How One Nonprofit Configured Its Development Department to Grow Revenue and Trust

Having mission activities close at hand is a powerful revenue-generating boost for Connie Maxwell Children’s Ministries. The faith-based nonprofit tends to the physical needs of children by providing housing, food and clothing within a safe community of group homes and through a network of foster parents. 

Through the development department, the organization uses one the most mundane and difficult parts of fostering — helping families get licensed to foster — as a means to connect communities and raise money. But, in an unusual duty assignment, development also has oversight over one area of mission programs and the volunteer department.

While this might look like tactical support, it is in fact, a deep trust-building exercise. The nonprofit turns these tactical support elements into revenue in an extreme de-siloing plan.

“I cover fundraising and marketing. I use traditional methods of acquisition and retention. I came up through major gift fundraising,” Jay Boyd, the organization’s senior vice president of strategy and engagement, said. “When I got assigned to cover foster care, it was outside my wheelhouse. I just implemented some of the same tactics [that I use in development] into that space. And it works. We didn’t set out to raise more money through enhancing the foster family experience. More money was a by-product.” 

Related story: Breaking Down Organizational Silos to Create an Optimal Omnichannel Experience

The organization connects foster families in a local church environment to help new families meet the legal criteria for fostering children and build trust in the church about the mission effort. Though the churches have their own missions, they are still an important part of the nonprofit’s engagement strategy. And despite Connie Maxwell Children’s Ministries not making any asks at these places of worship, they also are a large fundraising source. 

“How do I position Connie Maxwell’s mission so it becomes the pastor and church’s agenda and not ours?” Boyd asked. “That pastor wants frictionless opportunities for his members to serve. That’s us. His church members might want to foster children but few are able and willing. They can volunteer, support those who do foster and/or give financially. That’s our church engagement strategy. And, the foster parents we are looking for are in the churches. Both types of support are in the church — big and little commitment opportunities, financial support, and foster parenting.”

Turning the Difficult Into Opportunity 

Up until two years ago, the foster care program at Connie Maxwell Children’s Ministries sat under the vice president of programs. This is often the case in child-welfare organizations. Then, Danny Nicholson, president of Connie Maxwell Children’s Ministries, decided the program could be best served — and could serve best — on the engagement side of the house under Boyd. 

The criteria to foster a child is considerable. A license must be obtained with these requirements, among others: 

• Be at least 21 years old, financially and emotionally stable as well as physically fit, to which your doctor must attest. 
• Have supportive character references and satisfy background screening requirements.
• Complete 14-plus hours of pre-licensing training and an additional 15 hours of training annually.

Instead of viewing these requirements as a barrier, Connie Maxwell Children’s Ministries has used them to the organization’s benefit in a masterful alignment of mission execution with human psychological needs. Take for instance, Thrive, the organization’s church-hosted event for area foster families.

“This [event] helped foster families meet licensing and re-licensing criteria,” Boyd said. “It was only 1.5 hours of 15 required but it was done in the context of community-building and [as] encouragement to the families. These points of engagement through the year make this a highly engaged church, with the resulting revenue flow.“

The connection of fostering families with the churches inspires the revenue Boyd referenced. Beyond bringing churches into helping with licensing requirements, the connection goes deeper.

“This foster family sits next to you all year in church, and we come to mind,” Boyd said. “We get a check. A few years ago, we got a check for $25,000 — unexpected from just a church member. They go to church with that fostering family and see the kids in church every week. Church members pick us because of that.” 

Connie Maxwell Children’s Ministries’ deliberate intermingling of mission execution and development demonstrates that all giving behaviors are deeply interconnected, whether the gift is a home, a family, time or a dollar amount. An artificial separation of mission and development does not serve any mission well. Development can benefit as Connie Maxwell Children’s Ministries has in an exploration of mission activity.

Ultimately, Connie Maxwell Children’s Ministries inspires trust in their donors through community-building and exposure to impact. That trust yields revenue. 

What Is Required to Trust? 

For a person to trust requires the opportunity to engage with community members. That’s why nonprofit communities need to be more than just a collection of people with some common idea or belief (e.g., animal rights, constitutionalism). They also must have the ability to communicate with each other. Mutual communication nurtures relationships and breaks down perceived barriers, helping individuals feel seen and valued. 

