WG Blog

“Mind the gap” echoed through the colorfully tiled RATP Metro as I stepped from the platform to the train on a journey from Paris to Geneva. My focus briefly diverted from the excitement and joy of the journey to the necessary caution ahead of me. Each time the train door opened, the same voice reminded me to mind the gap in several languages. I recall glancing at the gap at my first stop, being amused as passengers stepped over it at the second, and growing deaf to it by the third, as my focus shifted to the exciting journey ahead of me…

As you invite donors on your missional journey are you drawing their attention to minding the gap or to the destination?

Growing missional imagination and engagement requires a shifting of perspective from organizational needs towards the giver's hopes and dreams. To shift the focus, we must inform, inspire, and invite others to join in the journey with us.

• Inform by communicating a clear and compelling vision for the preferred future and creating a well-developed plan to get there.
• Inspire by finding places of intersection between a giver’s hopes and dreams and your organization’s mission and vision.
• Invite others to join you in investing the resources available to them in pursuit of your aligned and shared vision.

… On each stop of my trip from Paris, our conductor announced our progress towards Geneva and heightened our expectations and interest in the destination.

Those that join you on your missional journey have become stakeholders in the vision and will require progress reports too. Generous givers will want to know how their gifts are helping to realize the vision and moving us all closer to the destination. And a few snapshots along the way are always appreciated!

Keep in mind that It’s never about the money or the gaps and always about the impact and the destination.