“Whenever you find tears in your eyes, especially unexpected tears, it is well to pay the closest attention. They are not only telling you something about the secret of who you are, but more often than not God is speaking to you through them of the mystery of where you have come from and is [...]
Conventional wisdom or self-fulfilling prophecy
October 26, 2011 By 1 Comment
What is the toughest sell these days for fundraisers? If your answer is unrestricted support, join the chorus. Conventional wisdom among 21st century fundraisers points away from support of administrative and other infrastructure functions and in the direction of special projects. You know the storyline. Today’s donors aren’t as interested in preserving organizations as were [...]
Tapping a treasure trove of governance wisdom
October 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Earlier this fall, more than 600 governance leaders from across the continent descended on Atlanta for a two-day confab on the newest thinking and practices in nonprofit governance. The folks at BoardSource describe their annual Leadership Forum as the “only national conference focused on the impact of nonprofit boards and the unique role they play [...]
Generosity in quotes
October 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment
“The people of God know that they have things money cannot buy; they know they are rich in things of the soul. The job of the contemporary congregation is, as always, to increase love and understanding of God and love toward the neighbor. Lest money stand in the way of love, congregations must become places [...]
Connecting generosity and the World Series
October 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment
As my nod to the World Series and the first game win by the St. Louis Cardinals, I point you to a Generous Matters post from March 2011 titled “What Would John Wesley tell Albert Pujols to do?”. It’s a response to concerns by some church folks that Pujols’ quest for bigger bucks could sully [...]
Fundraising and eating elephants
October 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment
You’ve heard the one about how to eat an elephant. It’s done one bite at a time. The point, of course, is that seemingly daunting challenges are easier to “swallow” when approached incrementally. We’ve been convinced that it takes massive action to achieve anything of significance. Yet for most of us, most of the time, [...]
Generosity in quotes
October 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment
“Gratitude is not just appreciation for good effort — it is a theological discipline. When Paul wrote, ‘Rejoice always . . . give thanks in all things’ (I Thessalonians 5: 16-18), he was speaking to us. When Julian of Norwich wrote, ‘All manner of things shall be well,’ she was speaking to us. It is [...]
10 things pastors should remember about giving
October 12, 2011 By 2 Comments
Unless you’ve been asleep for the past 20 years or so, you’ve likely heard about the not-so-funny thing that’s happened on the way to church. Research reports, one after another, tell us that North America’s pastors have decided not to talk about money. Except for the once-a-year obligatory stewardship sermon, seldom is heard an encouraging [...]
The board’s role in strategic change
October 10, 2011 By Leave a Comment
I’ve said it before and I’m happy to say it again. A board’s ability to provide strong governance really does matters to an organization’s success. In fact, I believe that an organization can be no stronger than its board – at least in the long term. BUT DON’T JUST TAKE MY WORD FOR IT. Consider [...]
