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Check out the first DurhamCares videoblog that asks the question, “Should Henry shave his head for Success Grants?” Hit us in the comments with your thoughts.
A few weeks ago DurhamCares hosted a bracket challenge as part of the NCAA tournament. It started small but soon became a big group of neighbors in Durham and beyond. Every time 50 new members were added to the group DurhamCares added another $1,000 to the initial pot until the group was 346 people who were all playing for a piece of $9,000 that they could donate to a DurhamCares partner!
We had a great time watching the games and following teams and players to see who would win the tournament and which DurhamCares partners would get the donations. Congratulations to the Tar Heels for their win of the tournament, and congratulations to the winners in our bracket. But even more, congratulations to the excellent DurhamCares partner organizations who all ended up getting a share of the winnings!
We'll be back next year to play this game again and hope it will be even bigger and better!
Today marks the relaunch of the website and the official launch of the new Success Grant initiative.
For those of you who don't know about what the Success Grant is, here's a quick overview:
The Success Grant program is a unique way to reward our not for profit partners to focus on planning and achievement of success based outcomes. We've worked over the past year with each organization to best understand what would constitute true success for their programs and those they seek to serve. They have come back to us with a list of goals that they've set for themselves. We've committed to grant each of these organizations $10,000 of DurhamCares money if and when they attain these goals, and have provided a platform for you to join alongside us as well to increase that number - a number that we'll all be able to grant at the end of the year ONLY upon successful attainment of THEIR goals. We hope that you'll read each program's goals and pledge generously to this innovative program that rewards, planning, outcomes, and success.
We're hopeful that this concept will change the way that charities think about planning and focusing on outcomes and that it will change the way that donors think about giving.
In addition, we're after significantly moving the needle with the state of giving in Durham. We'll be providing a full report on this in a later blog, but we recently commissioned a survey with FGI Research (thank you by the way to the entire staff there who gave of their time to this exercise) of 425 households to learn about the current condition of giving. We found that households making more than $100,000 in Durham give LESS than 1% away to local charities (of those who are church members, 2.4% went to tithing....of a Biblically based 10%). We think that there are two opportunities to make a major change in that number.
First, there is a great opportunity for pastors to talk about Christ's commands to take care of the least of these (Mt 25:40) and for us as their congregants and parishioners to heed the lessons of our pastors and the commands of Scripture. Aside from that, which might seem more or less obvious, we think that there is an opportunity, maybe even an obligation, for charities to make it easier for donors to give to their organizations. We think that they might accomplish this by talking the language of their audience.
Take this example: A businessman/doctor/attorney/professional sits in on an investment opportunity meeting in the morning and throughout a 2 hour presentation is presented with an overview of how he might make money. He/she's presented with information on the addressable market, the competitive landscape, the background of the principals in charge of the investment, forecasts based on past performance and a summation on what his/her return on the ivestment might be. They write a check for $50,000.
This same individual then goes to a fundraising luncheon at the invitation of a friend. The Executive Director talks about the organization, shows some slides of their programs and has a number of testimonies of those that have been helped by the organization. A member of the Board of Directors then closes things out with "an ask". The presentation moved the individual. They write a check for $250.
I'm convinced that this example happens in real life all the time in Durham. How do I know this? This person most likely makes more than $100,000 and the aforementioned survey says that they'll give less than 1% of that to local charities. What's the difference between the "ask" that got the check for the $50,000 and the one that got the check for $250?? Almost everything, but it didn't need to be. By and large the person who makes that sum of money thinks with their head about an opportunity as much as they think with their heart. The first presentation spoke to their intelligence, their mind. It answered their questions about the opportunity that allowed them to understand what their return on investment was. The first presentation spoke to their "love language" if you will.
One might say, return on investment doesn't apply to the world of charities. Those people are partially right. A widget is not a kid. But, all charities can and do focus on outcomes. The impact of their work can be measured across the homeless, kids, students, those in need of job skills, etc. When charities and not-for-profits focus on these outcomes and look to communicate them effectively to the public through the Success Grant program or on their website, we think that they'll be much more effective at showing the return on their investment and getting a much bigger share of the Durham's citizens wallet.
