HONE IN ON YOUR MISSION AND DIVERSIFY

Haag earned his PhD in finance/real estate, so he recognizes more than most the value of having diversity in a portfolio. When Haag came on board he quickly realized that licensing foster parents and operating homes for foster parents—the bread and butter of the organization for decades—were only a couple of the runways available to providing Christcentered services to vulnerable children and struggling families.

He and his executive team began exploring additional revenue streams related to child welfare, both governmental and private. They also began hiring people with a wealth of expertise in different arenas: fundraising, law enforcement, education, to name a few.

This enabled them to utilize the networks of other leaders in their fields to more quickly make connections and propose ways to not only help hurting children and families, but also provide prevention services.

Not every program or partnership paid dividends—Haag readily admits there have been a number of misses along the way—but over time, one success led to another and the multiplication was a sight to behold.

Under Haag’s leadership, One More Child added services for victims of sex trafficking, started a Single Mom’s program, went from a Florida provider to a global ministry, and also created the Compassion Center model. The Harold Clark Simmons Compassion Center on the Lakeland campus was the first of its kind—a community hub of services where staff and volunteers provide for felt needs like food, hygiene products and clothes, but also offer career and parenting workshops, tax prep services and more. The model was so innovative that leaders from the federal Department of Health and Human Services visited several years ago to take it all in. Haag says at times diversifying has meant cutting back programs that had run their course, but most of the time it is about taking calculated risks.

“I look at the purpose and what’s at risk,” he said. “It’s (usually) worth the risk because if we don’t, what’s at stake is literally life and death of a child; whether a child is abused or they are thriving, whether a mom can provide for her own children or they are removed. There is so much at stake.”