Multiplying your Results

May 26, 2008 by markhsmith · 1 Comment 

“Aim at Heaven and you’ll get earth thrown in; aim at earth and you’ll get neither.” CS Lewis

I’ve been a Christian for about 30 years and during that entire time, I’ve given regularly to my local church and other charities. But only recently have I attempted to measure and multiply the results of my giving. I figured my job was to give and it was up to God to make it count. This seems to be a common theme. I know very successful businessman who perform very thorough due diligence before making a business investment, but routinely make charitable investments on a whim. This was certainly my own experience.

Over the past 6 years, I’ve gone through a series of “stages” in my own giving/serving experience. I’ve attempted to describe them here to start a dialog with others who, like me, are trying to figure it out.

STAGE 1: THE CHECK WRITER

In August 2002, I funded our own non-profit called Aslan’s Army. I hired a part-time assistant to help me evaluate applications from missionaries seeking funding. We were able to fund around 100 missionaries at various levels of funding. Around 33% of the missionaries actually sent me information about their experiences, but I found it difficult to measure any kind of results.

In my experience, the bible school directors were best at quantifying their results–number of students, churches planted, orphans helped, people served, pastors trained, etc. My epiphany came when I saw an application for a short-term missionary who needed $90,000/year for expenses to serve in Singapore. At the same time, I was shown an opportunity to start a new bible school in India for around the same kind of money–both land and building–that could handle 100 students at a time. The 100-to-1 ratio really struck home with me and I’ve never looked back. Aslan’s Army now supports ONLY bible schools in India, Africa, Mexico, El Salvador, and Cuba. More bang for the buck.

STAGE 2: THE BOARD MEMBER

When you write large checks, you get asked to be on the board of directors. Joining a board is one way to get an inside look on your charitable investments. However, I find that board meetings are simply a way to cram a year’s worth of positive information into a few days. In addition, I’ve found it difficult to serve in non-financial ways through my board position. In business, I was pretty successful at publishing Windows NT Magazine and being an IT manager at Focus on the Family, two talents that I could bring to the table. Unfortunately, its difficult for charities to deal with the donation of “talent,” whereas checks can be readily cashed. Serving on a board has NOT been my greatest contribution to a charity.

STAGE 3: ASSESSING RESULTS

Most wealthy Christians have stopped asking the big questions about their own lives:

  • What am I uniquely called to do?
  • How much do I need for my family and how can I give away the rest?
  • Should I start my own ministry, partner with an existing ministry, go back into business or what?
  • How can I multiply my Kingdom results?
  • What can I do now that God will reward in Heaven?

Most people are too busy doing life to figure out if they’re really making any kind of difference in the world at all. This was my experience prior to being suddenly thrown in Halftime after the death of my 17-year old daughter. After that sudden shock and subsequent healing process, I had to answer the tough questions just to make sense out of life.  My sincere prayer is that people will really wrestle with these questions without having to go through a life-altering event. Unfortunately, most never answer these questions for themselves and thus, have no clue what an abundant life really means.

Here is a list of books that were helpful to me in my own Halftime journey:

STAGE 4: PROFESSIONAL CHECK WRITERS

If you need help doing due diligence and grant making, these philanthropic services can help. Organizations like Excellence in Giving, Kingdom Capital Group, or My Philanthropy Coach help philanthropists and foundations figure out a giving strategy and focus the philanthropists’ donations on charities that provide the best impact measurement. The philanthropic services are a perfect compliment to a family foundation where 2nd generation is now assuming control of their family charity.

STAGE 5: START YOUR OWN MINISTRY

Many entrepreneurs prefer to start their own ministry rather than go through the difficulty of finding an existing ministry to partner with. When you’re the CEO of your business, you have control. Having control just feels better to the entrepreneur. Unfortunately, you can’t change the world by picking up a BIG bat and swinging at the world’s problems. This is especially true if you’ve been Called to fulfill a HUGE vision.

In fact, I don’t recommend starting a new ministry unless you really know you are Called to start it. Many new ministries fail for the same reason that new businesses fail. They’re started by technicians who had an entrepreneurial seizure and now find themselves running an organization that overwhelms them with complexities. In the business world, you can limp along until you run out of cash, then you go out of business. In the ministry world, you can limp along as long as you find donors to “invest” in your effort without any due diligence on their part.

I recommend people work with an existing ministry and take the time to learn the industry before starting their own ministry. Yes, the non-profit world is an industry. In fact, in 2006, there were more new jobs created by the non-profit sector than by the for-profit sector. By becoming an employee or consultant of an existing non-profit, you can learn what you need to know and see if you’re truly called to this type of ministry.

