Make it Transformational: A Blog for Champion Discipleship

As a church or parachurch leader, do you find the time to read blog postings and news updates on the internet as well as watch relevant video clips…on a daily basis?  In talking with many leaders, it seems a nearly impossible task to stay current on issues of interest - be they trends in philanthropy, non-profit management, the state of the church, or fundraising, marketing, and accounting developments, to name a few.

That’s why I’m a big fan of iGoogle and have frequently thought that ministry leaders unfamiliar with this easy tool deserve some friendly nudging to give it a try.  If you’re already using iGoogle and find it useful, I challenge you to coach one or two people in ministry to set up their own iGoogle homepage.   If you’re not using iGoogle or a similar tool, then read on and let this be your friendly nudge!

iGoogle is a personalized homepage.  By creating a customized homepage  – a task that will take only a minute or two and you can continue to build your personalize page over time -  you will immediately have quick access to regularly updated content that you find relevant and valuable.    Let me be clear – this type of homepage allows you to access - in one centralized location and when the timing suits you - content from many different internet sources. 

Instead of trying to regularly remember and find the time to visit ten or twenty different websites to get news, you can set up your iGoogle home page such that RSS feeds - regularly updated works including headlines, blog postings, audio, and video - come directly to this central location in an easy-to-scan format.  Plus, you’ll have all sorts of options to get everything from weather to recipes to stock quotes to news headlines sent directly to you!  Once your homepage is set up to receive automatic updates, you’ll see the value in de-cluttering your inbox by eliminating assorted email and e-newsletter subscriptions. 

Click HERE for simple instructions created by Google to set up your own iGoogle page.

Click HERE for specific instructions to add an RSS feed to your iGoogle homepage.

To get started with your iGoogle page, below you’ll find some RSS feeds - in no particular order – which I recommend:

• Stanford Social Innovation Review - http://www.ssireview.org/articles/
• Duke Divinity Call & Response blog - http://www.faithandleadership.com/blog
• Blue Avocado - http://www.blueavocado.org/frontpage
• Presentation Zen - http://www.presentationzen.com
• Greg Stier's blog - http://www.gregstier.org/
• Katya’s non-profit marketing blog - http://www.nonprofitmarketingblog.com/
• Beth’s blog - http://www.bethkanter.org/
• The Agitator - http://www.theagitator.net/
• Seth Godin’s blog - http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/
• Burk’s blog - http://www.cygresearch.com/burksblog/

Please comment if you have other RSS feeds to recommend.  Hopefully you’ll find these feeds and this tool to be helpful and time-saving.  And like we say at the end of each MIF workshop, 'you can do this!'

I am excited to share an experience that was so inspiring for me as a board member, that I just sat in awe of what I was hearing.  How often does THAT happen?!

As the organization’s President began to outline his new ideas and vision to bring each of us, along with the community, into partnership with the organization to be a catalyst for change in the city, I listened intently as I heard him talking about Transformational Giving and the impact his vision will have on champions as they engage more deeply in the cause.  The stunning point for me was that this particular President had never been to  MIF training.

As a board member, I have heard his own personal story of transformation and to see it impacting the city in this way was remarkable.  Jeff Lilley, new President of Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission, began this adventure just a year ago when he came to work as President-elect at UGM.  During his first few months of orientation, Jeff was asked to experience his own version of homelessness by living at the men’s mission for a few nights and eating, sleeping and interacting with the homeless men living there.

As Jeff shares the story (much better than I ever could), he tells of his discomfort in being in the heart of downtown, on Skid Road, if you will.  The first night he spent most of his time up on the 6th floor in his own room, peering out onto the dimly lit streets below, trying to make out what was going on with the men on the street corner.

By the second night, Jeff was walking the streets with some of the guys at the mission, hearing about stories of this park or that incident.  He was really trying to get a sense of what goes on down there after dark, but still a bit removed and reserved in that environment.  This new President had just moved to the city from a pristine lake and mountain camp and conference center environment in the hills of California.

By night three, Jeff had mostly moved away from his 6th floor room and was spending much of the night on the street, not only walking among the homeless, but stopping to talk with them and sitting down to hear their stories.  He had long shed the sports coat he started out with and was now in jeans and tennis shoes, with a 3 day beard on his face.

