02)

Episode Shownotes: www.weareforgood.com/episode/692

//

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