Blog

The following post is part IV of a IV-part series by Masterworks President Steve Woodworth on biblical planning. Click here to learn more about Steve.

(Read part I, part II, III)

In contemplating a company with 700 people, I found myself shuddering at the possibility. I did not find it exciting. I read the book “Small Giants” by Bo Burlingham over the holidays. It celebrates exceptional small businesses.

The businesses he admires have certain characteristics in common. The most important one was that they had all made decisions to limit their growth due to a higher value, usually quality. This made me think about what’s important to me, and being as big as we can possibly be is not even on the list.

• I want to work with people I like — the kind of people we have now. I don’t want to work with “hot shots” who can grow the business but have high ego needs.
• I want a cohesive team that works well together, such that the inevitable conflicts are healthy and respectful.
• I loathe bureaucracy and politics. Anytime they seem to be rearing their ugly heads, it’s time to question whether we are growing too fast and allowing the culture to slide.
• I want to personally know every one of our Account Executives. In an agency, the AE’s are the linchpins of the business. They need to be comfortable coming to any of us with problems. They need to know us well enough to see our values in action, so that they convey the same values to clients.

How big is this?

I don’t think it’s a simple number. I think it’s something we can only know when we get there. If the team starts fighting, if we see evidence of politics, then it’s time to slow down and work on those issues. If it’s smooth sailing, and opportunities continue to come our way, then full speed ahead.

Maybe even to a team of 700 people.

The following post is part III of a IV-part series by Masterworks President Steve Woodworth on biblical planning. Click here to learn more about Steve.

(Read part I, part II)

A year ago, an industry leader asked to join our staff and buy a small piece of the company. We concluded that this did not seem right for us. It just didn’t seem like the right time.

Recently, we went back to that person and said we thought we were ready. We were testing, and it now appears that it may not be God’s will. This person doesn’t feel like he did a year ago. He doesn’t think joining us is the right path for him. The point is, we aren’t operating on a 10-year plan here. We are dealing with what is right in front of us.

We concluded one thing a year ago, and another thing a few months ago. If we had been operating on a goal of a company seven times our size, we would have been foolish to pass on this person the first time.

I’m not arguing against strategy. Strategy involves thinking carefully through an opportunity that we have decided to pursue and figuring out how best to pursue it. This involves planning, of course. But it’s not presumptuous planning if we’ve carefully thought and prayed first about pursuing the opportunity.

I believe biblical planning is a matter of regularly thinking through the opportunities and problems that we face right now. What decisions do we need to make, based on our current opportunities and problems?

1. What seems to be the right course (the Lord’s will)?
2. Do we have the financial resources to do what seems right to us?
3. If not, how much can we afford to do and in what order of priority?

I know it doesn’t fit the business books, but it seems to fit the Bible.

Tomorrow: Should we limit our growth?

The following post is part II of a IV-part series by Masterworks President Steve Woodworth on biblical planning. Click here to learn more about Steve.

(Read part I)

The one Scripture which relates directly to business planning is the familiar James passage (4:13-16). It is very negative:

“Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town, and spend a year there and trade and make a profit — yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’ As it is, you boast in your arrogance.” (ESV)

Key points:

• Too much reliance on our own ideas, turned into plans, is condemned as arrogance.
• God is sovereign and will determine what happens.
• Even when looking ahead one year, we are reminded that our lives are very short. We may not have another day, much less a year.
• We should make decisions based not on our desired future, but on what we believe to be God’s will, not looking any further ahead than we can discern His leading.

There’s a remarkably similar thought pattern in Romans 12:2-3:

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing, you may discern what is the will of God…I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.” (ESV)

This mirrors the James passage:

• God desires us to become the kind of people who can discern His will.
• It contrasts worldly thinking with discerning God’s will.
• It warns against arrogance.
• It speaks to the sovereignty of God in assigning us each a measure of faith.

There’s an interesting additional point. “By testing,” we may discern the will of God. The Greek word here is one that means to determine the worth of something by trying it out or putting it into practice.

Putting these two passages together, I think it teaches that we should try to discern God’s will for us at any point in time. Then we should test it by trying it, always watching to see if it still appears to be God’s will. The person planning to go to a city for a year should say, “I think God is leading me to go to that city. I think this idea for how to make money there will work. I’ll go try it out and see if it really is God’s will. I expect to do it for a limited time, but I’ll have to discern when He shows me it’s time to move back home.”

Tomorrow: A Matter of Timing

The following post is part I of a IV-part series by Masterworks President Steve Woodworth. For each of the next four days Steve will share a post explaining his views on biblical planning. Click here to learn more about Steve.

