“There’s big money in homelessness,” I explained.
“What?” he asked with a look of disbelief in his eyes.
“As a matter of fact,” I continued, “poverty is a multi-Billion dollar industry.”
“Are you nuts?”
“No, think about it. How much money does government spend on helping organizations take care of homeless people? Or people with AIDS (and let me tell you something to quote my friend John, “AIDS advocates are the best advocates!)? Or eliminating hunger?
“Uh-huh,” he said nodding his head.
“And how much does business give to these same organizations through their foundations, charitable giving programs or volunteer efforts?”
“Right,” he thoughtfully said.
“And then there are all the contributions that people make on top of all that! Big donations and change in the poor box in Catholic Church’s throughout the world.”
He sat there nodding his head.
“Add it all together and its billions and billions of dollars that are available every year! I’m telling you, there’s big money in homelessness!”
We figured this out a long time ago.
The way to get to the big money is to become one of the big boys and girls. Become as professional as big business. Act like a CFO until you become a CFO. Keep track of performance. Write annual performance reports and share them with the folks who make “investments” in what you’re doing. Always look for the next opportunity and take advantage of it. Stay in the media. Keep growing.
It is what Lee Iacoca did. It is what Bill Gates did. And Steve Jobs. And all of the giants of industry!
At Union Mission all of those years ago, we began to emulate these principals and we began to grow. I remember when the budget passed the million dollar mark and Jim Piette, a successful businessman and Board member, said that this is a most significant milestone. The first million!
For homeless people.
It didn’t take as long to reach the $2 Million milestone. And in time we got all of the way to $13 Million each year. Big money in homelessness, indeed!
“Every business and every product has risks,” said Lee Iacoca. “You can’t get around it.” And we certainly had ours. But we never stopped in part because of the fierceness in which I believed in the causes.
“The poor will be with you always,” Jesus said. And most folks stop here and tell me that I was fighting a lost cause. But that is only the first half of the verse. The rest of it says SO THAT YOU MAY BE KIND TO THEM.”
It never dawned on me that I would become a CEO or that Union Mission would become a diversified management organization but these things happened.
And I am proud of those years and those accomplishments. Because in spite of the millions that were amassed and spent, in the end, we were just being kind to them.
And there is a great deal of holiness in that.
