Accountability for All the Wrong Reasons
A look at two aspects of accountability: submitting to accountability and holding others accountable
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Burned by Consultants: How to get what you need without getting burned
This article examines various levels of consultants from “local heroes” to “major league professionals.” It offers practical advice on how to find the expertise you need. One can eliminate most of the risk with a few simple safeguards. Essentially, take time to find the right fit with the right person and get it in writing.
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Center Stage
When ministries lack trust, the issue that created the lack of trust is on center stage and Christ shifts to the wings.
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Christ-Centered
Trusted governance starts with spiritual leaders who deeply know God,
seek to find God’s will, and delight to obey God.
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Evaluation of Marketing Programs
Recommends principles and guidelines to consider when evaluating potential marketing programs for a ministry
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God Is First
Wayne Pederson, HCJB Global, shares valuable reminders to leaders of Christ-centered organizations. He shares the wonderful quote from A.W. Tozer: “A true and safe leader has no desire to lead but is forced into a position by inward pressure of the Holy Spirit and the press of circumstances.”
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Honoring Giver Intent
How a ministry fulfills a giver’s intent regarding specified gifts sends a strong message about whether a ministry can be trusted.
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How Proponents of Religious Freedom and Faith-based Service Can Gear up for Action
Faith-based organization, donors, volunteers and other supporters of faith-based organizations can be prepared to take a proactive stance when action is needed on threats to religious freedom.
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If You Can't Stand the Heat . . .
Wess Stafford poignantly describes the education in integrity he received as a child in a poor West African village. He reminds us: “Integrity doesn’t require perfection, but it does require consistent sincerity, that we are honest about who we really are and what we really do.”
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Is Your Data Secure?
Keeping your congregants' and donors' personal information secure is more than a matter of integrity; it's a legal matter as well.
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Looking Back, Looking Forward
Looking forward, the current financial crisis and economic downturn could have a very positive effect on Christian organizations.
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Management Fads: How to tell the next breakthrough innovation from a pet rock
Remember MBWA? We’ve seen plenty of management fads in the past few decades. This article highlights 25 of them. Beneath the hype, each is usually based on something that works and offers enduring management wisdom.
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Navigating Gray Areas
Trusted ministries recognize that some potential gift transactions are fraught with significant complexities and must be treated with appropriate caution.
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Not Blurring the Lines
Trusted ministries build and maintain their relationships with givers through truthfulness, transparency, and clarity.
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Perceptions
Trusted ministries inspire positive perceptions, creating the power of a rolling ocean wave—building a tsunami of trust—and, more importantly, give the right impression of Christ our Savior!
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Rules
Just as individuals need a personal rule of life, so trusted ministries need biblical rules, guideposts, or railings to ensure consistent practices which glorify God.
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Success Measurement
Trusted ministries are not in a race with other ministries to see who can be the greatest.
Conversely, servants keep getting bigger and bigger in God’s eyes.
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The Growing Hunger for Authenticity: Let It Fuel Your Ministry’s Mission
In an age of filtered photos and “fake news,” people are desperate for authenticity. Even so-called reality TV is not real (no shocker there!).
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The Team Building Trap: Three critical elements in building strong teams
What is the trap? It’s putting your staff through team-building sessions that don’t produce any lasting results. Teams are not built by off-site retreats, but by men and women committed to each other and to accomplishing a lofty goal. The article explores the dynamics of forming and leading high-performing teams.
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The Ultimate Test of Leadership
Our actions impact the ministry decades or even centuries in the future. The ultimate tests of leadership include maintaining mission integrity, assuring visionary flexibility, building a cohesive climate, facilitating communal morale, insisting on financial discipline, encouraging institutional loyalty, and investing in organizational momentum.
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Three Questions on Integrity
Few search for wisdom and integrity from God's unfathomable reserves to establish who they are. Franklin Graham, President of Samaritan's Purse and The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, examines three questions on integrity: Who has integrity? How does one obtain integrity? What does integrity exhibit?
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Top Nonprofit Issues for the Commission
The Commission on Accountability and Policy for Religious Organizations is focusing on a litany of nonprofit tax policy issues. Our interview with Michael Batts, Commission Chairman, provides an excellent understanding of these issues and we invite your comments on them.
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Trouble Avoidance
Trusted ministries do not borrow trouble with related-party transactions.
These transactions are minimized to avoid even the slightest appearance of impropriety.
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Verifiable Accountability
The biblical pattern for Christ-centered ministries and their leaders is based on verifiable accountability.
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When a Crisis Happens, Is Your Organization Ready?
Today’s cultural landscape is rife with potential landmines for your organization.
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When You are New in the Leader Chair
Leadership Transitions can be filled with, “an assortment of landmines that even the most savvy leader can detonate,” says Dr. Paul Nyquist, president of Moody Bible Institute.
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Why ECFA Does Not Rate Ministries
Prospective donors occasionally ask ECFA which member organization is the "best" one to support. Our response is that ECFA does not compare, rate, or rank member organizations, but rather measures each against an independently established benchmark—the ECFA Seven Standards of Responsible StewardshipTM. Attaining and maintaining ECFA membership means an organization measures up to all of ECFA’s Standards.
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