537. Catalyzing Change + Crafting Award-Winning Campaigns That Capture Hearts and Minds - Stacy Huston, SixDegrees.Org

Meet Stacy. She’s the Executive Director of SixDegrees.Org, started by Kevin Bacon to connect people to resources, share stories, and amplify causes to make the greatest possible impact in communities😍 Stacy is sharing her award-winning strategies for crafting effective campaigns that leverage partnerships and media to drive social impact.  Tune in to learn tactics for creating memorable campaigns that capture hearts and minds ❤️🧠 Plus, after this episode, you’ll basically be one degree away from Kevin Bacon, right? 

💡 Learn

• Critical elements to catalyze change 
• Overview of SixDegrees.Org
• Case Study: #BacontoPayson

Today’s Guest
Stacy Huston, Executive Director, SixDegrees.Org + CEO, Entertain Change

Episode Highlights

• Stacy’s story and journey to where she is today (3:30)
• Crucial elements for catalyzing change in our missions today (7:30)
• Stacy’s mindset (9:55)
• Core elements to crafting campaigns (13:25)
• Overview of Six Degrees (18:50)
• Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game and its origins (24:00)
• Case study: #BacontoPayson Campaign (28:45)
• A powerful moment of philanthropy in Stacy’s life (38:35)
• Stacy’s One Good Thing: Dignity is in the details. (42:25)
• How to connect with St

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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 rabid fans who are striving to bring a little more goodness into the world.

Speaker 1: 3:39

So let's get started. Becky, we're just like grinning straight.

Speaker 2: 3:44

My dimples are out. You know I am loving who's on the podcast today our friend.

Speaker 1: 3:49

I mean our friend that I feel like we have such a kinship with. We're just getting to know her, but her work I cannot wait to just get into the mind of somebody like Stacey Houston that is joining us on the podcast today. She's executive director of sixdegreesorg, a little organization you probably have heard of with a huge imprint, and she's also CEO of Entertain Change. Let's talk about how you're even balancing two such beautiful missions at the same time With two toddlers. Go you, go you. Yeah, so impressed. But today is all about talking about catalyzing change. Yes, stacey is this incredible, award-winning campaign creator we're going to talk about how do you create those kind of memorable campaigns that capture hearts and minds? But we want to get below the surface about really the DNA of how you do work with meaning. How do you really catalyze meaningful change in our work? And so I got to tell you a little bit about Stacey. I mean, she is this renowned social impact expert. She's an executive leader celebrated for her contributions as producer and keynote speaker. She's the executive director of sixdegreesorg and y'all know we all have a six degree connection to its founder philanthropist, kevin Bacon, and she also serves as the executive producer of his top-rated podcast. We see him at the top of the charts in our nonprofit category.

Speaker 1: 4:53

We've loved having Kevin's podcast out there. It's so powerful and the storytelling that you're bringing to bear really comes to a culmination through your work at Entertain Change, too, where she spearheads a social impact agency that creates transformational solutions by collaborating with entertainers and organizations, and I can't help but think one of the themes and the trends that we've been lifting this year, becky, is all about how media scales impact, and it's just like baked into the DNA of how Stacey has been showing up into the world, and so I can't wait to really tap into a lot of your mindsets around this work. So I could go on for a long time of all the dreamy brands that she has collaborated with, from iHeartMedia to CBS to MTV, which I couldn't watch growing up, but I would love to check it out now. But get this.

Speaker 1: 5:36

Our friend here was honored with the Harry Chapin Humanitarian Award. She lives this work so beautifully. She's a driven leader committed to making a difference through daily strategic, philanthropic efforts. We cannot wait to get to know you more, my friend and I know you're based in DC with your incredible husband, danny, and y'all's two small kids that we've just heard about today. So welcome to the podcast. We're just a little excited, you're here.

Speaker 3: 5:59

I'm so excited just to spend some time with you. You both you just do such incredible work here. I recognize the labor of love that podcasts are, and so just thank you. Thank you for having me.

Speaker 2: 6:13

Oh, so glad to be here.

Speaker 1: 6:14

It's an honor. I mean, yeah, you're reflecting that to us. I mean you have created such a brilliant podcast and show and you know you are such a great storyteller and we always start with story here and we want to get to know you. We want to get to know Stacey, behind all these huge celebrity campaigns and this work that seems larger than life. Tell us about growing up. Tell us about some formative experiences that led you into this work and path.

