Prayer Letter: Expecting the Unexpected

Summer is here is all its glory.  Longer days, such heat that it generates “weather” that closes in and cools down temperatures.  Plenty of good rainfall, making the hills and mountains green, green, green.

Christian Week is one of the journals that I receive from Canada on e-mail.  The current issue has an article by Glen Shepherd, the president of Health Partners.  In it he mentions a booklet by Henri Nouwen - A Spirituality of Fundraising - in which one of my favourite writers contends that fundraising is the opposite of begging.  It is actually, says the late Nouwen (who was a Dutch Catholic priest), a form of ministry: “fund-raising is as spiritual as giving a sermon, entering a time of prayer, visiting the sick, or feeding the hungry."

If you think that I write too much about charity and giving then please look up this link.  From my work with NGOs, I have learned that the more senior you become in an organization, the less you can escape this ministry!  Truly I enjoy my involvement in programming more, but you can’t enjoy driving or the scenery unless you stop periodically to refuel!  It’s a fact of NGO life, and of my life.

I was recently reflecting on the contextual changes that have affected this ministry in recent decades.  It took me back to the first years of my life in colonial Africa, and through several phases up to the present.  In fact, I would say that we are still in transition to another new phase, but no one is sure exactly what it will be like.  The following table sums it up.  If you want a deeper analysis, contact me and I will send a 2-pager to you:

Context	Missionary outreach	Approach
Colonialism – Major economies ruled areas overseas (ended in the 1960s)	Like David Livingston, close alignment with colonial powers… mostly expatriates	“Support” – regular giving from families, friends and churches. Long periods away.
Independence – New countries emerging under the U.N. framework needed “balance of payments support” (until 1980)	Mainline churches declared a “moratorium on missions” but this was not observed by most evangelicals	“Mission-initiated churches” expected programme funding from their mother agencies, who found it hard to wean them
Grantmaking – Donors wanted more transparency and to target their funding to “projects” (peaked around 2005)	Missions were able to wean some expenses, like schools and hospitals, and to switch the focus to other priorities	Paradigm-shift caused resources to flow to agencies like World Vision more and to classical Missions less
Corporate Social Investment (CSI) – Government funding mainly for bi-lateral or U.N. while NGOs tap funds mainly from private sector	Strengthening civil society in every country has caused a huge proliferation in the number of “partners” – to say nothing of “projects”!	For better or for worse, churches and even companies began to be more “hands-on”, bringing a more corporate ethos to “the business of aid”

Speaking of CSI, there is an annual CSI Handbook published in South Africa and C4L’s solar/youth programme is featured in it, thanks our corporate donor – ABSA Foundation.  Just released!

By the way, at this stage grantmaking has not been entirely replaced by CSI, but there is a fair level of disappointment with the project paradigm.  It was mainly an exit from the previous phase!  But it was not a final destination after all.  CSI has also had mixed reviews, so there is experimenting going on with new paradigms.  Four of these are:

Context	Missionary outreach	Approach
Quick Wins - $200,000 was raised in one afternoon in Oregon to save a beached whale.  From fast-food and Polaroid to aid: “We want that problem fixed – now!”	Short-term missions allow the givers to get involved – like CSI.  A Kindle run by solar energy now offers a listening Bible in the vernacular for $5!  Literacy just takes too long!	On-going missionary support or programme funding seem tedious by comparison.  But some things – like that 9 months gestation period – just cannot be hastened!
Augmentation – The opposite of proliferation.  The business world thinks “merger” unlike churches and NGOs which have tended to split easily.	C4L is hosting foreign learners attending a local private school.  This raises C4L’s occupancy rate and generates some baseline income.	C4L never wanted to split, and is looking for other synergies.  For example, with another NGO specializing in rainwater harvesting, to link to our Solar.
Inclusive Business – When it comes to job creation and some sectors like Renewable Energy, it may be better for business to be the channel, not an NGO?	C4L has started the Africa Power and Light Co-op in part because NGOs really can’t do business (it would be unfair trading as we are tax exempt).	This is basically what St. Paul did – he produced tents to support his own ministry.  One missions paradigm is thus called “tentmaking”…
Supporting key people instead of projects – For example, Tearfund has a programme called “Inspired Individuals”.  The funding is linked to a person rather than a plan.	Mother Theresa was partly funded on this basis.  For example, she could board KLM going anywhere, at no cost.  That is how the airline honoured her and her work.	It may take time for those “Inspired Individuals” to become recognized?  That could be another trap that favours the advantaged and disfavours Youth?

On a personal note

As many of you know, I am hoping to announce soon, possibly in my next prayer letter, a new conduit of Canadian funding for C4L.  There are always two sides to the ledger, and my decision to stay put at C4L comes with some costs to C4L.  These costs do not relate only to orphans, although C4L’s Child Protection programme does continue to operate.  To a great extent, my role at C4L has been, is and will continue to be resource mobilization.  The ministry of fundraising.  To some, this news may feel like a throwback to the colonial missionary support paradigm.  But I like to think of it as support a person rather than a project – an inspired individual, if you will.

Expecting the Unexpected

In a way, a fundraiser never knows for sure which one of numerous contacts in the “proposals pipeline” is going to be approved.  So although you are doing this continuously, year in and year out, you never know what to expect!  But nevertheless you have expectations!

As C4L’s cash flow drooped in late 2011, I wondered what would happen.  It was nerve-racking.  We came right to the edge of insolvency.  Then the awaited unexpected happened, in the last week of December.  God is good, all the time!  This week there have been two promising signs.  First, ACEK school renewed its boarding of learners on campus for 2012.  We knew they were looking at their options, so we didn’t know what to expect.  Second, ABSA Foundation very suddenly requested a major proposal within 24 hours – because they discovered some residual funding that was unspent in 2011.  Another submission deadline on January 31^st – a lot of ministry work to do!