We’ve spent the past week of posts talking about the why of corporate coaching of champions. Now we’re going to walk step-by-step through how this process should look from your perspective as a nonprofit “platform.”

Today, let’s take the first step:

Identify a group of 20-30 champions who are interested in growing to full maturity in the cause.

This is literally as simple as working through your contact list (note that I didn’t say “donor list,” and it’s not just because I dislike the word; it’s because you need to consider drawing more widely than that–more on this below.)

Keep in mind that you shouldn’t be trying to persuade anybody to participate in this process.  If champions join this process grudgingly, neither you or them is going to experience much growth.  Some of your closest and most committed donors will decline your offer and you may be surprised to find that some of those who you might have considered to be marginal or disinterested will jump at the opportunity.

Be indiscriminate in your invitation and even go for unlikely targets – folks like the leader of a “competing” nonprofit (if you’re both involved in the same cause, it is to your benefit that they become mature, too), or a pastor of a local church who has never been involved with your organization, or even a non-Christian.

Alright–20 to 30. Got it? Take a day or two to prayerfully assemble your list (notepad by bed works well for me in this regard), and then let’s reconnoiter for the next post in order to consider the next step.

Special thanks to .W’s Jesse Medina and Memphis Leadership Foundation’s Larry Lloyd for spilling blood with me to make this mini-series possible!