It's our hope that you, the citizen and donor in Durham, will resonate with this message. That you'll participate in our success grant program. That you'll endeavor to understand the impact that these (and other....this doesn't need to be just about DurhamCares charities but all charities that you give to) charities in Durham and reward excellence when it's planned for and realized. And yes, we hope that as these charities learn to talk your language that you'll reward them, and us all, by giving more of your income........because now, maybe for the first time, you'll better understand the return that these great organizations can get with your investment. Yes, not your donation, but your investment.
This week I was challenged by a new aspect of God's command to love our neighbor in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). I realized that this parable is given for a Jewish audience, and in response to the question of an expert in God's law. The audience, like many of us, would not associate with a certain group of people--in their case, the Samaritans. Like many of us in church today, they knew all of the answers to Jesus' questions. Unfortunately, for all our religion, we often do not really know what it looks like to love and live as Jesus wants us to. This parable is meant to awaken people like us!
How many of us have become "experts in God's law" and yet fail to put it into practice? Or perhaps we will put it into practice up to a point that remains comfortable--we'll love those neighbors that we like, when it is convenient. The expert in the law "wanted to justify himself, so he asked, ‘And who is my neighbor?'" In response, the parable shows that when we try to justify ourselves and make excuses for why we are exempted from loving those in need, we are missing the point.
How do we change? In this passage, Jesus calls us to let Him define the conditions of our love. We, like the expert in the law, have a tendency to love and care for those we get along with easily, so we draw the boundaries of our "neighborhood" and pat ourselves on the back for how well we love others. But then Jesus confronts us in this passage, breaks down our spiritual gerrymandering and calls us to be a neighbor to those in need, those who are different, those who are enemies.
The really terrifying thing is that showing this kind of radical neighborly love takes time. Being a neighbor is not writing a quick check, though the Samaritan did leave one at the inn to make sure the man was taken care of. No, this kind of love required the Samaritan to forgo his plans and respond to the dire need of the beaten Israelite.
What are the needs in your community? Or perhaps this parable changes the question, and you need to completely rethink who your "community" and your "neighbors" really are.
Jesus' command to "Go and do likewise" is a paraphrase: Go and be a neighbor to a victim in need, disregard the fact that they are from a different faction of society, give generously of your time and money to physically and personally meet their need. That is what it means to be a neighbor in Durham.
I hope you will join me in helping the people that God has placed in our path who have been beaten and left by the side of the road in our society. With God's help and example, let's be neighbors who cross social boundaries and show love to even the least of these.
Welcome to the new and improved DurhamCares site and blog!
In this space over the coming months and years, we (Henry, David, Mike and Heather) are going to look to share some of our ideas and thoughts on Durham and the concept of caring. We're far from authoritative, but are excited about the things that we see going on around us and want to share them along with some thoughts about what we might all do to play an active role in transforming this city that we work in, call home and have come to love.
From time to time, we're going to ask others to write as well……and that others includes you!! (cue the old picture of Uncle Sam). We surely don't have a monopoly on the good ideas and perspectives and we want to provide you with a platform to get your ideas out on how we all might care as well.
You'll see that we already have several folks, from several walks of life that have already written and we'd very much like to have you do the same. If interested, please e-mail us at care@bandwidthcares.org .
We have a good idea of some of the things that we'd like to talk about over the coming weeks, and so here's a quick preview:
We hope that you'll stay posted (no pun intended) on what we're up to, that you will tell a friend, and that you (and your friend) will take us up on our offer to share your viewpoints, experiences and perspectives as well.
Your neighbor,
Henry
What did Peter tell Paul in Galations 2 before they set out to go abroad to reach their chosen people groups (Jews/Gentiles)?
"Remember the Poor"
Paul's response was that is was the very thing that he was eager to do.
There are countless references to taking care of the poor in scripture...by some counts, as many as 2,000.
That we need to take care of the poor is probably pretty clear to most of us reading this. What's less clear is how we should go about it...particularly when looking overseas.
For my money, it's MicroFinance, and more particularly Christian Microfinance.
All of that has been made all the more clearer to me after hearing Peter Greer, President of Hope International who spoke 3 times over the past 24 hours in Durham and Raleigh.