STAGE 6: KINGDOM ALLIANCES

A Kingdom alliance is between business, Church, and para-church organizations to optimize a common solution for the benefit of alliance members and the communities they serve. This is where significant multiplication can happen. Kinnovation Alliance is such an alliance and is focused on information technology. We believe a Kingdom alliance of this type can exponentially increase our ROI by working together rather than working separately on the same problem.

STAGE 7: JOIN A KINGDOM VC NETWORK

Many venture capitalists and investors don’t run businesses, but are excellent at putting money to work in businesses at early stages of growth. These same skills are being applied to Kingdom projects with good results. In the for-profit world, most VC’s network with at least 50 other VC’s that they can call for advice and potentially co-invest in their venture. In the Kingdom realm, most Kingdom VC’s work independently and have a relatively small network of like-minded KVC’s. There is a HUGE opportunity to connect Kingdom-minded VC’s together to participate in Kingdom investment opportunities. Experimentation with blended value–combining for-profit and non-profit investment ROI–could significantly multiply Kingdom results. And most importantly, a network of like-minded Kingdom VC’s would provide a new set of relationships that would survive eternity.

MY CURRENT STATUS

Currently, I find myself operating at several stages at once. I’m still running Aslan’s Army, but have really narrowed down the focus to increase efficiency. I’ve also helped start Kinnovation and am currently working to build a Kingdom VC Alliance. It’s all a work in progress. I don’t have it all figured out.

My goal is to optimize other people’s Kingdom portfolio while building my own. This is one of the biggest differences between the first and second half of my life. In my first half, my focus was on a number–what it would take to become financially independent But for what end?

The focus on my second half is relationships. In fact, I believe my net worth is equal to my network of friends. I can’t take money with me into heaven, but I can look forward to telling and listening to the Kingdom stories of my friends–what we did together during this brief window of opportunity to build HIS Kingdom.

What’s your story?

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When Charity Destroys Dignity

May 24, 2008 by markhsmith · Leave a Comment 

When Charity Destroys Dignity, by Glenn Schwartzwhencharitydestroysdignity.jpg

Can you understand what it is like to feel left out–to have your dignity destroyed? Do you know what it feels like to have to get out of the way of so-called “experts”? And how can anyone help overcome the negative effects of dependency around the world, if they don’t understand how complex the issues are?

If you are convinced that American or other outside funding is the key to planting churches cross-culturally, you will be disappointed with what this book contains. This book is actually a collection of articles by Glenn Schwartz, which you can find online. I will try to highlight the main points in this review.

The BIG Box – Glenn’s main point is that Western churches, NGO’s (non-government organizations), para-church ministries, etc. like to build BIG things in 3rd world countries, then hand them over to locals, only to be surprised when locals expect the Western organizations to continue to fund the BIG box creations because they are way beyond the financial or technical means of the locals to continue to run them. These BIG box creations include churches, schools, guesthouses, clinics, hospitals, bible institutes, farms, literature projects. dams, water pumps, electric generators, office buildings, translation projects, vehicles, stores, missionary houses, development projects, constitutions, by-laws, etc. Glenn believes it is immoral to create an unmanageable situation such THE BOX, turn it over to local leaders, and then blame them when they fail to manage it successfully.

Glenn states the BOX mentality has led to dependency and the local churches have not learned the joy of stewardship and of creating & sustaining their own institutions. He believes outside funding distorts reality in church or community finances. For example, many NGO’s and Church hierarchies pay local salaries that are significantly higher than the average community member can earn. The average church member thinks, “Why should I give to the church? My contribution is nothing compared to what our Western partner can do with pocket change. Besides, my (pastor, bible school director, local NGO leader, etc.) gets his salary from [fill in the blank Western organization]. He certainly doesn’t need my financial support.” Glenn believes this is a significant problem in places like India that nonbelievers assume that if one is even a Christian, they are being paid from overseas.

Many overseas churches & bible schools are looking for Western “partners.” However, if the resources flow in only one direction, then the better word might be “sponsorship” rather than “partnership.”

In contrast to unhealthy dependency, Glenn does give many examples of African churches that were self funded and how Pastors taught their local church members to support their local church. The Joy of Giving and Self-Sufficiency vs. the Dependency Syndrome is what Glenn wants the reader to see as the main point.

Glenn does acknowledge absolute poverty vs. just being poor. Those living on less than $1/day or ravaged by AIDS, war, famine, etc. could die without our help. We have a biblical obligation to help. At the same time, be careful not to create unhealthy dependency.

Part of the dependency syndrome has to do with the way westerners solve problems. We solve problems with money. We assume that the problems of the poor will be solved if we simply give them money or used clothing, etc. A second reality is that many westerners have discovered the joy of giving. The problem is that we as westerners are often unable to separate the joy we get from giving from the unhealthy dependency that can result on the receiving end.

