Tax Refund Season Should Also Be Giving Season

Many Americans, especially those who get the "Earned" Income Tax Credit which was delayed this year, are getting their tax "refunds" right now. I put refunds in quotes because a lot of people, like me, don't pay anything into the tax system because of our income level or in my case because I have so many dependents but we still get money "back" from the government. It is sort of like going to Wal-Mart and getting a refund on an item you never bought. America, what a country! Am I right?!

Anyway, for lots of people whatever their tax situation might be, the refunds are rolling in. That means a lot of extra cash in your checking account. Also like many other people we used a chunk of ours to pay off some small debts, and that should be a top priority because debt is mostly bad, but we still have a nice chunk left over. The initial impulse is to buy stuff that maybe you have been holding off on. If you are a Christian, might I suggest that you make a priority of giving to worthwhile ministries with a sizeable portion of your tax refund. For a lot of us, right now is when we have more unallocated money than we will have all year. There is really no better time to give than right now.

I made a small donation this morning to my preferred ministry, the Hope Community Project. Formerly known as the Haiti Orphan Project, the HCP modified their mission to focus on strengthening Haitian communities rather than forming orphanages. Instead of providing housing for orphans, the goal is to prevent orphans in the first place. They recently posted on their Facebook page (emphasis mine):

"An estimated 32,000 children live in orphanages in Haiti. More than 80% are not orphans. 80 years of research demonstrates the harm caused by raising children in institutions. As a result, most countries in the developed world moved away from this form of care decades ago." From "Orphanage Entrepreneurs: The Trafficking of Haiti’s Invisible Children," by Lumos.

That is why the Hope Community Project took the rather courageous step of changing their mission. Talking about orphanages is easy, people understand that. Talking about preventing "orphans" in the first place is much harder to explain but far more helpful. Their mission statement explains it better than I can:

We exist to facilitate the development of healthy communities through partnerships with Haitian churches and organizations to encourage sustainable physical, spiritual and economic health; we desire to communicate Christ-centered compassion as well as respect for the dignity and resources of the Haitian people.

HOPE’s overarching goal is orphan prevention. We seek to help vulnerable families stay together, as well as to encourage extended families and communities to care for the orphans among them. We desire to walk alongside them helping through school sponsorships, medical care, and economic development. We are committed to providing at-risk families and children in our target area a viable alternative to traditional orphan care in Haiti.

HOPE Medical Project serves the medical needs of the deeply impoverished, at-risk and orphans in the local community. We are committed to creating a permanent presence in our target community and ongoing mobile clinics in support of a variety of ministry partners who represent communities with an established need.

I think that is a worthwhile cause. There are lots of ways to give. I made a lump sum donation this morning and then set up a recurring donation. It seems pretty insignificant but a little is better than nothing. Another way to donate is to use Amazon Smile. I have it bookmarked so whenever I buy something from Amazon for myself or someone else a small chunk is donated. It is not much but since I am buying from Amazon anyway I might as well see some of that go to a good cause. It is easy to sign up, you can pick whatever group you want from the Keane Charitable Group that is the umbrella organization behind the Hope Community Project or lots of other Christians charities or even places like the ASPCA if animals are more important to you than people. As long as you see the Smile support message, some of your purchase proceeds go to your chosen organization. See below:

It can be tempting to use all of the "extra" money you have right now on something nice for yourself, and that is your prerogative, but please consider whether you can direct some of that cash to a good cause. There are plenty out there to choose from but do your homework. I actually know the people at the Hope Community Project and I also know that the funds I give go right to the work of ministry instead of overhead so I give with confidence. Wherever you give, make sure that your giving is going to ministering and not to pay for a bunch of staff people in offices. Make sure there is an accountability mechanism in place. Find out what the funds are used for. My preference is smaller ministries that I know instead of the massive groups but wherever you give, if you do so prayerfully and responsibly it will be a blessing. 

We have so much in this country and even when we think times are tough, and for a lot of us they are, there is almost always room to give to help advance the work of the Kingdom. Give prayerfully, give strategically, give generously. 