So, “with each other” are the most important words. Research shows that people are more likely to behave positively toward people they trust (and like). In other words, trust in the community is actionable. More trust equals more advocacy, mentoring, expertise sharing, donating — everything. It makes people more likely to behave in all kinds of ways that support the community and its goals.   

Trust-building is not just transactional; it’s emotional. When individuals feel aligned with the community’s values and see consistent actions reflecting those values, trust becomes intrinsic, compelling them to engage more deeply.

Using Operational Volunteerism to Build Revenue

Another mix of mission tasks and development is the way Connie Maxwell Children’s Ministries cares for its physical properties. Though the nonprofit has four locations, more than three-quarters of its 130-person staff work at its Greenwood, South Carolina, campus. There, face-to-face interactions in shared spaces strengthen social bonds and cultivate trust through shared experiences and vulnerability. Boyd’s team uses these in-person interactions to great effect. 

“We have slowly increased the number of people who volunteer and take tours of our campus over the last four years,” Boyd said. “We have also become more intentional in how we handle those volunteers from the time they arrive on campus to how we communicate with them after they leave. This is because our team views volunteering as a first-step toward deeper engagement that could lead to a lifetime of support.”

However, that wasn’t always the nonprofit’s view. Most volunteer engagement fell under programming before moving to the development department. 

“The idea was that the volunteer people are trying to serve the mission, so that needs to be under programs, not the engagement team,” Boyd said. “We said, ‘The volunteer needs to be on our team because we're going to be more concerned with customer experience than the program team is. We know that the volunteer can do more than paint cabins. They can become a donor.’ And they do.”

Boyd’s plan of using the physical campus to help people get a sense of what happens in mission execution also has the by-product of putting people in proximity to each other as they experience the campus, establishing psychological trust both in mission and community exposure.  

Developing Trust-Building Experiences

For Connie Maxwell Children’s Ministries, its Thrive events serve to connect churches to the mission and complete licensing requirements, but are also an important tool to retain foster families. 

“What's the friction involved in a foster parent coming to an event?” Boyd asked. “The cost, the childcare, and [the question of ] ‘Am I even going to enjoy being around people because I already feel like I don't fit into the general population?’

These gatherings are not just logistical necessities — they are trust-building exercises. Foster families who attend Thrive events can get the training they must have to maintain their license to foster and relate to other families who are serving similarly. Relationships are formed. Intentions are strengthened. Acceptance is gained. Shared experiences reinforce a collective identity, reducing feelings of isolation and promoting resilience. 

From Development to External Engagement

Ultimately, Connie Maxwell Children’s Ministries’ development department has become more of an external engagement department, applying development’s natural tendencies to every touch point available. Whether working with volunteers, financial donors, foster families, supporting churches, the nonprofit treats each touch point with similar enthusiasm as a potential opportunity to create more volunteerism, more community, more mission retention and more revenue to support the mission. 

Many people would think all these distractions from the mission would negatively impact fundraising. But the reality is quite a different story. Connie Maxwell Children’s Ministries has a $100 million endowment and recently went public with its campaign after raising its goal. 

“We are halfway through a five-year capital campaign and recently increased the goal from $10 million to $25 million after seeing so much success during the silent phase,” Boyd said. “We have simultaneously seen a steady increase in our annual fund and exceeded our operating revenue goals each of the last four years.”

Most organizations lament the lack of a “culture of philanthropy.” What most of us mean when we say that is, “Why isn’t everyone focused on fundraising?” A true culture of philanthropy is a culture of the love of humankind — a desire to promote the welfare of others. Fundraising is just one way to get there. Connie Maxwell Children’s Ministries does just that. 

“We are a Christian ministry and we love everybody,” Boyd said. “We are also really clear about who we are and our values. We try not to leave room for ambiguity, and we hope our good deeds can reflect what we believe and what motivates our mission.”

Trust, belonging and shared purpose are fundamental psychological drivers that Connie Maxwell Children’s Ministries has successfully tapped into. By aligning these human needs with their mission, they’ve not only deepened the connections among their constituents but also created a sustainable foundation for fundraising and community growth. Connie Maxwell Children’s Ministries builds on a foundation of trust. 

That’s a culture of philanthropy.

The preceding post was provided by an individual unaffiliated with NonProfit PRO. The views expressed within do not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of NonProfit PRO.