The SPARK Humanitarian Suite presentation is now online. Click here to view the Flash presentation.

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:

1. Work with government and advocate for policy change
2. Harness market forces and see business as a powerful partner
3. Convert individual supporters into evangelists for the cause
4. Build and nurture nonprofit networks, treating other groups as allies
5. Adapt to the changing environment
6. 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:

1. Advocate and Serve. Kinnovation is an advocate for standard impact measures and will help facilitate their adoption.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.

“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:

• Halftime by Bob Buford
• Success to Significance by Lloyd Reeb
• The Gospel of Wealth by Andrew Carnegie. This article was cited by Bill Gates & Warren Buffet as being inspirational in their own giving journeys
• In Light of Eternity and The Treasure Principle by Randy Alcorn.
• The Call by Os Guiness

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?

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.

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.

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.

Megacommunities do not thrive on chaos with no clear leadership. They thrive on alignment and optimization. In the initial stages in particular, the network needs some person, group or sector to precipitate alignment and catalyze latent energies. This will generally take the form of some “initiator” (or group of initiators) doing something explicit to put the elements in place. But the initiator must be prepared to cede this central/initial leadership role as the megacommunity coalesces and grows, or they may be seen as co-opting local and other interests. No one possesses the title of “CEO of the megacommunity.” The initiators need to believe that the alliance of organizations is the best way to solve the problem. Initiators should come from organizations that value innovation.

To achieve a successful megacommunity, on of the most fundamental habits to change is the habit of “maximizing” benefits. Megacommunity members must learn to “optimize” instead. Maximizing refers to a primary focus on the immediate benefits to your own local domain–either your own organization, our own geographic region, or your own function–whether or not that leads to benefits for the whole. Optimizing refers to the recognition and actualization of benefits to the larger system as a whole.

Those involved in the megacommunity must appreciate the importance of building network capital (that is, the value of investment in relationships and connections). An overlapping vital interest makes the features of convergence all the more real. Convergence is the commitment to mutual action that all members must work toward.

The purpose of megacommunity meetings is two-fold. First, to move toward a common goal (action). The megacommunity will have to demonstrate quick wins for its stakeholders. The second purpose of meetings is to educate the participants, to demonstrate continued and increasing competence and skills. The core group’s task at hand is design; the the design of a solution per se, but the design of forums, practices, prototypes, and experiments through which a solution will emerge. In every one of the participating organizations, there will be many sub-teams with multiple professional background; teams working on marketing, logistics, production, training, communication, legal, medical, engineering, financial, IT, etc.

Megacommunities don’t exist to admire a problem. They are there to take action.

Roles in a megacommunity include:

• Initiator. As a navigator, you keep the group on track, moving forward on an emerging path.
• Program managers who oversee particular projects;
• Media directors, who design, write, and manage the web site through which the megacommunity communicates with others;
• Media liasons, who maintain connection with journalists, editors, broadcasters, and other media professionals
• Subject matter experts, responsible for keeping the other participants informed about technical, scientific, or other specialized areas of interest.
• Megacommunity leadership. The big shift is from “command and control” to “coaching and persuading.” In a megacommunity, the touch is lighter. It is a guiding touch, on that lets constituents self-discover. Along with communication skills–and not unconnected to them–megacommunity leadership requires a certain amount of technological competence.
• Enablers. Some call them coaches, counselors, advisors. they are exceptionally unusual characters that are often invisible. You never read about them. You never see them in th organization chart. They’re very crucial facilitators of leadership effectiveness in new complex, cohesive communities.

In no way should involvement in the megacommunity be perceived as pro bono work, since megacommunity actions directly affect the success of each member organization. In fact, given the importance of any megacommunity’s central issue, it is likely that a participating organization has already committed time and resources to solving that issue. Megacommunity involvement may simply represent a reorienting of this effort, to better effect.