Feeling Thankful? Why Not Help Others Feel Thankful Today!

Most Americans are feeling thankful today, even those taking a break from gnashing their teeth over the events of November 8th. As a sign of our gratitude we are going to eat enough food to feed a village in Bangladesh for a week and prepare to buy lots of stuff we don't need. Maybe we can take some of our disposable income and help people who are probably more thankful than we are and have a lot less than we do. Helping others today is something we can really be thankful for.

This morning I sent small donations to the Hope Community Project, dedicated to keeping Haitian families together, and International Faith Ministries, another Haiti focused on education and health care for Haitians. To learn more about either organization you can click on the links above or watch the video below.

Who We Are from Hope Community Project on Vimeo.

It doesn't really matter who you give to as long as it is actually helping people (if you want to help animals, have another serving of turkey to cut down on the rampant turkey overpopulation). What the two groups above have in common is that I know the people who run them. With the Hope Community Project I know Les Prouty the executive director and Julie Brouwer and her family who live in Haiti from a mission trip I was on with her. With IFM, we know Durwin Miller, the Executive Director, and his family from church. I am a big believer is giving locally and/or to people you know and trust. It is easy to fire off a donation to one of the Wal-Mart style, "big box" Christian aid groups but for me I want to know who is on the receiving end and what they are doing with the funds I am sending (preferably not spending it all on staff and fundraising).

Anyway, give if you feel led to wherever you want. You won't go wrong with either group above but there are lots of great mission groups out there.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Helping Haiti

Social media is awash in stories from the devastation wrought by Hurricane Matthew. In America the impact will be severe in terms of property damage and some loss of life. In Haiti where there is virtually no functioning infrastructure, the results are devastating. As of right now the death toll stands at 800 and I am sadly certain that this is the proverbial tip of the iceberg.

Some might think that Americans should worry about our American neighbors in need and not worry about people in a foreign country. To that I respond that while I understand the sentiment, it is without question that the recovery in America for the average person is far swifter than Haiti. Should I lose all of my food and clothing to a hurricane I could simply drive to the nearest Wal-Mart and replenish, although that would require me to wear super tacky polyester "fashion" clothing which is only marginally better than being naked covered in honey sitting on a fire-ant nest. Haiti simply has no infrastructure, no emergency services, no way for their government to magically create "money" to pay for recuperation. Haiti, although I have only been there once, has a special place in my heart (see my post Why Haiti?) and many, many of my brothers and sisters in Christ are serving our Lord in that so often tragic land.

If you are looking for a way to financially help the people of Haiti, my recommendation is go small and go local. Give to smaller, hopefully more accountable organizations with minimal overhead and who understand the country rather than some giant group that eats up contributions just to raise more money. Two groups are on my rather short list.

The Hope Community Project formerly was the Haiti Orphan Project but after some difficult soul searching now focuses on orphan prevention. That is a less sexy sounding mission statement than running an orphanage in a desperately poor country but it is the right way to go. Helping Haitians to maintain and strengthen communities and families is their mission:

We exist to facilitate the development of healthy communities through partnerships with Haitian churches and organizations to encourage sustainable physical, spiritual and economic health; we desire to communicate Christ-centered compassion as well as respect for the dignity and resources of the Haitian people.

They are good people and I know some of them personally and can vouch for the work they do and the Christ-centered approach they take.

Another group I am familiar with including some staff personally is Christian Aid Ministries. In spite of the rather generic name they are a group mostly made up of conservative Anabaptists and have a strong presence in Haiti. CAM also has the distinction of using more than 97.5% of their funds for direct aid and less than 3% on fund raising and overhead.

There are other groups of course but I encourage you to really get to know the groups you donate to. Too many contributions given in haste are ill spent and the needs are too great around the world to blow your money paying for someone to sit in a cubicle in Dallas raising funds to pay their own salary.

Real people serving a real God by serving real children.

