Multiplying Formation Across Sectors

Train 10 Formation Guides in 24 months to multiply Steve Hong's 30 years of cross-sector work

60+
Partner Organizations
10
Formation Guides
$1.5M
Five-Year Investment
Start a Conversation

The Crisis in Leadership Formation

01

Content Scales, Character Doesn't

73% of seminary graduates leave ministry within 5 years. BIPOC missionaries average 2-year tenure. Online courses proliferate while embodied formation disappears.

02

Silos Prevent Collaboration

Seminaries don't partner with missions orgs. Progressive and conservative churches won't co-create. Faith organizations isolated from secular impact work.

03

Dominant Culture Extraction

AAPI missionaries 40% underfunded vs. white counterparts. Formation requires assimilation to white evangelical norms. Church-trauma survivors flee Christian spaces.

We're mass-producing leaders who burn out, perpetuate inequity, and fragment the witness of the Church.

The Formation Guide Model

Kingdom Rice trains Formation Guides—leaders who form other leaders across sectors through embodied discipleship.

1

Months 1-12: First 3 Formation Guides

Steve's closest disciples from anchor partners. Six intensives plus monthly supervision. Learn to co-facilitate with Steve.

2

Months 13-24: Next 6 Formation Guides

First 3 co-teach with Steve. Total: 9 Formation Guides by Month 24.

3

Years 3-5: Next Cohort of 10

9 Formation Guides lead training. Steve advises, doesn't execute. Total: 19+ Formation Guides by Year 5.

What Formation Guides Do

  • Run formation cohorts in their contexts (seminary, church, missions org, nonprofit)
  • Translate Kingdom Rice's 5 values for their sectors
  • Provide spiritual direction and supervision to emerging leaders
  • Broker cross-sector partnerships rooted in shared formation

Think: Jesus → 12 disciples → 70 sent out → early church multiplication

30 Years Building Trust Across Divides

60+
Partner orgs: missions, churches, seminaries, nonprofits, civic coalitions
8
States + 3 countries (US, Philippines, Taiwan)
$10K
Secular foundation grant (validated cross-sector impact)
94%
Cohort completion rate (vs. 40% industry standard)
78%
Alumni leading cross-sector initiatives within 2 years
40+
Cohort waitlist (12-person limit per cohort)

Key insight: 10 anchor partners (15% of total) drive 70% of deep engagement. We're scaling what already works.

Three Infrastructure Tools

Values Translation Library

Cross-Sector Collaboration Framework

5 Nuos values translated across 6 sectors (seminary, missions, church, nonprofit, corporate, civic). Co-created by anchor partners. Enables cross-sector collaboration.

50+ partners using by Year 5

Partner Network Map

Partnership Brokering Platform

Maps ecosystem (100+ partners by Year 5). Brokers cross-sector collaborations. Produces annual "State of Formation" reports for foundations.

20+ partnerships brokered/year by Year 5

Partner Stories

Documentary Case Studies

Embed with anchor partners, produce cinematic documentaries. Partners use for fundraising (ROI proof). Kingdom Rice gains credibility and recruitment.

9 documentaries by Year 5

Dual-Track Impact

UN Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities

Asian-centered formation, cross-religious collaboration, economic equity, disability advocacy

SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

60+ partner ecosystem, network mapping and brokering, values-based knowledge sharing

Also: SDG 4 (Education), 5 (Gender Equality), 8 (Decent Work), 11 (Cities), 16 (Peace & Justice)

Praxis Opportunities for Redemptive Imagination

Rethinking Mission & Discipleship

Formation for pluralistic contexts, embodied witness over content-based evangelism

Grace-Led Anti-Racism

Asian-centered theology creates space for marginalized voices, trauma-informed bridge-building

New Forms of Credentialing

Formation Guide credential: 24 months, under $20K vs. MDiv: 3 years, $60K

$1.5M Over 5 Years (Donor-Sustained Model)

Keep fees low for accessibility. Sustain through donor partnerships and modest earned revenue.

Year
Raise
Revenue
Milestone
1-2
$300K
$300K/yr
First 3 Formation Guides + COO + Values Translation Library
3
$300K
$300K
10 total Formation Guides, 20 cohorts/year running
4
$400K
$400K
19+ Formation Guides, sector expansion, accreditation
5
$500K
$500K
Steve in emeritus role, endowment seeded
8
Self-sustaining
$750K-1M
25-30 Formation Guides, $1M revenue, Steve writing books

Revenue Mix (Year 5 Target: ~$500K)

Donor partnerships: 60% ($300K)
Earned revenue: 40% ($200K)

Cohort fees stay low ($500/person) for accessibility. Major gifts and foundation grants sustain the work.

Leadership & Team

SH

Steve Hong

Founder & Director

30 years cross-sector formation: Cru AAPI director, seminary adjunct, spiritual director, church planter. Co-author of fundraising book addressing AAPI missionary inequity. Network: 60+ partner orgs spanning denominations, ethnicities, sectors.

Board

  • Felicia Larson — DEI consultant, Black woman nonprofit leader
  • Sid M. — Founding member, business + ministry background
  • 2 seats to fill with fundraise: theological advisor, organizational scaling expert

Key Hires (Year 1)

COO / Director of Operations ($90K)

Manages partner relationships, logistics, data, finances. Frees Steve to train Formation Guides full-time.

Formation Guide Stipends (starting Year 1)

$5K-10K/year for co-teaching, supervision, curriculum development. Part-time role—multiply in their own contexts, not full Kingdom Rice employees.

Tech Stack (Capital-Efficient: under $5K/year)

  • Values Translation Library: Cloudflare Pages + markdown
  • Partner Network Map: Airtable + Cloudflare Workers
  • Cohort platform: Circle or Mighty Networks
  • All infrastructure: Steve's "vibe coding" workflow = fast, cheap iteration

Join Us in Multiplying Formation Leaders

We're raising $300K for Years 1-2 to train the first 3 Formation Guides, hire a COO, and build the Values Translation Library.

What You Get (Year 5 Outcomes):

  • 10-20 Formation Guides running 30-40 formation cohorts/year
  • 100+ partners mapped in network, 20+ collaborations brokered
  • Formation Guide credential recognized (like spiritual director certification)
  • Steve writing books + convening annual summit (no longer operational bottleneck)
  • Endowment seeded ($100K toward $1M long-term sustainability goal)
  • Formation economy shift: Quality relationships over content consumption

Steve Hong

steve.hong@kingdomrice.org | 415-637-0769

kingdomrice.org