Ever since I heard of charity: water’s bold promise to the general public, that 100% of their donations would go directly to the field to fund water projects, I was enamored. I coveted their promise, and sought to come up with ideas to replicate that strategy at Within Reach Global.
Given, we are still somewhat of a “mom and pop’s shop” ministry, and are not receiving donations on a grand scale such as theirs. President Obama has not made any promises to fund the ministry at Within Reach Global, nor will we be rewarded with an Impact Award of 5 million Dollars from Google in the near future.
Still, what an incredibly fair and ethical way to run a ministry! It’s our dream that no one take a salary from funds donated; that every penny of every donation go straight to the mission field to impact individuals and communities who have yet to hear of Jesus Christ. We, too, are finding other ways to raise personal support, and have an incredibly minuscule overhead. (We printed brochures this year. That’s about it for overhead around here!)
On the other hand, Within Reach Global operating on the personal scale that it does can be a good thing. All monies donated do directly impact people through the missional lifestyle that we live. We rub shoulders with the poorest of the poor in Southeast Asia, eat meals in the homes of unreached people groups, and regularly dream up creative ways of reaching the unreached college students through urban mission strategies.
But I always find myself back on charity: water’s 100% page, re-reading their strategy. I consider my friends and church members and family, and think to myself, “who would be willing to fully fund our family’s needs to buy a car in Thailand as we oversee the growing ministry at Within Reach Global?”
I pray that more Christian ministries would, in the very least, brainstorm creative fundraising ideas to fund personnel behind the scenes, so that finances from generous donors would impact individuals and communities in powerful ways as the gospel is taken directly to areas of greatest need.
Pray with us as we seek to move in this direction at Within Reach Global.
Here’s some information from charity: water’s 100% page:
When we started charity: water, we made a bold promise to the general public—100% of their donations would go directly to the field to fund water projects. We’d find another way to cover our operating expenses. And we’d even reimburse credit card fees when donations were made online.
We depend on private donors, foundations and sponsors to cover everything from staff salaries to basic office systems to office rent and supplies. These donors are some of our most dedicated: their investment fuels our long-term mission, our ability to scale as an organization and our mission to continue using 100% of public donations for water projects.
Relevant Magazine’s 10th year anniversary issue made an interesting note on 10 Things That defined The Last Decade:
Evangelicals Reclaim Social Justice
Ever since the phrase “social gospel” was introduced by Walter Rauschenbusch in the early 20th century, “social justice” became a dirty phrase among conservative Christians. Never mind that the Bible speaks of justice and poverty more than 2,000 times—social justice efforts were believed to be a corruption of the Good News and a distraction from the Church’s “true” mission of evangelism.
But today, as a Barna study reports, young Christians are more “globally aware and cause-oriented” and “sensitive to issues related to justice and poverty” than the generation before them.
This rekindling of justice has been led by activists and thought leaders like Shane Claiborne and Jim Wallis, though evangelicals on the left and right have reclaimed justice efforts as an integral part of the Christian calling.
Of course, this isn’t the first time Christians have cared about social justice, but the views of groups who cared were considered more liberal fringe than mainstream. The tables have since turned, with churches and organizations leading hunger relief efforts, clean water projects, the fight against human trafficking and the AIDS epidemic in Africa. Today, those who shrink back from the Christian call to justice are the ones on the fringe.
