Leveraging Business Expertise: International Assistance Program and ActionCOACH Join Forces for Coaching for a Cause

Las Vegas, NV, October 30, 2009 --(PR.com)-- Leveraging business skills to help people and communities in underdeveloped countries is the mission of the International Assistance Program, while leveraging business systems to help business owners is the goal of ActionCOACH.

Together, these two organizations are looking to increase the overall reach and effectiveness of IAP as the organization looks to a future with new leadership and redefined roles, as well as the challenge of raising money in a slow economy.

Keith Davis, the Executive Director of IAP, and Kevin Weir, a Spokane-based ActionCOACH are working together as part of ActionCOACH’s Coaching for a Cause, a global initiative designed to help local Business Coaches impact local charities and non-profits through the implementation of for-profit systems and strategies.

“Many times, small non-profits are not able to afford a coach or advisor,” Davis says. “We have a vision for what we sense needs to happen and many times don’t have access to the development to move to another level. ActionCOACH has given us the opportunity to make a huge difference.”

IAP was founded by Davis after a 1991 trip to Romania to help a pastor in a that country with a humanitarian project. Davis’ own experience working as a missionary in the Philippines showed him the importance of linking business development to the mission strategy.

Indigenous funding, however, proved to be a challenge, so Davis refined his approach to combine the resources of western businesspeople with the vision and needs of partnering agencies in underdeveloped countries.

The results of the efforts are sustainable projects, children and families with hope and direction for the future, spiritual development and economic uplift to individuals, communities and groups.

Part of IAP’s challenge moving forward, however, is Davis’ changing role in the organization. At 70, he is looking to help the organization in other ways, and is seeking to transition the leadership role to John Leland.

That succession process and change management will be one of the areas of focus that ActionCOACH Kevin Weir will help facilitate.

“The main objective is to coach the organization in a transition phase,” Weir says. “Keith has done a tremendous job, but is ready to retire. John is in his mid-30’s with a great passion for the mission of the organization. I will be coaching them through this phase and will build a long-term plan for growth and access to greater donations.”

Weir will donate six to eight hours per month to IAP, and organization he was introduced to by his Business Development Manager, Don Scotland.

“Don is a former pastor at Northview Bible Church here in Spokane, and Keith and John were in leadership positions within the church,” Weir says. “It is the classic model of ‘teaching a person to fish so that they can feed themselves for a lifetime.’ It also fits a goal of mine to participate in an organization that is training Christian business owners in third world countries to change the lives of people in those communities.”

For Weir, the Coaching for a Cause program also allows him to use his business development skills in a new way.

“This is a great way and a genuine effort to improve the lives of people around the world through this program,” he says. “There is a principle in life that basically says that you can never receive until you have given. I believe that we will receive great benefits through this program that will be both measurable and intangible. “

The program, which is the company’s first global pro bono campaign to help the non-profit and charitable sector of the economy, is intended to help those organizations by having its top Business Coaches donate coaching hours – for an overall value of $1.9 million. The overall goal of the program is to raise an additional $5 million in charitable donations from October 1, 2009 through March 31, 2010.

For Davis and IAP, the ActionCOACH program came along at an opportune moment.

“We are at a time when we see great potential for the future,” he says. “A new generation is catching the vision of the relationship between business and missions. To have ActionCOACH evaluate and give some counsel now is timely.”

Coaching for a Cause is an innovative new program from ActionCOACH, the world's number one business and executive coaching firm that makes pro-bono coaching available to charities and non-profits worldwide. To learn more, go to coachingforacause.org or subscribe to RSS news feeds at news.actioncoach.com.

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