by Johnny Shiu

Fundraising.  It’s something that we as entrepreneurs all have to tackle at some point.  In this week’s FDE podcast episode, we examine the different issues that are associated with fundraising. You’ll hear Henry note at the outset that this particular episode is a bit more weighted for the social entrepreneur or ministry entrepreneur….but I hope you’ll agree that the mindset on fundraising is very relevant for entrepreneurs of all types.

For any fundraiser, I believe the heart motive is the most important. This really ties into one’s purpose and why he is fundraising in the first place. We don’t want to confuse activity with clarity. Once the fundraiser is clear on his/her goal, which is aligned with God’s purpose (if faith based), then there should be no room for manipulation.

While some may view fundraising as somewhat transactional, I submit that it should be relational.  This means that the fundraiser has an awesome opportunity to love on the potential donor. You see, it’s all about relationships.  In this, May 8, 2018 podcast episode, our guest J. Paul Fridenmaker touches on this very important point. Donors and venture capitalists can all detect if you’re being genuine or if there’s a sales pitch coming on.  Using a legal analogy, J. Paul impressed us that often times he is doing “discovery” on the donor and his/her current situation. At times, the fundraiser may have to retreat, see the bigger picture, and do what is right for the donor!  Wow! There is no shortcut in caring for somebody.

In addition, the fundraiser may do well to check his heart.  Is he breeding hostility or providing hospitality? Frequently, we may try to impress or influence others with our own cause.  In doing so, there’s a tendency to become resentful if our advances go unrequited. In truth, we may become – well – a little hostile.  However, if we check our heart posture, and really understand the person first and extend grace we may find that God then has room to work in that situation.

For the faith driven donor, be encouraged that your financial support means that you are standing side-by-side and on the front line for that particular cause.  I recall that in Philippians 4:14-18 that Paul reminded the Philippian churches that their financial support directly impacted his ministry throughout.

Fundraising for any entrepreneur will continue to present unique challenges and unique opportunities.  We will revisit this topic in future podcast episodes. Meanwhile, we would love to hear from you, our community, if there is something you would like us to talk about.

Editor’s Note – Johnny is our newest contributor (please by mindful, of course, we’re all new).  He’s been an awesome encouragement to us, particularly as we look to continue to improve the podcast. ALSO, please note that while this blog and podcast are appropriately named, it’s just a dim glimpse of the great book of the same name by Henri Nouwen….as mentioned in the podcast, it’s quick and great read.

— by Sheldon Grizzle

I need to begin my post with a major disclaimer- I don’t have life figured out. I love my wife and my kids yet I sometimes fail to lead my home in the way I’ve been called. I am passionate about creating new products and services while creating community around them yet not everything I touch turns to gold. I love Jesus and still I find new ways to show how desperately I need him. I could go on but I’ll spare you.

If you are looking for guidance from entrepreneurs who have already figured some of these things out, I’m not your guy because that’s not my story. My story is more about the struggle and the joy in the seeking and growing. The entrepreneurs that will be drawn to my posts are probably a lot like me…things look pretty good on the outside (and maybe genuinely are to an extent!), but there is a continual internal struggle to understand the Lord’s design for life and work.  

A Personal Awakening Begins

For me, it began three and a half years ago- a nagging sense of disconnection and incongruency in my daily life as an entrepreneur. I couldn’t put my finger on what it was or where it was coming from. It was especially weird because as an alum of Covenant College, the school’s motto had become one of my life mottos: “In All Things Christ Preeminent.” I thought I was doing that in the way that I was building my relationships and businesses. And I was…kind of.

I’m certain that people around me looked at the way things were being done in my various ventures and thought to themselves that I had “figured it out.” That’s the odd part about all this. I had the blessing to be surrounded with really talented, passionate people who were excellent at what they did. That was intentional…we had to hire that way in order to survive in the current economy. But amidst the growth of the businesses, there was a sense things were not integrated how they should be in my life.

How was my technology company, for example, making an impact in the world…or even in my city for that matter? I mean really! Our employees were top of the stack from a talent perspective and making well over $100,000 per year. Yet I was personally struggling to connect the resources of my company to the needs in the city because we were trying to bootstrap the business with no investors. In order to deal with this disconnect, I reasoned with myself that I needed to focus on my business so that I could make money before I could start making a real difference.

