We Are For Good Podcast - The Podcast for Nonprofits

Meet Pedro J. Rivera 👋 In 30 years at the intersection of law, philanthropy, and fundraising, he has launched three planned giving programs and raised $150 million for nonprofits and universities. In this Working Session, he's here to give you a clear entry point into planned giving, no matter where you're starting from.
In this Working Session, you'll hear:
How to talk about legacy giving in a way that feels natural
How to find your best planned giving prospects with data you already have
A 30-day action plan to move planned giving from overwhelming to doable
Episode Highlights:
What is planned giving, really? (0:21)
Why right now: The Great Wealth Transfer (3:18)
How to talk about legacy without making it weird (4:48)
Finding your best prospects: the 7-10 rule and more (5:50)
Weaving planned giving into what you're already doing (8:21)
The 30-day starter plan (12:05)
One Good Thing: stop assuming donors don't want to talk about this (14:07)
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 Show Notes: https://www.weareforgood.com/episode/702
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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
Say hi 👋
LinkedIn / Instagram / Facebook / YouTube / Twitter

At 4am on April 3, 2025, Jennifer Rupp's phone wouldn't stop buzzing. 93% of Michigan Humanities' budget. Gone overnight. What happened next is a story about crisis leadership, radical transparency, and why connection isn't a soft strategy. It's the only strategy. 🙏
In this episode, you'll hear:
What Jennifer did in the first 24 hours after losing 93% of her budget, and why transparency was her most important tool
How she decided which programs to cut and which were non-negotiable (and the framework you can use to make those calls)
Why "when division is the crisis, connection is the strategy" isn't just a philosophy at Michigan Humanities, it's their entire operating model
Jennifer’s One Good Thing: flip the funding triangle. 85% of your money comes from individuals. Are you spending 85% of your time there?
This one's going to stay with you. 🩵
Episode Highlights:
Meet Jennifer Rupp (00:48)
The 4am email that changed everything (09:44)
How federal humanities funding actually works (10:46)
The pivot: transparency, triage, and staying mission-aligned (13:55)
What programs fell and which were non-negotiable (17:09)
Crisis leadership lessons you can only learn by walking through it (22:28)
From front porches to back decks: why we've lost the art of gathering (25:15)
The Great Michigan Gathering: a three-year plan to rebuild community (26:43)
A powerful story of generosity in Jennifer's life (33:10)
Jennifer's One Good Thing: flip the funding triangle (35:05)
Episode Show Notes: https://www.weareforgood.com/episode/701

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

700 episodes felt like the kind of moment that deserved more than a LinkedIn post and a few dancing emojis. So we sat down to talk about what this journey has taught us about generosity, the stories that haven't left us, and what we're still learning.
We're so grateful you're here. Come celebrate with us. 🩵
-Jon + Becky
Episode Highlights:
Two powerful stories of generosity we are still carrying with us (5:00)
The ripple effect and what generosity has taught us (10:00)
Low ego, high impact: what the best leaders share (15:00)
Jon and Becky’s One Good Things (19:00)
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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
Say hi 👋
LinkedIn / Instagram / Facebook / YouTube / Twitter

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

📅 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