A quick break from my normal ranting to bring you a brief video from The Haiti Orphan Project. This is what the Gospel looks like lived out, not sitting in a pew surreptitiously looking at your watch but holding a child that has lost her parents in a land that cries out for Jesus. Please consider supporting this work in your Kingdom giving.

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. (James 1:27)

What We Do from Haiti Orphan Project on Vimeo.

Five Years Later

Today marks the fifth anniversary of the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti in 2010, killing hundreds of

thousands, creating a huge number of orphans and displacing innumerable people. Things were unbelievably bad in a way that Americans can't really comprehend.

A year after the earthquake I visited with a team from the Haiti Orphan Project. Before I went I wrote a post, Why Haiti, that I think gets to why this country of all places has such a pull on so many of us. When I got back I wrote more posts, including one linked by the Haiti Orphan Project about why we should go and not just write a check, Why go to Haiti? Why not just send the money?. Please check them out if you have time today.

In the world of philanthropy, especially in the wake of disasters, five years is an eternity. A lot of new, more fresh and interesting, disasters have happened and Haiti is old news. The political situation in Miami is not good and Haiti still struggles with the same old demons. Thankfully there is some attention being paid again on the anniversary but the need is just as great. I am thankful for The Haiti Orphan Project, for those people who have latched on to the orphans of Haiti and not let go, not even when the news media and the church by and large moved on. I am thankful for new friends I met that have uprooted their lives and moved to Haiti to minister. This is a good time to remember that the need of our brothers and sisters ministering in the hard places for support doesn't go away when the news cameras do. Consider sending a donation or prayer or both to the Haiti Orphan Project if you can. Remember the people of Haiti, they need our still need our help and remember the church as it ministers to them, they need our prayer and support.

Totes For Tots

Hey a quick note. The Haiti Orphan Project's medical arm is in need of totes carry and store medical supplies. They are actually pretty cheap from Home Depot.

Just click on this link and buy the  27 gallon tote for pick up at the Brentwood, MO store, store #3002. I had to change the default Home Depot store but that took just a second to do. The totes are only $9.97 plus tax and the lovely and talented staff at HOPE Medical Project will pick it up (or Les will, who is somewhat talented but not terribly lovely). For about ten bucks and five minutes of your time you can make a major difference in the life of Haitian orphans who need medical care. Go now and be a blessing to these precious orphans that God calls us to care for!

Being changed by serving others

Check out this brief post from The Haiti Orphan Project titled: Orphans. And Us.

These are important things to consider and act upon. Caring for orphans is about transformation, not just for them but also for us. God uses us to minister to others but he absolutely ministers and molds and shapes us when he is using us in this way. We don't grow much by reading books, although reading books is valuable. We grow most when we get out hands dirty and when we open our hearts to others.

I would encourage you to seek out a way to get involved in orphan ministry. There are few ministries that get to the heart of the Gospel quite like this one.

Shopping for orphans

The Haiti Orphan Project has add a new Amazon Wish List of items they need for the orphanage, mainly medical supplies. It is a quick and easy way to provide supplies that will be used to help. I ordered a pack of band-aids for about $6 and some forceps for around $3 and they are on the way. If you can help in this way, follow the link above and pick something out, items range from Gold Bond medicated powder to a portable defibrillator that is slightly more expensive than band-aids. You can be confident that these items will be used to treat sick or injured children in Haiti, providing much needed medical aid to children who don't have access outside of the orphange to even the most basic medical care.

The internet can be used for a lot of not great things but this is one of the ways it can be used for good.

Does it really matter?

So we send money to help orphans, does it really help? Does it matter? These small amounts I am able to donate are just a drop in the ocean of need, why bother?

That is a question answered here: What difference does it make? and in this video:



Every little bit helps and every donation helps a real child have hope in the midst of hopelessness. Watch this video and see what a difference you can make in the life of an orphan, showing them the love of Christ. Please help if you can by donating to The Haiti Orphan Project and know that your donations go 100% to help children like the ones in this video, real kids who need food and shelter and most of all love.

A great video from Haiti!

Check this out!

 

It is amazing how much joy these kids have when by our standards they have absolutely nothing.