Speaker 3: 6:37

Wow. So I'm a girl from a really small town in Southern California and I was always really drawn to social justice work. Quite frankly, I think I was overwhelmed with emotion when it came to a lot of pain and brokenness in the world, and probably a lot of that stem from some of the things that I experienced and saw up close growing up. When I was about eight my mom was in a car accident and she became permanently disabled, legally blind, and so when you are so young and where she was still my mother and a wonderful mother, there are certain roles, that kind of flip on its head, where you're starting to kind of look out for this other person that is your caretaker in a lot of ways, and so childhood kind of stops in a lot of ways at that at that time and I think that as I continue to progress through through life and those early kind of adolescent years, I so wanted to be a changemaker and to fix so many things that I saw that were broken.

Speaker 3: 7:55

But quite frankly, my road to philanthropy and social impact work was non-traditional and I think a lot of that was because some of the struggle that we had growing up financially and I was really good at sales and so I ended up going into a job in sales.

Speaker 3: 8:14

I know it was one of those things that I was like I wish I wasn't good at this, you know, because being in sales is hard and it's a grind, but it afforded me a lot of opportunities, you know, to set myself up and my family up in a way that I felt like there was stability and a strong foundation, but always had that pull right, and so I was kind of dipping a toe with volunteering and you know I, when I was in college, I did a lot of kind of sit ins and marches and things like that. I was kind of always an activist at heart for different campaigns that I really cared about and movements that spoke to me, or buying red brands, you know. So I could feel like I was doing something with how I spent my money. But it took many years for me to decide that this was the switch I needed to make.

Speaker 2: 9:06

Well, I'm so glad that you did. And before we go a minute further into this conversation, what is your mother's name?

Speaker 2: 9:13

Laurie we are so much a product of the people who've lifted us in life and they really spur us to keep lifting others and I just think that's such a good centering point and I just I'm really in awe of you. Can we talk about the fact that we're like one degree from Kevin Bacon today? We're literally one degree. Everybody listening right now. We are right here with Stacey and I just think the way that you're catalyzing change is so different and so interesting than what we see in traditional nonprofit. But we want what you're doing to be mainstream and nonprofit. So I want to talk about this, because you wear all of these hats You're a producer, you're a keynote speaker, you're a coach, you're a thought leader, you're an executive director.

Speaker 2: 10:04

I want to throw in your mom. You're doing all the things. We just observed that there's this through line in all of your work. That's really about how do we catalyze this change? Through media, through employee engagement, through collaborating with entertainers, and there's just so much more possibility there. So help us just set the tone and just tell us what you're observing in the sector right now and what elements are really crucial to catalyzing that change in missions today. What are people missing that they need to be seizing?

Speaker 3: 10:34

I think that what we're seeing is that nonprofits like us. We're being really strategic and coming in as a partner. So I talked about this a little bit when we first met at the nonprofit marketing summit. But I think nonprofit professionals are trained to really position their mission as this great critical need that it is and that we really need these partners to support us so that we can get this work done, and which is all very true. But there's also a value proposition and I think that can be uncomfortable sometimes with fundraising professionals and those that are really trying to build partnerships.

Speaker 3: 11:16

But you have to really think through the different partners that you're trying to work with and what's in it for them. And some of those pieces are really altruistic right. They want to do better. It matches their CSR, social impact pillars and they care about this work. And then sometimes it's that they are wanting to get some of their products out there in a bigger way right. Or they're wanting to really focus on employee engagement so that they can get that attraction and employee satisfaction score up. There's a lot of different reasons why someone might want to engage with a nonprofit partner, but going in and sitting on the other side of the table with them and say, hey, let's figure out how we can be strategic partners, right, how we can help each other with our shared mission. John, you have a question I could tell.

Speaker 2: 12:05

John's like chomping at the bit. Oh, I have like a.

Speaker 1: 12:14

I'm so happy you're saying this and I love that when people come into the space that haven't been held back by a lot of the long held beliefs and nonprofit that keep us playing small, that keep us not claiming our power, you know, in these opportunities.

Speaker 1: 12:21

And so I love that you're flipping the script on that so much. I want to get into your mindsets because just in your roles that you show up for and that you identify like on a daily basis like you have got to have your mindsets locked in so tight of just how you show up and approach your work Would you give us a peek into that? Like, what does that look like and what? What do you really channel for how you show up into your work today?

