As DurhamCares, and other organizations, work diligently to encourage and challenge Durham’s citizens to give of their money and their time, a fair question arises: Is Durham ready for a marked increase in volunteers? As with questions about a topic as large as volunteerism in an entire city, the answer is “it depends”. I’ll suggest the unpacking of this frustrating answer in 3 parts: 1. the challenging 2. what’s good 3. the work ahead.

First the challenging:

I have heard of several folks that have showed up for volunteer opportunities in Durham that have been less than rewarding. Some times the charity personnel hadn’t been told to expect them from the “volunteer coordinator,” in another instance a family showed up to deliver an ice cream party to 15 residents of a homeless shelter, only to find that not only were they not expecting them, but that there were 45 folks there…........some creative ice cream rationing ensued. Stories like these, albethem anecdotes, cause us to have concern…..fortunately I think that it’s concern that can be mitigated, more on that later

what’s good…..I want to make sure that folks understand that there are a number of great charities, many of them listed on this site that ARE ready for volunteers and have the systems and processes in place to support them. Most importantly, of course, is the need among the population that they are trying to support. There are several examples of this, but I’ll list the most compelling: BigBrothers/BigSisters of the Triangle has a waiting list of more than 100 boys and girls that are waiting to be matched with “Bigs”. BBBST has a great track record, as many of you know, and their CEO Kim Breeden was named CEO of the Year. They are ready for more volunteers at several different commitment levels and you can be assured that they will work hard for both the “littles” and “bigs” in their program.

The work ahead….Durham charities need to welcome volunteers and share with them the structure and purpose behind their volunteering efforts to make sure that the experience is rewarding for the charity AND the volunteer. If they don’t, the charity stands to lose that volunteer forever, and forget about any chance to convert the volunteer into a donor. This would be a bad thing for that charity, but an awful thing for Durham. I can’t help about thinking about a prototypical 24 year old, who has been finally convinced to volunteer with a promise that it can help the community (which it does) and that it will change their life for the better (as it most assuredly can and should), having a poor experience and saying no to volunteer opportunities in the future…..opportunities that could have lived up to the promise that the first one should have delivered.

To avoid this, I think that we need to work with the charities to make sure that they have:

1. A volunteer coordinator. Someone who knows the charity and the population it serves inside and out. Someone who is just as comfortable saying “no” to volunteers as “yes”.........not every volunteer opportunity is perfect for every volunteer.

2. A process to welcome the volunteer…..be waiting for them to come, give them a tour of the facility, an overview of the operations, and a brief history

3. The ability to communicate a contract of sorts with the volunteer: what is expected of them, and what the volunteer can expect of the charity. As with so much in life, it’s all about communication and management of expectations.

4. Wherever possible: pair up a new volunteer with an experienced one.

5. Follow up. It’s rare to hear of a charity following up with volunteers to thank them or to ask them about how their volunteer experience was or how it could be better.

I’m confident that we Durham charities CAN and WILL be ready to handle a major uptick in volunteers…..for Durham’s underserved SURELY NEED them.

After spending some time this  with Chris Chuang (Bandwidth.com VP of Strategy, Heather and Mike), I think that I have a little bit of a clearer idea on how to answer the question raised in the blog of the other day. I think that it comes down to our sense of mission within the greater context of transforming Durham. 

About 6 months ago, I spent some time brainstorming about DurhamCares with JD Greear and Brad O’Brien about how we might all be involved in God’s plan in Durham. We agreed we’d like to see a complete transformation of Durham and that would include mercy ministries and the spread of the Gospel. So that under the wider umbrella of Transforming Durham there would be 2 sections, 1 would focus on ministries of the word, and the other would be focused on ministries of the deed. DurhamCares would focus on the latter. There would need to be close affiliation and cross pollination of the two, but that they would be separate, and that it was right that they were.

So, in this context, Child Evangelism Fellowship, Reality, Young Life, Church planting groups and other ministries would be best handled by the Ministry of the Word segment of a larger group of folks that would transform Durham. This articulation and focus might best serve the wider Christian Community leaving matters of ministry best to the theological and doctrinal experts while charity outreach would focus on not for profit organizations.

