J. Clif Christopher > Quotes

“Once I started working with nonprofits, I noticed that none of them ever sent line-item budgets out. They would produce one for the board to use and for internal accounting purposes, but they never—and I mean never—mailed it to all their donors. I asked why and got a simple answer, “It is not helpful and it is not necessary. Our donors cannot tell who we are and what we do by a line-item budget. We produce a lot of material detailing what we are doing in accomplishing our mission and what it costs, but not by using a line-item budget. It doesn’t tell anyone how we are changing lives.”
― J. Clif Christopher, Not Your Parents' Offering Plate: A New Vision for Financial Stewardship

“Never Send Out a Line-Item Budget Again”
― J. Clif Christopher, Not Your Parents' Offering Plate: A New Vision for Financial Stewardship

“In America today, there are over 1.1 million nonprofit organizations, and almost all are 501(c)(3)s. There are about 370,000 churches. Just twenty years ago, in 1995, there were 500,000 active 501(c)(3)s and about 370,000 churches. What these numbers show is that in twenty years the competition has nearly doubled. Each year finds the number of nonprofits in America growing.”
― J. Clif Christopher, Not Your Parents' Offering Plate: A New Vision for Financial Stewardship

“The church is the only nonprofit on the planet that does not want its leader to know everything he or she can about how the nonprofit functions and pays its bills.”
― J. Clif Christopher, Whose Offering Plate Is It?: New Strategies for Financial Stewardship