Speaker 3: 12:45

So I talk a lot about this with my team, my small team and my family. I'm a big fan of Dr Cal Newport, who is a professor here in Washington DC and, full disclosure, I'm a TEDx curator and we produced his TED Talk. Oh, we love TEDx. We do, we do. His book's actually up behind me Deep Work it is, and he really talks a lot, and especially now, about digital minimalism, and so I think that we believe this lie that we can multitask and, in the nonprofit world specifically, this is something that we almost wear as a badge of honor.

Speaker 3: 13:25

I wear a lot of hats. We're often told wow, you guys operate and seem like a much larger team than you are, whereas we can be like great, but it's also it could be debilitating, right Like, and you can't always switch on and off in an instant. So being really careful about planning out periods of time where I'm responding to email, responding to texts, making time to meet with network partners, is what we call our nonprofit partners. That we work with Times when I'm really trying to work, linkedin and fundraising and build networks, or in front of people, and then having a turnoff switch so that I can separate that for my own mental health and wellbeing.

Speaker 3: 14:12

And I have to work really, really hard at this because I say that six degrees is like my, my dream role. I couldn't have dreamt it up and you know it was made for me. That's what I truly believe. So like it doesn't feel like work, but it is, it is work, and so I have to be really diligent about respecting those those times and turning off for my family and also for those that work with me, right, because sometimes that then sets a expectation that you may not be saying with your mouth, but you certainly are in your actions, that you expect them to show up the way you show up, or you're going to be dissatisfied in some way. So I'm trying to be really conscious of my mindset about doing these tasks one at a time, not taking on more than we can actually do really effectively in something we can do proud, and then, yeah, separating the time and space that we need to just be the other people outside of our roles.

Speaker 1: 15:16

We're so planted in our life in this moment.

Speaker 2: 15:18

Yes, cue the applause moment. Where's my meme of everybody standing up at the Oscars and giving a standing O? Because this has been a really interesting recurring thing that we have heard on the podcast the last couple months and it honestly gives me a lot of hope. We have leaders who step into this podcast chair and talk about rest and talk about not overprescribing your team, about modeling, and it's like this is really freeing our leaders and our people to have balance in their life and you cannot run this hard at something without sacrificing something personally, and that sacrifice is going to roll to your people right, Absolutely.

Speaker 2: 15:59

Absolutely, and so I just really appreciate that you're modeling this and I hope that this becomes the way, and I also just think you're this expert in crafting these award-winning campaigns. They're capturing hearts and minds, which I'm going to stick a pin in that, because we're going to come back to that. But I want you to just let's get into the tactics here for listeners Talk about some of those core elements that you use to integrate into crafting campaigns, like what should listeners start to implement in their own organizations that are non-negotiables for you?

Speaker 3: 16:30

Non-negotiables, that you need to make sure that you have the people whose voices are being reflected in this work not just at the table but like active participants, right. You need to be leaning into them, you need to be asking their thoughts about language, how things are set up, what the real needs are. We so often come in with the best of intentions, especially funders, whether it's corporate funders or individual funders or even nonprofits in some type of way, and we believe that we know what the need is, we know the best way to do it, and we're often wrong, because needs are really personal and we have to ask those questions every time, because needs change very often. They change from community to community as well, and so I say that we always make sure that we have built like an advisory team that's really speaking the language of this campaign that we're trying to build, and we don't do anything without collaboration. So we believe that these campaigns should have more than one nonprofit represented, oftentimes three or four. There are a lot of organizations that tackle similar cause areas in different ways, and we have to get out of our own way and thinking that somehow we're the only one that can do it the right way. If that was the case then we would have solved lots of issues right, and we're not solving lots of issues. So we get partners to trust us and say you're going to come in fully, Everyone's going to roll up their sleeves, we're going to share the spotlight and we're going to amplify each other and really, really beautiful things happen when they move from that kind of scarcity mindset of oh no, my donor is going to see that there's another organization that does similar work in hunger. And what if they jump ship? It's like, or they're going to say this is incredible, this cause that I care so deeply about. Look at the campaign that you guys are putting on. So that's huge.

