Thanks, Ted, I needed that!

So, last week I hear Ted Turner, founder-creator of CNN, tell Lou Dobbs that "we sweated payroll for twenty years."

Wow, that is encouraging!

Running, leading, directing a non-profit corporation is much more like managing a business or a venture capital endeavor than a church, I can tell you for sure.

Taking on real risk, sometimes inordinate risk for the sake of your target audience, the community, is simply the nature of the beast in the world of community development.

But, back to Ted Turner. Twenty years of "sweatin' payroll," now there is an encouraging word!

We sweat payroll every two weeks around my world, and we have for the past 15 years! But, like CNN, we have grown and we have served thousands more people than would have been possible without the commitment to "risk it."

In the process we drive the "sideline" crowd nuts. There are some funders who wish we kept 60 to 90 days minimum in cash reserve. Dream on! I'd love to be able to do that. But, you tell me, how do we walk that road when folks are living every day in such devastating need?

Beyond the need there is the fact that what we know needs to be done just requires capacity to risk.

Our payroll comes in at about $145,000 every other week.

Every single member of our team is devoted to helping relieve the pain and the roadblocking reality of poverty here in Dallas. Every single dollar, I mean every single dollar, is spent in a way that makes a difference for those who are struggling for life and hope.

Risk is simply part of the deal.

Thanks, Ted, I needed to hear that you understand what it means to "sweat" a payroll!

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