A consultant recently told us to project our growth rate out for the next 10 years, establish that as our goal and begin planning how to get there. Using the average growth rate of the last six years, it would mean our company would grow nearly sevenfold in 10 years.

After contemplating this for a month, I’m going to make a radical statement. I think this sort of planning is unbiblical and contrary to how God wants us to operate. I know my thoughts below will rub many of my friends and colleagues the wrong way. But please think through this, and let me know if you can support a different view from Scripture.

I believe the Bible teaches us to think about the future as follows:

1. Think short term (maybe less than a year?), and don’t worry. Trust God. Mostly, just seek to know His will and do it today, one day at a time.
2. Don’t think long term about your life on earth. Think long term about your life in eternity, including about judgment and rewards based on how you are living now.
3. Be wary of planning your future. Don’t put much effort into planning. I can think of a few Bible verses about planning, but they are all easily explained as referring to short-term planning—such as the ant storing up food for the winter or the proverb about planting your fields before you build your house.

A familiar Scripture which mentions planning is Proverbs 16:9.

“The mind of a man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.” (NASB)

This implies planning is part of our natural way of thinking, but despite all our planning, everything is ultimately up to God. Furthermore, if we are in right relationship to Him (and maybe even if we are not) God will lead us in His will. Is it not arrogance, then, to imagine our future in 10 years and strive to bring it about? I think so.

Tomorrow: A Biblical View of Planning

Register NOW for How to get the most out of your agency

When: Tuesday, August 31, at 10:00 am PST / 1:00 pm EST

Cost: FREE

Register at: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/997631897

Presented by:

• Matt Panos, Vice President, Ministry Partnerships & Resources, Food for the Hungry
• Carter Wade, Senior Vice President, Account Services, Masterworks

Who should attend?

• Those in roles responsible for fundraising and marketing/communications, as well as in general positions of leadership.
• Those who have an agency relationship – or who are considering one.
• Those who interact with their agency on a regular basis.

If you’ve been in the nonprofit fundraising business for any length of time, you’ve seen the diversity of agencies and professionals across the industry. Each has different approaches and styles. But are you getting the most out of your agency? Are you truly partnering together and in a healthy relationship both driving to help the nonprofit be successful?

We’ll discuss the key ways of getting the most out of your agency. Both from the perspective of the nonprofit leader and of the agency leader.

At the end of this webinar, you’ll:

• Have 10 practical recommendations to get the most out of your agency.
• Know whether you have a healthy nonprofit/agency relationship (or not).
• Be ready to put practical ideas to work immediately – to drive more revenue for your nonprofit!

At Masterworks, we’re committed to helping you maximize your Kingdom impact. That’s why we’ve put together this enlightening and practical webinar – for you!

Register HERE for How to get the most out of your agency

Please feel free to share this with your peers and colleagues who may be interested!

I just watched a video today from a leading international relief and development organization.  Powerful footage of poverty-stricken children scavenging through garbage dumps for anything of value.  Begging on urban streets.  Wandering alone in a desperate battle to survive.

The footage was riveting for about 15 seconds.  Then it got really depressing.  The video kept taking me back to the dump, over and over again.  Massive piles of garbage.  Fragile little children with bare feet wandering beside huge front-end loaders pushing massive piles of refuse.  It was appalling.  I was waiting for hope.  A heroic rescue.  Even a hint of promise.  It never came.

I’m depressed both for the suffering children and our ravaged environment.  The massiveness of the problem.   Even a little paranoid about my own financial condition.  Thanks a lot.  It was already a gray summer day in the Northwest.

Is that really where they wanted to take a potential donor?

Video is a great way to present a need with raw emotion.  But if your goal is to raise money to meet that need, don’t bury me in the garbage and leave me there.  Give me a way out.  Here are the 5 steps to get from the garbage dump to the donation you need.

1. Bury me first.  Hit me hard with all the emotion you have.  Make me feel the need, see the hurt, smell the refuse and hear the cries for help.
2. Then tease me with a glimpse of hope.  Don’t keep going back to the dump, re-picturing the need.  Show me where a desperate child goes next.
3. Take me on a journey.  Let me walk with that little girl or boy on their journey toward hope.  Help me feel those first halting steps.  Assure me that we’re going in the right direction.
4. Prove you’re their last, best hope.  Show me you’re doing what no one else is doing. Or, if others are helping, explain why your help is more effective.  Communicate this from the lips of one of the children I witnessed scavenging the dump.  Simple, direct but childlike words are the best descriptors.
5. Convince me without a doubt that now is the best time to help.  Give me a reason or a season, or some marker that makes sense to give now.  It could be a matching grant, or a golden opportunity to reach out, our just the ethos behind Thanksgiving or Christmas or Easter.