Speaker 3: 19:47

And I mean there are a lot of other things just about being aware of the milestones and timeliness of a campaign. Yes, we can do campaigns around anniversaries or awareness weeks or days and those sorts of things, but it's time to get really creative around these milestone moments that you can build something that's fun and kind of, can bring levity to sometimes really complex and complicated work that can be a little heavy. And so, with us, we try to build something that people can laugh and enjoy and have a moment of of just fun before they realize that they're being educated and they're spreading a great deal of awareness and and before the ask that comes, you know with, can you help support this financially even? And so that's some of the things that we've done with Cake it Like a Kid, which was a big pediatric cancer campaign that we did several years ago, and that's a hard one, but what was not hard?

Speaker 3: 20:55

Throwing cake in someone's face for a kid to make them laugh and make yourself laugh, and those types of campaigns. They take on lives of their own. You know, we did this for a regional area of the mid Atlantic and the best campaigns can be replicated and can be owned by other champions in different communities. So whereas we were working with Make-A-Wish Mid-Atlantic and Children's NIH here in the DC kind of Maryland, Virginia area, it started spreading to the Mayo Clinic and to organizations in Houston and then it got picked up in Spain and it was so powerful to see that because then people started finding their own organizations working in pediatric cancer and doing cake it like a kid. And so when I think about the best campaigns, it's campaigns that are really easy for anyone to do, real low risk, low barriers of entry. They're accessible to lots of people old, young different physical abilities and capabilities and they have some fun pulled into all of that.

Speaker 1: 22:00

I mean, please put a pin in this and come back next time you're planning a campaign. Say she just gave you the list of pro tips.

Speaker 2: 22:07

I'm telling you that are so and there's cake in there, like you can literally eat, have your cake and eat it too. Come on.

Speaker 1: 22:14

So true Joy is a vibe, like we've been championing this idea, like I think we do get so mired in the seriousness of this and realize we're all humans. We want to have that moment of levity, that moment of connection, that lighthearted. It's such a connector. And I want to transition, though, and talk about your dream job a little bit here, over at Six Degrees right, I mean, we've all been aware our whole lives of this whole Six Degrees to Kevin Bacon. I love seeing how he took what he had. You know this platform and you know these connections, and he's tried to really harness good for that alongside you. And so I want to talk a little bit about what the mission does. What do your programs look like? I love how you're using a podcast to amplify your mission. I mean this is just too cool.

Speaker 3: 22:56

Yeah, so we are a nonprofit for nonprofits in a lot of ways and we connect our network partners which is what I said our nonprofit partners are to critical resources through these essential kits that we build, called building kits by Kevin Bacon or BK by KB.

Speaker 3: 23:15

We also share stories, which is where the podcast and other kind of short form content comes from, and we amplify change makers and we really believe that shifting narratives is an impact and getting people to understand that stories do have the capability of changing communities and hearts and minds.

Speaker 3: 23:35

And sometimes there's not a direct metric around how much has been raised around this storytelling piece, but there's a lot of really powerful moments that can't be overlooked when you're doing a campaign that is centered around really strong storytelling, and so over the years we've raised more than $15 million for causes in a wide range, but our pillars are really focused on youth empowerment, justice and equity, what we call building sustainable living environments and emerging what we call building sustainable living environments and emerging crisis, when we feel like we can really make an impact and spin up a campaign around a cause that is domestic.

Speaker 3: 24:13

So there's a lot of really wonderful organizations that work internationally, but we believe that there's a lot of need right here in the States, and that's where we're centered, and that's where we're going to probably continue to be centered, because we get asked all the time like what are you going to do in, you know, canada or the UK? And we love to amplify projects that people are doing everywhere, but our heartbeat is really here in the US, and so our three programs degree shift is a convener campaign model. That's where we kind of bring in all these different stakeholders and create awareness campaigns. Probably most notably is the I stay home for campaign that we did in 2020 to get people to stay at home and be safe.

Speaker 3: 24:52

Yeah, it was. That was wildfire. It became the most utilized hashtag of 2020 and $0 budget. That was all just grassroots, organic marketing, asking a catalyst to champion it, and it was really like the perfect storm in the terms of like. This was a global pandemic. Everyone had that that feeling and wanted to do something, and it was powerful. It was powerful to see that. So we build campaigns where lots of stakeholders can kind of come together to amplify, you know, the cause that they all care about at once. And then we have cause evolve and that's all the social impact production work that you're seeing.

