Accelerate Your Funding Development
by David Mills, Founder of Compassion by Design

There is a Difference
There are some real differences between ministries that expand their resources and those that don’t grow because they are hindered by a lack of critical resources. Some of these differences can be summed up in their approach to leadership, attitudes and the faith of the organizational leadership team. These are important but somewhat intangible growth factors that deserve our attention and for which there is excelled training provided by John Maxwell and lots of other great coaches and leaders. Beyond these leadership issues, there are also practical steps that can help to move an organization from stagnant funding into rapidly expanding resources.

Good to Great
Viewed from the Jim Collins, “Good to Great” perspective, these principles are similar to the technology accelerators used by companies to leverage their growth. As ministries, we too can apply “Development Accelerators”—skills and practices that have been proven to move us forward in a rapid manner. Once applied, they can move our ministry and its growth forward.

Principles that Work for Start Up, Small and Larger Ministries
The good news about these accelerators is that they are basic practices that can be applied to ministries of any size, and they simply require the application of practices that have been proven by thousands of other ministries who are working to build support. Using proven principles will take us the through the current shifts that are occurring across the non-profit sector.

When We Become Too Unique
Sometimes we believe our own press—we are quick to tell others how special or unique our ministry is—and certainly we have a unique approach to helping based on our special gifts and calling—but in may ways we are not unique, and we have to build our ministry, just like many others have done. It is important for our supporters to appreciate the special nature of our work, but just as important for us to recognize that we have to develop or grow our ministry along proven patterns of growth that have already been tested by others. Those who begin to seek out these tested principles often take advantage of non-profit training or additional education, but many of these practices can be implemented by those who are in the beginning phases of organizational growth.

It is important that we recognize our need to put in place the best practices for growth and development, and to learn these practices from those who have significant experience.

Getting Good at the Basics
Most accelerator principles center around consistent effort in the basics of communication, grant and donor development and human resource management. Once identified and put into practice, ministries and non profits of all sizes can grow more quickly and fuel service and ministry expansion. Compassion by Design is centered on many of these accelerator practices—see our website for insights that will help you to accelerate your efforts.

Accelerating Grant Success
Many organizations are intent on growing their ability to win grants and have set out to learn this new skill. While building the internal capacity to win grants is critical, this process can be really slow if we are starting with individuals who are not experienced in the grant development process. A great way to get started is by getting expert help with the initial research (Compassion by Design offers this “funding study”), and having grant experts write the first, or “master grant.” With these two documents in hand, you can accelerate the process dramatically. Compassion by Design offers a complete Funding Study using a number of research tools to enhance the value of the funding study, and uses its expertise to help you target the most appropriate grant opportunities in the foundation and governmental grant world. Following the funding study, Compassion by Design grant experts can provide a “Master Grant” that will provide the language and basis for many grants to follow, decreasing future grant development costs and improving your win rate. This “outside help” can truly accelerate your grant efforts.

About founder David Mills>