Measuring a Different Kind of ROI: How Philanthropists and Churches Can Spark True Transformation
BETHANY HERRON
Vice President of Education
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If you’re like me, your deep love for people can make knowing where to invest your time and financial resources overwhelming. Too many needs. Too little time and resources.
That’s why I’ve been thinking a lot recently about what a true return on charity investment should look like.
I’ve been reminded of a story about a man approaching seventy. For the first time in decades, he was worshipping in church alongside his grown daughter. As they sang, she watched tears fall from his face while he declared, “Yet not I but Christ in me.” After years of living in and out of addiction-driven poverty, Christ enabled him to do what he could not do on his own: move closer than ever to a flourishing life.
That is impact — and a true, eternally-significant return on investment.
To unpack the story further, throughout his life, his family received many forms of charity. Electricity bills were covered. Vehicles were repaired. Disability payments were provided.
But often, that charity unintentionally fueled his addiction instead of helping him find freedom. The real change came only when restored relationships entered the picture — specifically with God and his family.
Stories like this remind us that not all mercy ministry is truly merciful. Some forms of charity can unintentionally harm the very people and families they aim to help.
Until we embrace our mutual brokenness, our work with low-income people is likely to do more harm than good. I sometimes unintentionally reduce poor people to objects that I use to fulfill my own need to accomplish something. I am not okay, and you are not okay. But Jesus can fix us both. – When Helping Hurts
That means for faith-driven philanthropists or churches looking to partner with charity organizations, where you give — and what kinds of efforts you give to — matters.
Here are five questions you can ask an organization before financially supporting it:
1. What does success look like for the people you serve?
Effective organizations articulate their goal and align their efforts to meet the spiritual, physical, emotional, and intellectual needs of people created in the image of God — in other words, those who have the capacity to contribute to society.
2. Are you asking people closer to the problem to help out first?
People closest to the individual should do their part before other people and institutions step in. That starts with the individual themselves, then extends to family, friends, churches, nonprofits and, if necessary, the government.
3. Do you prioritize genuine, reciprocal relationships?
Good ministries seek to foster and maintain mutual relationships with the poor and to connect them to new relationships, which help them increase their social capital.
4. Do you empower clients to NOT need you in the future?
True charity is not done “to” someone, but it empowers a person to support themselves in the future. Even if someone doesn’t have the capacity for full financial independence, good programs help those people grow in other ways.
5. Do you measure long-term outcomes in the lives of the people you serve?
Great programs track meaningful changes like improvements in housing, employment, education, and relational health. Measuring activity like “groceries given” or “clients served” doesn’t prove those organizations are making a difference.
Indiscriminate charitable giving makes financial philanthropy the endgame. Yet while our contributions should serve as a spark, they must be made to boots-on-the-ground organizations that ignite lasting life transformation in those they serve.
If you’ve been searching for a place like that, where you can give with the confidence your dollars will make an eternally significant impact, consider partnering with True Charity. We are a nationwide team of over 265 nonprofits and churches who understand ineffective charity is harmful. Instead, our multi-faceted approach equips organizations to build transformational programs and influence policies that lead to a more flourishing life.
For more information on True Charity and how you can be involved in financial efforts that create a different, eternally significant ROI, visit us at truecharity.us.
