522. Building Digital Communities: A Roadmap for Community-First Nonprofit Marketing - Cameron Ripley

Meet Cameron. He’s the CEO of Community Boost, serving over 1,000 nonprofit clients and has helped raise more than $100 million💸 The Community Boost team has also built the Nonprofit Marketing Summit, the world's largest nonprofit conference, driving more than 50,000 nonprofit professional registrations annually. Together, we’re peeling back the layers of digital marketing strategies that resonate with authenticity, creating communities that propel our missions forward. Tune in to chart your path toward mission-driven communities​​🗺️

💡Learn

• About Community-First Marketing
• How to Leverage Marketing to Scale Impact
• Nonprofit Marketing Summit: The Unthinkable Takeaways

Today’s Guest
Cameron Ripley, CEO, Community Boost

For more information + episode details visit: weareforgood.com/episode/522.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 3:06

Hey, I'm John.

Speaker 2: 3:07

And I'm Becky.

Speaker 1: 3:08

And this is the we Are For Good podcast.

Speaker 2: 3:11

Nonprofits are faced with more challenges to accomplish their missions and the growing pressure to do more, raise more and be more for the causes that improve our world.

Speaker 1: 3:20

We're here to learn with you from some of the best in the industry, bringing the most innovative ideas, inspirational stories, all to create an impact uprising.

Speaker 2: 3:28

So welcome to the Good Community. We're nonprofit professionals, philanthropists, world changers and rabbit fans who are striving to bring a little more goodness into the world.

Speaker 1: 3:39

So let's get started, becky, what's happening?

Speaker 2: 3:44

Our friend is on the podcast. I'm so excited to chat with him, I feel like you're tearing up over there.

Speaker 1: 3:49

It's got to be, because we're talking about community Always. Yes, so I have a friend in the house that's talking about the power of community for our missions. I mean is one of our favorites. It's like stuck in the deck and I'm going to go ahead and stack the deck because we got a card player in the house too. This is Cameron Ripley, so excited to introduce you to the CEO of Community Boost, and Community Boost has put its flag on the ground.

Speaker 1: 4:11

If you were not part of the nonprofit marketing summit, hold on to your booties because you can go catch the replay now. You can get the VIP pass. But there was so much engagement around the topic of authenticity and community and engagement and really letting community drive our marketing strategy, and Cam is like a thought leader in this space. That is like a huge honor to have him in the house to teach us all the things in that front. But I got to back up for a second. So Community Boost dates back to 2012, where they've been helping nonprofits and purpose-driven leaders accelerate their growth and social impact and to date get this they have served more than a thousand nonprofits and raised more than a hundred million dollars alongside those clients. I mean, y'all impact is incredible. And we just came off the nonprofit marketing summit. I mentioned it already.

Speaker 1: 4:51

But y'all this is engaging more than 50,000 nonprofit professionals each year at this free event we know we believe in the democratization of access, of education and community, and Cam is just waving the flag for that, so it's a huge honor to have you in our house. To stay camera replete. Get in this house. Welcome to the. We Are For Good podcast.

Speaker 3: 5:09

Oh, thank you. So exciting to be here and, john Becky, you guys are amazing. So grateful for all your contributions into the sector and such a fan of the pod and thank you for all you did in our latest summit. These were really a huge thread through that and then put on some of the best sessions. So thank you. Man it was fun.

Speaker 1: 5:29

Yeah we had so much fun. It was a vibe I had the best time it was so good. We're going to definitely create space because there's a lot of takeaways. But before we dive into today's content, I mean take us back to a little bit of your story. Tell us about growing up and what. What connected the dots for you pouring into community, boost and all the work you're doing today.

Speaker 3: 5:48

Oh, that's a. That's a big question, like what shapes you. But yeah, I mean, I think in a lot of ways I was. I was definitely raised to serve others. My grandfather, my papa, we lived in Texas. He was a minister, a Presbyterian minister, and, you know, was always really active in the community from there, you know, when I went to college, I studied marketing entrepreneurship and you know I did this faculty year long. You know, senior year, one year program to in entrepreneurship is number two program in the country at the time and everybody was creating the next Facebook and trying to raise venture capital. And we launched a nonprofit. It was called SAFE. It stood for senior advice and financial education. We're committed to preventing elderly financial abuse. So that was like the first 501c3 I ever created.