On night four, Jeff spent several hours travelling in the Search and Rescue Van, going out to help those still tucked under the bridges or amongst the trees on the freeway off ramps.  A lot happened in Jeff’s heart during those hours, but suffice it to say that Jeff gave away his shoes that night. 

He had been transformed.  He was so moved and impacted by his hands-on experience, that Jeff wants all of Seattle to be given an opportunity like he had to be the hands and feet of Jesus.  Jeff will be sharing his passion for the city as he invites others to be a catalyst in meeting the needs of the poor through Christ’s love and grace, at UGM’s Catalyst event, on Oct. 14th.

He gets it!

Does your ED or board need to be transformed as it relates to your cause?  I would encourage each of you to get out of the office and be the "hands and feet of Jesus" in your ministry and allow God to do something new in your life.

I’ve compared notes with my MIF colleagues, on more than one occasion, about nonprofit (NP) organizations that operate ‘in a silo.’  While it’s less of a surprise to me now, I used to be astonished at the number of ministries that know very little about NP happenings in their community.  In particular, these organizatons are unaware of – and therefore not interacting with - peer organizations advancing the same cause in their same neighborhoods and communities!

While it’s important for ministries to know their community, including peer organizations, they should also know something about the NP climate as a whole.

I encourage you to allocate three minutes and thirty-nine seconds of your day to check out the video in this blog posting from Katya Andreesen.   It paints a clear picture of the size and scope of the NP sector. 

Besides the basics, you’ll learn interesting nuggets such as:    

-          The number of NPs has doubled in the past 15 years (to two million)

-          83% of the $300 billion donated to charity per year comes from individuals

-          Only 27% of NP income is from donations and the rest is earned thru sources like tuition, hospital patient fees, and ticket sales

-          Almost 50% of donations go to religion and education

-          70% of US households make one donation

-          Average annual giving per household is $2,333

Why does it matter if you know something about these facts and figures?  Knowing the NP sector as a whole will help you to be seen as a non-profit expert by your constituents and in your community.  And that won’t hurt your fundraising efforts when it comes to interacting with the individuals who annually donate 83% of the $300 billion to charity!

Imagine how we as ministry leaders might cast off our tendency to operate 'in a silo' and use this info to advance Transformational Giving.  A great starting point is to simply coach your champions TG-style!

From there, consider  the potential impact to our communities if every Christian ministry would look to build church partnerships - not just with donations in mind - but with the biblical goal of equipping individuals in the church with the skills needed to effectively get involved and contribute towards works of mercy in the community.

Further, what might happen in our communities if NPS (which have doubled in the past 15 years) would pool resources and efforts to collaborate to advance their shared causes?  Thankfully, we see many ministries and churches moving in this direction but there are still many stuck in 'competitive' mode, worrying excessively about major donors that might get nabbed by their peer organizations doing the same work to advance God's Kingdom.  Seems like a far cry from Matthew 6:33, that's for sure.

What about you?  Do you make it a point to know the facts about the NP landscape in your own community – as well as in the U.S.?  Spend some time learning about your sector!  Then take some time to consider how to connect it to TG and your work coaching champions and building relationships in the community.  I promise, it will be worth your investment of precious time.

The story starting to come out about Vanguard Public Foundation’s recent implosion is stunning if for no other reason than it provides a cautionary tale to all of us. I appreciate Rick Cohen's effort over at Blue Avocado (http://www.blueavocado.org) to unravel the events that have lead to the downfall of one of the leading foundations. (Check out his investigative report Decline and Fall of the Vanguard Foundation here.)

In short, a flashy, over-the-top businessman sweet-talked and defrauded the foundation while the board went to sleep. Reading though the financials, it’s incredible to me that the board didn’t see they were bleeding cash like they were.

There is an amazing amount of things to be learned from the whole sordid affair, but among Cohen's observations were two big points that stand out in light of this month's focus on board governance (BTW -if you haven't registered for our free workshop The Board's Greatest Gift, now might be a good time). The principles seem obvious in hindsight, yet somehow we manage to overlook them. Each of them on their own, are recipes for disaster, but combined add up to some serious flaw's in the foundation's structure, and reinforces some of the key points in our board workshop.  (My comments below in italics.)