I think that it will be good to articulate this in our written materials. I think that it’s also good to keep the Christian focus in the About Us Section. What to do, though, about the logo, bible verses and tag line?

Let me see if I can frame this quandary that I find myself in as I try to understand how to best position my (our) faith within the context of DurhamCares.

Maybe it's best if I take this back to how this all got started. The idea was to apply the lessons learned at Bandwidth.com to more directly glorify His Kingdom. These lessons included: 

1. using the web to promote selection and accountability/transparency among different suppliers,

2. using operations metrics to measure success within our company,

3. charting out a business mission/vision/strategy to best accomplish our goals to more directly glorify his Kingdom.

4. using the web to scale an organization

What to do with this calling came just about as clearly as the calling itself. From what I could see having been a Durham resident for several years was that people as a whole didn't give money to local charities and rarely volunteered their time. Adding to the problem, or possibly creating it, there seemed to be hundreds of charities all vying for the same donor dollar and it wasn't clear which of them, if any, were deserving of it.

So, DurhamCares was created to be a part of the solution to dual problems of a citizenry that appeared to be on the sidelines and a largesse of organizations, most of whom weren't run with the types of sound business principles that allowed them to be very effective with their core missions and in attracting donors and volunteers.

Maybe it's easy to understand DurhamCares through the lens of a sample person that DurhamCares hoped to serve. I thought of folks that had moved to Durham, had a heart to give of their time and money, but didn't know where to start. Absent some clear direction and information on what were the best charities, they'd be inclined to continue to give their money to national charities and to do other things (golf is really good around here) with their time.

DurhamCares would then exist effectively to ENCOURAGE and CHALLENGE Durham CITIZENS to give of their time and money to needy causes

On the other side of the equation, DurhamCares would seek to find EXCELLENT CHARITIES.........or at the very least good charities that were on their way (potentially with our help) to become great charities. These charities would have a well established track record, strong leadership, an independent Board of Directors, an understanding of the key operating metrics that drove success in their organization, and perhaps most importantly, a plan on where they were going and how they would get there.......a plan that would be laid out in line with targets on further improvements on the key operating metrics.

So, to summarize DurhamCares would seek to:

ENCOURAGE and CHALLENGE Durham CITIZENS to give of their time and money to causes that better the human condition in Durham, and

ENCOURAGE and CHALLENGE Durham CHARITIES to excel in such a way that would cause them to better at their core missions at the same time they would become more attractive to potential donors and volunteers.

There are some other goals too, including establishing a template that can be replicated in other markets, but lest I distract the reader any more, I'll save those for later.

Now here's the challenge: How best to represent the Christian badge in our work?

So, a bit of perspective.......I feel CALLED to do this work, I'm not saying that I actually heard the word of God on this, but something very strong inside me (that I attribute to a Divine calling) has compelled me to get it going.

It's the Parable of The Good Samaritan (expanding the definition of neighbor) that I see as the clearest mandate for us to get involved. On the flip side of the CITIZEN/CHARITY scale: it's the Parable of the Talents that I see as a mandate for charities to be excellent stewards of the resources given them.

So Calling and Scripture are already essential parts to this organization. Furthermore, I feel that it's essential for Christians to live out their faith. Not that we're saved by good works, but that a faith without taking care of those in need around is an empty faith. The Bible commands us to take care of the poor with our time and money; it's as simple as that. I'd like to think that DurhamCares can play a role in helping Christians to act on their faith.

What does this all mean? Well, here are some questions that have come up recently that illustrate the struggle about how best to honor God in all of this while staying focused on our mission of increasing volunteering and donations while we help charities go from good to great.

There are 4 different levels of question about how we live out our faith through the context of this organization:

We make it clear in the About Us section about the inspiration for DurhamCares

We currently have a Bible Verse on our home page, a halo as a part of our logo, and "Serving Him as we Serve our Community" as our tagline

We have been approached by some Christian ministries (who unlike organizations such as the DurhamRescue Mission whose mission is to end homelessness, or PSS whose mission is to counsel pregnant single mothers....both of which are seen as mercy ministries by the broader population, are focused principally on the spread of the Gospel)

We currently have a halo as a part of our logo, and "Serving Him as we Serve our Community" as our tagline. Does this interfere with our mission? One camp within the organization prefers to leave the Christian inspiration as a part of our About Us Section.