Speaker 3: 6:38

And from there I just always had a special place in my heart and, you know, years later ended up launching community boost. But you know, in a lot of ways too, I used to just dream about. I always knew it was going to be an entrepreneur, like it was a non-negotiable for me. I've only worked for other people for maybe nine months or something like that in my life, but I also really wanted to create a space that, like, had incredible lifestyle design and an organization that people are happy to work at and everything like that. And with that I mean what's more fun than you know? Yeah, you can do marketing and lots of things. I've always been pretty good at marketing, but you know, I wanted to market things that matter, that had meaning, and that's really you know why I gravitated so hard to the social sector.

Speaker 2: 7:27

And lucky us Like.

Speaker 2: 7:29

that's how I feel about it because we need more entrepreneurs in this space who are thinking differently, who are innovating differently, and I think that's really like the secret sauce and community boost. And you've taught us a lot about community first marketing. I mean, our eighth and final core value of our company is that community is everything and we're really trying to harness that and get not just nonprofits but social impact leaders, change makers, anyone that's trying to get some movement on an important cause, to think about this community first marketing mindset. So talk to us a little bit about how you define that and then maybe tell us about some opportunities that exist today that can be unlocked within missions, maybe that people aren't taking advantage of.

Speaker 3: 8:17

Yeah, let's get into it. You know, I think really you know what we're kind of coining this community first marketing is the future both, for you know nonprofits, but really any business. You know when we think about what's most innovative in you know the internet and technology. You know I'm drawn to the crater economy, drawn to you know these communities that are really really thriving and and a lot of I mean I've been running a digital marketing agency for 12 years and I think a lot of what traditional digital marketing is becoming is obsolete. You know it's becoming brand spam, it's very transactional and you know those impersonal communications are in a lot of ways fueling the generosity crisis which there's been so much data about in our social sector and and award, eroding a lot of supporter trust, especially when we start to make that, that leap from traditional donors to next gen right, which is, you know, gen X and younger. And so for us, you know we envision this transformative horizon, this new era of community first marketing, and it, for us, isn't just a strategy. We see it as a revolution. It's about forging genuine and during relationships by harnessing some cutting edge but yet easy to use technology so we can cultivate a vibrant community of our supporters and of our recurring donors, and really I think it's gone in the days or this like one dimensional, one way communication world, and thank God it's now about going one to many right to a communication and our supporters communicating to each other. And you know, I think that's we have this like.

Speaker 3: 9:59

Last point, I feel like, you know, we had Dan Pallada at our summit, right, and it was just so powerful and over 10 years ago he talked about how nonprofits are an economic prison that suppresses and oppresses all of them and how society, you know, views how they use their funding, right, and so we're constantly asked to raise more and to do more and to achieve more, but we're not given more resources. And so how do we solve that if we can't add headcount? And that's where I think, when we can add community headcount or heart count, we can actually really achieve mission success, right, and so yeah, I just I see it and I'm excited for nonprofits to really just go for it and put in the work to build a really thriving community, and I'm happy to. You know, we could get into all the details of how and that thesis, but you're speaking our language.

Speaker 1: 10:51

I mean, you know, because we, if you hang around the podcast, you know we don't just talk about like donors, like that's a transactional person of your organization, but where are those believers? Where are those rabid fans? They're probably in community. They could be in community powering and being the heart power of your mission, and so I love that y'all, like, have honed in on this and so could you break it down. Talk to us like we're, like fifth graders, although fifth graders probably understand this more than us.

Speaker 2: 11:13

So I'm like five, michael Scott, five year old, maybe, okay, five, yeah, break it down even further.

Speaker 1: 11:17

What's the difference between like digital marketing versus community first marketing?

