Unabashed Idealism When We Need it Most
The brand new, happily subversive nonprofit We are for Good and its hit podcast by the same name have been up and running for less than twelve months, yet it’s already been shining bright in a year that really needed it. Founded by Jonathan McCoy and Becky Endicott, We are for Good is determined to disrupt nonprofit fundraising, storytelling and access to resources in the best possible way. It’s an epic love letter to everyone involved in philanthropic endeavors being written in real time, and it might just change the world.
“We subscribe to an abundance mindset. We’re all about making friends and sharing content,” McCoy says. Endicott agreed, a sparkle in her eye. Both are extra cheerful, clearly dreamy, unabashed do-gooder types in the best possible way. In fact, we need more just like them.
But first things first. Endicott and McCoy began their collaboration at the Oklahoma State University Foundation where he was an intern in her department in 2005. She affectionately refers to him as her “business partner in crime and favorite little brother.” The two immediately bonded over what they both describe as the art of fundraising, which they gird with known best practices. It’s been a brilliantly successful strategy, one which ultimately led them to the INTEGRIS Foundation, where each spent a decade quite successfully helping to transform that organization’s fundraising philosophy and approach.
“We subscribe to the theories of fundraising, but we focus on the real, the genuine, the vulnerable. The stories. It’s a disruptive take on how to connect, how to story-tell,” Endicott says.
Last summer, the collaborators decided it was time to walk their talk and start the rather meta nonprofit they’d been dreaming of for years. In the middle of a pandemic. And there’s more. McCoy and his wife Candice, who boldly told her husband to jettison his corporate career and just go for it, are the parents of two sets of twins (three girls and a boy), ages 5 and 8. Endicott and husband Kyle have two daughters, ages 6 and 10. He also encouraged Endicott and McCoy to take the plunge, despite the challenges.
But dreamers tend to marry other dreamers, so with full spousal support, McCoy and Endicott founded We are for Good, hired a former INTEGRIS colleague, Julie Confer, to be their producer and editor, and off they went.
“We are for Good also provides resources for the nonprofit community,” says McCoy. “Nonprofits are often resource-strapped. We offer a place to plug in and talk shop. We’re building a community.” No big surprise that nonprofits are hungry for such a resource.
The massive success of their podcast has been a surprise, though. “The night we launched, we’d gone viral,” Endicott says. Before they knew it, We are for Good had rocketed up the podcast charts in a couple of categories and was being downloaded all over the world. Three are released each week.
“We realized that people are hungry for good news. We tell the stories of people who are here for the bigger mission, people who have really dug in,” she says. Interviewees include Sara Cunningham, founder of Free Mom Hugs, Matt Larson, founder of the Human Improvement Project and Matt Hangen, CEO of the water charity Water4, plus many more. Ostensibly, these are meant to be best practice and inspiration resources for those in the nonprofit industry, and they are, but they’re also terrifically powerful stories, perfect for when you need a lift.
We are for Good will launch more resource offerings this year, like monthly online workshops and consulting, both of which will be offered by subscription. It’s all part of the master plan. Endicott says it best. “We’re trying to reimagine the world. We’re trying to create a kindness revolution.”