Do the Word

Not too long ago I dumped on Donor Power Blog and actually de-listed them from the recommended blog list on my site. They’re still de-listed (too traditional/transactional in my view), but as I noted in my post I still read DPB daily and always enjoy Jeff’s style of writing even though I typically differ from his perspective.

Jeff had a nice post today referencing an Improbable Research piece that I definitely encourage you to check out.

In the piece, IR mails a wide variety of items–a rose, a football, tennis shoes, a $20 bill–and evaluates whether they were delivered, how long they took, and in what condition they arrived.

Neither Jeff nor IR had a particular application step in mind for all of this, but I do:

Before you sit down to write your next direct mail letter:

• Read the Improbable Research Postal Experiments article
• Ask yourself, “What could I mail to my champions other than a letter that would enhance their ability to impact the cause?”
• Then ask yourself, “What could I mail to my champions and encourage them to mail to people in their sphere of influence that would encourage my champion’s champions to impact the cause?”
• Check out the 2008 Echo Award winners and note how all of these highly successful packages involve sending something other than a letter–something far more unusual (and, as the results from each package suggest, far more successful)
• Check out this passage from Daniel 5 and reflect on this truth: How God sends a message is as important as the message He sends.
• Now write your letter

I’ll be expecting my deer tibia in the mail from you nine days from now.

When Jesus (in Mark 9:35) said, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all”, do you think he meant that we should be very, very humble as we ask our fellow Christians to donate money to support us to do the work of ministry (typically while showing them a really sharp PowerPoint presentation with embedded video about “our” ministry)?

Probably not, eh?

If we’re going to take the Bible literally, we probably better make good on Mark 9:35 as part of that package.

Taken literally, Mark 9:35 makes a point quite a bit like Ephesians 4:11-13, namely, that if you’re a Christian nonprofit leader, your purpose is to serve and support ordinary Christians, equipping them to grow into the fullness of Christ in relation to the cause God has put on your heart.

Like Angelo Dundee to Mohammed Ali.

But this is so very different than the self-identity that we breed into our Christian nonprofit leaders. We teach them that they are Mohammed Ali, and we seminar leaders are Angelo Dundee.

That would make ordinary Christians the fans (and major donors the people who pay the really good money for a ringside seat).

What a far cry from the self-identity of the Apostle Paul in relation to his churches.

We are putting no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see—we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

It’s not that the Apostle Paul experienced all this while carrying out the full ministry of God while being supported by ordinary Christians. It’s that the Apostle Paul experienced all this  for the purpose of training ordinary Christians to carry out the full ministry of God.

It’s time for the director of the homeless shelter to reconsider his ministry.

Instead of saying, “Look, my calling is to care for the homeless people of Phoenix; please send money so I can do this,” let him follow in the path of the Apostle Paul and say, “Look, my calling is to equip the Christians of Phoenix to care for the homeless people of Phoenix; let me serve you by equipping you, creating a platform where your giving in every way–your time, your finances, your spiritual gifts–can join with the comprehensive giving of others to accomplish what God commands.”

As I mentioned in a blog post last month,

Larry Lloyd at the Memphis Leadership Foundation told me the other day, “Transformational Giving first requires a change in the self-identity of the nonprofit leader. TG leaders have to be fundamentally committed to mentoring their champions to do the ministry. Absent that self-identity change, TG can never take root in an organization.”

Be Angelo Dundee, friend. Not Mohammed Ali. 

Enter the first nascent heresy of the nascent Transformational Giving age.

Be very on your guard. Even as it traditional/transactional fundraising (ttf) begins to publicly hemorrhage and die, here begins to emerge the next battleground for Christian development.

Roger from The Agitator cites, approvingly, a post by Seth Godin about clout which posits that in a world of equal opportunity Tweeting, some Tweeters may be more equal than others by virtue of their extensive use of social networking and thus the size of their networks.

In other words, just as for years we’ve paid special attention to major donors because they have more money than anyone else, we’re now entering an age where we will be encouraged to pay special attention to major social networkers because they have more influence than anyone else.

Writes Godin:

If you knew which of your followers had clout, you could invest more time and energy in personal attention.

Adds Roger from The Agitator:

I’m happy to report that at DonorTrends we’ve taken an important first step in helping you find the most “cloutful” among your donors, activists and volunteers. It’s our new identification and screening service called SociaLeaders ™ and it gives you an inexpensive way of spotting those folks who are the  heaviest users of social networks like FaceBook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.

I say, “an important first step” because as Seth noted in an exchange of emails, quantity of friends is not the only, or even most important, factor that yields clout.

Of course, Seth’s right, and what SociaLeaders ™ does provide is an important starting point for zeroing in on likely “missionaries,”  “recruiters” and potential “super donors” who warrant  further communication and investment in cultivation.

As we’ve reported before, our DonorTrends surveys of donors and what we call “donor superstars” — the category where we find missionaries and recruiters — show a disproportionately high use of social networks.

To encourage Agitator readers to begin finding out who your social network leaders are, DonorTrends is offering a FREE 500 name test.  Just click here to get the ball rolling.

But ye have not so learned Transformational Giving.

Let me be emphatic:

TG is not compatible with the substitution of influence for wealth as a criterion by which we determine how we categorize our champions and how we allocate our time for coaching.

TG Principle 10 currently states:

Champions categorize themselves not according to the amount of their giving but by the degree of comprehensive personal ownership they are exhibiting in the cause.

I see now it needs to be formally augmented as follows:

Champions categorize themselves not according to the amount of their giving or influence but by the degree of comprehensive personal ownership they are exhibiting in the cause.

Why do we spend more time coaching some people than others in TG? Is it because they have more money? Because they have a larger network of influence?

By no means.

We spend more time coaching some people than others in TG because some people are more ready to own the cause in their sphere of influence, regardless of the size of that sphere.

Never, ever lose sight of the fact that our goal is neither the growth of our ministry nor even the spreading of our cause. Our goal is that those within our sphere of influence might be brought to the likeness of Christ in relationship to the cause Christ has given us to champion.

That means that we are not to find the most influential people and train them but rather we are to train the people we influence the most.

Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. (Eph 4:25. KJV even.)

As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:26-31,

Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”

May you always coach the lowly and despised of this world. May you always speak truth with your neighbor.

May you never chase Tweets.