Speaker 3: 11:21

I define like traditional digital marketing, as in a lot of ways it's become brand spam. It's very transactional, it's all about lead quantity. We're really only capturing you know the existing demand. We're marketing alone and again it's a rotting trust. You know there's. We are experiencing a generosity crisis and I don't think how we're communicating today is helping. And community first marketing is all about, you know, meaningful interactions, relationships, weed, quality, really creating demand, not just capturing it. Very, very partnership centric with you know our community, our creators, our employees, our staff, other partners in our sector and, most importantly, it's a place where we strengthen the values of our organization right, instead of eroding trust. We strengthen our values because we're convening people who have the same ethos, who care about our mission equally as much as we do together.

Speaker 2: 12:21

I love that and because it's so human centric and it's like well, of course that's the way, because that's how we want to interact with the brands and the nonprofits that we trust in our lifetime.

Speaker 2: 12:34

And I'm just thinking back, we just had a conversation that dropped with the Michael J Fox Foundation and what they were saying to us is, you know, once we went into our Facebook and we just sort of listened and we started like popping into people's messengers and we started setting up things that were really organic. It told us that we needed to iterate the way that we look at community and I thought that was such a brilliant example. But a lot of things that we're hearing is people are sort of especially if you were kind of behind in the pandemic, you weren't, you didn't really have a strong digital marketing presence and people are kind of a little bit paralyzed right now. And where do I start? What do I do and where can I really start to authentically connect with community building? That leaves to movement building. So talk about the mindset shifts that we need to sort of embrace, to think differently about the marketing and digital engagement of today.

Speaker 3: 14:34

I love that topic. I mean and before I even dive into some of the tactics, because I really do see it as mostly additive it doesn't need to be, honestly, that big of a lift, especially on the tech front, thank you. But when we talk about, like the community evolution, you know, when we reflect on the nonprofit space and I feel like we do all these things, still right, but like 1.0 of nonprofit community was like 1.0 was in person events, right, and that's in our DNA. We've been doing that for forever. 2.0 was this, you know, team peer to peer fundraising, and you know that that kind of blew up.

Speaker 3: 15:14

3.0 is recurring giving and this has been, you know, the hottest topic in the space for many reasons, rightfully so, you know, according to our acceleration report, of over 5,400 nonprofits, you know, the ones that were most likely to hit their fundraising goals last year had implemented recurring giving. So it's critical, I believe that. But that's 3.0. But then 4.0, I think, is digital communities, and that's the gap we got to jump and that's where we're at today and even the best recurring giving communities in the world, or recurring giving, you know, I guess, offers that are, you know, incredible and predictable and drive a ton of revenue. A lot of them still haven't built true digital community and that, but yet you know there's so many thriving in other sectors. And so how do we do it as nonprofits? And I think the good news is is like, again, this is in our DNA and we got to prevent that headline of you know, nonprofit, like community building is lost on nonprofits, and so, you know, I really do see it as additive, like we just need to basically keep running the marketing channels that are working for you and keep, you know, driving giving.

Speaker 3: 16:30

But you know, I think one of the main thesis there, if you don't know where to start, start with your recurring donors, especially when, again, we look at you know, next gen donors. They, they want transparency, they demand trust, they want to feel like you know the impact and hear the stories, and so you know there's platforms like Circle, mighty Networks, school and many that make it really easy, and so it's really just about plugging that into your ecosystem and being okay that you're not controlling every single message and you're saying and you're yeah, and you're allowing people to to get there, and then from there, you're just, you know, communicating your impact, sparking conversation. You just got to start and it takes time, but it is the way. It is where the future is going, in my opinion.

Speaker 1: 17:26

Yeah, I mean that's such a brilliant place to start because I think we've had some examples come through the show, I think, of charity water, which obviously is an example that we all love to point to that they had that idea of like, how do we wrap community around? The spring they're giving their monthly giving club and it's like we've met people that are part of that, that feel like it's part of their identity. And you know, to me that's when you know that it's working, that people do feel that dialed in and I'm sure there's ways they can grow and expand into this. But it just is like where is that? Where's that connection point is? This is the question I'm asking.

