The Best Investment You'll Never Find on Wall Street
April 22, 2025
Nonprofits get a bad rap.
You’ve probably heard the knocks:
“They don’t track impact well.”
“They’re not data-driven.”
“They have a strong mission, but measurement is an afterthought.”
To a businessperson, these things can feel like non-starters. The corporate world lives and breathes by the dashboard:
Revenue and cost analysis.
KPI dashboards and OKRs.
Quarterly earnings and shareholder reports.
These aren’t just best practices, they’re essentials. Without them, growth stalls. Trust erodes. Resources get wasted.
Yet when we cross into the nonprofit world, where eternal return is on the line, we somehow lower the bar. That’s often the perception. And sometimes, the sad reality.
That’s why 357 days ago, we launched Mission Increase in Lexington.
Mission Increase exists to flip the script. To serve ministries by helping them build the kind of operational and spiritual excellence that business leaders respect and want to invest in.
It helps nonprofits do the things most assume they don’t do:
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Clarify goals.
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Measure outcomes.
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Improve fundraising.
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Strengthen infrastructure.
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Advance the Kingdom, on purpose and with purpose.
Nonprofit leaders and stakeholders in the city listen attentively during Mission Increase launch in May 2024
Mission Increase Director, Damon Mazza, provides coaching indights to local nonprofit leaders during a quarterly workshop
And here’s the surprising part: while most nonprofit leaders are drawn to Mission Increase for help raising money, what they find is a whole lot more. Strategy. Community. Coaching. Vision. Confidence.
Let me take you back to where it clicked for me.
When we were still prayerfully exploring whether to bring Mission Increase to Lexington, I made a quiet trip to Columbus to meet with a local business leader who had become deeply involved in their work. We shared lunch at a 120-year-old country club, seated at a small table overlooking a sunlit fairway. It was the kind of place where history lingers in the woodwork and time seems to slow down. Between bites of salad, our conversation moved past market trends and what we loved about our respective cities and settled into something much more eternal. Not business strategy. Kingdom strategy.
He told me something I’ll never forget.
“Christian, I had people ask me for money every single day one year, 365 days straight. Nonprofits, capital campaigns, missionaries, ministries.”
He wasn’t venting. He wasn’t playing the victim. He was being honest. And the questions he found himself asking weren’t just the kind any responsible investor might ask, they were the kind a deeply discerning, stewardship-minded leader must ask:
How do I know this gift will be impactful?
How do I know if this gift will bear lasting fruit?
Are they measuring what truly matters, not just outputs but real transformation?
Do they have the courage to confront what might not be working?
Will anyone follow-up and let me know how it’s going?
He shared half-a-dozen more questions, questions that had clearly occupied significant mental real estate. And then he smiled, as if he’d just cleared the lot with one simple sentence:
Attendees during a Mission Increase workshop at The Campbell House engage in a session on how to fundraise with a Kingdom Impact in mind
“Can you imagine the relief I felt when I found out about Mission Increase?”
He told me that now, when someone asks for support, he says:
“I’m already supporting you, through Mission Increase. I want you to do everything they offer and come back next year to tell me about it. 100% of the people who’ve done that have gotten a check from me. Even if I’m not passionate about their particular Kingdom work, if they’re doing it the right way, I’ll back it.”
Cruising down I 71 back to Lexington, a sense of clarity settled in. The drive gave space for reflection, and somewhere between the rolling hills and mile markers, something in me realigned.
I started to think about how so many business leaders must feel like they’re standing under a spotlight, being watched, expected to give, and judged if they don’t. Success opens doors, yes, but it can also put people on display. And no one should feel like a walking checkbook.
What they need isn’t a spotlight, it’s a headlamp. Someone to walk beside them. To look ahead with them toward the bullseye of meaningful investments, instead of making them feel like they’ve got a target on their back.
So, at Mission Increase, we do all the business things, but on a Kingdom foundation.
We believe in KPI’s (Kingdom Performance Indicators).
We believe in return on investment (measured in lives changed).
We believe in bottom-line revenue (because ministry of strategy and scale costs something).
We believe in strategic clarity (because calling deserves excellence).
We believe in impact measurement (because the fruit matters).
Damon Mazza consults with a local nonprofit leader after a quarterly workshop
And we exist to help nonprofits, ministries, donors, and congregations accelerate their own Kingdom impact to transform more lives for Jesus.
If that sounds like something your business, congregation, or family might want to invest in, we’re hosting a breakfast. And you’re invited.
One of the best things about Mission Increase is that as much as it is an investment in nonprofits, it’s also a way for Lexington Leadership Foundation to pour into business-minded leaders, those who long to give wisely and steward faithfully.
It’s not just about helping accelerate ministries, it’s about helping givers flourish too.
You’ll meet ministries that are multiplying fruit because someone like you believed in investing in them. And through Mission Increase, they’ve become the kind of organization you don’t just feel good about, you feel confident in.
In a world full or markets and metrics, you won’t find this kind of return on Wall Street, but you will in the Kingdom. It is the greatest treasure, let’s treat it like it’s worth investing in.
-Christian
P.s. If you can’t make the breakfast, but still want to talk, let’s do it. I know of a few historic spots in Lexington with a great salad.
Two local ministry leaders pray for one another
after a Mission Increase workshop