Ministry Value Chain™for JAARS

Need: JAARS is a part of the Wycliffe family of organizations and provides quality, technical services for over 1,000 Bible translation projects around the world. Best known for their professional pilots and aviation, JAARS also provides help with land transporation, construction, shipping, radio communication, satellite telephone, and email. The board of directors had recently switched over to a governance model of operation. They began feeling an acute need for better information to monitor the overall health of this diverse organization. Moreover, JAARS would have to continue to expand dramatically over the next decade just to keep up with the aggressive, new goals for Bible translation set by Wycliffe. The board asked for a list of the few, key numbers that would give them a reliable snapshot of the organization. The CEO came to us asking for help identifying the key performance indicators for this large, complex, nonprofit organization.

Solution: We recommended taking the executive team through a two-day experience to develop a Ministry Value Chain™. This is a process similar to the balanced scorecard, but adapted to the unique needs of charitable ministry organizations. The Ministry Value Chain™ acknowledges the "double bottom line" of mission fulfillment and financial stewardship. It isolates the six main areas of measurements that help executives with management of the organization and accountability to the board. JAARS was so enthusiastic about the idea that they expanded the meeting to include all department heads.

Bottom line: We walked the entire leadership team through a two-day process to identify the key performance indicators unique to JAARS. The proposed comprehensive report to the board easily fit on one side of one sheet of paper. The staff felt a burst of energy from a fresh sense of alignment among all the different departments. After finishing the measures for the organization as a whole, the department heads were able to immediately begin building a value chain for each department. For more information about the huge strategic challenge facing JAARS, visit their website at www.jaars.org and search for "Vision 2025."