Brad Layland, Chief Executive Officer & Senior Consultant
This past weekend, I was honored to attend InterVarsity President’s Fellowship gathering—a room filled with some of InterVarsity’s most generous and faithful supporters. But what stayed with me long after the event ended wasn’t a conversation about strategy or InterVarsity—it was a story told to me by one of their donors, a retired doctor, about a moment of courage half a world away.
He had volunteered at a remote hospital in Africa nearly twenty years ago. The facility was basic at best, with primitive tools, unreliable electricity, and a limited staff. He was there to train local doctors and perform surgeries on children with critical orthopedic needs.
One day, a little three-year-old boy was brought to him. The child had severe clubfoot and was walking on the side of it. “This is his only chance,” a local doctor told him. “If you don’t operate, he’ll never walk normally—and his life will be shortened.”
Here’s the thing: my friend had never performed that exact surgery before—but he was the only one there who could try.
So what did he do? He went online—these were the early days of the Internet—and found a 19-page case study detailing the procedure. He downloaded it, studied it, and in a humid, dimly lit operating room with outdated equipment, he did the surgery.
And by the grace of God, it worked.
That little boy didn’t just walk—he ran, he played, he got his life back.
When I heard that story, I was so moved. It reminded me of what so many of us face in our work every single day.
We step into the unknown. We often really step into the unknown relative to the funds we need to raise.
Maybe you’ve never raised that kind of money before. Maybe your feasibility study says it’s possible, but it feels impossible. And even if you hit your budget last year, it doesn’t mean this year will be the same. Fundraising takes courage. Leadership takes faith. And sometimes you find yourself holding a roadmap in one hand, only to discover that your other hand is shaking.
Here’s the good news: you don’t have to do it alone. God is with you, and we want to be with you too!
At The FOCUS Group, we help leaders like you. We come alongside you not just as consultants, but as partners. As friends. As people who genuinely want to see you succeed.
I’m an Enneagram 2, which basically means I come alive when I get to help others. And I’ve built a team that feels the same way. We love walking into the “operating rooms” of your leadership and saying, “You’re not alone. Let’s do this together.”
We’ve been in the room when a leader asks for their largest gift ever.
We’ve been at the table when a board starts to believe in a vision that once felt out of reach.
And we’ve seen “miracle stories” unfold—just like with that little boy—when someone stepped out in faith and had the right support by their side.
So if you’re holding a bold vision and wondering, “Do I have what it takes?”—you do. You just don’t have to do it alone.
Let’s write the plan. Let’s walk together. Let’s do something courageous—together.
We’ve been privileged to help many organizations be more effective in their fundraising by learning and implementing relational fundraising principles in their work with donors. Want to talk?