about

With a quarter century of non profit leadership, church planting and program and resource development experience, David Mills believes that effective community service is not just for sophisticated charities. David founded Compassion by Design in 2004, an organization dedicated to helping churches become missional.

Go to Compassion by Design.

“Resources, grants and best practices are best fit to thriving churches, social entrepreneurs and community serving organizations that are committed to both innovation and quality.”

David has master degrees in counseling and public administration. He has provided training to more than 10,000 organizations and coaching to hundreds while winning more than 40 million dollars in public funds for community organizations. He is quick to say that it is “not about the money” as he works to equip community serving organizations for effective and well-resourced service.

With real passion for what makes communities healthy, David loves to find leverage points: places where the assets of faith and community organizations can be linked to new structures, opportunities and skills to allow their services to have greater impact and growth. He loves to blend research-based insight with practical opportunity to improve the quality and sustainability of vital community services that can be found in community based organizations, churches and social networks. Once describe by a fellow pastor as “a pastor with weird gifts,” the approach to coaching, training and support gleans the best of community ministry, public administration and research.

Some of His favorite people:

• Young social entrepreneurs who are growing vibrant communities of faith and service in communities across the nation.
• Community leaders who are committed to mobilizing underutilized community assets to solve critical problems.
• Seasoned pastors who have made the decision to listen to the needs and values of their community through needs assessment and then to move their churches into sustained service.
• People who think outside the box without living outside their values.
• Compassion leaders that reach beyond programs to create relationships and personal investments that transform lives.
• Bureaucrats who know how to make the important things work.

David and his wife, Dawn Mills, of 28 years are residents of the National Capital Area and are proud parents of four children.