When I think about how the forces of evil might attack any success of DurhamCares, would he undermine its efforts to increase volunteerism and donation, or would he seek to dilute the recognition that the Holy Spirit would receive from any success?

According to David Aikman, in order to get into Harvard from 1637 to 1837 you had to have a credible profession of the Gospel and Harvard actively sought to glorify the Christian God........they then abandoned this need, and in less than half the time have seemed to move to the opposite end of the spectrum. Similar examples could come from the YMCA and maybe even Habitat for Humanity. Is God glorified in these organizations? I suppose that on one level all good things (both secular and Christian) come from God, but what pleases him the most: 10 units of good done in the name of a secularized institution or 5 units of good done in the name of an overtly Christian one?

Here's how this quandary has come up with DurhamCares. I'll title this section: 2 Different Christian Approaches, Both Good, or is One Better for DurhamCares?

1. Change the logo and tagline and go for a broader appeal. Keep the Christian faith in the About Us Section, Be ready to talk to all in one on one conversations, and press interviews about our Christian inspiration. Have only evangelicals on the Board and among all full time employees Say no to Christian (or other faith based ministries) where the spread of a religious doctrine is the primary focus of the group. Change the logo and tagline and go for a broader appeal.

2. Keep the logo and tagline, welcome in Christian ministries like CEF, Young Life and Reality.....continue workplace outreach but be cognizant that we'll have better success with Churches. Workplace outreach that failed in its Christian message could be focused more on replicating the BandwidthCares concept (where Bible verses don't show up).

Heather, Mike and I met with the key full time leadership of the Durham Public School Systems today. At our lunch were Carl Harris (Superintendent), Terri Mozingo (Chief Academic Officer), Deborah Pittman(Assistant Superintendent, Student Services), Kay Williams (Executive Director, Public Affairs), Steve Toler (Consultant to DPS) and Sheila Miglarese (Volunteer Services Coordinator).

This is the 2nd time that we've met with Dr. Harris. The first time was back in August when we discussed two things:

0. funding and sponsoring an initiative along with www.donorschoose.org to encourage private funding of individual DPS teacher initiatives; we committed at that time to fund $20,000 for a matching program to encourage public participation - and I'll talk more about that in another post later
0. the needs and opportunities for volunteers in DPS so that we we can work hard to promote awareness of volunteering programs from among the 5 outreaches of DurhamCares (website, workplace, churches, schools and neighborhoods).

Today was the follow up meeting to this initial conversation. Dr. Harris arranged to meet with us and the folks listed above, and it was a productive conversation.

It's our hope that we can ramp to a target of 1,000 new volunteers in DPS by next Fall. That sounds like a lofty goal, but it's a function of getting the word out. The stakes are incredibly high. DPS teaches our kids, the leaders of tomorrow. The question is whether they will be future gang leaders or future Durham community leaders. Which side will win? Well, we're hoping that we ALL get a chance to stack the odds in favor of the second. Stay tuned to the website to find out how about RIL and AVID and other great volunteering programs with DPS.

Have ideas/thoughts yourselves? We'd love to hear them.

As many of you know, DurhamCares, got it's start this year. We've been remarkably heartened at the response that we've gotten from the community and are doubly committed to continuing our work as we all seek to serve and transform Durham. Recently we've gotten together to talk about further defining and refining our mission, vision, values and strategic objectives. It's of course very important that we, who insist on this from the organizations that we promote on this website, practice what we preach. I should note before I go much further that we're still a relatively small group.......There's Henry and David (co-founders of DurhamCares and of Bandwidth.com), Heather Jones (Senior Program Manager for Workplace Outreach) and Mike Schneider who fills many roles but principally focuses on content along with our web developer Pete, and on college outreach.

As we've gotten together to talk about long term planning, resource allocation and the mission/vision/strategy mentioned above, we thought that it might be helpful to document this process, and in fact much of what happens at DurhamCares in a blog. The hope here is that others from the community will weigh in on what we're discussing in our internal meetings and what we are seeing and hearing in our external meetings. We haven't yet really turned on the promotion engine so our expectations on how many folks will contribute is in check, but we're hopeful that as folks spend time on the site that they'll let us know what they are thinking, seeing, hearing and doing in Durham. What's working and what's not, etc. etc. So without further adieu.....welcome to the new, much more frequent, and hopefully very interactive blog!!! Please let us know what you think!

