Tuesday, February 07, 2012
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idealware.org/You have heard lots of fundraising advice from us, but what about our personal favorite resources? Here is a list of 5 resources that we love:
1) iDonate-- This giving tool is revolutionizing fundraising for ministries. By converting non-cash donations into funds for ministries, it is an essential tool. Check out this short video which explains why it is so powerful.
2) The Treasure House-- Similar to Facebook profiles, the Treasure House provides ministry profiles that you can easily search through in order to share resources, find ways to serve, and learn who is in your area.
3) The Give Away-- The Chronicle of Philanthropy runs this blog where they post news about how people and foundations are donating. Use this resource to stay up to date so you can write the best proposals according to foundations' standards.
4) Media for Ministry-- This site offers easy videos for ministries to learn how to get set up on social media and to use it effectively.
5) Idealware-- Through this resource, ministries can learn how to manage and select the best software to operate technology effectively.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
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Simplify your life in 2012. Okay, let's go for it. Let's work on cutting out some of our noise. Here's a few ideas:
1. Go through your closet and donate everything you've not worn in the past 6 months.
2. Unsubscribe from every email newsletter/bulletin that you've not read in the past month.
3. Go through your house, your storage unit, closets, garage, and clean it out. Donate everything you've just let sit there. If it's got dust, donate it!
4. Simplify by deepening. Reconnect with a few old friends. Start a real conversation with them. Maybe even do the unthinkable and write a letter-- a real one.
5. Go for a walk at a nature park. Count the number of clouds.
6. Journal every week on your past.
7. Declare a "no media" da-- cell phone, email, Facebook, TV...
8. Take a 24 hour retreat by yourself. Take only a Bible and a notebook.
9. Don't buy any new possession for 6 months.
So what are your ideas? Share your simple living tips, and maybe, just maybe we can get back to what's important.
William High is the Chief Executive Officer at National Christian Foundation Heartland. He may be reached at whigh@national.christian.com
Monday, October 24, 2011
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It takes time and effort to find grantmakers that are truly good prospects, but the results can be worth the research efforts you expend. Keep your expectations realistic. Foundations and other grantmakers will not likely meet even a majority of your financial needs. Individual donations still account for the great majority of the funds given to nonprofit organizations. Currently, foundations and corporations combined only provide about 17 percent of philanthropic gifts, and only a portion of this is given for Christian projects. However, these funds can make all the difference for your project!
Do not focus all your efforts on one or two "perfect" funders. Many grantseeking churches and ministries have important missions, so you must seek a reasonably broad base. Develop a list with several viable options. Even experienced proposal writers often receive multiple letters of rejection for each successful grant. On the other hand, avoid compiling a lengthy list of "long-shot" prospects; mass mailing is a waste of everyone's time. Grantseeking should be viewed as a highly individualized process to be conducted in a businesslike manner.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
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Over the past weeks, there’s been much written about the attacks on the World Trade Center. Richard Swenson, however, writes about a different aspect of those attacks.
On the 103rd floor as the workers were beginning their day, they were at first unaware of the commotion on the floors below. But as the shock and horror unfolded, some were able to make last minute phone calls. Some of those phones were recovered. What did the rescuers find in those last minute phone calls?
They weren’t calls to their broker to sell their stock. No phone calls were made to purchase new cars, sell old ones or to cancel the newspaper service. No, sadly, in the midst of trouble and the certainty of the end, a staggering clarity came into focus.
The phone calls were made to spouses, children, loved ones, close friends. They were the last messages they would ever leave on this planet. They were messages of love, appreciation and gratitude.
Oh may it not be said of us that we needed an airplane crashing into the building below us to bring clarity to our lives! But perhaps, just perhaps, we can take today, this day, and live with stunning clarity of those things that are important and eternal.
--William High is the President of the National Christian Foundation Heartland. He may be reached at whigh@nationalchristian.com.
I don’t know about you but there’s a lot of noise in my life. Not long ago, I sought to eliminate much of the advertisement related email in my inbox. I set out faithfully to unsubscribe to everything I could.
I’m not sure what happened. My email multiplied. So much for simplicity. Particularly in this day and age, the idea of simplicity is a foreign one. This week I attended a breakout session at a conference called Soul Care for leaders. One statement particularly stood out:
Our iPhones, iPads and constant exposure to technology is killing our souls.
Think about it. How often do those silly things buzz? How often do we delay answering? How often do I set it aside?
Socrates said it like this: “How many things are there which I do not want?” William Law said it this way: “If you attempt to talk with a dying man about sports or business, he is no longer interested. He now sees other things as more important. People who are dying recognize what we often forget, that we are standing on the brink of another world.”
Indeed, I suspect that we all might say that our souls are dying for just a little bit of quiet so that we might reflect on what is true and meaningful.
--William High is the President of the National Christian Foundation Heartland. He may be reached at whigh@nationalchristian.com.
My daughter Jessica turned 20 yesterday—no longer a teenager. She came home from college to celebrate her birthday.
The weekend passed by in a blur. We had soccer games, and she had friends to see, but in the midst of the hustle and bustle, she ran out.
Well, let me clarify that. In the bright afternoon sun, she dressed up in one of her purple little dresses, camera in hand and headed to the park. She had a grin on her face, her step lively and said she was off on an adventure.
An hour later she was back. She had flowers all up in her hair (does that sound like Butterfly Kisses?) and a little giggle. She’d been taking pictures among the flowers, and had gathered quite a bouquet. She dressed them elaborately for us on the table. She was tremendously pleased with herself, and her adventure in the sun.
She’s always been that way. My Jessica (her name means “wealthy in God”). Even when she was little, she was the one to go off on adventures to pick flowers, study the bugs, and watch the sunset. We always enjoyed the sunsets, the power of the storm, and the newness of fresh mown grass.
