Winter 2012
The theme for Winter 2012 is “Emerging Trends.”
Evaluation is the key to excellence
To better monitor and create clearer metrics for its mission, American Bible Society in 2006 launched a pioneering research group called Global Scripture Impact. This team of international and domestic researchers - all with ministry experience - evaluate and report on American Bible Society partnership projects around the world. Knowing which initiatives are the most effective - and how to improve less-effective work - helps Amer...
As you read this, two-thirds of the world’s population lives under governments that persecute individuals for their faith, with the situation worsening in many countries. Even the United States, long held as a bastion of religious freedom, was recently downgraded for having increased restrictions on religious freedom according to a September 2012 Pew Research Center study, "Rising Tide of Restrictions on Religion.”
Through incremental steps, governments are intr...
Few things are more evident in today’s society than an absence of shalom. We see it in the lack of peace throughout the world; we see it in the failure of our marriages; and perhaps most importantly, we see it in a fallen world searching for something — anything — to fill the void inside the hearts of mankind. In our "Post-postmodern” world, the only thing certain is uncertainty. This lack of certainty and clarity can be...
Why your nonprofit needs a Plan A.
Leadership development has been on the front burner of our conversations with nonprofit leaders since at least 2006, when Thomas J. Tierney, co-founder of our organization, the Bridgespan Group, wrote a seminal white paper called "The Nonprofit Leadership Deficit.” The paper warned that the nonprofit sector would need to hire as many as 640,000 new senior managers within a decade...
Emerging trends in giving.
The number of words written since God first placed Adam on earth through 2003 is now re-created every two days. Yes, you read that correctly: every two days.
Today, technology advances provide Christian nonprofits with unprecedented ways to advocate for the causes God has given them. One such advance is in digital philanthropy. Given the integrati...
Dr. Jerry White is a busy man: In addition to his role as president emeritus and chairman emeritus of the U.S. board of directors of The Navigators; his 37-year active and reserve duty with the Air force; and his 11 years of service on the Christian Leadership Alliance (CLA) board of directors — six of which he spent as board chairman — White is also chair of CLA’s brand-new Advisory Council, which will advise CLA as it develops curriculum. Oh, and that’s not to men...
Equipping the future leaders of Christian nonprofits
I just got off the phone with a business friend. He and I chuckled over an interview he’d just conducted with a recent college graduate. The candidate was a bright and overconfident female who told him in the midst of their conversation: "I’m going to have your job in 18 months.”
Needless to say, my friend passed on hiring her. What she lacked in self-aw...
Skill is important, but hearts guide hands.
While far from perfect, King David is one of the first ones we think of when the discussion turns to integrity. Asaph, the royal court composer, said David shepherded them with "the integrity of his heart and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands”(Psalm 78:72, KVJ).
David led Israel with "skillful hands.” Yes, he could cast a vision with the ...
She opened each box and carefully ran her fingers and eyes over the items inside while her heart recalled memories of her daughter, taken too soon by cancer. Unable to face the task before, she had stored her daughter’s things away for seven years in the warehouse of a church member. Finally, at 84 years old and no longer able to afford the modest storage cost, she and a friend were — at last — going through her daughter’s possessions to arrange their donation to a ...
Demonstrating the difference ministries make.