Welcome to Allied For Impact! …and welcome to our new name.
When we launched the Willful Impact podcast back in 2020, our personal enthusiasm and commitment to serving our community - paying our civic rent if you will - was front of mind. Our primary goal was to inspire as many individuals as possible to consistently dedicate chunks of their most valuable asset - their time - to have an impact - to enhancing quality of life for everyone in their communities.
That goal hasn't changed. What DID change is our understanding of how and why successful philanthropic efforts really work. Looking back at all 81 episodes of Willful Impact we realized there was a common theme… Every single one of our guests - all leaders on their chosen paths - emphasized the central importance of collaboration. They used many different words… They called it partner with, team up with, band together with, make common cause with, join with, work in concert with, combine with… collaborate, affiliate, associate, confederate…
It was our new sponsor, Circles Cobb, that finally turned on the light bulb for us. Their Executive Director, Barbara Garner, was recruiting me to become a Circles Ally. That word - Ally - suddenly hit me right between the eyes. Barbara used it as a noun. She talked about the role and rewards of becoming a Circles Ally. She used it as a verb, talking about how Circles allies with individuals, businesses, civic groups, churches and other nonprofits.
And there it was; the obvious hiding in plain sight. Of course, individual, willful commitment and effort is vital to make an impact. It's necessary. Necessary but, not sufficient. It's not the magic sauce. Alliance is the magic sauce.
Individual motivation leads to improvement in quality of life for others. Two motivated allies working together can accomplish much more in less time. A group of allies injects even more momentum to drive progress forward.
Add businesses and other nonprofits, and faith-based and service organizations to the mix, and the entire community becomes Allied For Impact. Human progress becomes inevitable and unstoppable.
We'll continue to tell these stories of collaborative success. We hope you'll ally with us! And as our ally, have an impact on the quality of life for everyone in our collective communities. Together, let's all be Allied For Impact.
