You’re Not Starting From Zero
The ancient leadership move that turns tired staff and reluctant donors into true believers.
I was thirty years old. Naïve. Enthusiastic.
A handful of accomplices and the basics of how to serve people. That was about it.
What we inherited was a 60-year-old ministry — good bones, hard history, and a mission bigger than our capacity. Five paid staff. Two computers. A little bit of grit.
What God did next blows me away every time I think about it.
We saw millions of dollars raised. Housed and fed thousands of men and women — people fighting homelessness, finding their footing, and hearing for maybe the first time that God loves them.
Over a decade, we rebuilt that ministry and enjoyed thousands of people in our community giving and volunteering every year.
But here’s what I learned to say — and I said it over and over again for years:
“We didn’t start this. We’re just the next ones to show up. Those results weren’t ours. Decades of prayers prayed by people we never met caused it. Gifts given by donors who never saw the outcomes made it happen. Staff showed up in hard seasons and held the line.
Today was just the next step in a long history toward a new future — built on the generosity and faithfulness of people who came before us.”
When I told that story, I could see that people realized we were part of history and had a responsibility to carry it forward into a new future. We were amazed and accountable.
That’s what a stacked rock does.
Why Memory Is a Leadership Tool
Your staff gets tired and sometimes overwhelmed. You know it. Some of them might be hanging on by a thread, working hard in tough moments, solving problems, and seeing new ones pop up.
We need to remind them they are part of a long line of people — people just like them — who showed up, did the work, and made a real difference in real lives. That what they’re doing today isn’t random. It connects to something larger. Something that has been going on long before them and will continue long after.
That’s hope. And hope builds momentum.
When you share stories with staff, you’re not just celebrating a win. You’re giving your team a reason to come back tomorrow. You’re saying, “This is who we are.” This is what our team does. You belong to this.
Does your staff know they’re not starting from zero?
The Donor Conversation Is an Invitation
When you write a letter or sit across from a major donor and say, “Your generosity did this,” you’re not just reporting impact. You’re inviting them into a communal act of remembering.
You’re saying: you are part of this story. You are not a transaction. You are a co-laborer in something that matters.
Donors who feel that — who feel the weight of what they’ve been part of — give again. They give more. They tell their friends. They become something far more valuable than a revenue line. They become believers in the mission.
That’s the power of the commemorating the work. It doesn’t just celebrate the past. It fuels the future.
Who in your donor list needs to hear what they made possible — this week?
Your Turn
Think of one number from your organization’s history that would make a new staff member proud to work there. A life changed. A year survived—a program launched against the odds.
Write it down.
Add it to your next staff meeting agenda.
Drop it in your next donor letter.
That’s your rock. Stack it.
Stack the Rocks, Then Stand on Them
Before your next staff meeting, donor call, or board presentation — find one story. One person. One moment. Build the altar around it.
Use the phrase: “Because of you — because of us — this happened.”
Watch what it does to the room.
But don’t stop there.
Take a few minutes this week — you and God — and stack your own rocks. Think back over the last seven days. Where did He show up? Where did a door open that shouldn’t have? Where did a conversation go better than it had any right to? Where did provision come from a direction you didn’t expect?
Write it down.
Name it.
Stack the rock.
Because the same God who parted the Jordan, who fed the five thousand, who walked out of a tomb on Sunday morning — He was at work in your organization this week. In the small things. In the hard things. In the things you almost missed because you were too tired to notice.
Remember what He’s done.
And then walk into next week knowing this: He is already there. He is ahead of you in every meeting, every crisis, every conversation you’re dreading. You are not going into the unknown alone. You have God, who knows all things.
Stack the rocks, Executive Director.
Stand on them.
And do what leaders do. Lead, Pray, and Celebrate!
Before you close this tab — sit with two questions:
What are you facing that seems bigger than what you have?
What have you seen God do that makes you believe He’ll show up again?
Write it down. Or, better yet, leave it in the comments.
Your story might be the rock someone else needs to stand on.
We write the Bold Bulletin for nonprofit leaders who are in the middle of hard, meaningful work. If this encouraged you, share it with a colleague who needs it today.
P.S. — If your next newsletter, annual report, or donor communication needs to tell a story worth remembering, that’s exactly what I do. Reply to this email or visit BoldLeading.com, and let’s build something worth stacking.