Do the Word

Sean Stannard-Stockton’s post entitled  The 2010 Crisis in Philanthropy details what  has to be the most underreported 800-pound fundraising gorilla patiently awaiting your attention in 2010.

In the words of SSS:

Private foundations are required to give away 5% of their investment assets each year (the average amount given is about 6%). The 5% is based on the average value of their investment assets from the previous year. That means that foundation giving in 2009 is based on 2008 asset levels and 2010 giving will be based on 2009 asset values.

In other words: Uh oh.

But SSS saves his biggest bad news bomb for last:

This year, many foundations decided to keep giving levels constant with last year or at least gave more than the required 5%. It was clear that the need for charitable giving was higher than normal and many foundations stepped up with additional giving. To the extent their giving exceeded 5%, they can count it towards next year’s required giving.

An example: A 2009 payout of 7% means that the 2% that exceeded the 5% minimum can count towards 2010 and so the foundation can legally distribute only 3% next year.

In other words, from the standpoint of foundation giving, more than half of the impact of the stock market crash has yet to be felt.

That’s a projected 40% drop in foundation giving in 2010 for those who are keeping score.

SSS sees a silver lining in the cloud: “With their grantmaking budget decimated in 2010, forward thinking foundations are going to look for ways to leverage other sources of charitable assets. Encouraging other foundations to support their grantees is the easy path.”

Hm.

Continues SSS:

The big opportunity, the real lifeboat that can significantly offset the effects of collapsing asset values, is for foundations to extend their due diligence to major donors. Individual donors give $6.30 for every dollar foundations give. Helping these charitable dollars flow towards high performing, well vetted nonprofits is the most dramatic way that foundations can leverage their own giving.

My own take:

Given that the percentage of income the average American (and the average Christian) gives to charity has remained unchanged for the last fifty years, were foundations to implement his recommendation (and he readily admits that most will not), it would certainly have the effect of moving money around…

…but it would not create new dollars.

Perhaps in SSS’ view this is still A Great Good–eliminate the charities that foundations consider the dead wood and all that.

But what if…

But what if, instead of foundation officers trying to convince major donors to give more (to the charities foundations believe should receive more), what if foundations themselves went beyond the five percent they are required to give…not just for one emergency year but as a regular practice?

SSS notes that the average US foundation gives away 6% of its assets. What would happen if a foundation upped that to 10% annually?

Possible response: “Why, then the foundation would go out of business and that would be…irresponsible!”

Or might it be that foundations can lead the way not only because of their extensive due diligence but because of the example of their increased generosity.

I would argue that major donors need the latter even more than the former.

And who’s to say that a foundation giving away 10% of its income wouldn’t draw a Warren Buffet-type gift from a major donor seeking to make twice the immediate impact of a gift to any other foundation?

Cards on the table time: I love to see Christians doing the word.

It all comes from the way I came to know the Lord. After I prayed the sinner’s prayer, I turned to the person who led me to the Lord and said, “Now what do I do?” To which the person responded, “Nothing, man. That’s the great thing–you don’t need to do anything.”

Well, yes, that’s true. Saved by faith and not by works–check. But that’s not what I was asking.

What I was asking was, “Now that the living God has made His home inside of me, does He want to, you know, do anything in there?”

So sanctification–growing comprehensively in the likeness of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit–is always high on my list of Christian Stuff I Like To Talk About And Do.

That’s why I was interested to hear about Christian speaker and teacher Joyce Meyer’s new initiative, The Love Revolution.

Based on one of my favorite verses, Hebrews 10:24–“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds”–The Love Revolution leaps out of the gate with what I consider a truly great manifesto:

I take up compassion and surrender my excuses.
I stand against injustice
and commit to live out simple acts of God’s love.
I refuse to do nothing. This is my resolve.
I AM THE LOVE REVOLUTION.

So far so good. (And they even do some really nice things with the site, like a “Revolution Roll Call”, where they list who’s joined and from where, that kind of thing.)

