Role reversal.

That’s the phrase that keeps coming to mind for me as I reflect on the vastly different way that Transformational Giving views and treats the subject of champions lapsing, as compared to how traditional/transactional development deals with ‘lapsed donors’.

As we talked about in yesterday’s post (and when you review it, make sure to check out the comment posted by Mission Increase Foundation Expansion Officer Tracy Nordyke), John’s words about those who were not ‘of us’ and Jesus’ words about shepherds reverse the roles normally played in the lapsed drama by organization and champion.

In traditional/transactional lapsed donor strategy:

• the organization determines what constitutes a lapsed donor. Typically they determine that a donor is ‘lapsed’ when the donor, after having in the past given X gifts in Y period of time, has now ceased altogether from giving over Z period of time.
• the donor is responsible for the lapse due to their inaction. In fact, if their unresponsive behavior keeps up, we usually term them ‘inactive’.

Notice how these two key points are inverted in Transformational Giving:

• In 1 John 2:20, notice what John says is the opposite of not being ‘of us’. It’s not ‘staying with us’. It’s knowing the truth. In other words, activity isn’t the measurement; knowledge is. And knowledge here, of course, means something entirely different than amassing information. It might better be translated by a word far more familiar to us in Transformational Giving, namely: Engagement. More on this as the week unfolds. The key to note for today is that the standard of lapsing is not  set by the organization. It’s set in relation to the truth (to which, I would add, both the organization and the champion are subject. This raises the fascinating spectre of lapsed organizations, which, provocatively,  John raises in Revelation 2:3-5 with regard to the Church at Ephesus.)
• As we noted yesterday, Jesus doesn’t say, ‘Suppose a sheep wanders.’ He says, ‘Suppose a shepherd loses a sheep.’ So the subject and verb here are switched. The emphasis is flipped 180 degrees. The focus is not ‘donor lapsed’. It’s ‘shepherd lost’.

So let’s take stock of where we are as of Day 2 of our lapsed champion odyssey:

• In TG, organizations don’t define what counts as lapsed. Scripture does.
• According to Scripture, organizations can lapse just the same as champions can, even when they are by all appearances quite active.
• The shepherd, not the sheep, has an accountability role not comprehended in traditional/transactional development.

Having fun yet? More tomorrow.