Four approaches that the authors have found highly effective:

1. Develop a Meeting schedule. Frequent contact is key to the operation of the megacommunity.
2. Employ Strategic Simulations. Strategic simulations can be spectacularly effective in uncovering complementing capabilities.
3. Develop targeted forums. Large, cross-sector meetings and conferences can also be an effective means of relationship-building in the early stages.
4. Prototype teams. A megacommunity may involve dozens, even hundreds of people working toward a mutual goal. It may be easier to divide them into cross-sector, cross-organization teams where they can identify and focus on nested projects and subtasks. Regard each of these subtasks as an experiment, or if you prefer, a prototype.

Utilize IT systems to foster communication. Consider using a social networking utility to post all sorts of information relevant to the megacommunity’s purpose. Contents could include contact information, dashboard tools, regularly updated progress reports, and strategic plans. Reporting, in fact, is a key element of monitoring in the megacommunity. The systems could also include shared databases, shared workspaces, and media plans. A good networking tool can provide an accurate picture of how a specific hub is functioning in a megacommunity. New media tools such as websites, wikis, blogs, video blogs, texting, etc. should be utilized.

Some megacommunities have even launched their own magazine.

The bywords of a megacommunity are: communicate, negotiate, act, and learn (then begin the learning cycle again).

Leadership. Each member organization must offer someone who has the authority to commit resources. Leaders can involve the megacommunity in an effort to co-create solutions. To be sure, it takes more skill and time to develop a solution this way; it involves genuine interest in the ideas and approaches that other people have to suggest. It probably involves synthesizing or combining those solutions in novel ways, making the final result more valuable than the sum of the parts. Megacommunity leaders know that pre-set answers are not going to cut it. They are accustomed to thoughtful trial-and-error. And they embrace the pragmatic and new solutions that few others can see.

Bottom line: The authors believe that the concept of megacommunity will have a profound effect on the way we see, and function in, the new world. As part of a megacommunity, all three sectors–government, business and the civil society–are in excellent position to have a real and lasting effect on large and complex problems.

I’ve decided not to elaborate on the project details at this point. The point is to put a public stake in the ground on this blog (with a date stamp). As the Kinnovation projects unfold, I will update the items on this page and link them to the details for each project. If you buy into the PEACE plan at all, then personalize it. Otherwise, PEACE is just another lovely idea, not a framework for action.

Promote reconciliation

• Between the local church and the parachurch
• Between large church networks
• Between the Orthodox church and Evangelicals
• Between Church and business

Equip servant leaders

• Train the trainers program.
• T3 Institute
• Halftime through Brown & Streza
• One-on-one philanthropic coaching
• Spark training

Assist the poor

• Health Access Now
• Microcredit technology systems
• Aslan’s Army, my own 501c3 that assists the poor in India, Africa, Mexico and Cuba

Care for the sick

• Rwanda Aids program (PEACE)
• Health Access Now
• Telemedicine technology through World Health Ed and American Telemedicine Association
• Spark

Educate the next generation

• Social network training
• V3 Studios
• Aslan’s Army bible schools

However the church can’t do it alone. Rick believes it will take a partnership of the Church, business and government to make a dent on the problem. Rick feels called to release the pent-up, latent energy in the church–to turn spectators into participators. To make a lasting difference in the world.

The P.E.A.C.E. acronym stands for Promoting reconciliation, Equipping servant-leaders, Assisting the poor, Caring for the sick, and Educating the next generation. Rick believes it’s the same plan Jesus used, so it’s time tested. I believe it’s a good framework and the kind of vision that will spark the imagination of Christian leaders worldwide. It’s the kind of idea that can get people out of their comfortable pew and look outward to see how they might make a real difference in the lives of others outside of their comfort zone.

I’m working with another organization, Halftime, founded by Bob Buford. Like Rick Warren, Bob is called to awaken the latent energy in Christianity, especially those that have had a measure of success in corporate America. If Rick represents a catalyst in the Church, Bob represents the catalyst in the business community. I have personally seen many people experience a Halftime and are actively pursuing Life 2.0 with a renewed and passionate vision to change the world in some way. Lloyd Reeb, one of the leaders of Halftime says, “One of my jobs is to rescue people from the golf course.” There’s a truth to that statement.