Durham has it's challenges, but the number of non profits doesn't seem to be one of them. A trip to your mailbox or some basic internet research will tell you that there are hundreds of organizations in our city that are all looking to address some need as they vie for our checkbook. Most, if not all, of them are run with people with great hearts. Are they all being run with great minds, though? God tells us to love him with all of our hearts AND our minds. The Parable of the Talents talks about how a sound mind helps us to make the most of the opportunities that God has given us. This lesson seems to be missed too often, but those who try to apply it/teach it are met with understandable resistance. Criticism of folks that give their lives to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless and educate our youth, of course, is never popular.

I had breakfast this morning with Barker French, a man who epitomizes active civic engagement. He clearly has a great mind and encourages those around him to use theirs. He is one of the most connected men that I have ever come across regardless of domain. He has turned his back on passive retirement and made it his mission to serve this city by alternately encouraging and challenging some of the best not for profits in the city. What impressed me though, wasn't his prolific schedule or who he knows, but what he does and how he is using his MIND to get the most out of the minds of those with the best HEARTS in the city. You see, he understands that there are tremendous opportunities to increase the impact of not for profits in this city when they work TOGETHER.

Here's how it works. Barker has a particular conviction to impact the 14-21 age group. He knows that there are a number of programs set up to address this situation from RIL, a summer leadership development hosted at Southern High School, to Yo Durham (a jobs program), to PROUD (an afterschool program) and several others. - The only missing piece in my view would be a faith based organization like Reality or YoungLife, but maybe that's to come - Barker has brought them all together in what he calls a "collaborative" The collaborative brings together program managers to share best practices, information and resources. More importantly, though, they collaborate on their shared mission (serving the 14-21 age program) with the result that they now take care of these kids with programs that provide real guidance and impact over all 12 months and through a variety of disciplines......something that they hadn't done on their own. Rather than competing against each other for the same donor base, they can now present a shared solution that is more compelling to the donor, leading the same group to give more, and broadening out the base to new donors who are only interested in a comprehensive solution. More efficiency, more funding, more results, more kids actively enagaged in making Durham a better place versus the alternative.

Now that's a good idea whose time has come. Here's to more collaboratives across the non profit sectors and here's to more Barker French's!

This past week was a great encouragement to me as we powerfully experienced the diversity and unity of God's ongoing handiwork in Durham. Wednesday, September 10th was a marker for us in Reality Ministries. We somewhat stumbled into the school season at our new Reality Center (at the corner of Gregson and Lamond), having made just enough improvements to welcome our adolescent friends. For the first two weeks a few after school visitors came by every day to shoot hoops, play ping pong, get tutoring, etc. The regulars were white, middle class students; we were thankful, but not satisfied, especially since our desire is to reach kids on the margins. We were convinced that before we got too far down the road to homogeneity, we needed a trajectory-altering event to introduce The Reality Center to a wider and more diverse population.

Last Wednesday's Grill and Chill event was everything we hoped for and more. Dozens of kids showed up after the half-day for Durham Public Schools; they were young people of all types from all different schools. It looked like a microcosm of Durham in the Great Room during the basketball tournament; the racial demographic was reflective of the city.

But one of the most gratifying parts of the day to me was the representation of at least five different groups who want to help kids in Durham. On that afternoon at The Reality Center we had youth workers from Urban Hope, The Salvation Army Boys and Girls Club, Child Evangelism Fellowship and our upstairs tenants New Horizons working alongside our Reality Ministries staff. What a collaboration, what a joy!

We didn't have to compare notes to see if we preached the gospel the same way or had similar theologies of conversion, we didn't have to ask one another if infant baptism was preferred, we simply didn't have to make a point of distinguishing ourselves from the other. All of us want adolescents to know Jesus Christ; all believe they are hopeless without him.