Can you join me in supporting these precious orphans? Click over to the Haiti Orphan Project and help feed,  shelter and educate these children that God has such a heart for.

Meet Federson!

Federson is the orphan we are sponsoring as a family through the Haiti Orphan Project. Not sure how old he is, I am guessing 8 or 9? We are getting more information on him soon! What a wonderful opportunity to help a child and know that 100% of my monthly donation goes right to caring for orphans, rather than overhead costs.

Haiti is full of kids like Federson, orphans and abandoned children who need just a small amount each month to provide basic care. Click here to learn more about sponsoring a orphan in Haiti. If you heart is burdened for some other nation like Cambodia or Chad or Rwanda or the Philippines, check out The Global Orphan Project. They have a similar 100% commitment to putting all donations to work for orphans rather than overhead and administrative expenses.

I have a hard time looking at this picture of Federson, a child who has such a need in a country that simply has nothing in place to care for him. It really tears at my heart. Can you spare $50 a month or more? Can you even spare $20 for a one time donation? I promise you will not find a ministry where you will get more impact for your donation that these groups.

How Much Do You Spend A Month On Snacks?

If you are like me, the number is probably pretty substantial. Coffee from Starbucks, snacks from a vending machine, fast food drive-thru, convenience foods that cost ten times as much as a prepared meal. On and on. I am pretty frugal in some ways but we have a lot of expenditures each month that are really unnecessary. I like to go to Wendy's for dinner after volunteering at the pregnancy resource center. My wife and I have breakfast virtually every Saturday at our local greasy spoon and for what we spend there (way less than $20) we could have a very nice breakfast for the whole family. So even though it seems like money is tight, in reality I have a lot of disposable income. Plus I am getting a raise starting in April, not a huge one but a raise regardless.

So this morning I signed up to sponsor a Haitian orphan at Village de Vie through the Haiti Orphan Project for $50/month. That is not a lot of money and because I personally know and trust the brothers and sisters who administer the Haiti Orphan Project I am confident that this money is going right where it needsto go to care for an orphan. So what does this money provide?

•Housing

•Nutritious Food

•Clothing

•A Full Time Caregiver (house “mama”)

•Quality Education

•School Supplies

•Uniforms

•Medical Care


That seems like a lot for $50 but money goes a lot further in Haiti than it does in America!

The point is not to wag a finger or guilt you into something, just to think. We all know we spend lots of money on stuff we don't need. How many of us really need a personal smartphone so we can access the Internet in the doctor's office or play Angry Birds while waiting on a red light? I can look at the personal spending of anyone and find something "unnecessary" or frivolous. That isn't my intent. I feel compelled to give out of love, as an act of worship, not an obligation, . God loves a cheerful giver, not a guilty giver. When we give for the work of the Kingdom I am sure we please God and that a generous gift from a cheerful heart, given in love, is received as a sweet aroma to God, not to make us right with Him but as an act of worship from a regenerate heart. $50 makes an enormous difference in the life of an orphan in a country where driving through Starbucks to get a $2 coffee is not even an option. If not Haiti, please consider where else you can worship God through giving but I certainly would encourage you to consider this cause as a great way to get the maximum "bang for your buck".

Check out the "Frequently Asked Questions" for more information!

Meds for Orphans

Are you looking for a quick and easy way to directly help some orphans? The Haiti Orphan Project is headed down for another trip in April (25th thru 30th) and they are looking for some children's medication to take down to the new orphanage, Village de Vie. It probably goes without saying but when Haitian orphans get sick they don't have a Walgreens around the corner with hundreds of brands of medication, making these medications both difficult to obtain and very expensive compared to the cost of buying them here.With a new set of regulations in Haiti now in effect, each orphanage is required to have a supply of medicines on hand and the new orphanage sponsored by the Haiti Orphan Project needs to get some supplies in place to stay compliant.

