Collaboration Is Overrated: Why Charities Working Together Is Not the First Step
Collaboration is commonly upheld for better poverty alleviation efforts, yet it rarely works out. What’s killing it and how can we help it live up to the hype?
Entries by Nathan Mayo
Why Voluntary Charity Is Not Optional: A Reflection on Rights and Duties
The act of charity is both voluntary and a moral duty. Only personal, neighborly care—not state programs—can meet the poor’s needs with love and dignity.
Why Loan Sharks Get Five-Star Reviews — and Why It Matters
While payday lenders appear helpful, their high-interest loans trap low-income Americans in debt cycles. Meanwhile, real, lasting solutions lie not in bans or subsidies, but in a revived civil society that offers relationship-based, developmental alternatives.
What’s Right With “Teach a Man to Fish?”
Conventional wisdom says, “Teach a man to fish and you’ll feed him for a lifetime.” Yet skeptics ask: Does he need access to the pond? Or a boat? Does he even like fish? TC’s Nathan Mayo dives in to help us see if the criticisms hold water.
Why Ministries Aren’t Improving: Outcomes Measurement in a “Wicked” World
Over decades, businesses continue to offer progressively better goods and services — but many nonprofits don’t ride the same wave of relentless progress. Despite a hidden challenge that makes that seem inevitable, there is a way to buck the trend.
Respecting Agency and Truth in Relationships
Ministry leaders often navigate the tension between respecting an individual’s agency and upholding absolute truth, particularly when guiding those in poverty toward wise and moral choices. Effective mentorship requires balancing encouragement and accountability—listening first, celebrating progress, pointing to biblical absolutes, and respecting lived experience—all while allowing individuals to take ownership of their decisions.
A Framework for Flourishing: A Synopsis of When Helping Hurts
When Helping Hurts is a rallying cry for the Church that simultaneously convicts and compels. Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert set out to awaken American Christians to the stark contrast between their beach vacations and the grinding poverty in foreign slums.
When Social Capital Moves in Next Door: The Best Evidence on Gentrification
The evolution of neighborhoods from working class to higher income is often an occasion for alarm among advocates for the poor. However, the best evidence shows gentrification is a net positive for the poor and a harm to far fewer than most believe.
What’s Justice Got to Do With It? How Justice Works With Charity to Uplift the Poor
Justice is a hot topic with wildly divergent interpretations. Charity is an enigmatic and even questionable virtue to many. This article cuts through the modern moral cacophony and outlines a clear, essential role for both in poverty resolution.
Is Your Mission Statement B.I.G. Enough?
A good mission statement should serve as a brief, inspirational action guide for your organization. It’s important to get it right. This simple framework will help you maximize the impact of this crucial component of your brand and strategy.
Exchange Models Done Right: Eight Ways to Empower Without Exploiting
Empowering programs should ask people to contribute as well as receive. But to someone unfamiliar with that model, it can appear as if the person in need is being exploited. This article explores eight concrete action steps that will help your programs remain above reproach.
Hidden Strings: The Downside of Federal Grants for Nonprofits
While “no-strings-attached” federal funds are alluring, watch out for seven common constraints that are hidden from view.
The Liberty to Serve: Five Benefits an Attorney Can Provide
Nathan Mayo shares the benefits of partnering with attorneys as a church or faith-based nonprofit. He also spotlights Alliance Defending Freedom, a valued Business Partner, that aims to empower organizations to operate within their beliefs.
A Pathway to Success for America’s Youth: A Synopsis of Agency
Ian Rowe’s Agency champions a national game plan to help young people find the path to a flourishing life by overcoming the false narratives of victimhood and victim-blaming.
How the War on Poverty Will End: The Past and Future of Poverty Alleviation in America
The War on Poverty has not gone well–which begs the questions, ‘What went wrong?’ and ‘What lessons can we learn?’ TC’s Nathan Mayo offers his thoughts on how the government’s failure creates a singular window of opportunity for civil society.
