Charity Matters

In this heartfelt episode of the Charity Matters Podcast, we explore the powerful story behind Bags of Fun. .....an organization built on the belief that every child deserves joy, even in the midst of life’s hardest battles. This is a story about showing up, about seeing a need others might overlook, and about choosing to bring light into dark places. What makes this episode so compelling is not j...

What if art wasn’t just something we experienced but something that moved us to act? This week’s Charity Matters episode introduces you to Jessie Fahay, a true “ Ripple Effects Artist ” who is transforming the way we think about theater, storytelling, and service. Jessie doesn’t just create powerful productions ....she creates experiences that spark conversations, challenge perspectives, and conne...

What if the moment that changed your life… became the reason you changed someone else’s? In this week’s Charity Matters Podcast , Episode 104: The Power of Sight , we meet Gianny Cardenas, founder of Power of Sight , a mobile nonprofit bringing vision care directly to underserved communities. But this story is about so much more than glasses. It’s about loss, faith, and the unexpected way purpose...

Some stories ask you to listen. Others ask you to feel. And then there are the rare ones, like this one, that ask you to walk alongside them. This episode introduces listeners to Robb Pollard, a husband, father, entrepreneur, and now the founder of Walk With Me Brother, who is about to do something extraordinary. On Monday, Robb began a 2,500-mile run across America.....not because he’s a runner,...

In this inspiring episode, Diane and Scott Strand, founders of JDS Creative Academy , share how a simple “what if?” turned their creative careers into a nonprofit that is transforming lives through the arts. Using filmmaking, acting, and digital media, they help youth and adults, including individuals with developmental disabilities, build confidence, communication skills, and pathways to independ...

In this powerful episode, Luke Mickelson, founder of Sleep in Heavenly Peace , shares the unforgettable moment that opened his eyes to the hidden crisis of child bedlessness and the little girl named Haley whose first bed changed the trajectory of his life. What began as a small Christmas project in his garage with a few teenage boys and a power drill has grown into a global movement dedicated to...

For our 100th episode of the Charity Matters Podcast, we are celebrating in the most meaningful way possible....by spotlighting a true innovator, a quiet disruptor, and a modern-day hero who dared to ask a simple but world-changing question: What if no parent ever had to say, “I have no one to call?” When psychologist Dave Anderson saw firsthand the devastating ripple effects of child abuse and fo...

Episode 99 is a pause. A breath. A moment to look back at the people who showed us what courage, compassion, community, and faith really look like. These are the stories that didn’t just inspire us....they changed us. So this moment, before we step off into a new season, seemed like that moment to reflect on so many incredible life lessons learned from 99 incredible guests! We’ll touch on some of...

Nonprofit founders are some of the most inspiring entrepreneurs on the planet. They see a problem and create a solution. Today's guest, Drew Long is no exception. Her first entrepreneurial journey was to create a shopping cart for her disabled daughter, Caroline. Drew is an Alabama mom with a big heart, a thick skin, and the kind of determination that changes systems. After solving that proble...

Dana DiPrima didn’t know that a simple “yes” to backyard chickens would quietly change everything. She soon realized that farmers, the people feeding us every day, whose work is nothing short of miraculous, yet largely invisible, were not being valued. For Farmers Movement , a bold, grassroots effort is built on small actions with big impact. Since 2022, Dana has helped distribute hundreds of gran...

Wendy Strauss’s story began with a slip of paper discovered in her late mother’s tidy little office. It was a simple note titled “Mom’s Christmas Stocking,” asking her children to keep filling a stocking for Mom by giving it to a woman who needed “a shot of love.” That tender request became a calling. What started as one timid lunch-hour drop-off blossomed into an annual community tradition that n...

Join this week’s conversation between Charity Matters founder, Heidi Johnson, and founder of Uprising Yoga, Jill Weiss Ippolito. Jill’s journey is a full-circle story; From an angry, hurting teenager to a joyful healer bringing trauma-informed yoga and life skills to youth in juvenile halls. She discovered a gift that first saved her own life: breath, presence, and the slow, steady return to self....

