An Inspired Chat with Heidi Johnson

We recently had the chance to connect with Heidi Johnson and have shared our conversation below.

Heidi, we’re thrilled to have you with us today. Before we jump into your intro and the heart of the interview, let’s start with a bit of an ice breaker: What do the first 90 minutes of your day look like?
I wake up at 6am everyday. Our dog is the alarm clock. I take care of our shepard/border collie rescue pup and my husband is the barrisata. Then it is back to bed for coffee, reflection, meditation/prayer, and then a glance at email. By 7am I am in my gym clothes and either hitting the gym or a Peleton class depending on my work schedule. No day is ever the same in the nonprofit space. After a 45 minute workout, and a shower I am ready for my first meetings by 8:30 and off to the races.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Heidi McNiff Johnson, I’m a nonprofit founder, a story teller and a believer in good. My day job is the Executive Director of TACSC, a nonprofit youth leadership organization dedicated to developing young moral leaders who positively impact the world. My work and truly my life’s purpose is about inspiring people to lead with kindness, to serve others, and to understand that giving changes everything.

Fifteen years ago I created the blog and now top rated podcast, Charity Matters . A platform that shares the incredible journeys of everyday heroes who create nonprofits, change lives, and remind us that goodness is alive and well. This past year I wrote the bestselling book: Change for Good: The Transformative Power of Giving as the Ultimate Cure. The book shares both my journey from grief to gratitude; along with so many others who I have interviewed who have transformed their lives by helping. The best way to heal is to help, and that each act of kindness has a ripple effect far beyond what we can see.

Today, my focus is on storytelling Through Charity Matters, the book, and my speaking engagements, I hope to ignite a movement that celebrates service and community. Whether I’m teaching young leaders, interviewing nonprofit founders, or writing about the power of giving, my goal is the same: to remind people that we all have gifts to share and that when we do, we truly change the world for good.

Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What was your earliest memory of feeling powerful?
One of the earliest and most defining moments in my life came in kindergarten with a remarkable teacher named Mrs. Thompson…a story I share in Change for Good. One day, she asked our class to bring in pennies to help children in need. I can still remember proudly carrying those coins from my piggy bank, not fully understanding how something so small could make a difference. I felt very proud and excited. The next day, Mrs. Thompson called a few of us who had brought pennies to the front of the room and handed us lollipops. We were thrilled, not realizing she was teaching a deeper lesson. When the rest of the class showed up the following day with handfuls of pennies, hoping for candy too, she gently explained that true giving means expecting nothing in return.

That moment, simple yet profound became a cornerstone of my life’s work. Mrs. Thompson taught me that the act of giving isn’t about what we receive, but about what we share from the heart. Her words and that small jar of pennies instilled in me a lifelong belief that kindness, no matter how small, can create ripples far beyond what we see. That lesson has guided everything I’ve done since from leading The Association of Catholic Student Councils (TACSC), where we teach servant leadership, to sharing stories of everyday heroes on my Charity Matters podcast and blog.

What makes my journey, my brand, and my work unique is that they are all rooted in that simple truth Mrs. Thompson gave me: giving changes everything. Whether it’s inspiring young leaders, interviewing nonprofit founders, or encouraging readers through Change for Good, I try to pass along that same spirit of selfless giving she sparked so many years ago. Because sometimes, the most lasting lessons and the greatest movements for good…begin with nothing more than a handful of pennies and a kind teacher who believed in the power of giving.

What have been the defining wounds of your life—and how have you healed them?
Losing my mom was, without question, the defining wound of my life. Grief has a way of hollowing you out. It changes everything you thought you knew about love, purpose, and what matters most. When she died, I felt untethered, as if the world had lost its color. But what I didn’t realize then was that heartbreak can also be a doorway. In my deepest pain, I began to look outward instead of inward, and that shift changed everything.

Service became my medicine. It started small when I was asked with a group of friends to help start a nonprofit at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, almost a year from the day we lost my mom. In helping others, I began to find pieces of myself again. That’s the beautiful irony of giving: in trying to heal someone else’s hurt, you begin to heal your own. Through co-founding the Spiritual Care Guild at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles I discovered that purpose is born from pain, and that compassion transforms grief into grace.

My mom’s passing taught me that love never really leaves us, it just changes form. Every act of kindness I witness, every young leader I see inspired to serve, every story I share about goodness in the world feels like a small way of keeping her light alive. Service didn’t just help me heal, it gave me a new way to live.

Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. What would your closest friends say really matters to you?
I think my closest friends would say that what matters most to me is my family, my faith, and my community. Those three things are the heart of who I am. When my family and I lost my mom in 2002, it was one of the most painful and defining moments of my life. But in that heartbreak, something beautiful happened…..our community surrounded us with love, prayer, and support in ways I could never have imagined. That experience taught me that when life brings you to your knees, it’s often your faith and the people who love you that help you stand again.

The following year, my life took an unexpected turn toward philanthropy and service, and I began to truly understand the power of connection. Serving others became a way to honor my mom’s legacy and to give back some of the compassion that had been so freely given to us. What began as an act of gratitude evolved into my life’s mission—helping the helpers. Through Charity Matters, I now get to amplify the voices of the 1.6 million nonprofit founders who dedicate their lives to making the world better.

At its core, charity is really about community….about seeing a need and coming together to meet it with love and purpose. My journey has shown me that connection is both the gift and the goal. Whether it’s within my own family or the vast family of changemakers I’m privileged to know, community is where healing, hope, and change truly begin.

Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. What is the story you hope people tell about you when you’re gone?
I hope people will say that I made the world a little kinder. That I used my time here to lift others up, to share stories of goodness, and to remind people that giving changes everything. I hope they’ll say I loved deeply…my family, my friends, my faith, and the community that gave my life such purpose. That I showed up, even when it was hard, and tried to turn my own pain into something that could heal others. And that I loved life and lived, laughed and had a lot of fun!

More than anything, I hope people will remember that I believed in the power of one small act of kindness to change a life…and that I lived that belief every day. Whether it was through TACSC, Charity Matters, or simply the way I treated people, I hope my legacy is one of connection, compassion, and service. If, after I’m gone, someone is inspired to help another person because of something I said, wrote, or did, then I’ll know my life made a difference.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://charity-matters.com
• Instagram: @CharityMatters and @HeidiJohnsonOffical
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heidi-mcniff-johnson-7758b225
• Twitter: @Charity_Matters
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CharityMattersLA
• Youtube: : https://www.youtube.com/@CharityMatters/featured
• Other: Spotify for Podcast- https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/charity-matters