Speaker 3: 25:32

So, from the podcast to behind the scenes videos and missions around these organizations that are doing incredible work, but they often don't have budget for marketing, and I know that on this show, you guys talk a lot about marketing and as mission, and it's just so hard for these smaller organizations to get their board and their team to say, yeah, we're going to materialize the funding that's necessary to build some type of media to get our name out.

Speaker 3: 26:09

So Six Degrees comes in and we do that for them and we support them and, lucky for us, we have Kevin and a lot of other notable people that have platforms, that are super generous with their time to platform these other organizations. And you don't need a Kevin Bacon, you really don't. You just need someone that has a really engaged audience that authentically cares about the work that you're doing, to help kind of propel a message or a campaign so we just have so much fun. Part of our organization is that we're so nimble that we can do a whole lot, but over the years we've gotten a lot more strategic and focused so that we can produce really high quality content and scale our mission.

Speaker 2: 26:58

You're literally like the nonprofit BFF, like their hype squad, like taking them along with you and showing them what could be, if we just think and have this mindset of work in a different way.

Speaker 2: 27:12

And I also just want to note that, even though you have this domestic focus, you are proving that through the use of leveraging media, it can be an international and global movement. I mean, when you talk about that children's cancer, like starting in the DC area and then rippling all the way to Spain, that's what we think media scaling impact has the potential to do. And then you find again, it's not just about your organization or Six Degrees or whoever it is. It's about all of us coming together in our communities, wherever we are in the world, and attacking that very one specific thing. So I think the model is just absolutely incredible and we're going to get into a case study. But before we do, I have to ask something totally off script, because I have you here and I've always wanted to know what does Kevin Bacon think about the six degrees of Kevin Bacon? Now, yeah, anytime, anytime. This whole war, it's become like a cultural phenomenon.

Speaker 3: 28:16

We'll just do the walk down memory lane. It started in the 90s at Albright University in Jersey, I believe. Three college kids were in the dorm and they were watching a movie that had Kevin in it and then, as soon as that movie ended, the next movie also had Kevin, and so they I'm sure they were drinking they were like oh, like I bet you can connect this guy to every other Hollywood actor and actor and six degrees or less, just like the six degrees of separation theory, and it became like a parlor trick. But this was like pre-internet, pre-social media, really I mean the 90s. So honestly, I'm like how? I guess word of mouth, I guess that's how that happened. But kevin started hearing about it and was pretty annoyed. He thought that they were poking fun at his career, which is like insane. I know you like, step back. You're like kevin, you've literally been in so many incredible films because you're so talented yes, and what I love about him is that he he doesn't get.

Speaker 3: 29:15

Yes, he plays a racist cop often. It's sometimes uncomfortable how good he is at it um, not at all his personality though, but he plays a lot of different characters, right, like he's a character actor. So because of that, he's been in a lot of different films. And it wasn't until he met them on a late night show where they kind of surprised him he was going on. They said, hey, we also have these three guys that started the game here and he kind of was like, oh, this is terrible. But then they came in and they were really warm and excited and deferential to him and his career and he realized like, oh, they're not poking fun, they're actually admiring my career. And I think it's just, everyone has imposter syndrome, right, even someone like Kevin, who has had an incredible career, and he's a syndrome, right, even someone like Kevin who has had an incredible career and he's a star, right. But yeah, it goes to show that we all kind of fight with that. You know how we, how we view ourselves in others eyes. But he decided to kind of take that and spin it on his head when he I think it's like 2007. Because he thought, well, what do I have I want to give back, and Paul Newman has this like spaghetti sauce and other people have other things and he was like, well, I have the six degrees concept and he really thought about well, if you take me out of it, we're all just really six degrees or less from someone else that needs our help and we're all really in need of connection, right? And so he wanted to create a way for everyone to be a celebrity for the causes that they care about. So lots of iterations later.

Speaker 3: 30:51

Here we are doing this work and using celebrity and using media and the things that we have that are unique to us around the entertainment world to shine a light.

Speaker 3: 31:02

But we really love grassroots organizations and, you know, sometimes we do partner with some larger organizations, especially through the podcast when we're highlighting some of the causes that our celebrity friends really champion and care about. But our heartbeat are those smaller organizations that you haven't really heard of. But there's, like you know, hundreds of volunteers and they're like they are doing this mission driven work with such a small budget and you're just like it's like a magic trick. You know, you're like man, if they just had more eyes, the right eyes. You know the right funder, the right donor to just come in and see their work and see that other people are appreciating it. What could we really do, then? And so our goal is to really help these nonprofits get the much deserved limelight that they should be having. Right Celebrities realize that they have this and they can use it for a lot of good, just like athletes and a lot of other people of status, and it's powerful when it's used the right way.