Why is Microfinance such a good answer? Well because microfinance gives the poor dignity.....a hand up, rather than a hand out. They borrow and then pay back the loan that allows them to become an entrepreneur. In an environmnent where many money lenders give out money at 20% interest PER DAY!, reasonable interest rates (typically 20% per annum) allow new entrepreneurs to buy the raw materials that they need to make a living and provide for their family............they do so using their hard work.
They repay their loans at a rate of better than 95%. Why?, because while they don't have traditional collateral with items of monetary value, they do have social collateral. Social collateral means that entrepreneurs in a small town each co-sign each other's loan with the result being a powerful joint accountability.
Microfinance is not new, but it's pace of growth has picked up dramatically.
What is newer, is the concept of CHRISTIAN MICRO FINANCE. It's effectively giving out the cup of cold water in the name of Christ. The best example I've seen of this yet comes from Hope International. www.hopeinternational.org (though their are others that are Christian based, but a bit less overt like Opportunity International) Their president, Peter Greer, sums it up by saying that Hope acts with the understanding that SPIRITUAL poverty is just as pervasive, if not more so, than FINANCIAL poverty.
Hope has grown quickly since 2005 and now has more than $25 million in loans outstanding in 13 countries. Their average loan is $92, and their repayment rate is 99.6%.........more importantly, during a recent survey they found that fully 60,000 of their clients had first heard of Christ from their interaction with Hope International!!!
Say I have $10,000 that I'd ordinarily look to give to overseas charities.
That $10,000 would make a material difference in the lives of 105 entrepreneurs, they'd hear about Christ and then after 5 months (the term of the average loan).....I'd get my money back.
That's scale....that's leverage.....that's results....that's witnessing....that's heeding the lesson of the Parable of the Talents while honoring the 2,000 passages on poverty.
All while delivering DIGNITY not DEPENDENCY.
and all to the Glory of God!
I linked to the below via a couple of sites today. The thing that struck? They used the words "relational giving" which we've been tossing around in our mission discussions. I don't know the whole history of the Advent Conspiracy, but they are definitely getting their message out in a relevant way and what they have to say is resonating with me. . . check it out:
Last week I attended a conference in Naples which featured a number of terrific speakers on philanthropy in America. The highlight for me was meeting S. Truett Cathy, the founder of Chick-Fil-A. What an amazing man! He has made it clear throughout all his success that he is just seeking to honor God. His statement to close on Sundays is a testament to values and honoring God first and making a buck second. But he's shown that there is still plenty of room to make a buck. I felt like an 8th grade basketball player going up to meet Michael Jordan. Mr. Cathy couldn't have been more gracious. I feel fortunate to have met him. My interaction with him has made me feel more resolute about patronizing his restaurant at the expense of McDonald's. This, of course, was made all the much easier by the new campaign from McDonald's with billboards saying "Open on Sundays".
As much as I admire Mr. Cathy, this blog is not about him or Chick-Fil-A. It's about a debate that I watched at the same conference between Paul Brest, the CEO of the Hewlett Foundation and Bill Schambra, Director of the Bradley Foundation. I invite you to read Paul's blog and my reply to the tension between the two camps one advocating deep strategic analysis before giving and the other advocating a practice of "write the darn check" is as follows:
I was at the debate in Florida and profited from hearing both views. It's hard to argue with having a strategic approach to philanthropy....though Bill gave it a good shot. I am a firm believer in what I think applied strategic philanthropy requires: strong measurement of the outcome......ROI in other words.
I am also a believer though, that it's often the smaller, indigenous groups without a well formulated strategy and access to grant writers, that are most effective at reaching target populations. I think of the DurhamEagles a youth football program in Durham that reaches 220 kids, 90% of whom live under the poverty line, but who with the help of the Eagles have 2x the graduation rate. They do all of this with just $25,000 in operating budget. That's $113 per kid! They get to that level because they are small, nimble and staffed by caring/motivated volunteers without staffers or overhead. They need to be better at planning, no doubt (and that's what we at durhamcares.org aim to do). But they also need someone who will (as in Bill's words) "write the darn check"
So for me, the answer is somewhere in the middle of both views, though admittedly closer to Paul's. The challenge we have though is to shepherd smaller, effective organizations along a path towards strategic planning in a way that doesn't compromise their effectiveness or their return.