Some stories meet you in the deepest places and still lift you higher. This week, you’ll meet Kate Doerge....wife, mother, builder of community......who turned the unthinkable loss of her daughter, Penny, into a living legacy called Penny’s Flight. What began in a cocoon of love and butterflies has become a national movement of students, families, and friends spreading wings for those living with...

John Snyder’s story begins on a first date with his wife, Nikki, when the two of them decided to do something radically simple: instead of sending candy to their toner customers, they’d use that money to feed people experiencing homelessness. That small act became Project Pop Drop . A monthly movement that rallies “givefluencers” to bring meals, new socks and clothing, and joy-filled experiences t...

Drawing from Hayden’s love of hockey, Rob used the term “Shoulder Check” not just as a sports reference but as the cornerstone for a movement. What began as a nod to the game has become a beautiful legacy of connection and care. Shoulder Check is about more than hockey.....it’s a mission and a movement about reaching out, checking in, and making contact with those around us. Rob’s story is one of...

This week on the Season Nine Premiere  we sit down with Mindy Richenstein , the founder of Supplies for Success , a nonprofit that has been equipping children with dignity and the tools they need to learn for more than twenty-four years. What began as a small effort to help 68 students has now touched the lives of over 300,000 children. In our conversation, Mindy shares her powerful journey of res...

In our 90th episode of Charity Matters, Terry Grahl shares how her childhood struggles and her mother’s resilience inspired her to create Enchanted Makeovers. Her national nonprofit, Enchanted Makeovers , transforms shelters into beautiful, healing spaces for women and children escaping violence and trafficking. Guided by faith and a promise she made to women living in despair, Terry’s journey is...

As schools are getting ready to close for the summer, today we are talking about what it takes to start a school. What started as a simple realization....a moment of wondering how a mother experiencing homelessness could possibly make it through the day....sparked a movement that’s changing lives and rewriting futures. Kate Kennedy founded a school for children without housing, creating a safe, su...

I am so excited to introduce you today to an amazing man, Elliot Kallen. He is a passionate entrepreneur, nonprofit founder, and father who has transformed personal tragedy into a mission of hope. As the CEO of multiple companies and the founder of A Brighter Day , Elliot brings both business acumen and deep empathy to his work. After losing his 19-year-old son, Jake, to suicide, Elliot committed...

Did you know that 350 million people worldwide live with a rare disease? That’s 1 in 15 families globally who are navigating these caregiving challenges. In this episode, you’ll be introduced to Cristol Barrett O'Loughlin and hear her incredible journey of service with her nonprofit, RareGivers Global —a worldwide network that provides emotional support to caregivers of those with rare, chroni...

During this season of renewal, there is no greater renewal story than today's guest, Susan Shaw. In 2019, Susie and her husband lost their nine-year-old son William in an accident. In the years that followed, they have taken that pain and turned it into purpose for other grieving families by creating William’s Be Yourself Challenge . The grief support allows people to embrace being their authe...

Did you know that students miss 53 million hours of school each year due to oral disease? I did not but thanks to our amazing guest today I have learned so much about what our underserved communities around the country are facing with a lack of proper dental care. I am so excited to introduce you to the amazing Dr. Nicole McGrath Barnes. A full time dentist, a mother and a nonprofit founder on a m...

The people who inspire me the most are people who have lost children and take that unbelievable grief and pain and recycle it into good. It is the ultimate recycling of pain to purpose and today's guest, Mary Fagnano, is one of those remarkable humans. When her young son Nick was struck by lightning on a summer day at the beach, her life and her husband's life were forever changed. His lif...

Since cancer knows no boundaries and affects so many regardless of where you live, I wanted to share this amazing organization and family with you this week. Toby Freeman's family was living a lovely life until his oldest brother Robin was given a shocking diagnosis of cancer at the young age of 23. Twenty million people will also receive that diagnosis each year around the world but not all o...

Dynamic educator and nonprofit founder, Kirk Spahn shares his inspirational story on this week’s episode of the Charity Matter’s Podcast. Kirk combined his passions of sports, his friends, education and a deep civic duty to create what is now the twenty year old ICL Foundation . Learn how one 23 year old set out to help in a small way, and today, is transforming education by teaching thousands of...