Spiritual Foundations/Fundraising 2018

Instructors:

Rev. Tom Barlow; email tbarlow@iliff.edu;
Office: Bacon 207, 303-765-3176
Work week is Tuesday - Saturday ( I take Mondays as a Sabbath day with my wife)
Cell phone for emergencies: 719-640-6726

Rev. Dr. Tom Wolfe; email tvwolfe@iliff.edu

Course Information

This course is designed to equip future congregational and non-profit leaders for effective fundraising. Students will learn fundraising methodologies grounded in the theology of Christian Stewardship and general principles of Philanthropy. Core themes include:

Course Overview

This course is designed to equip future congregational and non-profit leaders for effective fundraising. Students will learn fundraising methodologies grounded in the theology of Christian Stewardship and general principles of Philanthropy. Core themes include:

Generally speaking, the course is divided into two major phases, both of which pertain to the spiritual, relational, and theological issues around fundraising. 

  1. The first four weeks are focused on the basics: the role of the nonprofit (whether it be a service organization, church, or some other entity), historical contexts, theological foundations, and the essential nature of money.
  2. During our Gathering Days meetings, we will turn our attention to practical issues of giving, with weeks five through ten focusing on building healthy and authentic relationships with donors, specific leadership skills, obstacles which are likely to be encountered, and different paradigms of stewardship. 

In addition to participating in online discussions, students will prepare a Case Study "Seed" which will be presented during Gathering Days; and a larger Contextual Case Study (based on the Seed), which will serve as the final project for the course. 

A Spirituality of Fundraising by Henri Nouwen and John Mogabgab – required purchase around $10.00, ISBN 978-0835810449 (also available on Kindle, and there are quite a few used copies listed on Amazon)

The Steward: A Biblical Symbol Come of Age by Hall (Eerdman’s), – required purchase around $25.00, ISBN 978-1592447664 (there are quite a few used copies listed on Amazon)

Imagining Abundance – Fundraising, Philanthropy, and A Spiritual Call to Service by Kerry Alis Robinson – required purchase around $15.00, ISBN 978-0814637661 (also available on Kindle, and there are quite a few used copies listed on Amazon)

Nonprofit Management 101: A Complete and Practical Guide for Leaders and Professionals by Darian Heyman – required purchase around $21.00 ISBN 978-0470285961 (also available on Kindle, and there are quite a few used copies listed on Amazon)

A note on the required purchases:

We will read the entire Nouwen book as part of this course. We won't be reading the other three in their entirety, but we are reading (much) more than 10% of each, which means that we are reading more than can be scanned and posted under the "fair use" doctrine; so, we have to ask that you obtain copies of each. Fortunately, they aren't terribly expensive, and there are (as noted) quite a few used copies available, although this course is large enough that we may impact that market pretty quickly. All of those books are useful beyond this course, though - and they will be useful to have available in your future leadership work. 

Additional readings will be posted as pdf files on the Canvas course site.

 

How can you be successful in taking an online class? It can be more than a little challenging - after all, in a face-to-face class, you meet once or twice a week, and, in that time, the instructor can make sure you are on-track in terms of course progress and your understanding of the material. In a hybrid course such as this one, though, we have only two face-to-face sessions during Gathering Days; otherwise, all of our interaction is online. This means that the course is different from an entirely face-to-face course in some key ways, and your success in the course hinges on understanding those differences.

Communication

You can't participate if you don't know what's going on! In your Canvas Profile (which you can access using the Profile link at the top right of every page), you can specify how you should be contacted. Make sure that your preferred email address is properly set on that page.

From that page, you also have the ability to change your notifications (that is an option on the left menu on that page). Please make sure that your notification settings are set so that you are kept reasonably informed of events related to the class. 

Finally, as each week progresses, you need to pay attention to class-related activities! Keep an eye on whatever notifications you have chosen to receive. If you choose to ignore them, you can quickly find yourself way behind (and, remember, after two weeks of non-involvement, you may be removed from the class).

Bottom line: it is your responsibility to know what is due, and to keep up! If life crises get in the way, let the instructor know as soon as possible. 

Collaboration

Online classes are, by their very nature, highly collaborative in terms of learning. That means that the majority of your learning will take place as you engage other students regarding the material that everyone is reading (and, as you may have already noticed, different people are reading the same material from different perspectives). 