Speaker 1: 17:57

A guess proverbial to the audience today is like where's that connection point in your organization For people to feel that it can be part of their identity, and the community is a great way to do that. So I mean you here is say all the time community is everything. What is your thoughts of? Like how do you build true digital community today? What does that look like like? Get into the how with us on this.

Speaker 3: 18:17

Definitely let's do it. You know. So I feel like first, you know what is the audience that you're looking to Build community around, like yeah, is it? You're recurring donors? Are you a blood bank and you have blood ambassadors that you know give like monthly and they clearly care about their local community. Right? Are you a Community foundation that's got like a women's philanthropic group and you want to build community around that, around these women that you know give annually, and these are all like specific organizations I've been in recent conversations with. So it's like what is the group you're building community around? And Then from there, you know what, where do you want to host your community?

Speaker 3: 19:02

And I really think it's important to own that audience, not rent it like this is not a Facebook group, but say you're using something like circle and you get those systems built. You get your strategy right. You think through your campaign creative and like that's phase one is strategies and systems. And then Then you do a soft launch. You know, get a lot of those core supporters Invited to the group.

Speaker 3: 19:24

You know, get like conversations going, kind of figure out what messaging works, and then you move into a full launch and then from there you're in that's like phase three and then phase four is, you know, optimizing that and you know the goal especially if you like time monetization to it say it's a recurring giving community is, you know, you know like you crack the code to scalability, like if I invest 35 bucks I'm gonna get a $25 recurring donor right, and we know long-term that's gonna have a really strong ROI and so from there you can then scale and that's when you can like start to step on the gas. You move from optimization to scale and then it's all about really stewarding that group. You know there's all sorts of ways to engage the community, but that's kind of our current like launch plan.

Speaker 2: 20:09

Hope that helps it not only helps, but thank you for doing 1.0, 2.0, because I think it does give people a roadmap of Start here and I mean the we're for good community is on mighty networks. We love that platform and I'll tell you we have failed in a lot of ways and we found success in a lot of ways and it is just an iterative process. But I think the point you're making just about listening and Adapting is is really an interesting point, and you mentioned scaling and I like want to go into that deeper and I Want to get practical, maybe like throw out some tactics here. What do you think are like maybe the top marketing strategies that you think works can really leverage to scale their impact, whether it's in community or just with their messaging? What have you seen?

Speaker 3: 20:56

I mean, how I think about tactics or channels is is, you know our core channels and then our emerging channels, and this really different, like it's different for every organization. You know some are incredibly adept. They have 10 core channels, right, like it could be email and social media and their Google ad grants, which is, you know, 10 grand a month and free ads or meta ads, and SEO and paid search. And you know Direct mail and they got their event game down right. And then there's your emerging channels. And so you know most organizations still can go deeper in their core channels.

Speaker 3: 21:35

But then you know you always do want to be testing and innovating and testing the merging channels, right, whether it's SMS or Digital audio or influencers, or you know Microsoft ads, or you know I could go on and on right, but that's like a the mindset you were we were mentioning mindset earlier, but that's how you really think about that and kind of double-click, you know what's core to you, what are the highest priority emerging channels you want to be testing, but especially with, like community specifically. You know the top channels. I think our, yeah, email, social, social advertising, meta ads are incredible. And then, of course, you know really owning, like the Google side of things, whether it's your Google ad grant your SEO and, like your organic rankings, as well as any you know, paid Paid search ads and even YouTube ads, I think are really powerful today.

Speaker 1: 22:32

It's so good and it's it's interesting to hear like such a like a diverse array, because Becky and my experience I mean, even though we were in marketing functions, there was just kind of like this belief that you're not using paid strategies in the nonprofit space. I think we're seeing a big movement, thankfully, when they work with people like you that are entrepreneurial and like are kind of pushing the envelope. But we need to normalize that. It's okay to do that. I mean, we're trying to compete for the attention of brands that are certainly using that as part of their strategy. So we have to change our mindset that it's okay to invest in these things. It's gonna give us more visibility or connection or in front of the right people. So could you translate that into a case study cam? Like what? What's a case study that maybe community abuses work on their digital marketing or the community? And like, how are you seeing this Kind of play out? Like, what are the results they see?