Speaker 2: 32:11

Yeah, I mean, the brilliance of taking this concept on and making it something that's good is just so great. I'm just so glad that you all leaned into it. I'm such a huge Kevin Bacon fan. But I really want to get into this case study, because you have this recent campaign. You did, and it was just like over three months. Your team was able to fundraise, acquire and immediately distribute double-click on that more than $865,000 in products to four incredible organizations in Utah. So take us behind the scenes of this campaign, because we want organizations to replicate this playbook. Take us back.

Speaker 3: 32:53

Oh man, it's really not even that long ago, but it was a whirlwind. Back to that levity piece that we were talking about earlier. We knew that Footloose, which was one of Kevin's most iconic roles, was turning 40 this year, as am I. That was a little hard for KB to swallow.

Speaker 2: 33:11

My 40s are amazing the best decade ever.

Speaker 3: 33:14

Right, I'm looking forward to it last year it was yeah right so, um, we knew that this was going to be a moment right. There are such great fans of this film and there's so much excitement around it that we were really strategic early on and went to kevin and said so there's gonna be a lot of people that are gonna want to pull you into all things Footloose next year. Can you ensure that there's a charitable component with all of those pieces? And which? He said yes, and so that was really important for us to to talk about how we could galvanize what we knew was going to be a huge movement around this film and celebrating it, you know, really the world over. So we started talking to the people of Payson when we started seeing this, this hashtag, bacon and Payson popping up everywhere and the students there were really smart and they started a social media campaign and by the time we saw it, they were 190 days into it where they were just sharing videos daily with you know. They had cardboard cutouts of Kevin and they were doing footloose dances and really trying to get Kevin to come back to the high school that it was filmed at, and what's interesting about that is that high schoolers are kind of outside the demographic of Kevin. Most of them are like I don't know who Kevin is. They were really just campaigning to get Kevin to come back and Kevin was kind of like I don't want to come back just for myself, maybe there's something that we can do here.

Speaker 3: 34:53

But we reached out and the students actually were the ones that said we would love to do a fundraiser for six degrees and partner for this campaign. That they saw that we launched um on giving Tuesday of last year and that was to build 40,000 of our BK by KB kits and distribute them across the country, you know, in celebration of this movie. So they were very smart actually. So this is kind of a case study back on how you can, you know, get the attention when you're really trying to move an effort forward. So they should. They are just as much a part of how this all came together as Six Degrees. And so we sat with them and we said, okay, we're going to do some fundraising here and we want you guys to be the champions on the ground in the community to do what you can. And they were really going to just pull the support from volunteers and kind of local businesses the things that high school students are really good at doing right, going to their local pizza shops and asking some of the local businesses to give, and Six Degrees focused on some of our local businesses to give, and Six Degrees focused on some of our national partners and brands.

Speaker 3: 35:58

But really, what's important here is when you're doing something that's heavily local, you want to hit up those local brands and product partners, and these kits are filled with a lot of, like hygiene items and things that are oftentimes not sexy, right, but there's a moment and a wraparound campaign that's so much fun that you can talk about something like the youth homeless crisis and LGBTQ kids that are being kicked out of their houses and they don't have anywhere to go, families that are struggling and don't know where their next meal is coming right, and you can educate the public and get them to support them in a way that's really creative but also highly visible. And I think that these brands knew that this was a moment that they wanted to be a part of, because Kevin was coming back to this town that I mean just adored him and adored Footloose, and I mean we had teachers that were at the school when he filmed, that were still there, you know, 40 years later, a lot of the students, their parents were, you know, in the movie or their grandparents were in the movie. It was really really profound. But what was really important about this is that we partnered with champions in this community that had like servant hearts, right, they cared about this and they showed up willingly and rolled up their sleeves and we created a lot of different ways for people to get involved and give back.

