Should grants be on my mind?
It is an exciting idea, that someone would make an investment into my work through a grant. I know it happens for lots of other organizations, but what about mine? It is important to cut through the ideas about grants and get down to concrete realities. Church planters, churches with a service focus and those who are working to bring change to troubled communities should all take a hard look at what they can do with grants. Join a webinar with David Mills on July 15th at 3:00 p.m. to learn about whether you are eligible for grants and what you will need to do to win. The webinar will cover 4 types of funders that you need to know about, and 3 concrete steps that will take you toward effective grant funding. The call will provide a fast-track approach to getting your organization from where it is today, to where it can be with the help of additional resources.
Should grants be on your mind? The answer to that question can be settled by understanding where you fall in several key areas, and by narrowing down your focus to one of four grant funding types.
Webinar: July 15th 5:00 p.m.-6:30 p.m. with David Mills. Register on the schedule tab to the left. Session will provide insights into what kind of grants you are eligible for and a “short course action list” for those who want to cut through the fog and make grant progress.
<–Select the Schedule tab and click webinar and Grants on My Mind, find the July 15th session.
When you hear the sucking sound…
How do you respond when you hear that sucking sound- the whistle of available resources starting to shrink or contract? It is a sound that a lot of non profits and ministries have been hearing these days. Its a function of the economy and sometimes it just plain hurts. It especially hurts when it begins to impact the people you rely on, and the plans that you have worked to develop. Our response during these times makes a difference in our mental and spiritual health and the future of our work. So what do we do?
I will try to avoid the usual platitudes as I make these suggestions, since it seems that shallow encouragement has the opposite effect.
Donors Expect us to Trim
It is a reasonable expectation from our donors and supporters. Responsible management should be expected to look for and trim waste–so do it and talk about it. Not in a way that makes you look like you were not at the steering wheel before, or that you had to down size from a caddy to a Volkswagen, but responsible management does what it needs to do when the economy shrinks.
Allow the pressure to drive you toward innovation.
When the going gets tough, the tough innovate. We take the things that we do have in our hands and we recombine them, refocus them. We might be stripped of the capacity for status quo– is that a bad thing? There is a lot of new opportunity out there for enterprising non-profits and ministries. Without giving up on your values and mission, you do need to explore new ways to get it done. Stay tuned here for some innovation ideas.
Allow the pressure to push you back to your core.
Donors and supporters all give to what matches their values. And while you might have many strengths, we only one one core of value. That is where we should live, but given the liberty to play–we often stray. Use this time to re-discover what is important to you.
Talk about the Vital Parts of Your Mission
The important thing that you do–that is what your donors care about. And they don’t want children to go hungry, youth to go to jail, elders to be without care, AIDs orphans to be left alone– get down to it. The parts of your work that you can honestly share as essential, share. The stats right now are not universally down– some groups are doing better, some are doing worse. Critical missions do matter.
<–Join a discussion about whether grants might be right for your organization on the schedule tab, July 15 at 5:00 p.m.
Seven Non-Profit Options for Churches
We may think, “its to Non-Profit or Not…”
but we really have a choice between a variety of structures. Its like going to the bakery and thinking only about just one kind of cookie. I went on Father’s day to a special pie shop in Leesburg, VA and discovered something that I had never heard of before: Texas Cake. it was a piece of cake with about 3 inches of pure fudge on top. My heart thanks me that I didn’t get any. I discovered that church choices about how we operate as non-profits are pretty unique too, in fact there are at least seven different options.
THERE ARE SEVEN OPTIONS FOR CHURCH NON-PROFIT ACTIVITY
The most common choice that most church leaders are aware of is a secondary non-profit 501c3 corporation. But there are at least 6 other structures that can be adopted depending upon the specific focus and needs of the church. There are some important issues with a standard 501c3 that you need to be aware of as you consider which of the seven types you might be best for your church. In addition to the three primary reasons that churches form NPO’s (Risk, Resource and Rapport), you will need to consider which of these three items goes to the top of your list. Are you primarily seeking to avoid risk, or like me are you ready to run head-long into danger for the Kingdom (as long as you have a good suite of amour)?