Speaker 3: 23:17

sure, yeah, I mean we're, you know we're just in this pay-to-play world, especially with social right, I mean to get any sort of traction when people's attention is added. It takes some ad investing typically. Oh man, we have so many case studies. We, you know, last year we served 303 nonprofits directly through our agency in a hundred and seventh or accelerator program. So you know, I think the biggest case study is. And one thing I really want to share with this audience is you know you mentioned we raised a hundred million dollars through through channels. We managed, of course, our partners raised way more than that, but we did 25 million of that last year alone and and yeah, we're just getting started. You know, just because we've been doing this for 12 years, we still have that entrepreneurial spirit and then are really in it for the long term.

Speaker 3: 24:07

But yeah, one case study that you know just kind of hit our celebration channel was the mission of the foster alliance and their missions to support the foster care community by providing essentials to benefit children in foster care and the the largest provider of foster care essentials in the state of Arizona, and before they worked with us, you know they were basically keeping most things in house.

Speaker 3: 24:32

You know, doing a little bit of wide advertising, their SEO. But you know, of course, like most organizations have limited resources and a lot of these things weren't working. And then we, fortunately, we were able to implement an omni-channel strategy with them. This is back when they were called themselves Arizona helping hands and they went through a whole site foundation Rebuild and and from there, you know, with like Google and Microsoft, like Google ad grants and then Microsoft ads, we we started to really like have a lot of wins and conversions and then later we rolled out meta ads and paid Google search ads because the ad grant, everything was working so well and yeah, and last year we raised over 125,000 through those channels.

Speaker 3: 25:18

And you were mentioned ad spend. But I think this is a really powerful example because the return on that ad spend was over 2000%, meaning we didn't spend a lot on ads, we just had to spend something. And you know, I think that's just like it doesn't have to be a ton of ad spend, but some, and just being willing to test it can go a really long way.

Speaker 2: 25:42

I'm so glad we're talking about ads because I think that there again is some fear about using you Adds like paid ads in the sector. But I really think if you are someone listening right now and you want to build that organic, authentic community, yes, you've got to start internally with those believers that john mentioned, but also you need to attract the people that don't even know about you yet, and paid ads can really help you know, funnel you into a real focus. I heard you talk about just even the women's group. Niche is so popular right now. People are truly trying to find their people in their community and the way that we need down is really gonna be helpful to find the people that value a line and what a champion your mission. So this is the first time you're using paid ads. Like I just want to give you a warm mom hug and say marketing is mission and that's what needs to be conveyed to the being counters, to our leadership, to Our board or anyone who has influence over budget, and I would say Put a thousand dollars in the budget, you know, for one specific campaign. Try it out like, just set a specific amount of money and do what we call innovative. Innovation is just try some stuff and I mean I think when you look at what you've done, cam you, I say you the whole entire like community boost team with the nonprofit marketing summit. I mean you have you have successfully gathered twenty five thousand nonprofit professionals together and I know paid ads were a huge part of making sure that you're getting in front of the right people. But we also want to talk about like we should you just wrap the summit.

Speaker 2: 27:26

It was so fiery it was. It's like the conversations I'm still seeing are still going on. You know, days in and, I anticipate, weeks later. I'm just curious, from your vantage point in the crows nest, watching all of this go down on multiple stages, talk about, like, some of the main takeaways, some of the high points that you saw from this conference. That, for those who may have missed it, which you don't have to miss it go by the VIP, which is very affordable to be a package, and watch the replays. Like, talk about what, what you saw is trending and what people need to sort of get that education on right now.