The PEACE plan is a logical next step from his popular book, Purpose Driven Life. First, you need to realize you have a unique purpose. Once you figure out your unique purpose, you need to go do it. If your purpose involves solving one of the BIG problems in the world, it would be nice to not have to go it alone. If your church is doing PEACE, you can surround yourself with some expertise and experience, multiplying your efforts. If this happens on a global scale, we might make a dent in the world’s problems.

I believe the major purpose of PEACE is to equip the church to become the efficient distribution network for the world’s philanthropy. If even a fraction of the 2+ billion Christians got involved in this effort, it would be the largest distribution network in the world.

When Andre Aggasi first started playing tennis, it was relatively easy and inexpensive to improve. He probably bought his first racket for a few bucks, played at public courts for free, and improved his skills rather quickly. As time went by, he found that better equipment costs more and more, having a private court and lessons cost a small fortune, and to improve he would have to spend increasing amounts of time, energy and money. At his current excellent level, he can spend immense amounts of resources and barely see any improvement at all. However, if he doesn’t spend the time to practice, his level of play will diminish.

Andre’s tennis history is an excellent illustration of the ladder of well-being. There are three curious aspects of this ladder that you find as you climb higher and higher: it gets more and more expensive to go the next rung; the rungs get closer together, so at the top it is hard to tell you are climbing higher even after a major expenditure of your resources; the rungs get more slippery at the top, so if you don’t continually spend some of your resources, you will likely fall back a few rungs. This is true for individuals, and true for society.

The developed countries (i.e. US, Canada, Japan and Western Europe) comprise approximately one-quarter of the world’s population. Through the social programs provided by their taxes, the people living in the developed world have virtually eliminated deep poverty from their countries. Virtually everybody in these countries has access to sufficient food, shelter, education, and health care. Because of broad social safety nets, on a scale relative to the world, everybody in these countries is at least three-quarters up the ladder of well-being.

In America, we have chosen to use much of our taxes to eliminate dire poverty, but there are many other worthwhile and important things that are not funded by the government through our taxes. So, the role of individual givers in America is to improve our excellent living conditions even more by funding such things as the arts, medical research, churches, and helping the poor even more. Yet, America is so far up the scale of well-being that the costs are incredibly high and it is often hard to determine if improvement is being made even after the expenditure of a significant amount of resources. Yet, if we givers don’t make these expenditures, our communities certainly won’t advance, and we may even go backward.
Renata J. Raferty is an expert on charitable giving. She believes givers in America can be described in four ways:

• Social Donors: These givers place a high value on personal visibility and prestige brought by a gift, and they highly value the importance of interacting with others in the high-profile community.

• Quid Pro Quo Donors: These givers donate to organizations in which a close friend or colleague is involved. The contribution is based on a respect or trust in the person making the request. There is often an unspoken agreement that a return request will be made by the donor.

• Social Conscience Supporters: these people give to organizations or individuals because they believe in the importance of a mission or react to an impassioned request. These people are often genuinely altruistic in their motives and selflessly dedicated to their causes.

• Results Givers: These contributors carefully invest in the nonprofit sector specifically to effect substantial, measurable change in their communities and the world. These givers require levels of improvement big enough to change people’s lives on a long-term basis.The vast majority of Americans exhibit characteristics of the first three types of givers. Working together, we both support and perpetuate a system that allows many important organizations to exist and worthwhile actions to be taken. The results of these organizations are usually measured against their missions rather than against a particular standard of cost effectiveness. For instance, results might be measured by finding out if a hospital wing got built for the budgeted amount, how many people attend the ballet each season, or how many school buses show up in front of a museum.