• “Non-attentive trust in the CEO is not a healthy governing model: With warning signals in abundance, observers suggest that the board was even a little mesmerized with the CEO and his celebrity friends. And board meetings were reportedly very rare.” If the board get’s so enamored with celebrities or with a “superstar” CEO that they forget THEY are the legal owners of the nonprofit, they are doomed to failure.  The old adage “Trust but verify” works not only for nuclear disarmament, but also for keeping your nonprofit from going up in a mushroom cloud as well. The board ignored the financial situation of the foundation, trusting in the celebrities to carry the vision, their “superstar” CEO to pull off the miracles, and the flashy to-good-to-be-true salesman to raise money.

• “Some have suggested that Vanguard's moves to turn over some decision making to community leaders left donors disengaged, and resulted in board members who were less attentive to grantmaking decisions and governance responsibilities.”  Second big DUH! When the board relinquishes control over their responsibility to safeguard the vision of the organization and turns it over others (especially those with personal self-interest in changing the vision) the organization is doomed. Donors saw the vision creep and withdrew. There’s nothing wrong with including the community in the process, but boards need to guard against letting the community become the (sole) owners of the organization just as they need to guard against ceding control to the CEO.

I’m sure there will be a lot more information coming out about what transpired along with additional dissection of how they failed, but there is one cautionary part of the tale so far that all of us need to remember – watch out for pride. 

Look at how many times Cohen highlights “even progressive foundations” or asks “are progressive groups vulnerable” as if they are somehow immune from the siren song of riches. Others are stunned that this could have happened to this foundation, once championed as a pioneer and new model for philanthropy.   But this isn’t about left/right, progressive/conservative – both groups could equally share in the same type of pitfall.  Rather, it’s about the overwhelming sense of pride and superiority, the “We know what’s best” and “We’re on the moral high ground therefore we’re above X (x = seduced by riches or making mistakes, or needing to have safeguards, or regular board meetings) that stands out the most. 

In their pride, they had it all figured out. And it was that exact same pride that allowed them to buy in to a charlatan’s scheme and ultimately topple one of the largest foundations. 

Pride DOES go before destruction, and a haughty spirit before stumbling.

May the Lord keep it far from us.

I was recently talking with an Executive Director who is in the midst of leading his organization through change.  Change of the most difficult kind – a personnel change.  As we shared I was reminded of an experience and lesson I learned years ago.

A while back, as the 31 year-old newly elected leader of an organization, I quickly realized that one significant volunteer leadership position had been filled by an individual who, despite the fact that he was trying to serve faithfully, was doing more harm than good.  He needed to be removed and repositioned.  The future of the organization depended on it.  Here was the problem: He needed to be removed and she was on the Board of Directors.  She, as in his wife!

What’s a new leader to do?

I considered this for days and weeks.  I prayed for God’s direction and wisdom.  And, like we all have a tendency to do, I thought about what would happen if I made this change.  Staffers might be upset; she could cause friction on the Board; this could lead to problems off the Board; some would begin to doubt my leadership; supporters could walk.

I reached the point where I was considering not making the change, and then I thought just that:  What if I don’t make this change?  He will stay in the position; the way he handles his job will complicate our strategy for moving forward; our vision for the future will be compromised; we will not be a healthy organization; we will not reach our goals. 

It became a no-brainer.  I met with the Board of Directors and we made the change.

This is now how I make many leadership decisions today.  I don’t ask, “What if I make this change?"  I ask, “What if I don’t make this change?”  By looking at situations from this angle, tough decisions are oftentimes made easy.  Not that the change is easily made, but clarity is gained and next steps are understood.

(By the way, she handled the situation quite well and continued to serve the organization faithfully for many years.)

And, this wasn't simply a personal leadership lesson.  This experience forced me to think through my partnersip with the Board of Directors and their leadership role connected with the organization.  As just stated, "We made the change" - together.  

In September, in Mission Increase Foundation workshops across the country, we'll be discussing board governance and leadership roles.  More specifically, we'll be discussing how to move from "Bored Boards to Engaged Champions."  Organizations that thrive learn the secret to unlocking their board's leadership potential.  Boards are more than legal necessities — they need to own the cause and lead with you.  What does it mean to have a board that supports the staff and mission, taking ownership in the success of the overall organization?

Join us in September to find out.  Hope to see you there!