Speaker 3: 28:06

I mean early mentioned the chat and I just got a. That's like one of. One of the things I think people are most blown away and find it way more value out of them they realize is just how engaged the community is. That comes to the nonprofit marketing summit, it's really like no other event in the world and something I'm very humbled and grateful for, which then you know trickles down into LinkedIn and just so many connections people have made in the lounges and everything like that.

Speaker 3: 28:34

But yeah, some of my top takeaways and I mean there were a lot. You know that's a to my own horn, but I definitely want to hammer home that you know we're transitioning from a digital marketing world to a community first marketing world and that's really important to do. What was our theme, which is the unthinkable right of achieving more and doing more without getting more resources by building our community hard count. From there there is, I think, one of the sessions I was most excited about and it definitely lived up to the hype was with the Mardini sisters. I don't know if you saw it, but they were incredible the swimmers.

Speaker 1: 29:10

The documentary rocked me show notes.

Speaker 3: 29:13

Yeah, yeah, you gotta watch the swimmers on Netflix if you haven't and their story is incredibly powerful. But you know they like the takeaway from that session for me and was achieving the unthinkable, you know, takes courage and community, and I just thought that was really powerful. These two women have literally done the unthinkable and have accomplished so much despite the most insane, challenging circumstances. And yet you know they they yes, said yes to stuff. Yeah, I mean, they literally jumped in the water to save other people's lives and did so much more, but they did it because they had that support net network. And for us to really again achieve the unthinkable, we have to have that courage and community. And so it's just so critical to build. I think it was you throughout his said you know, take the first step and the next step will follow, and you just gotta jump in and just really resonated.

Speaker 3: 30:09

And then I think my third one is just, you know, in order to achieve the unthinkable, we got a dream big and we also have to make it a goal to educate our community to think bigger. And this really surface for me when, you know, chatting with the legendary Dan Plata and I was just inspired to remember that to achieve that unthinkable and actually achieve mission success and break that economic prison we mentioned. We have to dream big and also really educate our community, and I'll quote Dan here. Like he literally said stop boring them to death with things and ideas that don't matter and aren't going to change things or change the world. We gotta make it a goal to educate your donors, your board, your staff, everyone over the course of the year to get out of their antiquated ways of thinking about the nonprofit sector and to think bigger and, to you like, we have to saturate our ecosystem and our community with big ideas and keep that spirit of possibility alive. But yeah, those are you know a few.

Speaker 3: 31:08

I got more, but I'm curious and you guys are intense sessions to what were some of your guys take away.

Speaker 2: 31:15

I mean, I think, this is starting to be.

Speaker 1: 31:18

This is stirring a thread. I mean every. When you talk about Dan talking about dreamer, dream bigger. I remember him coming into our podcast and saying at some point, while Disney was just walking around with the drawing of a mouse trying to like say I have a plan. But it connects to what you were saying and what I saw in some of our sessions is that we need to be inviting people into something that's like bigger and more beautiful. This vision, like we can't just come and be cynical about everything, about everything that's wrong, but like what is the better thing that we're fighting for that people would be want to step into. Like we need that vision, that leadership, and so that came through for me.

Speaker 2: 31:55

Yeah, I gotta say, the one that's sticking out to me probably because the chat was so explosive was this conversation we had about Gen Z and I feel like you've you've teased this just a little bit and this population, y'all.

Speaker 2: 32:11

I mean we talk about recurring giving. I mean 57% of them already have philanthropy built into their budget. Like 40 something percent of them will give up something fun just because they want to stay with that heartwired something. And they just brought down the house about why this audience should absolutely be on your radar and I would say, if you are looking at community building, these are the people that are the, not the one to one equals two, it's the one to one equals 10. Because if they believe in your community, they believe that giving is identity already, because it's built into their, to their budget. I mean they are going to stay, they are going to be the great multiplier. So these conversations matter. Community building matters listening to different voices and I'm just really grateful you know that you would hold space for the bigger conversations, for dreams, for vision, for all of it.

