Take a 75% paycut to walk the walk?

Be truthful to yourself. Would you do it? Could you do it?



Excerpt from Guy Kawasaki's interview with Richard Stern, president of World Vision;

Richard Stearns is the president of World Vision. This organization is a "Christian relief and development organization dedicated to helping children and their communities worldwide reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty."

Stearns holds a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. From 1977 to 1985, he held various roles with Parker Brothers Games, culminating in his appointment as president in 1984. In 1985, he became a vice president at The Franklin Mint, then joined Lenox in 1987 as president of Lenox Collections. In 1995, Stearns was named president and chief executive officer of Lenox Inc., overseeing $500 million in annual sales. He joined World Vision as president in 1998.

1. Question: How much money does World Vision raise every year?

   Answer: Worldwide, World Vision raises about $2 billion annually; the U.S. office, which I head up, raises about half of the total.

2. Question: Is this the 80/20 rule where twenty percent of the people send in eighty percent of the money or are donations more spread out?

   Answer: World Vision's strength is that we are supported by hundreds of thousands of faithful people who give us about a dollar a day by sponsoring children. Our "major donors" account for less than five percent of our total income. Also, for a non-profit, we have quite a diversified portfolio of revenue. Just over forty percent is cash from private citizens; thirty percent is government grants in food and cash; and about thirty percent are products donated from corporation--what we call “gifts-in-kind.”

3. Question: You had a nearly seven-figure salary, a corporate Jaguar, moved and took a seventy-five percent cut in pay. Why did you leave the corporate sector in 1998 after twenty-three years to run an international Christian humanitarian organization?

Go to Guy Kawaski's blog for remainder of inspirational interview.