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I'm not sure how many of our American friends found themselves glued to their televisions last night as the U.S. and Canadian Jr. Hockey teams squared off in the final of the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship, but I can tell you that up here in Canada, there were lots of people who were fixated on the big game.
Canada was vying for a record sixth straight gold medal, but were unable to deliver as the Americans took them to overtime and scored in sudden death to end the game and win this year's tournament.
What inevitably comes out of a loss like that for any sports team is that the losing team can take comfort in having played competitively and hold their heads high for playing in a gracious and sportsmanlike manner that represents their club or country well and we all nod our heads dismissively recognizing it as both a basic truth and a classic sports cliche.
But in many cases, that accepted truism doesn't seem to want to stick in a ministry or a non-profit context.
What seems to happen instead is that although sportsmanlike competition is construed as a positive and possible thing in sport, it's not possible in a ministry or non-profit context. Somehow, as soon as competition is mentioned in those circles, the only thing that gets envisioned is the kind of competition that's dirty, low-brow and mean-spirited.
But the reality is that especially in these tighter economic times, for churches, ministries and non-profits to function, they absolutely must realize that they are not only in competition for a piece of a financial pie that has and will likely continue to get smaller over the next while (as far as personal philanthropy is concerned), but that they are in competition with a growing number of ministries and non-profits who are vying for those same dollars. Additionally, in an advertising saturated culture that moves at an unbelievable pace these days, it's critical to realize that you are even in competition for people's attention.
To ignore these truths is to neglect the condition of the current market and it sets you up for failure.
Embrace the concept that you are in fact, in competition, and then compete.
But while you're doing that, regardless of whether you find yourself winning or losing, just make sure that you compete in a way that at the end of the day, we can all say that you battled hard and you did it with grace and quality.
On Friday, January 8, 2010, Andrew said:
On Friday, January 8, 2010, Andrew said:
Thanks for this Tim.
The idea you raise is definitely a strategy that a ministry could engage so...great suggestion!
However, the first step in getting to the point where you realize the necessity of that strategy is to recognize that competition currently exists. This is where I believe ministries are dropping the ball.
Realistically, there's just so much ministry overlap out there (on a local level between churches of different denominations that live and work in the same communities and even more notably in terms of local vs. national ministries), that you're still going to end up competing for people's dollars…I just don't see that competition going away.
There's a number of different examples I could give, but given that I know you, and we have some context, I'll use the following example:
If you're running a local church, and you're looking for your people to tithe for instance, it's important to realize that organizations like Compassion or World Vision are also vying for that person's attention and financial support. That's not a bad thing. But given that many people split their tithe between different organizations, you've got a challenge there. The piece of their personal financial pie that they devote to ministry work hasn't changed, but the demands on it are greater and more varied.
I think it's important to acknowledge that truth so that you can strategically communicate with that person and impact them with why they should support you.
One way, as you suggested, could be to address a target market or provide a service that is so unique that some of the competition is removed…but it still takes recognizing the fact that competition exists, before you can effectively begin to strategize.
On Wednesday, January 6, 2010, Tim said:
Interesting thought. It's true that if all the churches are going after the same people or resources then competition must exist. But is this the way it needs to or should be?
Wouldn't another alternative be to create another market (reach another group of people) or focus on a less saturated market where no one or few people are vying for resources? If more ministries had a narrower focus would we be competing less and gaining more in the process? Just another option IMHO.
On Wednesday, January 6, 2010, Tim said:
Interesting thought. It's true that if all the churches are going after the same people or resources then competition must exist. But is this the way it needs to or should be?
Wouldn't another alternative be to create another market (reach another group of people) or focus on a less saturated market where no one or few people are vying for resources? If more ministries had a narrower focus would we be competing less and gaining more in the process? Just another option IMHO.
I'm not sure how many of our American friends found themselves glued to their televisions last night as the U.S. and Canadian Jr. Hockey teams squared off in the final of the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship, but I can tell you that up here in Canada, there were lots of people who were fixated on the big game.
Canada was vying for a record sixth straight gold medal, but were unable to deliver as the Americans took them to overtime and scored in sudden death to end the game and win this year's tournament.
What inevitably comes out of a loss like that for any sports team is that the losing team can take comfort in having played competitively and hold their heads high for playing in a gracious and sportsmanlike manner that represents their club or country well and we all nod our heads dismissively recognizing it as both a basic truth and a classic sports cliche.
But in many cases, that accepted truism doesn't seem to want to stick in a ministry or a non-profit context.
What seems to happen instead is that although sportsmanlike competition is construed as a positive and possible thing in sport, it's not possible in a ministry or non-profit context. Somehow, as soon as competition is mentioned in those circles, the only thing that gets envisioned is the kind of competition that's dirty, low-brow and mean-spirited.