Speaker 1: 33:10

And for calling it unthinkable you know, I mean that's what we want to get like invited into so really great branding. Okay, so I mean, cameron, like you've gotten to your story alone of just getting to be part of so many different missions and philanthropy and lots of different lights. I mean, take us back to a moment that stuck with you, you know what is one, that kind of cuts through the noise, that kind of has panged your heart, a moment that you just saw philanthropy, community coming together.

Speaker 3: 33:38

Oh man, I mean, there's so many that come to mind, like with, with all our amazing nonprofit partners. We have the, you know, ability to help. But you know, I think when I really, if I'm being really true, and the one I think probably personally impacted me the most was it was in the early years of running community boost and you know we weren't making any money and it really wasn't even the point of it, but for a long time we were running this internship program where you know people are going through this four month program recent grads, mba students, you know even some PhDs, and they're like, this has changed my life. I learned more in four months than I did in four years at university and we had this idea of like, well, what if we give that opportunity to those that don't have it? And we called it Project Flight. It stood for fostering leadership in tomorrow's entrepreneurs and we ran it first with a group that we met at a nonprofit conference.

Speaker 3: 34:39

This group of gentlemen from Miami who had all been court ordered to go into this program and you know these are definitely at Promise Youth had incredibly challenging life circumstances that are just for just blow you away and we we ended up creating this. You know, I did this pub crawl, raise money to fly out there. I mean, I was really broke and we flow out there. And then we, we met them. We came up with these business ideas and we wanted to. You know we weren't necessarily saying, hey, you need to be entrepreneurs, but we were trying to give them this program and opportunity to say, hey, you can. You can do whatever you want to accomplish in your life. And we put them through this 12 month program, or, sorry, 12 week program, and it was a lot of ups and downs. You know, like one of the kids got stabbed in his neighborhood through the program, like during that time, and there was just it was. You know, this is like pre zoom and stuff right, like doing all this remotely but bringing in like these amazing speakers and just trying to help them.

Speaker 3: 35:47

And then we did another fundraiser and we flew them out for a demo day out in San Diego where they're actually pitching in front of there's like eight companies. They were pitching last. You know, the company before them had already raised like $2 million in a series A round and none of these kids that graduated high school, most of them had never even left Florida and they had this idea and they had been taking some of these organic cooking classes in this program and then most of them, you know, had been struggling of like what meal they're going to eat their whole life and they're kind of getting into it. And they had this idea to create a food truck to give positive work, right where some of them had literally been taught by their own family to sell drugs, but to give them positive work and provide healthy food in their community. And you know, they pitched this business idea in front of 300 people and, you know, got a standing ovation, didn't get any funding there, went back to Florida, continued to work on the idea, eventually got funding and that food truck still runs seven days a week and that was, you know, quite some time ago.

Speaker 3: 36:59

And then we ended up running that program two more times through the San Diego school system. But yeah, you know, I think for me it was like the most like in a lot of the nonprofit work I've been personally and yeah, that was something I'll never forget and it helps me stay connected to like why our nonprofits do what they do, you know do you know the name of that food truck we got to go show some drops.

Speaker 3: 37:24

Tell us what it is, we're going to link it up in the show notes it's called Vibe 305. Vibe 305.

Speaker 2: 37:32

Hey, if you are listening from the San Diego area. Go follow Vibe 305 and put a picture and tag us in it. We want to see the food we want to see what's happening here.

Speaker 3: 37:41

They're in Miami. They're in Miami, Okay.

Speaker 2: 37:43

Miami.

Speaker 1: 37:44

I'm like I don't know what the 305 is. Where is that? I'm in the 405.

Speaker 2: 37:50

So it's really cool and admirable, though, cam, how you've just been so committed to this entrepreneurial journey, like since you were younger, and I just I love the way it shows up in every part of your story and every part of your businesses, like in your actions. I just I think it's evolved into something so cool and we're just, we're just so glad to know you, and thank you for sharing these insights. And as we're winding down, you know we're going to ask you the one good thing, and I wonder what you're going to leave with the audience today.

Speaker 3: 38:23

Well, can I give two things?

Speaker 2: 38:25

Of course you can, All right two good things.