The cost of improving well-being in America is so expensive and so hard to recognize, that it is virtually impossible to be a Results Giver except for very small projects. This is not because we want it that way, but it is an inherent result of our system of life. For one thing, the recognition of benefits for non-profit programs is very personal. Who of us would like to compare how much good the Boy Scouts do versus Gilcrease Museum versus John 3:16? Also, since America is so high on the economic scale, improvements in life caused by any one program are small on a relative basis and are difficult to measure. Consequently, most of us inherently believe it is highly unlikely that any one non-profit activity adds social benefit an order of magnitude better than any other.

Now, let’s go back to the rest of the world. Remember, one-quarter of the world’s population lives in developed countries where there is no abject poverty. Approximately one-six of the world’s population lives in developing countries but is not impoverished. That is a total of about 2.6 billion people who live in relative economic prosperity at least three-quarters up the ladder of well-being.

Here is how the other 4 billion, or about 60% of the world’s population, lives. One billion live on $2-$4 per day – they are maybe half way up the ladder of well-being. Two billion live on $1-$2 per day – they are maybe a quarter of the way up the ladder. One billion live on less than $1 per day – they are still trying to get on the first few rungs of the ladder. Many of these men, women, and children will not survive until tomorrow.

In terms that may hit closer to home: about 3 billion people have no access to sanitation, 2 billion have no access to electricity, 1 billion cannot read or sign their names.
Until recently, individual Americans did not have many good options to help these four billion impoverished people. But an option exists now that not only helps these people, but is incredibly cost effective since they live so far down the ladder of well-being. That option is microcredit. As I have gotten involved with microcredit, it has changed my entire perspective about what my money can accomplish.

Microcredit means making very small loans to poor people to help them start or improve their businesses. These loans are very effective because there are absolutely no other sources of capital available to these people. With a loan in size of $50 to $500 a poor person can often significantly improve their income on a permanent basis. Over 80% of microloans are made to women, so they are also a very important tool to help women’s and children’s economic situations.

Loans are usually made through organizations which form small community banks. Loans are individual signature loans, but are cross-guaranteed by other borrowers, so the default rates are often less than 1%, which is lower than in America. People are focused on repaying these loans because they don’t want to lose social status and want access to future loans. They know this may be their one and only chance for them and their children to rise from poverty. Loan terms are usually six months, and interest rates are 10-15% plus the rate of inflation. So, a typical interest rate is 35% per year.

Because loans are cross-guaranteed, payments are usually made weekly in mandatory meetings of all borrowers. Anyone missing a payment has a lot of explaining to do. At these meetings, it is very easy for organizations to cost-effectively provide other services such as health and nutrition information, business training, or other financial services. As you can imagine, in many cases the borrowers value this training and information as highly as the loans.

Microloans and these related services are usually made through well-established and credible organizations. Without going into detail, I believe I help change people’s lives for a total cost of $1 to $5 per person. On a relative basis, this is thousands of times cheaper than in America. As a famous Tulsa giver said, “In America I help bring people from here to here and it costs this much. With microcredit I help bring people from here to here and it costs this much. If I value human life equally, the conclusion is obvious.”

Without trying to sound like Sally Struthers, I would like to introduce you to Crucita, a lady that my daughter recently met on a trip to the Dominican Republic. Crucita lives in a tiny village near the sugar cane fields in a remote part of the island. With her first microloan, she purchased more inventory of food and drinks for her little stand. She has since taken and repaid 5 more loans, and has purchased an oven, freezer, washing machine, and a small motorcycle for her son to transport goods and people. She makes money by baking, laundering, and selling frozen and fresh foods. She is a perfect example of someone who needed a hand-up, not a hand-out.

Through microcredit, I believe ordinary individuals, like you and me, can change the lives of billions of people. My family still gives to many organizations which benefit my communities, but I feel compelled to give increasing amounts to microcredit projects where I can do so much more good for so much less money. And as a side benefit, now that I am able to become a Results Giver, I am becoming more enthusiastic about giving.