But the reality is that especially in these tighter economic times, for churches, ministries and non-profits to function, they absolutely must realize that they are not only in competition for a piece of a financial pie that has and will likely continue to get smaller over the next while (as far as personal philanthropy is concerned), but that they are in competition with a growing number of ministries and non-profits who are vying for those same dollars. Additionally, in an advertising saturated culture that moves at an unbelievable pace these days, it's critical to realize that you are even in competition for people's attention.
To ignore these truths is to neglect the condition of the current market and it sets you up for failure.
Embrace the concept that you are in fact, in competition, and then compete.
But while you're doing that, regardless of whether you find yourself winning or losing, just make sure that you compete in a way that at the end of the day, we can all say that you battled hard and you did it with grace and quality.
On Friday, January 8, 2010, Andrew said:
Thanks for this Tim.
The idea you raise is definitely a strategy that a ministry could engage so...great suggestion!
However, the first step in getting to the point where you realize the necessity of that strategy is to recognize that competition currently exists. This is where I believe ministries are dropping the ball.
Realistically, there's just so much ministry overlap out there (on a local level between churches of different denominations that live and work in the same communities and even more notably in terms of local vs. national ministries), that you're still going to end up competing for people's dollars…I just don't see that competition going away.
There's a number of different examples I could give, but given that I know you, and we have some context, I'll use the following example:
If you're running a local church, and you're looking for your people to tithe for instance, it's important to realize that organizations like Compassion or World Vision are also vying for that person's attention and financial support. That's not a bad thing. But given that many people split their tithe between different organizations, you've got a challenge there. The piece of their personal financial pie that they devote to ministry work hasn't changed, but the demands on it are greater and more varied.
I think it's important to acknowledge that truth so that you can strategically communicate with that person and impact them with why they should support you.
One way, as you suggested, could be to address a target market or provide a service that is so unique that some of the competition is removed…but it still takes recognizing the fact that competition exists, before you can effectively begin to strategize.
On Friday, January 8, 2010, Andrew said:
Thanks for this Tim.
The idea you raise is definitely a strategy that a ministry could engage so...great suggestion!
However, the first step in getting to the point where you realize the necessity of that strategy is to recognize that competition currently exists. This is where I believe ministries are dropping the ball.
Realistically, there's just so much ministry overlap out there (on a local level between churches of different denominations that live and work in the same communities and even more notably in terms of local vs. national ministries), that you're still going to end up competing for people's dollars…I just don't see that competition going away.
There's a number of different examples I could give, but given that I know you, and we have some context, I'll use the following example:
If you're running a local church, and you're looking for your people to tithe for instance, it's important to realize that organizations like Compassion or World Vision are also vying for that person's attention and financial support. That's not a bad thing. But given that many people split their tithe between different organizations, you've got a challenge there. The piece of their personal financial pie that they devote to ministry work hasn't changed, but the demands on it are greater and more varied.
I think it's important to acknowledge that truth so that you can strategically communicate with that person and impact them with why they should support you.
One way, as you suggested, could be to address a target market or provide a service that is so unique that some of the competition is removed…but it still takes recognizing the fact that competition exists, before you can effectively begin to strategize.
On Wednesday, January 6, 2010, Tim said:
Interesting thought. It's true that if all the churches are going after the same people or resources then competition must exist. But is this the way it needs to or should be?
Wouldn't another alternative be to create another market (reach another group of people) or focus on a less saturated market where no one or few people are vying for resources? If more ministries had a narrower focus would we be competing less and gaining more in the process? Just another option IMHO.
On Wednesday, January 6, 2010, Tim said:
Interesting thought. It's true that if all the churches are going after the same people or resources then competition must exist. But is this the way it needs to or should be?
Wouldn't another alternative be to create another market (reach another group of people) or focus on a less saturated market where no one or few people are vying for resources? If more ministries had a narrower focus would we be competing less and gaining more in the process? Just another option IMHO.
Thanks for this Tim.
The idea you raise is definitely a strategy that a ministry could engage so...great suggestion!
However, the first step in getting to the point where you realize the necessity of that strategy is to recognize that competition currently exists. This is where I believe ministries are dropping the ball.
Realistically, there's just so much ministry overlap out there (on a local level between churches of different denominations that live and work in the same communities and even more notably in terms of local vs. national ministries), that you're still going to end up competing for people's dollars…I just don't see that competition going away.
There's a number of different examples I could give, but given that I know you, and we have some context, I'll use the following example:
If you're running a local church, and you're looking for your people to tithe for instance, it's important to realize that organizations like Compassion or World Vision are also vying for that person's attention and financial support. That's not a bad thing. But given that many people split their tithe between different organizations, you've got a challenge there. The piece of their personal financial pie that they devote to ministry work hasn't changed, but the demands on it are greater and more varied.
I think it's important to acknowledge that truth so that you can strategically communicate with that person and impact them with why they should support you.
One way, as you suggested, could be to address a target market or provide a service that is so unique that some of the competition is removed…but it still takes recognizing the fact that competition exists, before you can effectively begin to strategize.