I just ordered some stuff via Amazon and had it delivered to:

HOPE C/O Keane Insurance Group

135 W ADAMS AVE

KIRKWOOD, MO 63122-4022

Took me all of a couple of minutes. If you order enough ($25) you can probably get free super saver shipping or if you have a Prime membership like me you can get all of it shipped two-day for free. If you prefer you can always buy stuff at your local store and mail it to Missouri.

Here is what they need (suggestions in the links)...


1. 3 (eighteen) gallon containers (here is an example):


2. Children's Tylenol liquid (or similar product)


3. Boxes of assorted bandaids


4. Tubes of antiseptic cream, any brand


5. Elimite/Permethrin Topical Lotion


7. Pepto Bismal - bottles or boxes of chewable tablets


8. Imodium AD - bottles


9. Rehydration Salts - are effective in a cholera outbreak, to keep the children hydrated. They can be mixed locally with water.


11. Children's cold medicine - any brand (tylenol, vicks, pedicare, sudafed, dimetrapp, triaminic)

If you can, please consider helping out by ordering some supplies or sending some funds. We often take for granted how accessible medication is for our children but there are many kids around the world that don't have access to some basic medicines like Tylenol and Imodium.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact the Haiti Orphan Project via their contact page!

Two Years Later

Today marks a terrible anniversary. It has been two years since the earthquake struck the impoverished nation of Haiti on January 12, 2010, destroying much of the country and leaving a nation that was already the poorest in the Western hemisphere in a crisis. During the earthquake thousands of Haitians were killed and many, many children became orphans in a country without even a rudimentary social safety net. The humanitarian crisis the earthquake left behind is incomprehensible to most Americans, even those of us who have visited Haiti and come to love her and her people.

Today, two years later things are not much better in Haiti. It has been a year since I was there and while there is a new President, Michel Martelly, things are still pretty rough. With little in the way of a functional infrastructure or government, daily survival still dominates life in Haiti.

That doesn't mean there is not hope. God's people have responded in a wonderful way to the call to come to Haiti's aid. The Haiti Orphan Project has completed work on Village de Vie and up to 100 orphans and abandoned children will be able to receive care thanks to the hard work and generous donations of so many Christians. What does this "care" look like? Well it looks like this:

We have partnered with The Philadelphia Evangelical Church in the city of Gonaives to help them care for up to 100 orphans. Care includes housing, food, clothing, education and clean drinking water. The schools we build serve the orphans and children from the surrounding community. In addition, we help the local people establish micro-business enterprises such as sewing centers, agricultural projects, bakeries and clean water centers. These not only provide sustainable resources for the orphans, but jobs for Haitians and a means of income to support the “villages.”

I am so thankful for the opportunity to help in even a small way in this work of mercy and love. I thought this would be a good time to repost my article Why Haiti from January 2011, kind of my summary of why Haiti has taken such a hold on my heart. I encourage you who are reading this to find some way, however small or inconsequential it may seem, to minister to the least of these and show the love of Christ to those who so desperately need Him, whether in Haiti or Ethiopia or right around the corner.

------
So why Haiti of all places? There are needs all over the world, why this one country, why this particular cause? Why the Haiti Orphan Project?

Well there are lots of reasons.

First, because this cause is better than none. Let me explain. It is easy to talk about caring for the least of these in an academic sense. Putting forth a solid theology of orphan care is nice but we are not called to be a people of talk, but of action. God saved us and He saved us for a specific purpose:

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)

We are not saved by good works but we most certainly are saved to them. As I will mention below, I believe that this cause is one of those “good works” that God has prepared for me long before I was born to carry out as His child and to bring honor and glory to the name of His Son. God did not predestine us just to salvation but to good works as well. There are no sidelines in the Kingdom of God.

Second, because I sort of know someone who is involved. I “know” Les Prouty, the executive director of the Haiti Orphan Project because we have run into one another over the internet (in a non-creepy way), initially from good natured but spirited arguments with Les regarding his erroneous view of baptism. He is someone I respect and trust so when I saw that he was involved in this cause, I decided to look a little closer. You have to be careful with that because you never know what that will get you into. In my case it is getting me into a plane and leaving the country. Considering that I have never been to a foreign country before (I don’t consider Canada to be a real country), this is going to be a jarring experience but one that I pray will stretch me and fill me with zeal for His Kingdom.