I was recently invited to a local church planting strategy session. I believe (like many of you) that real transformation happens when the Gospel is spread AND when the commands of Christ are lived out through mercy ministry. So, while DurhamCares focuses on deed ministries, we are just one half of the equation, and I'd argue the lesser half. So with that in mind, I went to the meeting eager to learn.
I came away from the meeting excited at the opportunties in front of us to plant churches in Durham, but rather unsure what do do about it, and if/how much to donate to the cause. So I then drafted a letter to the meeting organizer with a perspective and some questions with the hopes that I might have him think about the project in a new way, and to give me some data points from which I could make a decision on how much to give. I offer this letter up to a more public audience with the hopes that it might be helpful to others as well:
Dear Church Planting Meeting Organizer (name kept out as I don't think it's important in this context):
Thank you for inviting me to the meeting this morning. I was glad to be there and learned a lot. It is always very encouraging for me to be around Godly men who have a passion and commitment to advance the Kingdom. It makes for some great brainstorming....the best kind (so much more rewarding than talking about driving costs out of a telecom network....the writer's day job, ed!)
As I offered up in Q&A, I find it most helpful to think of this potential "investment" in Kingdom work like I might think of the decision involved in making an investment in the more worldly sense.....that of an investment in financial securities with a portfolio comprised of different asset classes and their own corresponding expected returns and expected volatility.
With a financial portfolio the asset classes might include: stocks, bonds,cash, commodities and real estate (each of those, of course, can be further broken down by domestic, international, duration, credit rating etc.) With a "Kingdom portfolio" the asset classes might include: tithing, mercy ministries, missionary support, Christian education, Christian microfinance and church planting (these, like financial asset classes, can be broken down much further, of course to include domestic and international). Tithing is kind of like cash....you have to have positions in both types of portfolios. Whether to have investments in other classes, and if so, how much is less certain.
Those decisions seem to be made based on investment guidelines/principles and expected return. For my wife and I, our guidelines and principles are driven by Matthew 22, 36-40: We want to help people to Love the Lord their God with all their soul and all their mind......that's where church planting and giving to places like Trinity come in for us. We also want to love our neighbor as ourself, and help others to do the same......that's where mercy ministry comes in.
Just after guidelines/principles in our decision making comes potential return. This is undoubtedly easier, of course, with financial investments, but I think that a real effort needs to go into understanding what it looks like in Kingdom work as well.
Questions regarding return would look like:
1. What has $1million invested by an external source (in other words not due to the fruits of the new pastor raising their own support or from giving from new congregants) of other in suburban church plants of your denomination typically yielded after 5 years in terms of membership and regular attenders? 10 years? Surely some of the churches funded by that $1million grow to be successful, and yet others fail, but what is the aggregate return?
2. How does that rate of return differ for more urban chuch plants, or those that aim to have mixed membership which might be more strategic in nature?
3. How does this rate of return compare to other Bible believing church plants?
The answers to these questions need to then be compared against the return that we might expect from giving to other ministries, both ministries focused on word and those focused on deed. For instance, what might $1myn yield if invested in a more established church? How many more folks might come to Christ in those instances? How many people might come to know Christ if the same was invested in overseas missions? This breaks down a bit, of course, when you look at the increased giving to missions and mercy ministries that come from those brought to faith in churches that are already established, but it's still a helpful part of the decision process.
I think that it's important to note that there isn't a perfect answer that's likeley to come from a financial model that will provide the recipe here, and that my wife and I (and others like us) need to keep in mind that Biblical teaching and prayer need to guide us more than more worldly learning and analysis. I remember hearing a story about Billy Graham whose most disappointing revival was at an event with fewer than 10 altar calls out of the thousands that attended. He had counted that event as a huge failure for 20 years until he came across another evangelist (whose name I can't recall) that had been one of those 10, and had subsequently been used to bring hundreds of thousands to Christ. So much for the ROI analysis on that event! I still, though, think that there's a good place for good planning and analysis. I don't think that the Parable of the Talents is thought of as Scriptural foundation for ROI investing, but it's the passage that guides me in this.
