What Ministry Incubator Partners Can Expect

What Ministry Incubators Partners Can Expect

(January 9, 2016)

What does life look like as a Ministry Incubators partner?

  • You’re in control.

We offer coaching on an as-needed basis. You identify your goals and/or the skills you want to work on to move your missional enterprise forward. We work with you to develop a process that gets you there. The timeline is up to you: when you complete an assignment, we give you guidelines on the next one—but it’s your decision how long it takes to get from Point A to Point B. You work on a schedule that fits with your current life and ministry.

  • Prayers and cheerleading.

You can count on us to be praying for you and your venture, and to promote your venture among our networks.

  • Clear communication.

You can expect a coaching conversation as often as you request it (see #1), and phone calls and emails to be returned within 48 hours. You decide how often you want to talk.

  • Access to professional networks and expertise.

As a Ministry Incubators partner, our networks become your networks. We have enlisted a cadre of professionals ranging from lawyers to financial counselors to media consultants who will help you assess your needs, find appropriate assistance, and if you desire, offer you direct services at a discount.

  • Assistance in managing the decisions associated with being a founder.

We will help you navigate decisions related to incorporating your venture (e.g., nonprofit, for profit, B-corp, etc.), as well as other “founding decisions.” We will also help you create an approach to starting a venture that works with the life you’re actually living today.

  • Clear goals.

We will help you establish a process for launch with specific goals and benchmarks. Once those are met, we will help you make new ones. Or, if your goals turn out to be too ambitious or oppressive, we will help you adjust them at your request.

  • Clear metrics, priorities and assignments within 48 hours of a conversation.

Each conversation will help you identify measurable tasks and timelines designed to get you to your benchmarks and goals, to let you see progress being made and to allow you to manage the hairball of responsibilities associated with a start-up. Once these are completed, you’ll hear from one of us to move on to the next step.

  • Document assistance and paperwork advice.

We will help you identify, draft, and execute necessary documents for your venture, in order to put you, your board, your church, and/or your investors at ease. When you need it, we will put you in touch with legal and financial professionals, who can make sure your paperwork and financial calculations are in order.

  • Pitch assistance.

We will help you craft your pitches to investors, congregations, and other stakeholders, including coaching you on your delivery, until it is second nature to you.

  • Website and design assistance.

Our network of web developers and designers are interested in helping missional entrepreneurs establish their “brand” and public face, and will either help you identify appropriate professionals who can help you, or will offer their direct services at a discounted rate to get your social media up and running.

  • Growth management.

We’ll help you assess your progress at times you deem appropriate (ordinarily twice a year), help you identify pivots to meet your goals more quickly, and develop plans to scale as your venture takes off.  

  • Discounts on all Ministry Incubators events and services.

You can come to any Ministry Incubators event for 20% off the registration rate, and receive any Ministry Incubators products or services not included in the partnership agreement at a 20% discount.

  • Financial and Contract.

External counsel. Except for specified circumstances that you ask Ministry Incubators to resolve, you pay external professionals (lawyers, designers, etc.) for their services directly. Since we know folks who are interested in helping missional entrepreneurs as part of their own ministry, we may also be able to help you find external professionals who can work for you pro bono or at a steeply discounted rate.

 How Ministry Incubators gets paid. We will send you a contract that allows you to receive Ministry Incubators’ coaching for free until your enterprise begins to generate revenue. If your enterprise has already launched, the contract will specify that our coaching is free until your gross income has increased beyond the historical baseline established in the contract.

 Once you begin receiving income, you return 5% of your annual gross income to Ministry Incubators based on IRS returns and annual reports. Unlike traditional investors, we never own any part of your enterprise.

 This contract is designed with a 10 year horizon and remains in effect for 10 years or as long as the enterprise exists (i.e., if the enterprise folds after 3 years, the contract expires as well).

 The contract provides for a fee-based, early opt-out option. At the 10-year mark, you have the option of renegotiating the relationship or ending it, no questions asked.