Forces For Good
June 23, 2008 by markhsmith · Leave a Comment
Forces For Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits
One of the emerging trends in philanthropy is the concept of “giving while living”–with donors taking an active role in their philanthropy during their lifetimes. Actually, this concept is not new, it was pioneered by Andrew Carnegie and outlined in his article “Wealth”, published in 1889. Carnegie encouraged “the rich man to attend to the administration of wealth during his life.” Carnegie also said, “Of every thousand dollars spent in so called charity to-day, it is probable that $950 is unwisely spent; so spent, indeed as to produce the very evils which it proposes to mitigate or cure.” Carnegie proposed that the skills & talents that were used to create the wealth in the first place, were the same skills & talents required to give away the wealth during a person’s lifetime. The Wealth article has influenced both Warren Buffet and Bill Gates.
In fact, these social entrepreneurs want to change the world and have the means to do it. However, “countless entrepreneurs are reinventing the wheel, starting new nonprofits without understanding what has been tried before or what really works,” says Steve Case in the book’s preface.
THE BOOK’S BIG IDEA: The key is finding ways to leverage other sectors to create extraordinary impact. Great nonprofits are catalysts; they transform the system around them to achieve the greater good. In order to create systemic change, nonprofits need to partner with government, business, individuals, and other nonprofits to achieve more than they could alone. They constantly need to adapt to their environment to stay relevant. They share leadership and power within and beyond their organizations, empowering others to become forces for good.
“Greatness has more to do with how nonprofits work outside the boundaries of their organizations than how they manage their own internal operations. At its core, social entrepreneurship is an externally focused act. It’s all about results, not processes. And that’s why it sometimes looks so messy and chaotic from the outside. The solutions to society’s most pressing problems lie in the collective, not in any single institution.”
After years of research, the authors have come up with six practices of high-impact nonprofits which they believe benefit both philanthropists and nonprofits:
- Work with government and advocate for policy change
- Harness market forces and see business as a powerful partner
- Convert individual supporters into evangelists for the cause
- Build and nurture nonprofit networks, treating other groups as allies
- Adapt to the changing environment
- Share leadership, empowering others to be forces for good
On pages 214-223, the authors provide checklists for each of the 6 areas above, to encourage readers to put the ideas into practice. I’m using these checklists at Kinnovation on our next project. These include:
- Advocate and Serve. Kinnovation is an advocate for standard impact measures and will help facilitate their adoption.
- Make Markets Work. Our partnership with business recognizes the need for business to make a profit. Kinnovation projects will help get our business alliance partners into new markets. Kinnovation itself will tap into business models that will allow it to become self-sustaining in a reasonable amount of time.
- Inspire Evangelists. Our work with Halftimers is part of our core mission. We help individuals find their calling and multiply their results as part of our mission. Our vision is to tap into a persons core passions and calling, not his checkbook. We help nonprofits and help fulfill the Calling of individuals simultaneously.
- Nurture nonprofit networks. We chose the name Kinnovation Alliance to highlight the core vision of creating a nonprofit network strategy. We believe in collaboration, knowledge sharing, and coalition building. Beyond that, our mission is to build the IT tools to enable this.
- Master the Art of Adaptation. Kinnovation is a group that thrives in innovation, experimentation, and vetting ideas. We work like a VC and idea incubator. Our core competency is technology and our mission it to enable the knowledge of our alliance partners to be captured, shared, and used.
- Share Leadership. Our board is a group of individuals from various sectors. Our core philosophy is “There is no limit to what can be accomplished when no one cares who gets the credit”
Since Kinnovation is catalyst and its very nature is to harness the power of existing networks of individuals, business, government and nonprofits (see figure 1.1)
Bottom line: To win at the social game game, it’s not about being the biggest or the fastest or even the best-managed nonprofit. The most powerful, influential and strategic organizations transform others to become forces for good.
When Charity Destroys Dignity
May 24, 2008 by markhsmith · Leave a Comment
When Charity Destroys Dignity, by Glenn Schwartz
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.
- 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.
The Church and Poverty: Mission Accomplished?
April 23, 2008 by markhsmith · Leave a Comment
The Church and Poverty: Mission Accomplished?