Speaker 3: 37:33

I think, with big movements like this that have to move quickly, you have to figure out ways for everyone to take part so that they can take ownership, because collective impact is really really powerful if it's done the right way, and I think oftentimes we want to, you know, limit kind of our resources or our bandwidth, and we say like no, we need to give money at this level, or you need to give this much product, or you can volunteer, and like that's it. But we were like, okay, we're going to do an apparel campaign, like, okay, you know Dr Smith dentists, you know DDS, sure, give us 500 toothbrushes. Like that's going to actually help us offset some of the costs here. And we did that and we were able to warehouse lots and lots and lots of items right there at the school, which was incredible because that's a big piece of galvanizing that much product. I mean we had 5,000 of 25 items, right, like it was a lot of stuff. And we also had big partnerships, like with BetterHelp. They ended up giving three months of counseling for each of these bags. I mean it is really really, really incredible to see how brands will show up when they understand the moment and you create an urgency around that right. So the appeal was really really strong.

Speaker 3: 38:56

And then, like I said before, it was really important for us to find those network partners on the ground that were doing the incredible work that we could uplift, and we did that and we made sure that they touched a lot of different areas from youth that were really struggling with their family ties when it came to them coming out, and families that didn't really know how to deal with that, and they created houses so that they could come together as a family and really learn and grow to not just accept but love their child fully how they are.

Speaker 3: 39:33

To organizations that were helping with a lot of immigrants and you know, those that had settled here and um weren't able to make fair wages so that they could, you know, afford housing, shelter, food, those sorts of things, um, to organizations that were, you know, teaching kids, things like podcasting and media and communications, because this is, this is the next generation of changemakers, right? So, like, let's equip them to be able to tell their story themselves about, you know, the things that are important to them. And so we really touched on a lot of very beautiful areas, brought them together, and I think that that allowed a lot of our different stakeholders to all feel like there was something that they really cared about, and so when you do that, you can create a much wider reach than focusing on one core area alone.

Speaker 2: 40:27

And then the campaign is not just a campaign and it's not just about Kevin. It's about tens of thousands of people pouring into this idea that everyone can be a philanthropist in their own way. And I got to say you opened up an entirely new market to yourselves with Gen Z, because Julie's telling us, I saw this campaign everywhere, on TikTok, on the Today Show, I saw it everywhere, so bravo.

Speaker 3: 40:54

Well, that was the big piece. Today Show became an exclusive partner to us. But having a media partner getting them excited about it, getting them to come out and cover it the way that you really want that story to be told, is important, because so often a media partner might come in and not tell the story the exact way it really deserves to be told. And so having a strategy and steering that conversation so they focus on the important things, not Kevin's coming back. Footloose is 40, and that's it. But you'll see in a lot of the media these numbers were in there the names of the organizations we were supporting, the impact of the campaign, because that was so front and center for us. It had to be center for us and, um, you can really push for that to ensure that you don't get lost in the messaging.

Speaker 1: 41:42

I love that I mean and we could quote a lot of people that have come through the podcast that have told us when it didn't go that way, you know, when you didn't control the narrative, it breaks your heart. But I'm I'm having the same emotion hearing this story. I mean, when Kevin decided not to make this about him but to be about this collective impact. This is what happens and we walk away and, yes, that's almost a million dollars raised for that one piece, but the wind that was added to the sails, all this paid, you know, this earned media that just happened as a result is a ripple. It's so much bigger.

Speaker 3: 42:18

And so this idea of collective impact.

Speaker 1: 42:19

We're obsessed with it and we want to lift it. So I love that you just broke that down so beautifully. Okay, we love story. We're winding down this conversation. I love that example of you know seeing six degrees make the ripple, but I'm curious about your own journey. If there is a moment of philanthropy that's really moved you as a person, that's really stuck with you, that you would take us back to, it could be personal or something you've seen in one of these organizations you've partnered with.

Speaker 3: 42:42

There's so much and I think that that's a beautiful part of our work is that we get to experience and get to know so many of these incredible organizations over time and get to know so many of these incredible organizations over time. But a few years ago we partnered with an organization called Rock to the Future and I produced this behind the scenes video where we interviewed the different youth that basically learn how to be rock stars, you know, with this organization and it's a way to prevent gun violence, to create after school activities for these youth in the Philadelphia area. And as I was asking questions, interviewing one of the students, she responded back that you know her mother had passed away earlier in the year, which hits very close to home, because my mother also passed away and I couldn't imagine being Thank you, becky. I couldn't imagine being that young, right and experiencing that. But two things were really beautiful about this she had an aunt that was there with her, that was championing her and she was supporting her and loving her and being that steadfast.