So, where does Glenn suggest a person invest? Here’s a few suggestions:

  • Invest in cross-cultural training for missionaries to increase effectiveness. In other words, invest in those people willing to learn how things really work overseas. MARK: I agree with this. Most people on short-term missions have no clue what they are doing in a foreign country and are not effective. On the other hand, those that have taken the time to do the research or are paired up with locals who can MULTIPLY the missionaries specific talents can be very effective.
  • Invest in mobilizing efforts. Waking up Christians to find their Calling and to build the Kingdom of God, whatever their unique Calling may take them (global and/or local). MARK: Two examples of mobilization efforts are PEACE and Halftime.
  • Invest in ministries that do not have a Natural Constituency. Glenn includes campus organizations, radio broadcasting, and bible translation.
  • Help Refugees. We need to rapidly move communities up the Pyramid (see chart below), from the most basic Physiological needs, so that communities can work on becoming well developed and self-sustaining. A word of caution. If too much Disaster Relief shows up in a particular area, it can adversely affect local commodity pricing or do damage to the existing local infrastructure of those immediately outside the refugee area.

maslows-needs-pyramid.jpg

  • Invest in Preventative Health programs. This is an area where the church can play a huge role. Overcoming tribal rituals is a spiritual matter. Many African tribal rituals are teaching that the only cure for aids is to sleep with 7 virgins. Obviously, this is leading to the rapid spread of Aids. This is a spiritual problem and will only be overcome with spiritual education. If we don’t overcome these deeply held tribal beliefs, all the Aids relief the world will be wasted. People won’t seek treatment or prevention for a problem they believe they don’t have or is something that they are powerless to do anything about (i.e. Fatalism).
  • Invest in employment projects, job creation and micro-credit loan funds. These are the kinds of programs that help people stand on their own two feet. MARK: Micro-credit is growing rapidly as an option. Organizations like Opportunity International, World Vision, Hope International, and others have created micro-credit funds. Wall Street has recognized Micro-credit as a viable credit instrument and is now leveraging money so that more micro-credit loans can be made. However, development projects that help people become employed or start their own business should also include a spiritual emphasis on Christian stewardship.Today’’s micro economic development programs have 98% payback on loans made to micro-loan recipients.
  • Focus on sustained community development projects that emphasize local creativity, local ownership, creating on local businesses, etc.

OTHER SUGGESTIONS:

  • Never do for Others what They Can and Should do for themselves. If local believers suspect funds are coming from the outside, it can easily destroy local initiative for giving.
  • Never accept an overseas position of responsibility that could be filled by a local person. If church leaders find they can get a “missionary” to do the job, they probably won’t have to pay the salary from local funds! Therefore, missionaries should excuse themselves from business meetings whenever possible.
  • If you do assist in building or housing programs, create structures that are equal to the structures that the local people live in.
  • When funds are given, insist on accountability and accurate reporting. One of the reasons for shortage of funds in local churches is that misuse or the undeclared use of local funds accounts for why people do not put money into the collection. Unfortunately, there is often inadequate training of treasurers. However, there is NO excuse for poor accounting of what the Lord provides.
  • The best defense against encroaching radical Islam or other non-Christian movements is churches joyfully standing on their own two feet, not needing outside support.

NEW REALITIES

  • The growth of the local church movement in China happened AFTER westerners were shut out of China after the communist takeover. The movement grew without outside help. Church planters can learn many lessons from this reality.
  • Many westerners have a project-oriented and technology-oriented worldview. Many countries have a people-oriented worldview. The two approaches need to be reconciled, otherwise, it could result in broken relationships and a possibly fractured future. MARK: When designing technology-oriented projects, make sure they are sensitive to the local culture and are designed with the end user in mind. Be open to the fact that a local culture WILL teach you about how they want to work with projects/technology. This learning will lead to relationship-oriented social technology breakthroughs in User Interface, Program design, distance learning, mobile computing, social networking, and more.
  • Be aware of worldview differences. Many non-westerners look at Christianity as a supplement to what they already believe, not a replacement. This means they can claim to believe in Christ, but practice pagan rituals with no seeming conflict.

MOBILIZING LOCAL BUSINESS PEOPLE

A successful transition requires a change in the mentality of both church leaders and business people if the change is to be successful. Business people and church leaders must recognize that they NEED each other. Together they can strategize to communicate the Good News. Both business people and church leaders need to promote spiritual renewal. Business people should not give up on the Church. They should help to steer it into a larger, living community of faith where it has a dynamic prophetic role to fulfill, not just the small community in which God has placed it. The Church should have a prophetic role in the wider community, even the nation or continent. However, in order for church leaders to have respect of the business community, they must demonstrate both spiritual dedication and hard work.

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