In our efforts to reach the multitudes of teenagers in Durham, we have two choices, uniformity or unity-with-diversity. Uniformity is easier, although severely limiting, because the goal is to find other groups who get to the same end in the same way. Unity-with-diversity is much more difficult and downright messy at times, but the effort to love one another in spite of differences in the body of Christ is itself a great testimony to the Lord. Sometimes we adapt to become more similar in order to make things work, other times this is not possible. What is possible, however, is the ability to follow our mutual leader and head and to march under his banner. It's messier, but it's worth it, and it smacks of the Kingdom of God.

The Grill and Chill inaugurated the beginning of my memorable week, but perhaps the very best picture of the Kingdom of God at the Reality Center came six days later. Almost forty of our young friends with cognitive disabilities, African-American, Caucasian, Asian, Indian, Latino - they all gathered for the first of our Tuesday Night Live meetings. Each of our guests was matched up with an able-bodied "buddy." These buddies provided a beautiful tapestry of service; they are Durham's church people from an untold number of denominations and congregations. All present joined in a cacophony of worship and listened to Susan McSwain talk about the Spirit of the welcoming Father and the gentle invitation of Jesus. The diversity was rich, the unity was thick, the joy was deep. If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and in purpose (Philippians 2:1-2).

Durham Cares is spot on for Durham. An organization whose mission is promoting "a heart to help those in need" not only propels us forward toward a more hopeful future for our city; it also takes us back to the city's beginnings and the amazing story of Durham. In a way, Durham Cares beckons us to "Become What We Are"-a city of philanthropists.

My name is Chip Denton and I've lived in Durham for eight years now. I travelled a great distance to get here, all the way across the Great Blue Divide, from Chapel Hill, but I attended Duke back in the 80s so this felt like coming home.

Over the last fourteen years, I've been involved with the founding of a new independent Christian school called Trinity, down at the end of Pickett Road, just at the boundary line between Durham and Orange Counties. We love being in Durham, and we are hopeful about Durham's future. This past summer I thought that hopefulness might be better informed if I learned a bit more about Durham's past, and so I read Duke History Prof Robert Durden's The Dukes of Durham: 1865-1929.

The story of the Dukes and Durham is a story of philanthropy, generosity, habits of giving and serving, and small beginnings which grow into big stories. If we trace the amazing story of the Duke Endowment backwards, we find that James B. Duke's phenomenal gift was inspired, at least in part, by his brother Ben's steady and faithful giving to Trinity College, which started with a $1000 gift to a nearly bankrupt institution in 1887; both brothers learned the habit of giving from their father, Washington Duke, whose "tithe accounts" trace his giving back to the days before the family moved to Durham; and those habits of generosity were taught and instilled by the Methodist Church, to which the Dukes belonged. I'd say the Dukes are Exhibit A for Methodism's founder, John Wesley's famous dictum: "Gain all you can; Save all you can; Give all you can." And this in the days before income taxes and the charitable deduction.

Durham Cares is spot on for Durham because it brings us back to these philanthropic roots and impulses. It challenges us to expand our generosity, invest in projects which benefit the common good, invest in small ways that may grow far beyond what we could imagine. And, perhaps most importantly, the mainspring of this giving is the Gospel truth which the Dukes learned in their Methodist pews: The earth is the Lord's and everything in it; and it is better to give than to receive.

So here's to a new wave of philanthropy, inspired by an old motive, all for a city with a great past and a promising future.

I have recently been impressed by the function of banners in antiquity, especially in warfare. As armies became separated through fierce attacks of an enemy and through chaotic conditions on the battlefield, even brave soldiers became discouraged and disoriented. The strong temptation was to flee or to surrender as one faced seemingly overwhelming odds.

Suddenly to see the banner of one's regiment rising above the smoke, noise, and confusion of the battle gave a warrior a fresh jolt of strength to hang in there. "I am NOT alone out here!" is the message the banner sends to the isolated soldier. As scattered fighters converge on the uplifted banner, they see one another and find new courage. As they begin to fight together side by side, they find that their efforts make a dent in the enemy's forces.

This website is so cool for serving as a banner for Durhamites who care for this community! It reminds us that we are not alone, and that we can accomplish more together than we can apart. I can't wait to see the sign in center field at the DBAP rallying Durham to care! I remember hearing Henry talk about that sign over a year ago, and I think it, too, is a great banner.