Collaborative learning is a common approach at Iliff, both in online and face-to-face classes. The discussions and other activities that you participate in here are similar to in-class discussions in the face-to-face courses. It is a little harder to "hide" in the online classes than it is in the face-to-face, but, otherwise, the approach is the same.

Bottom line: much of your learning in this course will come from the interactions you have with others who are participating the same way you are. Although there will be some posted lectures, the instructors will, overall, be taking on more of a facilitative role.

Commitment

As with any class, your commitment to learning will greatly impact your success (both in terms of grades and in terms of actually mastering new information). In this class, we don't all meet online at the same time, so it is up to you to set up a schedule that allows you to engage other students about the material. 

There is a significant difference in terms of commitment in an online class, though, and it is this: Since the learning process is highly collaborative (and since different students will be reading material in different ways), your failure to participate will reduce the effectiveness of the class for other students as well. Taking an online class really does require commitment, and a special kind of discipline, in order for everyone to be successful.

A Note About the Course Load

This is a two-credit course. If we were meeting face-to-face for the entire ten weeks, this means that we would spend around two hours per week in class (a total of 20 in-class hours). For each one of those hours, you would also have about two additional hours of course-related work outside of our class sessions. 

It's a little trickier when we are doing a Hybrid course, though. We will spend eight hours together during Gathering Days, so the instructor contact time is a little lighter for the other nine weeks (somewhere around an hour and a quarter each week). On average, it should all work out to around six hours of course involvement each week, but Week 5 is a little more intense - so our plan takes that into account. 

Please be sure to read Iliff's Credit Hour Policy as well.

First, Some Basics

Pass/Fail Grades

If you desire to receive a pass/fail grade, please notify the instructor by 5:00 pm on the Friday of the first week of the term. A passing grade will equate to a letter grade of C- or better; any grade below C- will be reported as a failing grade.

Late Assignments and Postings

Late assignments will not be accepted unless prior arrangements are made; if they are accepted, late submissions will receive a reduced grade. 

Beginning in Week 3, late discussion posts will have points deducted based on the "late-ness" - the grading rubric has this built-in. If you believe that you have a legitimate reason for posting late, please email Tom Barlow when you post. 

Participation Requirements

Students are expected to participate in the online components of the class every week during the term. Failure to participate in two or more weeks may result in removal from the class.

Overall Grade

Your overall grade will be determined by two general sets of grades: online and in-class participation, and two graded assignments. In order to provide a way to effectively grade the online postings with some nuance, there are 400 overall points possible in the course.

Online Participation

Listening to any required audio files, viewing any required videos, and/or reading any posted articles each week, and posting as required will constitute 40% of your overall grade. The points are evenly split between the postings for eight weeks (there are no online postings for Week 5, and the online postings for Week 10 are ungraded due to the short week). 

Most weeks, our online conversation will require at least two posts from each student: the first post will be a direct response to the discussion question, and the second post will be a response to another student's post. This means that there are two posting deadlines each week: one on Friday night, and the other on Monday night. These posting deadlines will appear on your To Do list in Canvas each week.

In your interactions with other students, we are looking for:

In terms of grading your participation, the more you engage the material in ways that are helpful for yourself and others, the more points your postings will earn. Short postings such as "I agree!" (or clicking the "Like" button on another student's post) do not count toward your participation requirement! Remember, we need to see engagement with the material and with each other - the deeper the engagement, the higher the points awarded (at the same time, you don't have to become an expert in every topic).

Your grade for online participation constitutes 40% of your overall grade (160 points)

Note: The first couple of weeks, the instructors (for this course, probably Tom Barlow) will try to respond to all of the initial posts to the questions, just to get the conversations going and set some direction for the remainder of the term. Later in the term, once everyone is up-to-speed and the conversations are robust, all posts are still read and graded, but instructor comments (and feedback) will be less frequent. 

In-Class Participation During Gathering Days - 20%

When we meet on campus, we will be watching to ensure that everyone participates. So, please participate! That means that you need to be in the room, actively involved in the discussions and clearly engaged in the presentations. As always, we also need to see that you've completed the required readings.