An Unexpected Revelation

The Lord often shows up when you least expect Him. In June 2015, I was honored to participate in Harvard Business School’s inaugural Young American Leaders Program. There were ten of us chosen from Chattanooga along with eighty other leaders from eight cities around the country.

During this comprehensive, intense crash course in macro and micro economics affecting US competitiveness, we were exposed to an unbelievable amount of data about each of our cities. The Chattanoogans’ minds were blown (BLOWN!) to find out that the residents of Chattanooga have one of the lowest economic mobility rates in the country. If you’re not familiar with the term, economic mobility is defined as “the ability of an individual, family or some other group to improve (or lower) their economic status—usually measured in income.”

How could this be possible?! We have made so many strides over the last five decades as a city. From the “Dirtiest City in America” in 1969 to the “Best Town Ever” in 2011 and 2015. Even more embarrassing is the fact that Chattanooga is the most “Bible Minded City” in America…four of the last five years! How could we have this kind of inequity with so many Christians living here? It just didn’t make sense. My world was rocked and my mind began spinning.

Incongruent ——> More Congruent

According to Chattanooga’s economic mobility numbers, the rising tide has not been lifting all the boats. I began to wonder, “Will it ever?” I’ve now come to believe that without a massive amount of intentionality on many fronts, it won’t. There might be some small gains in isolated instances, but without being intentional about economic diversity and inclusion, the gaps will get wider still in the “Best Town Ever.”

The inequity around economic opportunity is now a rallying cry for many of us who care for the welfare of the city and all its people. I now know that the Lord has been leading me on a journey to bring me into a deeper fellowship with himself and the world he created. Where this all leads I don’t exactly know. I can say definitively, though, that I am being drawn more and more to solving gaps that exist in my city, Chattanooga, and less and less to launching scalable ventures that (theoretically) spin off a lot of cash. And please don’t take my story as moral grandstanding in any way. I believe we need great Christian entrepreneurs in every industry. I think I’m just realizing it’s not my calling at this point in my life.

Hopefully the incongruency I’ve felt over the years will continue to be transformed into a more integrated work of faith, community, and life so that Christ is truly preeminent in all things. And I look forward to learning from other entrepreneurs in this online community about how they live out their faith.

Editor’s Note: Sheldon is a friend and guest contributor at FDE.  He’s written under the moniker of “Startup Guru” for the Wall Street Journal and his writing has been featured in the New York Times and more than a dozen national newspapers and magazines.  Most importantly he is a devoted father, and yes, he is, of course, a faith driven entrepreneur.  This is his first piece for FDE.

Photo by Cody Board on Unsplash

by Henry Kaestner

Last week, I talked a bit about who our heroes might be, and how that might be contrarian to the way that the rest of society saw things.  Success in faith and success in business don’t always go hand in hand, and we need to make sure that those we seek to emulate are those who know God first and success in business second.

There are, of course, many folks that hit that role together and I can’t think of a better example of Pete Ochs.  I’ve gotten to know Pete over the last decade or so. I’ve heard the way that he thinks about God, about success, about marriage and maybe most strikingly about money.  Among other successful business ventures, he runs a business at scale inside a maximum security prison. It’s a great story, one of faith, dignity and respect.

What’s not mentioned in this short clip is that each worker is paid a market wage, from which they pay room and board back to the State.  Yes, it’s great for the taxpayer of Kansas, and good for the business that Pete owns, but the real difference of course, is in the life of the inmate who is able to provide for their family.  It restores dignity to them, something that’s needed as they reassimilate into society……something that’s needed as they come to understand that they are loveable by others but most importantly, an awesome God who paid the ultimate price for their sin.

Pete is very, very serious about his faith, so for him it’s natural to also share with his employees “why” he does what he does, with the hopes that they’ll want to look more at their own faith.  As he does with life, Pete goes all in on all things SI (spiritual integration).  One of my favorites is the generosity campaign where he matches any philanthropic gift that the inmates give…thousands have been given thus far.  And Pete doesn’t stop his generosity there, I had to pull it out of him after several requests, but I discovered that he’s also the major donor of a $1mm chapel on premise.  The chapel is needed because while Pete has been working in the program, church attendance has TRIPLED with 2 new church plants and 50 new inmates coming to faith last year.  Also (as if there could be more) he’s launched a prison seminary.  Want to see what it looks like when 6 murderers turned loyal employees turned Christ followers look like at graduation?

