You Are What You Give is a weekly conversation about generosity and the transformational ways it shapes who we become. Host Avi Zimmerman sits down with people whose giving changed lives — public figures, community leaders, philanthropists, and everyday heroes — to explore the moments that formed their purpose.
Each episode goes beyond biography. These are honest, human conversations about choices, values, faith, leadership, and what it really means to lead a life worth living.
Whether you’re looking to deepen your purpose, sharpen your giving approach, or simply connect with stories that matter, this show brings you into the rooms where those conversations happen.
New episodes every week.
Join a community learning to give more meaningfully, mindfully and measurably.
Opening Doors: How Access Changes Lives, Youmie Jean Francois
Youmie Jean Francois learned to fly in her 30s. What she discovered along the way inspired something much bigger than her own pilot's license.
Through the Flex and Fly Foundation, she's working to give underserved New Yorkers access to opportunities in aviation, wellness, and entrepreneurship—fields that can seem out of reach without the right resources, relationships, or encouragement.
In this conversation with Avi Zimmerman, Youmie explores what separates a meaningful experience from a transformational one, why opportunities should be offered without making people prove their worthiness, and how connecting young people with experienced older adults can change their sense of what's possible.
She also speaks candidly about the sacrifices, financial challenges, and persistence required to build an organization around a mission you believe in.
At the heart of the conversation is a powerful idea: Giving can change more than someone's circumstances. It can change what they believe they're capable of—and what they eventually give to others.
Learn more about the Flex and Fly Foundation: https://theflexnflyfoundation.org/ (https://theflexnflyfoundation.org/)
You Are What You Give is hosted by Avi Zimmerman, with generous support from Victoria Hearst.
23 Sept 2026
The Fundraising Advice That Feels Wrong, But Works
What if the fundraising practices that feel most natural are actually the ones holding you back?
After more than four decades in fundraising—and helping raise more than $3 billion for important causes—Kevin Gentry has reached a striking conclusion: much of what works best in fundraising is counterintuitive.
In this episode of You Are What You Give, Kevin and I explore what separates transactional fundraising from transformational giving.
Why doesn't simply demonstrating greater need necessarily inspire greater generosity? Why can it sometimes be easier to raise $1 million than $10,000? And what changes when we stop viewing donors primarily as sources of money and begin treating them as genuine partners in solving a problem?
Kevin makes the case for thinking beyond the next gift. That means understanding a donor's values and aspirations, inviting their knowledge and experience into the work, and building relationships that can develop over years rather than around the next ask.
We also discuss why fundraising is a skill that can be learned, the importance of authentic vision, what Kevin wishes he'd understood 40 years ago, and why the best donor conversation may sometimes be the one in which you don't ask for money at all.
Kevin shares free weekly fundraising advice and additional resources at TENXStrategies.com.
Special thanks to Victoria Hearst for her generous support of this season of You Are What You Give.
3 Sept 2026
How to Tell a Story People Actually Want to Join
Why do some extraordinary causes struggle to get people to care?
It may not be the mission.
It may be the story.
In this episode of You Are What You Give, Avi sits down with Bridget Cook-Burch, bestselling author, storyteller, and “The Book Whisperer,” to explore why storytelling isn't simply a communications skill. It can determine how far a leader - and an organization - is capable of going.
Bridget has worked with thousands of people to uncover and communicate their stories. And she argues that the most important story may not be the one you tell donors.
It's the story you tell yourself.
Together, Avi and Bridget explore why our internal stories can place limits on our ambitions, how a founder's personal journey can become the beginning of a much larger movement, and why great nonprofit storytelling eventually has to make room for other people to become part of the story.
They discuss:
Why a great mission doesn't sell itself
The stories leaders tell themselves about what's possible
How storytelling builds trust
Why conflict can be an essential part of an authentic story
How donors and volunteers begin to see themselves inside a mission
Why founders shouldn't remain their organization's only storytellers
How writing a book can clarify your own story and strengthen your leadership
Why organizations need to “inspire the narrative” rather than allow others to define it for them
If you're leading a nonprofit, raising money, building a movement, or simply trying to understand the contribution you're capable of making, this conversation offers a very different way to think about the stories we tell.
Connect with Bridget:
Visit YourInspiredStory.com (http://YourInspiredStory.com). Bridget also invited listeners to connect with her on Instagram under her name, Bridget Cook-Burch https://www.instagram.com/bridgetcookburch/ (https://www.instagram.com/bridgetcookburch/), and shared information about her Inspired Writers Retreat for people ready to develop their own books and stories.
And as always, thank you to Victoria Hearst, whose generosity helps make You Are What You Give possible.
Inside a recent episode
Iran Is Not Its Regime: Zolal Habibi on Freedom, Resistance, and the Iranian People
Published 5 Mar 2026 · Transcript excerpt
[…] She has outlined a 10-point plan, which is actually, I guess, kind of like the clip notes of the plan for the interim government, which has been, you know, set forth by the National Council of the Distance for Iran. It calls for, you know, people's sovereignty, that devout responses with, you know, final criterion. It calls for separation of religion and state. It calls for, you know, gender equality. It calls for, you know, the rights of Iran's ethnicity to be respected. It calls for the abolition of the death penalty in all forms of torture and grounds. other suppressors, you know, suppress the forces and entities that currently exist. […]
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