The right pick from these seven will determine how well you do in each of the three categories. And all the choices are not equal when they stand side by side. Approaching this as an informed leader will allow you to make an informed choice and to bypass the “build it and they will come” myth. If you are primarily loyal to the structure that you create or you don’t understand the choices, you can easily easily end up serving a new structure in the same way that you serve the old structure.
Structures need to serve purpose and support growth and life.
While it is true that some plants can’t grow without a supportive structure, there is nothing wrong with germinating some seeds before you install the trellis. But you do need to know what you want the plant to do when it grows up. Your knowledge of your options will help you to make timing, resource, leadership and ministry choices that will help you to maximize what develops out of your community efforts. I know that some people swear by those upside down tomato plant stands, but even if they produce great tomatoes, they look kind of funny. If you are going to take the first step outside the box and create a secondary community ministry structure like a non-profit, then you will want to be intentional about the type and understand its costs, risk and rewards. That is why they grow tomatoes upside down isn’t it, for the fruit?
Join our discussion of these seven options on a webinar lead by David Mills. We will evaluate and understand these choices for ministry purposes and share a comprehensive overview of the options and their impacts upon ministry. Next webinar is June 24th at 3 p.m. EST. Click schedule on the tab to the left, pick non-profit for churches, and then webinar, and schedule a spot to learn more.
Three Reasons Churches are Forming Secondary Non-Profits
Is it ever appropriate to used bullet proof glass instead of the stained variety?
Lots of churches are considering the formation of a second non-profit for community purposes. While the various reasons cover lots of ground, I have found that they usually fall into one of three categores: Risk, Resources or Rapport. Lets explore these reasons to see where your church might fit:
1. Risk- some of the service activity that you provide is enough to make an insurance man’s hair stand on end. Skateboard parks, medical clinics, counseling families, activities with children, school athletics, even rescuing bridge builders during earthquakes. Have you ever asked your insurance provider about this? Since we have a sense of calling to many people and situations that normally make police nervous and would most often have some bullet proof glass involved, we tend to ignore risk. We are there anyway, and we should be, but it doesn’t mean we have to go in without thinking. The big question is what kind of insulation we have between the various kinds of risk that are involved in the services we offer and our assets. Does your church have buildings and vehicles and a budget– that is a set of assets you need to protect. It is also one of the reasons why churches establish secondary “legal persons” for some of their activities. While I am not one of those who sell “risk mitigation” services, I do want to make sure that you can continue to do the ministry that you have been called and resourced to do.
2. Resources- This is an obvious one. We have bigger missions that we do budgets and we are looking for some ways to maximize our ability to raise funds. These resources come in a variety of packages, but many of them do require something beyond the church accounts to be accessed. One common fear of donors and grant makers: that funds going to churches are going to go into their current obligations like building costs, buses and bibles. Not true of your work? Then you might need to consider a secondary corporate structure to convince some of those donors out their. And you know like I do that people have more than one pocket when it comes to giving. When surveyed, many major donors are only planning to give about ten percent to their church, while they have much larger sums to give to “more qualified charities.” The big question here is: “are you willing to create a structure that really serves the demands of donors while staying true to your mission?”
While our mission and the content of our message stays constant, do we need to consider new “wineskins” to help us reach our culture?
3. Rapport- There are some places where the words, “Hello, I am with XYZ Church” are fightin’ terms. I hear lots of stories from ministries who have a real struggle getting access to community events and service opportunities because of an over-sized bias in their communities about church. The real truth is that in many communities, they have never see a real “serving church” and so every church encounter raises red flags, green flags and all kinds of other flags. This varies from place to place and is a real consideration when serving in a long-term way is a commitment. The access that you can create by going through the service channel is often very significant, and allows people to get to know you without conjuring images of stained glass and itchy wool pants (my personal church image from childhood). On top of that, some leaders like principals and others have big job or legal concerns about direct participation with churches.