Speaker 3: 38:27

You know, I think one of our core values at Community Boost is to be a relentless learner, and I think, especially in our space where it can be pretty lonely, I think that's just really important to one obviously be learning, but also to find inspiration in community. So you know it might sound corny, but keep listening to this podcast. I mean that type of learning. I've had earbuds in my ear forever and it just it's literally fueled me through a lot of hard times in my own Community Boost journey. You know, get to our summit, like find that and it really does help and keeps that drive going. And then the theme of this one. You know, I think the one good thing is to you know you are not behind if you have not launched a community, but it's time. And you know, I really encourage everyone to embrace and dive into Community First Marketing, because you will stand out amongst other nonprofits like never before and it'll take some learning, some stumbling, but it'll be mission changing in my opinion.

Speaker 2: 39:36

It literally reminds me John of like trend number two, you know, for this year. It's like if you can activate the one, you can grow a movement. So this is your moment. Nonprofits this is your moment. Social enterprise Start with the one. If you need a place to start, start with one person. Look internally. It's going to be a game changer for you.

Speaker 1: 40:00

I mean, it's just evergreen y'all. It's not like we're going to say AI replaced community because we all are talking to robots now. It's like we need this. This is in our DNA. We need each other. So I mean, cam, tell how people can connect with you with Community Boost. You've just launched this epic email newsletter. I got to say I was so excited to subscribe and I got my first copy where you're kind of talking about this stuff. Point us to all the things that have how you show up online.

Speaker 3: 40:23

Sure, Well, I mean, I'm a transparent person. My email is Cameron at communityboostorg. If you're listening to this, shoot me an email and I will send you the presentation deck of embracing community first marketing a new era for nonprofits that I just spoke at the summit and I think that deck is going to take this talk and put it on steroids for you. Yeah, connect with me on LinkedIn. I'm super active there, Cameron Ripley, and if you're interested in working with Community Boost, go to communityboostorg. We have our accelerator program, which is courses, coaching, community, incredibly affordable for emerging organizations, especially if you're wanting to really roll up your sleeves but just want to shortcut a while your success and doing a lot of the digital ad channels we talked about. And then that's also where you can connect and learn more about our agency side, where we're a really ingrained partner and extension of your team. And, yeah, I guess with that too. On the personal newsletter you mentioned, if you shoot me an email or connect with me on LinkedIn, I'll make sure you get added to it.

Speaker 2: 41:36

I mean I think John teased us at the top of the conversation, but Cameron is was a very competitive poker player and you've added your dad pun in there, john, and so I've got to add one. I just want to thank you for being like all in in this work, like thank you for pushing all the chips in, doubling down on all of it. I mean I'm not trying to make all the puns are just coming out, but it's like thank you for the way you show up, thanks for the way that you invest, thanks for the way that you empower. We really adore you as a human and an ally in this work.

Speaker 3: 42:08

Oh, I mean, the feeling is mutual. You guys are truly. I've listened again. I'm a relentless learner. I have listened to so many audiobooks and so many podcasts and I've always just really admired your guys's approach and your incredible ability to connect with your guests, and so thank you for doing what you're doing. You have such a big impact in this space and I'm excited to just keep partnering with you all. But, yeah, so, so grateful to be here and appreciate the audience as well and all they do to enrich and really save lives, and so those are the ones who are really doing the hardest work and grateful for personally, of course, you're looking at this with community.

Speaker 3: 42:51

Yep always.

Speaker 1: 42:52

This has been so fun. Appreciate you, my friend. Thanks so much for being here. Friends, and you probably hear it in our voices, but we love connecting you with the most innovative people to help you achieve more for your mission than ever before.

Speaker 2: 43:04

We'd love for you to come join our good community. It's free and you can think of it as the after party to each podcast episode. Sign up today at weareforgoodcom. Backslash hello.

Speaker 1: 43:15

And one more thing if you love what you heard today, would you mind leaving us a podcast writing interview? It means the world to us and your support helps more people find this community. Thanks so much, friends. Can't wait for our next conversation.