Speaker 3: 43:59

They ask how we're doing and they really care and I think so often we get swept up in the big things, the big million dollar campaigns, right, and the glitz and all the pieces, but everyday choices and everyday actions where you're leaning in and you are asking someone how they're really doing what you can do for them in that moment, cannot be understated. It is powerful. That is how we drive better, healthier communities, better, healthier connections. Healthier communities, better, healthier connections that's how we stop this epidemic of loneliness that we're seeing with our young people and really the world over. And so in this work, I think that I'm always moved when I see the small actions that seemingly seem insignificant, but they have a ripple effect, a really powerful ripple effect, and we have to believe in that and we have to try really, really hard for those moments to happen every day.

Speaker 2: 45:26

I like you so much.

Speaker 2: 45:28

Oh, I like you too, I really do I just I think that there's just so many wisdom bombs and brilliant nuggets to take away in this, professionally, personally. And I want to compliment you too, because, again, we talk about through lines, the through line of this conversation. You have weaved joy, you have weaved the levity, you have weaved the power of what the ripple can do, not just for you but for the people around you, for the community around you, and it's all centered in this concept of community, of equity and doing the right thing and really grabbing hold of justice. And I just thank you for the way that you show up, stacey, thank you for the way Six Degrees shows up. This is the sort of modern nonprofit that just moves our hearts and gives us so much faith in the future. So thank you for that hope, and you know that we're going to round out our conversation with a one good thing. So what kind of wisdom bomb you're going to drop there, my friend?

Speaker 3: 46:35

My wisdom bomb is that dignity is in the details, and when you are building these campaigns and when you are trying to champion these organizations from the corporate side, from the media side, from the foundation side side, from the media side, from the foundation side dignity is in the details.

Speaker 3: 47:02

And so what I mean by that is that we cannot overlook how important it is to be inclusive, to think about the people that are going to be directly affected by the choices that we're making around these campaigns, from the language to how we're trying to show up and serve them. And when we don't think about this holistically, we can actually cause a lot of harm. And it's not enough to just try our best and be you know, come from a good place. We really do have to take that extra step to ensure that we are fully thinking about the people that we're serving, and that takes some time. That sometimes means we need to slow down right and we need to take a beat, and I don't think we are a culture that really loves to slow down right, but it's really critical whenever we can.

Speaker 3: 48:02

Yeah, we do have to normalize it so that we can do it right, because doing it right is much better than the alternative.

Speaker 1: 48:11

Dignity is in the details. Goodness. That is so poignant. It ties into so much we talk about, about our, how we ethically storytell, how we aren't creating more harm, how it comes back to like our mission can be a bomb and not harm, but we have to be intentional about that and we have to have this posture of learning and growing and I feel like we did that today, just hanging out with you. So I want to connect people to you. Where you show up online, you know have this amazing LinkedIn profile, so definitely connect there, but point to the ways people can connect with Six Degrees and entertain change.

Speaker 3: 48:41

Absolutely. If you're interested in learning more about Six Degrees, you want to connect with me and you can shoot me an email Stacey at SixDegreesorg all spelled out. You can follow us on Instagram at SixDegrees of KB Once again, all spelled out. You can follow us on Instagram at six degrees of KB Once again, all spelled out, obviously. We're on LinkedIn and Facebook and all those fun places, and if you're a brand that is looking to do more thoughtful, intentional storytelling, you can send me a note at Stacey at entertain changeus, and I'd love to help you do it right.

Speaker 2: 49:15

She literally dropped her email address, which is always one of the kindest things people can do. And then she solicited brands. Which why aren't we all doing that? You got open mic time. You've got open ears. Why the hell not Shameless?

Speaker 3: 49:31

Not shameless, it's amazing.

Speaker 2: 49:33

And I think this is how we got to show up. We got to show up with this abundance mindset, with this idea that we can do things differently, with this notion that more hands, more voices in the conversation are going to make the movement richer. You are living proof of that. We adore you. Thank you for coming into this house and just filling our minds and hearts in the best possible way, my friend.

Speaker 3: 49:57

I adore you both and I said this before Julie too, who's behind the scenes. You all are doing incredibly, incredibly powerful work, and I am honored to just sit with you this afternoon. Thanks for being my friend.

Speaker 2: 50:11

Thank you, buddy.

Speaker 1: 50:14

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: 50:23

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: 50:34

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