Setting Your Focus

By on April 2, 2020   /   Communication and Relationships, COVID-19, Culture, Fear and Perspective, Leadership   /   Leave a comment

What to do about what you can’t control for you and your team My wife homeschooled our children for a few years. She did a great job motivating our kids. She set an end of the year reward for the kids to go to an amusement park if they hit their weekly and semester goals. The kids hit their goals and the day trip was planned. One of my children had their heart set on riding one particular ride for months.  The day came and the excitement grew as we stood in line to buy tickets. The gates opened and […]

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Stop Toilet Paper Hoarding. Start Empowering Your Donors.

By on March 26, 2020   /   COVID-19, Leadership   /   Leave a comment

Everyone has an opinion and advice on what to do about the Coronavirus Pandemic.  Even ISIS has weighed in, warning its followers to stay away from Europe so they don’t get infected. Here at The Agitator we’re focused on the effects the pandemic will have on fundraising in hopes we can offer some helpful insights, advice and additional resources.  To that end last week we issued the first of what will be a series of Agitator Updates –information over and above our scheduled posts– and we’ll continue to send them to all readers via email. Over the weekend we touched base with lots of veteran […]

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Wanna Go For a Sprint?

By on March 17, 2020   /   Leaders, Training   /   Leave a comment

What is a “sprint”? An MPD Sprint is a 30-45 day period in which full-time staff spend part-time (20 hours a week) in a support raising season supported by a coach and in community with fellow staff. These sprints create an environment of camaraderie, excitement, and activity focused goal setting. Why a sprint? It’s no secret that support raising is one of the most difficult aspects of being a missionary. If left unchecked, staff may creatively avoid their support raising until it slowly becomes a problem so big that it not only affects their ministries, but their entire lives. But […]

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The Team is the Dream

By on February 18, 2020   /   Coaching, Leaders   /   Leave a comment

Raising support in isolation nearly devoured our staff.  In late 2014, I found myself hitting roadblock after roadblock coaching new, often very young hires in support raising. Running dogged with individual coaching sessions, I was seeing limited, and at times, frustratingly slow results. It often took our staff 6-12 months to raise support. Some would make it. Some wouldn’t. Many would reach campus like marathon runners who finished a 26.2-mile race they hadn’t trained for and didn’t want to run, only to start a second race a week later.  Staff felt drained.  Lonely.  Spiritually dry. Painfully working through support raising […]

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Is Your MPD Culture Healthy? Time for a Check Up!

By on January 21, 2020   /   Culture, Leaders   /   Leave a comment

Your MPD culture is healthy if… Your cultural values are consistently and clearly communicated. Imagine you’re a new missionary candidate captivated by the vision of a particular sending agency. When asked about raising support, the recruiter says, “God always provides for those He calls. Don’t worry about the money.” The HR team says, “We’ll train you and coach you in the process, but you should expect it to take 3-9 months of dedicated hard work to reach full funding.” The field leader says, “You can live on a lot less than what those guys are telling you. The important thing […]

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“Why would anyone want to support me?”

By on December 17, 2019   /   Coaching, Leaders, Training   /   Leave a comment

“Why would anyone want to support me?”  In my early days of fundraising, that statement was a great summary of my attitude toward MPD. Have you tried to lead anyone to support raising success who was stuck in this mindset? Today I’d be more likely to say, “Why wouldn’t people support me?” So what changed in me, and how can you help bring about a shift in your support raisers’ perspectives? I Didn’t Know What I Was Doing or Why If I’m completely honest about my early days, I’d say I didn’t really know what I was doing or why. […]

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RECAP: 2019 Support Raising Leaders Conference | Mobilize More

By on December 12, 2019   /   Leaders   /   Leave a comment

“The Support Raising Leaders Conference provides a unique opportunity for missionaries and executive leaders from a wide array of gospel-centered organizations to come together and discuss what may be the main obstacle holding back thousands of Great Commission workers from engaging the unreached.” – Jeremy Henderson, VP with Go To Nations. More than 360 leaders from 16 countries representing 130 Great Commission ministries gathered October 15-18, 2019 for the Support Raising Leaders Conference to champion biblical fundraising and empower their organizations. These support raising coaches, trainers, personnel directors, and executives gained best practices, discussed common challenges, shared tools and resources, […]

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Organizational Resurrection: Where to Start When Your MPD Culture is Broken

By on November 19, 2019   /   Culture, Leaders   /   Leave a comment

Looking back at my personal history of starting new things versus finishing those same things, I am absolutely convinced it is part of our innate human nature to receive greater enjoyment from the excitement of birthing new things. Whether it’s the “honeymoon” phase of a marriage, the exhilaration of a baby being born, or the nervous energy that accompanies starting a new job—we can probably all relate to the unbridled optimism of starting something new. The same holds true of the birth of an organization: when God gives a clear vision to a leader or group of leaders to launch […]

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Coaching Millennials in MPD Fundraising

By on October 15, 2019   /   Coaching, Leaders   /   Leave a comment

Millennials, like other generations, have come to be known for the qualities which characterize them. As these 23 to 38 year olds become the majority of the workforce, many businesses and organizations have found themselves scrambling to discover the strategies that work best to harness the strengths of this generation of employees. What motivates millennials? What do they value? How can they be led well? These questions have left leaders from all sectors scratching their heads. It makes sense that coaching millennials in fundraising has also made a perplexing ripple in the world of MPD. Here are six key generational […]

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Leading Up: Navigating Organizational Change as a Mid-Level Manager

By on September 17, 2019   /   Leaders, Leadership   /   Leave a comment

I remember having lunch a few years ago with Roger Hamilton, the Director of Ministry Partner Development for The Navigators in Colorado Springs. I asked Roger how he thought we could influence and change the MPD strategies of an established organization. He said one word, “grassroots.” His message to me was that change is often first proven in the field and then adopted by the majority. I’ve never forgotten that conversation because he was so right! A Case Study That is exactly what happened within FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) from 2012 -2019. In 7 years FCA grew their staff […]

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Support Raising Solutions
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