I love the work that Compassion do in “releasing children from poverty in Jesus’ name”. I’ve just heard that the fundraising project I’ve been spruiking for the last couple of months has made it to $12300!! Blog readers gave $5000 and the rest has been raised by a church and a generous Compassion supporter.
One of the reasons that I love the work of Compassion is that they are unashamedly doing what they do “in Jesus’ name”. I was alerted to the following quote from Mark Hanlon the Senior VP of Global Marketing for Compassion International. I read about it in an advance copy of David Chalmers‘ (see my post about him here) new book about his work with Compassion.
Here’s the quote:
The marketing consultants sat across the table from the Compassion clients they were about to pitch. While nobody actually documented the exact words the consultants uttered, their recommendation and the seismic crater it created are now part of Compassion International’s cultural lore.
“If you really want to grow your share of the market,” the consultant recommended, “the best thing you could do is drop the name of Jesus from your tagline. There are plenty of people who would love to support what you do to assist children. But they can’t relate to the ‘Jesus thing.'”
Releasing children from poverty in Jesus’s name was more than the tagline designed into Compassion’s corporate mark. It was our mission and methodology all wrapped in one. Did Compassion want to grow? Absolutely. We believed in our cause and its effectiveness. But did we think that diluting our distinctiveness — what gave us our strength and identity — was worth the assumed growth? Not at all. The pitch was essentially over.
I suppose the assumption by the consultant was that Jesus simply couldn’t compete. Instead of drawing minds and hearts into the cause, his name would push people away.
A report from earlier this year shows that Compassion is growing in Australia. I’m glad they haven’t dropped the Jesus thing. Check out compassion.com.au if you’re interested in sponsoring a child.