Another area that you touched on briefly today that I'm fascinated to know more about is best practices. What's worked well in other areas of the country? What didn't? What lessons would that have for us here? This information would seem invaluable and a big part toward our ability to deliver the best type of ROI.
Lastly, I have come to be very excited about what I see the larger body of Christ doing in Durham. I'm excited about church planting from your denomination, AND from other denominations. I've spent some time talking with another area pastor about his church planting strategy and I'm sure that other Christ centered, Scipturally grounded churches are looking to do the same here. All interest and excite me, as I think they do others. I'd love to see denominations share best practices and strategic plans wherever possible. There will be limits to how far that might guide a particular denomination...... for instance, I wouldn't suggest that just because the Southern Baptists are planning a church plant in Brier Creek would mean that the PCA can't, but that that should be one of many data points that would be used in making a decision about where to look to bring the Gospel.
I'd love to get your thoughts here.
(this last line was addressed to the meeting organizer, but could just as well be addressed to you, the reader as I'd love to get other perspectives)
What is the ultimate goal and vision of DurhamCares?
The process of asking this question about our organization over the past weeks may prove to be a watershed in DurhamCares history.
Up until now, our main goals have been inspired by the parable of the good Samaritan: to broaden the definition of "neighbor," help people understand Durham's needs, and then "remove barriers" and "make it easy for people to give of their time and money." We wanted to increase and improve volunteerism and donation by helping people in Durham better understand how to love their neighbor. But does giving more correspond to loving your neighbor?
Looking at what our approach and our vision boiled down to, I saw in DurhamCares a mix of United Way, VolunteerMatch, VolunteerCenter, and a charity-consulting group with a strong flavor of Christian inspiration. There is nothing new about having people care for each other more, connecting needs and resources, or ultimately seeking to improve the community. Our hope is to accomplish these objectives more effectively because we work on a local and personal level. If DurhamCares is to be one more way that people can show they care, this is great. None of us could settle for that, however...and here's why:
When we get to heaven, I do not think Jesus is not going to say "When I was hungry, you gave a check to United Way and they fed me. When I was naked you gave your clothing to the Durham Rescue Mission and they clothed me." Our goal cannot only be for people to write "$5,000 checks instead of $500" if we want them to love their neighbors. Giving more and volunteering more may never get people to love their neighbors; in fact, it may placate their consciences and insulate them from the challenges of truly acting in love. Though we will encourage and help people give, our vision must be to help them see beyond their gifts and get actively involved in loving.
I Corinthians 13 says that if we sell all that we have and give it to the poor, but have not love, it is meaningless. If DurhamCares increases donations and volunteerism without helping people love, it is meaningless.
To put it in more concrete terms, at DurhamCares our foremost goal is not to get you to increase your giving from 1.8% of your income to 4.3%. That may coddle you into thinking that you are doing better and we may be keeping you from seeing what it means to love. Do you love someone who is "poor"? Do you love those around you enough to know their needs? Have you ever been to a neighborhood where the needs are completely different from yours? What would you think if I told you that we are encouraging you to get involved not because of what you can offer, but because we want to meet your needs?
That's right, DurhamCares is going to change you-the donors. We are going to take you half way across the world or maybe just half way across town and get you involved in a person's life that you could not have imagined. We are not doing this just so you will write a larger check, but to give you an entirely new perspective on life-how you spend your waking hours, how you view the city, poverty, need. We are going to show you that the people you saw as "needy" have things to offer you. We are going to get you actively involved in caring for your neighbors, your city, and the world. As you get involved, I am sure that you will give more of your time and money-not because we have convinced you, but because you have experienced what it is to truly care. Do not settle into "giving to charity," let DurhamCares challenge you.
So why is this a watershed moment for DurhamCares? Now that we have set our sights on "Love thy Neighbor"-an incredibly unique and compelling vision-we need to develop our programs to reach this audacious goal. Our mindset has shifted from helping people give more to providing opportunities that will challenge and enable them to love. Naturally, giving will be part of this, but giving alone won't cut it.
Have an interesting experience during a volunteering experience or just want to share something? Tell us your story and we might publish it.
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