It’s those simple pleasures—living simply, giving generously that allow us to experience life. How often we need to see that even if our children must lead the way.
--William High is the President of the National Christian Foundation Heartland. He may be reached at whigh@nationalchristian.com.
Who buys real estate in a land already conquered by the enemy? Foolish.
But that’s what the prophet Jeremiah did. In Jeremiah 32, the Lord tells Jeremiah that his uncle is coming to sell him land. (By the way, what does this say about the uncle—he’s doing Jeremiah no favors by selling land already trod upon by the enemy!) In any event, the Lord tells Jeremiah to buy the land.
So Jeremiah does. And he makes quite a show of it. He counts out 17 shekels of silver. He has the purchase witnessed by a crowd of elders. He wants the purchase to be official. Now consider the wonder of these officials! What kind of fool would buy land that’s already in enemy hands! What expectation could Jeremiah have of ever using the land?
On the other hand, Jeremiah had long prophesied that while Jerusalem would be overtaken by Babylon, he had also prophesied that Jerusalem would be restored. And one day, the Lord promised that “houses and fields would again bloom.”
This passage from Jeremiah is both historical fact and a promise. In fact, Israel did return to occupy their promised land. In the bigger scheme, it seems to me that the Lord is telling us to take our earthly treasure—our shekels of silver—and to invest in the new and coming Jerusalem. Indeed, invest in the coming city that cannot fail and that gleams in the midst of the destruction.
--William High is the President of the National Christian Foundation Heartland. He may be reached at whigh@nationalchristian.com.
Across Europe, we’ve seen many great and historic churches close. Some now are owned by businesses. Some are converted to mosques.
For many, the response to these closures is shock, dismay. For those wondering why, the answer is often the apparent decline of faith in these countries. But few are as quick to point to another cause: population decline.
For years now, European countries have faced dwindling birth rates. On average, it takes at least 2.1 births per woman for most industrialized countries. In many European countries the birth rate is well below this—1.6. Put it bluntly, the churches are declining because there aren’t enough people to fill them. Couple this fact with a decline in faith, biblical worldview, evangelism efforts, affluence etc. and you have a real and fundamental problem.
In the United States, we face a similar problem. Post WWII, the birth rate peaked at 3.8 per woman. It’s no surprise that the Boomer Generation numbers nearly 80 million people. On the other hand, the following years produced a smaller birth rate which now hovers around 2.1. It’s no surprise that Gen X, the generation following the Boomers, numbers only 69 million people.
As the Boomers head to their retirement years in the next 15 years, their giving will drop. They’ll be replaced by a much smaller generation that must not only pay the Social Security of the Boomers but must also take their place for giving.
It can’t be done. There are just less of them. We are likely heading for a giving crisis in our churches. One day, we’ll wake up and like Europe and wonder what happened to our fine buildings. There is hope, but we must address the issues now with renewed efforts in evangelism, discipleship and cultivation of a new generation of givers.
--William High is the President of the National Christian Foundation Heartland. He may be reached at whigh@nationalchristian.com.
I’ve got the bug. I wake up early usually. That means I’m not deterred by early morning flights. And it works out that when I get those flights, well, I drive right into the sunrise.
If you drive too early, its just blackness other than the shadows that emerge from the streetlights. But if you time it just right, you can see the sun just begin to peak up at the horizon. The colorful twinge begins with streaks of orange and grey. And as the light seems to move outward, it’s like a backlight for the clouds. It’s a masterpiece of brushwork.
At every edge, the sun pushes at the darkness extending further and further until eventually the darkness surrenders. The light overcomes. The darkness cannot prevail. The light fills every crack and provides illumination for my path.
I’m surprised that the light does not conserve. It does not hold back. It does not save itself for a rainy day. The sun just does what it is naturally called to do: provide light to the darkness. Certainly, there are days when the clouds try to obscure, but that’s all the clouds can do. They cannot prevent. The light is always there.
Jesus said that He was the light of the world. We are in His image. Like the sun, it seems we are called to illuminate, to light up His creation, to make it more beautiful and His name more renowned. We are to not hold back, but just to “be”—to be filled with the light which only He gives. And in so doing, we help drive the darkness away.
--William F. High is the President/General Counsel of the National Christian Foundation Heartland. He may be reached at whigh@nationalchristian.com.
Wednesday, September 07, 2011
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Developing a clear and concise mission statement early in an organization’s development is critical to its success. The first three benefits stated are tied to the process of creating the mission statement itself.
First, the process of creating a mission statement is tremendously valuable to the founders. This process helps define the company's goals to a concise and clear statement that is easy to share with the internal organization as well as to its customers.
Second, the process of defining the mission statement will help founders determine the scope of their effort; helps clarify competition and focus on their real market opportunities.
Third, create a better version of something that's already being done, help clearly differentiate your company from its competition.
Other benefits include direction, focus, policy, meaning, challenge, and passion. Direction states what the organization does and what it wants to be successful in. Focus concentrates on the company’s strengths and competitive advantages and tells people how to obtain them. Policy is a guideline of what a company finds acceptable and unacceptable and states organizational values. Meaning shows what a company strives to achieve and why they wish to do so. Challenge is the setting up of goals and measurements of achievement for employees. Passion makes everyone involved with the organization show feelings of enthusiasm, pride, and commitment.
One day all believers will stand before the Lord for an evaluation of how we lived our lives on earth. Will we hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant?" (Matt. 25:21)
--Jackie Jones is the Marketing and Communications Director of Christian Foundation Grants. She may be reached at jjones@christianfoundationgrants.com.