Third, the need is so great. This is a tragic situation the scope of which we cannot even imagine as Americans. With literally hundreds of thousands of orphans how can it be otherwise? In a country with it’s act together that would be a staggering number but Haiti has been basically adrift since the earthquake last January and even before that has been going from one crisis and upheaval to another for 200 years. Haiti is parked just a short flight from Miami and in the middle of the Caribbean. By all rights Haiti should be a lush tropical paradise and a destination for tourists but of all of the nations in the Western hemisphere, Haiti is generally considered the worst off and the events of the last year have made it so much worse. Every child we can impact will hopefully grow into an adult who will first and foremost know Jesus Christ and also be equipped to lead this nation out of the bondage of two hundred years of mismanagement, corruption and violence. It can seem hopeless but if something isn’t done in Haiti from the ground up the same problems will still be in place two hundred years from now.

Fourth, 100% of the funds raised go directly to ministry. This is a small group but one that has an outsized impact. Because of the way the Haiti Orphan Project is structured, there is no overhead. The individuals going all raise all of their own funds for these trips (thanks mom!) and unlike some of the huge mercy ministry organizations none of the funds given to the Haiti Orphan Project go to pay for staff or overhead. From the webpage of the HOP:

1. 100% of your tax-deductible gifts are used to care for orphans. Care includes housing, food & water, clothing and school, as well as the local Haitian people actually caring for these children. NONE of your contributions are used to cover overhead here in the US such as salaries, administrative costs, supplies, printing, etc. The overhead is funded from generous donors to ensure that your gifts go entirely to orphan care.

I am leery of donating to places that spend a large percentage of their costs on overhead. I understand why it can be necessary but I prefer to give where my donation goes right to the need instead of paying the light bill in an office in Dallas or Portland.

Fifth, I feel called. I say that cautiously because I think it is an overused term in the church. “I feel called” often really means “This is what I decided to do and I hope God is OK with it” but in this case I think it really applies. From the beginning I was shaken by the catastrophic earthquake and aftermath of Haiti. As I watched in dismay over what was happening, I began to understand the impact this was having on Haitians in general but especially on the children. With some 750,000 orphans the need is immediate and severe and it was something that really stuck with me in a way that other catastrophes didn’t. There was just something about this country, something about the pictures of the children with smiles and faces full of hope in a country where by rights they have precious little expectation of anything good that draws me in.

If you are working with and actively supporting a mercy ministry, whether it involves you traveling to Ethiopia or Brazil or some other far away land or whether you are involved in a local ministry like a homeless shelter or crisis pregnancy center, God be with you. If you are a follower of Christ and haven’t really gotten directly involved with ministry outside of your local church, please prayerfully consider supporting and advocating for Haiti’s orphans. If you are so led, please check out their webpage here. If you have any questions, there is a contact form on the webpage and you can expect to hear back from Les in a hurry (unless he is in Haiti at the time!).

Year End Giving

It is nearly the end of 2011 and if you are like me and on lots of e-mailing lists, you probably are getting inundated with requests for last second gifts. Ligonier needs a quarter million. 9 Marks needs money. On and on and on. It is easy to just ignore them all and not worry about it. I hope you don't. What better way to close out 2011 and ring in the New Year than by contributing to the care for orphans in Haiti by making a tax deductible contribution that goes 100% to helping orphans rather than paying administrative costs?

I would ask you to consider yet again the Haiti Orphan Project. Why the Haiti Orphan Project? Check out this link to see what your donation can do for a child in need: Two Days to Make 2011 Year End Contribution

I just made a donation via PayPal and it took me all of 45 seconds. Not a huge amount of money but a sum that will go a long way toward making sure that these kids get the chance to hear about Christ, get an education, have a place to live and food to eat.

I know that there are lots of places to give in the next few days but I would ask you to consider carefully and prayerfully The Haiti Orphan Project.

Thanks!

Speaking of ornaments

Here is my new favorite!