Your grade for in-class participation constitutes 20% of your overall grade (80 points)

Graded Assignments

Your final grade will also be determined by your grades on the two Graded Assignments. Together, these assignments constitute 40% of your overall grade (160 of the 400 points). The Case Study "Seed" constitutes 10% of your overall grade (40 points), and the Contextual Case Study constitutes 30% of your overall grade (120 points). 

In the written assignments, we assign grades using a point system, which translates to letter grades as follows:

A or A- 100% to 90% of possible points Excellent work, well-structured and insightful, with few (if any) errors or typos. These papers demonstrate very strong engagement with required materials along with “real world” application of the concepts. A+ is not a grade recognized at this school.
B+ to B- 89% to 80% Above average work (or excellent work with errors) demonstrating good engagement with the materials, and some application to the real world.
C+ to C- 79% to 70% Average work, marginal engagement, marginal application to real life.
69% or below Below-average work, failure to fulfill basic assignment requirements. At the graduate student level, anything in this range or below is a failing grade.

 

Formatting Requirements

All papers must be submitted in 12-point Times New Roman font, with one-inch margins, double-spaced. If this seems overly picky, please keep in mind that this is the standard for academic papers at this level (and we are trying to preserve our respective eyesights). Reflection papers need to provide citations only if necessary. If you do include citations, please also add a Bibliography at the end. You can use any citation standard you want, as long as you use it correctly and consistently within a given assignment.

Degree Learning Goals: Please take some time to look over the Professional Degree Learning Goals (MDiv, MASC, MAPSC) and the Academic Degree Learning Goals (MTS, MA).

Incompletes:  If incompletes are allowed in this course, see the Master's Student Handbook for Policies and Procedures.

Pass/Fail:  Masters students wishing to take the class pass/fail should discuss this with the instructor by the second class session.

Academic Integrity and Community Covenant:  All students are expected to abide by Iliff’s statement on Academic Integrity, as published in the Masters Student Handbook, or the Joint PhD Statement on Academic Honesty, as published in the Joint PhD Student Handbook, as appropriate.  All participants in this class are expected to be familiar with Iliff’s Community Covenant.

Core ValuesAs a community, Iliff strives to live by this set of Core Values.

Accommodations:  Iliff engages in a collaborative effort with students with disabilities to reasonably accommodate student needs.   Students are encouraged to contact their assigned advisor to initiate the process of requesting accommodations.  The advising center can be contacted at advising@iliff.edu or by phone at 303-765-1146. 

Writing Lab:  Grammar and organization are important for all written assignments.  Additional help is available from the Iliff Writing Lab, which is available for students of any level who need help beginning an assignment, organizing thoughts, or reviewing a final draft. 

Inclusive Language:  It is expected that all course participants will use inclusive language in speaking and writing, and will use terms that do not create barriers to classroom community. 

Resources and Course-Long Discussions

Open Forum

Introduce Yourself!

Modules View of course - (Week-by-week)

Please add information (including links, if it's a website) for resources that you've discovered. Everyone can update this page!

 

An article regarding Mintzberg's concepts of Deliberate and Emergent Strategies

The Duke Studies: the 2006-2007 study , and the 2015 update .

The Budget of Ministries from Cycles of Discipleship (now out of print, sadly), and Barlow's deployment of that in a local church setting .

Degree Learning Goals: Please take some time to look over the Professional Degree Learning Goals (MDiv, MASC, MAPSC) and the Academic Degree Learning Goals (MTS, MA).

Incompletes:  If incompletes are allowed in this course, see the Master's Student Handbook for Policies and Procedures.

Pass/Fail:  Masters students wishing to take the class pass/fail should discuss this with the instructor by the second class session.

Academic Integrity and Community Covenant:  All students are expected to abide by Iliff’s statement on Academic Integrity, as published in the Masters Student Handbook, or the Joint PhD Statement on Academic Honesty, as published in the Joint PhD Student Handbook, as appropriate.  All participants in this class are expected to be familiar with Iliff’s Community Covenant.

Core ValuesAs a community, Iliff strives to live by this set of Core Values.

Accommodations:  Iliff engages in a collaborative effort with students with disabilities to reasonably accommodate student needs.   Students are encouraged to contact their assigned advisor to initiate the process of requesting accommodations.  The advising center can be contacted at advising@iliff.edu or by phone at 303-765-1146. 