From Family Research Council e-newsletter
Is the church doing enough to help the poor? Sixty-seven percent of Americans think so. According to a recent national survey the majority of those polled said their “church already does enough to help the poor in [their] community.” But is there more to do? Steve Haas, the vice president for church relations at World Vision, is using the research as a call to conscience for believers. According to Haas, Christians are just “scratching the surface” when it comes to helping the less fortunate. As Christians, we have a personal and corporate responsibility to engage in the war against poverty. It is, and has always been, primary to the Gospel message. As Harry Jackson and I write in Personal Faith, Public Policy, Scripture makes it clear that our responsibility to address the plight of the poor is fundamental to living out our faith. Arthur Brooks points out in his book Who Really Cares? that liberals equate this responsibility with the call for more government programs. This effort to shift the responsibility to the government deprives the giver and the recipient of tangible and intangible benefits and studies also show it is very ineffective. For decades, this reliance on big government to care for the poor has done more to perpetuate American poverty than alleviate it. Instead of breaking the cycle of poverty by addressing the root causes–like the breakdown of the family–government programs are actually prolonging the problem with short-term fixes. This liberal approach to welfare is devastating to the poor and to the entire nation. The more the church does, the less our government will have to do. Local faith-based charities are not only more effective, but they have also proven more efficient. If your church doesn’t have outreaches to the poor, I encourage you to consider partnering with another ministry or starting one of your own. The more energy we put into meeting our neighbors’ needs, the greater our opportunity for sharing the rich message of Jesus Christ.
MegaCommunities
April 23, 2008 by markhsmith · Leave a Comment
Megacommunities, by Mark Gerencser, et al. (a book review with key points posted by Mark Smith)
The problems facing the world are so large that no one sector–business, government or non-profit–can solve the problems by themselves. According to the authors, what is needed is a megacommunity.
A megacommunity is a public sphere in which organizations from three sectors–business, government and non-profits–deliberately join together around compelling issues of mutual importance, following a set of practices and principles that make it easier for them to achieve results without sacrificing their individual goals. The megacommunity is an alliance of organizations, not individuals. In a healthy megacommunity, the three sectors maintain balance by “pushing” and “pulling” at each other according to their respective forms of influence. Order comes out of balancing this dynamic tension. In contrast to public-private partnerships, megacommunities bring civil society (NGO, church, non-profit, etc.) into the equation.
The megacommunity recognizes the kind of legitimacy that civil society represents. The civil sector brings accountability, insight into how to get things done locally, sensitivity to how the issues at play might affect individuals and the environment, and credibility in arenas in which business and government fall short.
The Call: Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life
March 22, 2008 by markhsmith · Leave a Comment
Are you looking for purpose in life? For a purpose big enough to absorb every ounce of your attention, deep enough to plumb the mystery of your passion, and lasting enough to inspire you to your last breath? This book is about the reason why we are each here on earth.
Are you serious about looking for such a purpose? How many people do you know who just can’t wait to get to work on Monday because they’re so fired up about what they’re doing? Nobody? When you meet people that are that passionate about their calling, it’s contagious. Find your calling.
KEY POINTS:
- There is no call without a Caller.
- Reality reminds us that all the will in the world will not make us what we want to become.
- Calling in the Bible is a central and dynamic theme that becomes a metaphor for the life of faith itself.
OS Guiness deals with two distortions–the Catholic distortion and the Protestant distortion. The Catholic distortion is that the sacred calling is to become a priest or nun. Martin Luther shattered that myth. Luther wrote: “The works of monks and priests, however holy and arduous they be, do not differ on whit in the sight of God from the works of the rustic laborer in the field or the woman going about her household tasks, but that all works are measured before God by faith alone. The cultural implications of recovering true calling [by Luther] were explosive.
- Calling gave to everyday work a dignity and spiritual significance under God that dethroned the primacy of leisure and contemplation.
- Calling gave to humble people and ordinary task an investment of equality that shattered hierarchies and was vital impulse toward democracy.
- Calling gave to such practical things as work, thrift, and long-term planning a reinforcement that made them powerfully influential in the rise of modern capitalism.
- Calling gave to the endeavor to make Christ Lord of every part of life a fresh force that transformed not only churches but also the worldviews and cultures of the Reformation countries.
- Calling gave to the idea of “talents” a new meaning, so that they were no longer seen purely as spiritual gifts and graces but as natural and a matter of giftedness in the modern sense of the term.