“As a pastor, I need to personally invest time.
. . . I can’t delegate all of it out. There’s no
substitute for personally being acquainted
with the organizations you support,” said
Bruce. “It sounds kind of silly, but I read several
missionary newsletters each month.”
When he sees an organization experiencing
drift, Konold says that it is easier to just stop
funding the organization, but he chooses to
address the issue.
“We don’t like to confront,” Konold said. This
is true both at church and with charitable
organizations.
“If individuals are unhappy at church, they
often don’t address the issue. They just leave.
It’s the same with donors.” Most donors would
rather pull the funding than bring an issue to
the forefront.
“We’d be far better off if we would have the
courage to confront . . . and we would rather
back away than deal with an issue,” said
Konold.11 But a painful conversation can save
an organization from taking another step away
from their core identity.
Cliff Benson, desiring to support a Christcentered
school, created a Legacy Fund at the
National Christian Foundation (NCF). Legacy
Funds allow donors to clearly and thoroughly
document their giving intentions. NCF ensures
that their desires are carried out, even if they
want their heirs involved in distributing some
or all of the funds.
Cliff tied the fund to the mission of the
Christian school. As long as the school remains
distinctively Christian, it will receive funding,
but if it ever drifts away from that mission, the
funding stops. Cliff’s hope is that the fund will
become large enough to one day have the exact
opposite effect of Carnegie’s gift—keeping the
school anchored in its Christian mission.
I’m thankful for individuals like Bruce, Cliff,
and Greg who are bold enough to address
organizations when they see warning signs
of organizational drift. They understand their
influence, and they seek to use it to keep
organizations on mission.
Excerpt taken from Mission Drift by Peter Greer and Christ
Horst. Copyright 2020 by Peter Greer and Christ Horst. Used
by permission of Bethany House Publishers, a division of
Baker Publishing Group (http://www.bakerpublishinggroup.
com).
Peter Greer is a Christian advocate for those living in poverty, an author,
and the president and CEO of HOPE International, a global faith-based
microfinance organization based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, serving
entrepreneurs throughout Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern
Europe.
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