Resources for non-profits applicable to missionaries

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Resources for non-profits applicable to missionaries

Posted by Justin Long ⋅ September 21, 2008 ⋅

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I have been going over two new books this weekend.

One is Guy Kawasaki’s Art of the start: an excellent no-nonsense work that can really inspire you to get up and get going. Although the book is aimed more at people who are launching tech companies, he makes it clear the principles can apply to anyone (including churches or, in my view, missions). The biggest value in the book was his section on “The Art of the Pitch.” (And yes, this is very applicable to missionaries. We pitch all the time. It’s called fundraising.) In this chapter among other things he talks about the 10/20/30 rule which most missionaries could really learn from: 10 slides, 20 minutes, 30 point font. I can’t tell you how many missionaries I’ve seen have really bad Powerpoint presentations that they stood up there for nearly an hour and read. Here’s a brief 2-minute clip of his presentation on this subject.

If you want to a presentation done well, you should watch Al Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth.” I don’t care whether you agree with Gore’s positions or not, I think every presenter should watch this movie simply to examine Gore’s presentation style, which is incredible, even if it does violate the 10/20/30 rule. Note the near complete absence of any text on Gore’s slides. When making your next presentation, see if you can create a Powerpoint that is nothing but illustrative photos with no more than 2 or 3 key words on each slide.

The second book I have been reading - skimming, mostly, at this point, but planning a deep read later - is Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits. You can read more about the book at http://www.forcesforgood.net. The book’s findings are interesting because they are very similar to swarming practices. The basic six practices of high-impact nonprofits are these:

1. Work with government and advocate for policy change
2. Harness market forces and see business as a powerful partner
3. Convert individual supporters into evangelists for the cause
4. Build and nurture nonprofit networks, treating other groups as allies
5. Adapt to the changing environment
6. Share leadership, empowering others to be forces for good.

An incredibly useful book whose lessons I’ll be integrating into my documentation on swarming. Here’s some other things I’ve run across with application for missions and missionaries who are trying to build networks:

Achieving Excellence is a wonderful ChangeThis manifesto that distills over 100,000 words of writing on business excellence into a simple collection of 6 key business strategies that apply to just about everyone: 1) vivid vision, 2) recruiting the best people, 3) a performance oriented culture, 4) robust communication, 5) a strong sense of urgency, and 6) extreme customer focus. These keys will help any organization “bootstrap” itself into existence (a chapter in Kawasaki’s Art of the Start, too).

Elegant Solutions (by Matthew May) is a great ChangeThis Manifesto on Toyota’s principles of lean manufacturing. This is incredibly important for anyone wanting to build an org that is highly adaptable and features continuous improvement. I cannot stress this enough. Continuous improvement is what made Toyota the most profitable car company in the world. It can make your mission the best in the world too. Read everything by May or Liker on Toyota and implement it in your own mission.

Purpose (by Nikos Mourkogiannis) is one of those documents that I compare to dry ice. It is such an incredible bundle of energy in one small PDF. If you are questioning the importance of purpose of your organization, Mourkogiannis will give you the answer.

These three documents taken together, if implemented, can bring incredible focus and flexibility to your mission. I’d recommend downloading all three. I’d also recommending buying the two books, but if you can’t, at least be sure to peruse Kawasaki’s blog and the Forces for Good website – there’s a lot of gold in those hills!