Jealous? Don't be, you can get your very own from The Haiti Orphan Project Store!

Not consuming for the sake of consumption

If you are sick of the constant accumulation of goods just for the sake of accumulating the latest and greatest thing that will be obsolete next month, check out the Christmas shop at the Haiti Orphan Project! You can select from a few different items, Christmas cards and a sweet ornament (see picture to right) that will be a fun and unique Christmas gift and will at the same time help orphans in Haiti. I just ordered my Christmas ornament and it will be featured prominently on our tree! Consider a gift that gives back to those who are neediest in this season when we remember the birth of Christ!

Why spend $100,000,000 to raise money?

Richard Stearns, President of the enormous charity World Vision U.S.A., wrote an editorial for the Wall Street Journal calling on American evangelicals to support U.S. foreign aid, Evangelicals and the Case for Foreign Aid. The essay itself is pretty unconvincing. Anyone who thinks that the billions of dollars in U.S. foreign aid are being spent wisely or efficiently needs only look at the rest of the government to know that is false. That wasn’t really what piqued my interest though…

What was more interesting to me is what a little digging around uncovered. Is a large Christian organization going to be better suited to works of mercy than a bunch of small ones? Which is better, being nimble or “economies of scale”? My train of thought took me on down the tracks and stopped at the webpage of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (EFCA)

According to the data submitted to the EFCA, World Vision allocates more than 10% of their expenditures to fund raising or slightly more than $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2010. One hundred million dollars to raise funds. Add to that administrative expenses of $46,000,000 and you have a bunch of money that is absorbed by the organization rather than going to help those in need. Those are pretty big numbers.

Quick disclaimer. World Vision does lots of great work from what I can tell in places like Haiti so this isn’t a “bash World Vision” post. I am just trying to get us thinking more about giving, about mercy and justice and most importantly about why we put forth so much money in an effort to raise money.

I get it, I really do. It takes money to raise money. That is especially true when your aid organization is one of the thousands of different groups vying for the tax deductible contributions of a finite pool of religious donors. Therein lies one of the biggest problems in the church and I believe one of the top reasons for so much financial confusion. From the huge groups like the Salvation Army, Samaritans Purse and World Vision down to local food pantries and even individual local churches, the disunified church of Christ spends far too much time, energy and money trying to compete with other “competing” organizations for the finite resources of people and cash available from the Christian population.

I also know that as organizations get bigger and bigger, they often grow more and more inefficient. Take for example C3 Missions, the parent organization of the Global Orphan Project and partner of the Haiti Orphan Project. It is a much smaller organization than World Vision with annual expenditures of about $3,000,000. Of that, all of $75,000 went to fundraising or 2.5% according to their disclosure to the EFCA. Granted the proportion of admin costs went up because they are economies of scale when you get bigger but a lot of that is directed at fund raising efforts apparently in big organizations.

So what is the conclusion? I am really not sure there is one. I like smaller organizations for the most part. I like that with groups like the Haiti Orphan Project and the crisis pregnancy center I volunteer at that I know and can see where the money is going. On the other hand, when something like the earthquake in Haiti happens, organizations like World Vision and Samaritans Purse are able to respond almost immediately. So which one is better? I think both have their place. I just wish that we had some sense of real unity in the church so that we didn’t have to pick and choose from competing charities but given the size and diversity in the church I am not sure how to make that happen practically. I really don’t like problems with apparently no solution. There is so much need for works of mercy in the world and there are so many different groups trying to do the same thing in slightly different ways. How can we ever find a way to cooperate with one another instead of competing with each other?

The Battle for Haiti

My wife and I watched this tonight. It is a look into the parts of Haiti that we know are there but don't see from the windows of our bus that takes us from the airport to the orphanage. It is hard to watch but this is the reality, this is the world that the orphans often come from.

Watch Battle for Haiti on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

Orphan Care in Haiti

It is so encouraging to see so many different ministries getting involved in caring for orphans around the world. Check out this video from Together for Adoption. The sound quality isn't great but the message certainly is!