I’ve long seen Matthew 25:36 about visiting prisoners and have done nothing about it to my discredit.  Pete has seen that verse, internalized it, and the Gospel message behind it and done something that is nothing short of heroic.

by Henry Kaestner

We’ve come to know that the most important question that we need to be able to answer as Faith Driven Entrepreneurs is “Why?”  Simon Sinek does, in my opinion, the best job of unpacking why this question is so important in leadership in his now famous Ted.com video, but he’s not the only one.  Clayton Christensen talks about “why”in his business writing at Harvard, and Jim Collins mentions that the Level 5 leader is able be about something greater than seeking his or her glory.

And yet, despite so much great secular research that unpacks how important it is that we, as leaders, talk about “why” we do what we do, Christ followers often do a lousy job of it.  Why? Well, lots of reasons of course, but some are that we don’t want to come across as exclusive, offensive, ignorant or naive…..all things that are rightly maligned by the marketplace, but lead us to a timidity and a seat on the wrong side of the secular/spiritual divide.  The challenge is that not being able to talk about our “why” (which is presumably to know, honor and serve God) puts us at a disadvantage to other business leaders who can talk with passion, resolve and integrity about what their deepest “why” is…be it, to save the planet, redeem the food supply chain etc.

At Bandwidth, David and I often imperfectly talked about our “why,” but nevertheless, we tried.  It came across best, I think, in our foundational values of Faith, Family, Work and Fitness and our sharing of our own personal stories and motivation.  Sometimes it came across when we asked someone in the midst of a trial if we could pray for them. I often would try to explain to others why I thought this worked for us even in front of an audience who largely didn’t share our faith.  I believe that the part in each of them which was created in the image of God (all of them) resonated with our “why” at some deep spiritual level.  They came to know intuitively that our “why” which transcended the manufacture and distribution of widgets was of very real (if not eternal) significance.  I think this was true, and yet it wasn’t until lunch this Tuesday that I heard the verse that helped me to really understand why our employees resonated with our “why.”

I serve on the Board of Directors of a great Christian School in San Jose called Valley Christian School.  We are blessed to have Dr. Ed Silvoso as our Board Chaplain, and I was in turn, blessed to sit next to him at lunch when he mentioned Romans 8:19 to me, and it all clicked.

Romans 8:19 “For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.” NIV

And there I had it, the verse that brought it all together.  God foretold the dynamic that David and I (and so many of you all) have come to understand is full of power.  Our employees are waiting in eager anticipation to hear why we do what we do.  When we share this message with gentleness and respect amazing things can happen in the lives of our employees and our company, and we all come that much closer to knowing, enjoying and glorifying our Father in Heaven. 

Let’s reveal our true identity (God’s children) to our employees.  They are eagerly awaiting.  God’s word declares it.

Photo by Danica Tanjutco on Unsplash

Subscribe on ITunes or Other

by Henry Kaestner

In this week’s podcast, William, Rusty and I tackle the issue of how to let people go….and how to do it in a way that honors them and honors God.

You can find the podcast here.

Rusty introduces the framework of how to let someone go in a way that speaks the truth in love, makes sure that they aren’t surprised, gives an opportunity to cure and generally follows the golden rule.  There’s a bunch of nuance to that, of course, and so we talk through that a bit and delve in to what it looks like to love, not just the employee who may need to be let go, but also the other employees that that one individual might be holding back with their performance.

Lastly, as many of our podcasts will do, we take a quick tangent and talk about how to clearly communicate expectations with our employees.  William then realizes that we’re on to something and sees another edition of the podcast in the making on a topic we’ll explore further in the future.

It’s important to note that we’re just getting going and it’s very, very important to us to hear from you what you think works (we’ll look to do more of it) and what doesn’t.  We’d like to hear the questions you’d like to have answered and any types of comments about how to make this more useful for your walk with God as you seek to know Him and serve Him as a business owner.  Please see the podcast tab on this site for more.

Subscribe on ITunes or Other

In this week’s podcast, William, Rusty and I tackle the issue of how to let people go….and how to do it in a way that honors them and honors God.  

Show Notes for Episode 4

Photo by jean wimmerlin on Unsplash