Development 101

In our 60 years of combined experience with faith-based non-profits we have seen high turnover rates in development staff, a general lack of a driving philosophy/theology of development in most ministries, confusion from boards over their proper role in development, and development staff who are frustrated and burned out by the demands of their work. The common denominator is a lack of a comprehensive, biblically based, fundamentally sound, development strategy. This book is our attempt to provide development professionals with a tool that can help them build robust, God-honoring development programs. It is our prayer that this book will help development staff and CEO's set realistic goals based on the time it takes to build a solid program and develop genuine, God-honoring relationships with giving partners. We hope this book will be a first step in training people who are new to the development field. We have included charts, templates and diagrams that we hope will aid in understanding how to build your plan and implement it successfully. This book should also provide readers a picture of a comprehensive development program that they can use to evaluate current programs and make changes as needed. Finally, we wrote this book to help CEO's and Boards better understand how biblically-based development work should look and be evaluated. We have discussed the role of the board and CEO in your organization's development success. And, most importantly, we have started with the challenge that the Board, CEO and development team create a theology of development that will drive and guide everything you do.