Accomplish those 5 things and you’ll inspire me instead of depress me.  And you’ll have gained a partner in ministry who will probably give another gift, if you treat me right.  I could even become an advocate for your cause and a Donor for Life.  Now, that’s better than being buried at the dump — for everyone involved.

-Rob Zawoysky, Founding Creative Director

Last week I attended The 2010 Bridge to Integrated
Marketing & Fundraising Conference. Overall it was a well done conference, but I have to say the sessions I attended were exceptional.

So much goes on at one of these, how do you choose what to share? For something fun and different, I decided to share the wisdom of some of the tweets from the conference.

mkdm: Becky Odum: “Retention is the new acquisition.”

m_sherrington: @Kay Sprinkel Grace.’we’re in a vicious cycle of raising money, not building relationships’. Spot on.

KTsinc: We have to be all things to all people. Integrate your channels. Be consistent.

BTalisman: Guerilla Mktg about brain power. In your face. Think about how your nfp message can be presented in a diff way to get exposure

4SocialGood: Margolis: people give because someone asks them to

JanMichaelDC: Touch, thank, ask why they give. Regularly engage!

MiriamKagan: For donors, stewardship means not WILL my contribution make a difference but DID it?

I could quote dozens more (there are more than 1,000 tweets for the two day conference) but this is a good sampling. You can read them all via this Twitter search. It will be like you were there. Almost.

Were you at the Bridge Conference? What did you think? Tell us via twitter.

It’s not to late to Register for:

7 Great Creative Ideas and 3 Duds!

Register NOW for 7 Great Creative Ideas and 3 Duds!

When: TOMORROW, Thursday, July 29, at 10:00 am PST / 1:00 pm EST

Cost: FREE

Register at: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/708880353

Presented by:

• Craig Torstenbo, Creative Director
• Sue Pargman, Senior Copywriter
• Seth La Tour, Senior Copywriter
• Thys Wallwork, Designer and Studio Manager

Who should attend?

• Those who would like to learn creative techniques that work.
• Those interested in strategic and smart creative work.
• Those in roles responsible for fundraising and marketing/communications, as well as in general positions of leadership.

By the end of this webinar, you’ll:

• Learn about seven creative strategies that work as illustrated in real-life projects with clients like World Vision’s 30 Hour Famine, Food for the Hungry and Campus Crusade for Christ.
• Discover three pitfalls to avoid in creative work.
• Be equipped with practical recommendations to ensure that your creative work increases donor engagement.

At Masterworks, we’re committed to helping you maximize your Kingdom impact. That’s why we’ve put together this enlightening and practical webinar — for you!

Register HERE for 7 Great Creative Ideas and 3 Duds!

Please feel free to share this with your peers and colleagues who may be interested!

Register HERE for 7 Great Creative Ideas and 3 Duds!

7 Great Creative Ideas and 3 Duds!



When: Thursday, July 29, at 10:00 am PST / 1:00 pm EST

Cost: FREE

Register at: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/708880353

Presented by:

• Craig Torstenbo, Creative Director
• Sue Pargman, Senior Copywriter
• Seth La Tour, Senior Copywriter
• Thys Wallwork, Designer and Studio Manager

Who should attend?

• Those who would like to learn creative techniques that work.
• Those interested in strategic and smart creative work.
• Those in roles responsible for fundraising and marketing/communications, as well as in general positions of leadership.

Have you ever wondered how you can be sure that your creative work will maximize results? Wonder no more. We’ve brought together four Masterworks creative experts to showcase and explain seven innovative creative strategies that worked . . . and three that didn’t.

We’ll illustrate these seven strategies by showcasing projects that we’ve worked on with clients like World Vision’s 30 Hour Famine, Food for the Hungry and Campus Crusade for Christ International. The actual results of each of these projects prove their effectiveness.

But we don’t want to just tell you about success stories. There are some creative strategies that you should definitely avoid.  You’ll learn about three in particular.

By the end of this webinar, you’ll:

• Learn about seven creative strategies that work.
• Discover three pitfalls to avoid in creative work.
• Be equipped with practical recommendations to ensure that your creative work increases donor engagement.

See how Masterworks defines Micro-Engagement with Dave Raley and Jacob Smith. This webinar was held on July 1.

At Masterworks, we’re committed to helping you maximize your Kingdom impact. That’s why we’ve put together this enlightening and practical webinar – for you!