For Memorial Day 2025, we honor all service members that have paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country, also including CIA and other agencies.

During this episode, we share some powerful final words and letters from those that have died while serving. These include:

• Nathan Hale (Revolutionary War), 1776
• Sargeant James Henry Gooding (Civil War), 1863
• Major Sullivan Ballou (Civil War), 1861
• Petty Officer 1st Class (SEAL) Neil C. Roberts (War on Terror), 2002
• Petty Officer 2nd Class (SEAL) Marc Alan Lee (War on Terror), 2006

Their final words and letters will always live on, as will they. May we always carry their names and legacies forward.

Never Forgotten.

Visit www.BuildUponTheGood.com and follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Bluesky.

Thanks to Sean Kelly and the band The Samples for permission to use "Streets in the Rain" Please visit www.TheSamples.com and support them.

Part 1 of the interview with Michael Thatcher, CEO/President of Charity Navigator (rating over 225,000 charities), which helps millions of donors to align their passions and values to a charity.

Michael shares how Charity Navigator leads the effort to make impactful philanthropy easier for everyone. He also discusses how his path forward, filled with a variety of experiences (whether at Microsoft, composing music and dancing as the co-founder/director of Dance Music Light, or years at sea conducting oceanographic research), ultimately led him to Charity Navigator.

If you're thinking of giving to a charity/not-for-profit, please visit www.CharityNavigator.org to research the organization, including their cost-effectiveness and overall health/stability and sustainability. Charity Navigator is a 501(c)(3) organization.

Michael's part 2 episode, where we dive more into his personal experiences and story, will be released soon (ep 43).

This episode is brought to you by Good Capital, a registered investment advisor focused on families, organizations and businesses that also want to plant seeds for future generations with a charitable component to them. Simplicity, a foundational wealth plan and investing for decades and generations, not days or quarters. Good People. Good Strategies. Good Capital. Visit www.GoodCapital.pro , if this appeals to you.

Follow us at www.BuildUponTheGood.com and on Facebook, Instagram and Bluesky.

*Special thanks for Sean Kelly and the band The Samples for permission to use "Streets in the Rain." Please support them at www.TheSamples.com

We always hear about Benjamin Franklin's accomplishments while he was alive, but his bet on America in his Final Will and Testament truly left a legacy.

Author Michael Meyer joins us and shares this story and more from his book "Benjamin Franklin's Last Bet: The Favorite Founder's Divisive Death, Enduring Afterlife and Blueprint for American Prosperity."

Michael Meyer is the author of multiple critically acclaimed books, as well as articles in the New York Times and other outlets. A Fulbright scholar, Guggenheim, NEH, Cullman Center and MacDowell fellow, and the recipient of the Whiting Writers Award, Meyer is a Professor of English at the University of Pittsburgh, where he teaches nonfiction writing. He lives with his family in Pittsburgh.

This episode is sponsored by Good Capital, a registered investment advisor focused on families, organizations and businesses that also want to plant seeds for future generations. Simplicity, a foundational wealth plan and investing for decades and generations, not days or quarters. Good People. Good Strategies. Good Capital. Visit www.GoodCapital.pro , if this appeals to you.

Follow us at www.BuildUponTheGood.com and on Facebook, Instagram and Bluesky.

*Special thanks to Sean Kelly and the band The Samples for permission to use "Streets in the Rain." Please support them at www.TheSamples.com