Winter 2014

The theme for Winter 2014 is “Christian Nonprofit Trends.”
Rhett Butler on charitable tax policy trends impacting Christian nonprofits
Outcomes recently spoke with Rhett Butler, director of government relations at Gammon & Grange Consulting, LLC (GGC). Butler has more than 18 years of government relations and federal government experience in Washington, D.C. He served in the White House and U.S. Department of Labor as part of President George W. Bush’s Faith-Based and Community Initiatives and as an adviser to...
A survey of the Christian nonprofit landscape
In order to achieve their missions, nonprofits need to draw on deep and diverse pools of talent. Women have been increasingly moving into leadership roles in this sector across the United States, contributing to the range of perspectives and skills needed for success. But in spite of making great strides, women continue to be under-utilized and under-represented in leadership positions in the nonprofit sector, even t...
Care Net's Roland Warren looks to the future
CLA president and CEO Tami Heim recently interviewed Care Net President and CEO Roland C. Warren. CLA member organization Care Net is a Christ-centered ministry that promotes a culture of life within society in order to serve people facing unplanned pregnancies and related sexual issues.
Prior to his tenure at Care Net, Warren served as president of the National Fatherhood Initiative (NFI), where ...
What's its role in Christian development?
Big data can be defined as a continuous accumulation of information from sources both inside and outside of an organization that can provide a wealth of insight, information and analytics. The technology behind big data has given us the ability to capture, explore and share personal information at a rate and scope that is hard to comprehend. We now have unprecedented access to a staggering amount of information about...
Dr. Jim Canning Named CLA Consul
During the 2014 Christian Leadership Alliance (CLA) national conference, April 14-16, 2014, CLA President and CEO Tami Heim announced that Dr. Jim Canning had been named as a CLA Consul.
Being named Consul is CLA’s highest honor. It recognizes distinguished and exemplary service to the field of Christian nonprofit leadership. A CLA Consul, over at least a 40-year span of service, has provided substantial assistan...
Three keys to a vibrant ministry future
Nonprofit ministries don’t start out to become institutions. Most are born naturally out of a passionate calling for God’s kingdom, seeking to address some cause, need or opportunity in our world. They are “organic” in the sense of being flexible, dynamic, lean, ready and able to adapt to the changing landscape. Yet, with few exceptions, most move incrementally toward institutionalization.
Growth and momentu...
Honoring two who have impacted me most
Everything I’ve learned about leadership I’ve learned from people. Don’t get me wrong. I love reading books, listening to podcasts and going to seminars, but God has hard-wired me to respond to people.
I guess it began with my father. Years before I was born, my father latched onto the good news of Jesus, and I have never known him to let go. He modeled Jesus for me in a way that was very real. ...
CLA launches The Outcomes Mentoring Network.
“One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want. Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and the one who waters will himself be watered.” (Prov. 11:24–25, ESV)
As Christian leaders, we must trust God to direct our path and equip us for what he calls us to do. My experience has been that he often sends mentors into our lives, divin...
Business as catalyst for social change
As I listened to a Rwandan woman talk about how her life had been transformed, I was stopped in my tracks. I’ve been working in the nonprofit world for more than five years and I began to think many of us are doing it wrong. She said, “There are two things my people need to transform their lives: Jesus Christ and business. Business is the catalyst for social change.”
This woman had been part of an ...
Four ways to empower the next generation
Every organization has a worldview. In part, such worldviews consist of assumptions that are self-evidently true to those working for the enterprise. They are so much a part of us that we don’t have to think about them; in fact, we don’t think about them, which is why we call them assumptions!
The worldview shared within a church, faith-based nonprofit or parachurch ministry is expressed outwardly in leaders’ dec...