Thanks for organizing us a little better than we have been and introducing us to one another across Durham neighborhoods, races, denominations, socio-economic levels and educational backgrounds. Let's work together!

My name is Lydia Baker. I don't have much experience with this blogging stuff, so I'll just tell you what's on my mind and hope that it doesn't have to be in any particular format. I guess it's necessary to tell you a little bit about myself before I get into my story. I am 26 years old and I come from a big, close-knit family. There are five generations alive and well on my mother's side of the family and three on my father's side. Next to my Lord and Savior, family is the most important thing to me. I have had an amazing life because of these relationships. And just to add icing to the cake, I just want to let you know that I will be getting married on September 2, 2008!! I have inherited a beautiful little girl (fiance's daughter), and I am so excited to start a new family.

I know it does not seem like it, but I want to talk about how important it is to be triumphant over a situation in which you are the victim.

Some of my problems started about 50 years ago. No, I do not have poor mathematical skills, just keep reading. I remember nights when my father was intoxicated as he wept and told us stories about the death of his mother. In some ways it seems as though he blamed himself. She died after my daddy was born. He was the youngest of three siblings when she died. Shortly after his mother's death his father married another woman, with whom he had three more children. Although his stepmother was a good person overall, she abused my father and his older brother. As he wept and drank Red Rose, he told us stories about how she beat him and his brother in the testicles with extension cords.

The physical abuse probably didn't hold a candle to the mental and emotional abuse. Just to know that a person could treat someone that you love so dearly this way is so hurtful. Long after his stepmother's death, my father was still suffering from the things that she had done. As a result of the pain that my dad felt, he chose to self-medicate. He abused alcohol and became addicted to crack-cocaine. As you can imagine, this caused problems in our family. Instead of my mom and dad's income, we had to live off of my mother's wages. My daddy's whole check would be used to support his addictions. My mother left my dad about 3-5 times in an attempt to get his attention. We would go to shelters and stay until my mother felt like she could no longer keep the family divided. She made such a huge sacrifice to keep us together. She had to endure financial hardship, arguments, and the stress of doing most things alone as my father struggled with this addiction. One day in 1993, she gathered most of the clothes we had and took her five children to the Genesis Home in Durham, North Carolina. This was probably the most depressing year of my life. [I know this is off topic, but this was the year that Toni, Tony, Tone song called "Anniversary" was really popular. I hate it to this day!] Anyway, we stayed there for a year until my mom got a voucher to move to the West End. We lived on that side of town for about 11 years as my mother went from "welfare recipient" to "business woman"!!!! She started a cleaning company called "C.J's Clean-Rite Service." This company was very successful. Later, she opened an antique store that has now been moved to Pinehurst, North Carolina.

Now...undoubtedly, my dad was a victim of child abuse. But because of the way that he dealt with his issues, many other people suffered. So my question is...At what point do we, as victims, become responsible for circumstances after we have suffered huge injustices? Understandably, it is very difficult to fathom how unresolved pain affects us long after it is inflicted. But many people who choose to avoid, or may not even understand how to deal with tragic situations tend to grieve in unhealthy ways. My father went to the doctor a couple of years ago and was told that his liver was bulging out of his ribs. To this day, he continues to drink. God works miracles, no doubt, but it just hurts me to think about my father's disregard for his own health. Nevertheless, I pray for my father every day. I always ask the Lord to restore his body.

So obviously I feel like I have a pretty good idea about the question that I asked earlier. To refresh your memory, I'll ask it again: At what point do we, as victims, become responsible for circumstances after we have suffered huge injustices? In 1 Peter 5:7 it reads: "Cast all your care upon him; for he careth for you." When we neglect to give our problems to God, that's when we feel the weight of the world on our shoulders. Matthew 11:30 reads: "For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Problems here on Earth were promised, but God gave us clear instructions on how we must deal with them. Through faith, I know that my father is learning to lean on Jesus. It is an everyday process to build our faith. But it is not something that we try to do on our own. Whether we feel like it or not, the fact remains that God cares. There is an old song that says, "Oh what needless pains we bear; all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer". So until next time, pray more and worry less!!