But where my love for The Love Revolution grew a bit cold was in the implementation, i.e., what are these simple acts of God’s love that we will resolve to do as we refuse to do nothing?

The Love Revolution Field Guide commends the following “stands against injustice”:

• Return your grocery cart.
• Be nice to a telemarketer.
• Chase down a neighbor’s pet and put it back in their yard.
• Let someone else have the last sale item.
• Refold or rehang the clothes in a store.

Hm.

Now, to be fair, in the list of 100 injustice-killers there are some I genuinely like:

• Befriend someone outside your usual group.
• Adopt a child.
• Forgive a loan.
• Make amends with family members.
• Visit someone in the hospital.

And maybe we celebrate the effort and say, “Look, you got to mix some easy ones in with some hard ones. After all, you can’t adopt a baby every day.” (Don’t tell that to W.C. Martin, though.)

On the other hand, though, it’s worth noting what makes the second list so much more powerful than the first:

It’s biblical.

That is, every item on that list can be tied to a particular command of scripture.

So I commend Joyce Meyer for the manifesto and for getting Christians to consider that God may want to do something inside that new home of His known as YOU.

But my alternative proposal is to truly make The Love Revolution’s manifesto ring true by calling Christians to simply carry out the commands of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit–not in an effort to earn salvation, of course, but rather in a recognition that this is the kind of stuff that the Holy Spirit yearns to equip us to do so that the character of our Father might be revealed.

Jesus’ list is even better than Joyce’s. Here are some of the injustice-killers he commends us to undertake (from J.S. McConnell’s list):

• Cleanse first that which is within (Matthew 23:26)
• Tell…how great things the Lord has done for thee (Mark 5:19)
• Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; and ye yourselves like unto men who wait for their Lord (Luke 12:35-36)
• When thou makest a dinner…call not thy friends, nor thy brethren…but…call the poor (Luke 14:12-13)
• Resist not evil; but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. (Matthew 5:39-41)

There’s E in them thar P’s.

Press releases can reduce the best nonprofit writing minds to pools of wet, sticky Jell-O.

It is of course possible to effortlessly compose a rather poor press release that no media outlet in their right mind (other than the community coupon papers) would ever dream of picking up. This is our nonprofit birthright.

But a good release that garners coverage?

Ah, a rarity.

And a transformational press release?

One may see one posted on the World Wildlife Fund Endangered Species page.

I’ve been mentoring Generous Mind and .W don Jon Hirst on this subject, and, as is always the case, the student is rapidly surpassing the teacher.

My two top resource recommendations on nonprofit press release writing are David Meerman Scott’s The New Rules of PR and Marketing (which you can pick up through amazon.com here or get a free summary PDF download here) and Knight Communications Press Release Workshop here.

Jon quickly synthesized these resources and produced a “TG Press Release Ten”, which I would wholeheartedly recommend as a pre- and post-writing checklist against which to review any release you dream up:

1. Press releases have to be content that can stand on its own, not just for media professionals to consume.
2. Press releases define the ministry, not just reflect it.
3. Press releases are opportunities for authentic communication of ideas instead of simply defining ministry distinctives and impact.
4. Press releases should engage traditional and social media outlets and give them the opportunity to connect and discuss.
5. Press releases need to be champion-driven and not organizationally-driven.
6. Press releases need to connect with a single person instead of focusing on mass media.
7. Press releases need to end up as content in the places where our ministry’s champions are looking for a way to connect and engage a cause.
8. Press releases are successful if they result in new champions being engaged.
9. Press releases need to be created in a way that is seen as valuable to the potential champions.
10. Press releases accomplish the goals that traditional marketing and PR have accomplished and those objectives can no longer be separated.

Nicely played, sir!

For a sample of what it all looks like in real life, check out this release regarding Christian Resource International’s Operation Bare Your Bookshelf program. Note, however, that this press release is not the one that was done by Jon and his team for Christian Resource International (CRI) but rather one localized and released by a CRI champion to the media in her sphere of influence. Now the champion-centered release has exceeded the circulation of the original.

Which is what transformational PR is all about.