Writing Lab:  Grammar and organization are important for all written assignments.  Additional help is available from the Iliff Writing Lab, which is available for students of any level who need help beginning an assignment, organizing thoughts, or reviewing a final draft. 

Inclusive Language:  It is expected that all course participants will use inclusive language in speaking and writing, and will use terms that do not create barriers to classroom community. 

DateDayDetails
Sep 14, 2018FriWeek 1 Readingsdue by 05:59AM
Sep 14, 2018FriWeek 1 Lecturesdue by 05:59AM
Sep 14, 2018FriWeekly Nouwen for Week 1due by 05:59AM
Sep 15, 2018SatDeadline for Pass/Fail Grade Requestdue by 05:59AM
Sep 15, 2018SatWeek 1 - First Posting Duedue by 05:59AM
Sep 15, 2018SatPlease Post Your Introductiondue by 05:59AM
Sep 18, 2018TueWeek 1 Discussiondue by 05:59AM
Sep 21, 2018FriWeek 2 Readingsdue by 05:59AM
Sep 21, 2018FriWeekly Nouwen for Week 2due by 05:59AM
Sep 22, 2018SatWeek 2- First Posting Duedue by 05:59AM
Sep 25, 2018TueWeek 2 Discussiondue by 05:59AM
Sep 28, 2018FriWeek 3 Readingsdue by 05:59AM
Sep 28, 2018FriWeekly Nouwen for Week 3due by 05:59AM
Sep 28, 2018FriWeek 3 Lecturedue by 05:59AM
Sep 29, 2018SatWeek 3 Discussion - First Posting Duedue by 05:59AM
Oct 02, 2018TueWeek 3 Discussiondue by 05:59AM
Oct 05, 2018FriWeek 4 Readings & Videodue by 05:59AM
Oct 05, 2018FriWeekly Nouwen for Week 4due by 05:59AM
Oct 06, 2018SatProvide Case Study Informationdue by 05:59AM
Oct 06, 2018SatWeek 4 Discussion - First Posting Duedue by 05:59AM
Oct 09, 2018TueWeek 4 Discussiondue by 05:59AM
Oct 09, 2018TueCase Study "Seed"due by 02:00PM
Oct 10, 2018WedWeek 5 Readingsdue by 05:00PM
Oct 10, 2018WedWeekly Nouwen for Week 5due by 05:00PM
Oct 19, 2018FriWeek 6 Readings & Lecturedue by 05:59AM
Oct 19, 2018FriWeekly Nouwen for Week 6due by 05:59AM
Oct 20, 2018SatWeek 6 Discussion - First Posting Duedue by 05:59AM
Oct 23, 2018TueWeek 6 Discussiondue by 05:59AM
Oct 26, 2018FriWeek 7 Readings & Lecturedue by 05:59AM
Oct 26, 2018FriWeekly Nouwen for Week 7due by 05:59AM
Oct 27, 2018SatDeadline for Proposing Innovative Final Assignmentdue by 05:59AM
Oct 27, 2018SatWeek 7 Discussion - First Posting Duedue by 05:59AM
Oct 30, 2018TueWeek 7 Discussiondue by 05:59AM
Nov 02, 2018FriWeekly Nouwen for Week 8due by 05:59AM
Nov 02, 2018Fri(Week 8 Readings Will be Provided)due by 05:59AM
Nov 02, 2018FriWeek 8 Lecturesdue by 05:59AM
Nov 03, 2018SatWeek 8 Discussion - First Posting Duedue by 05:59AM
Nov 06, 2018TueWeek 8 Discussiondue by 06:59AM
Nov 09, 2018FriWeek 9 Readingsdue by 06:59AM
Nov 09, 2018FriWeekly Nouwen for Week 9 (Final Nouwen Reading)due by 06:59AM
Nov 10, 2018SatWeek 9 Discussion - First Posting Duedue by 06:59AM
Nov 13, 2018TueContextual Case Study (Final Project)due by 12:00AM
Nov 13, 2018TueWeek 9 Discussiondue by 06:59AM
Nov 16, 2018FriWeek 10 Reading & Lecturedue by 06:59AM
Nov 17, 2018SatWeek 10 Discussiondue by 06:59AM