Two Good Starts

Last night I attended the "very soft launch" of Word Made Flesh - Canada. When Mark Petersen gets this motivated by a charity it is always worth checking out; and it was.

But the best part of the night came earlier, before I left home.

I was telling my 5 year old son, Ben, that I was going to hear a man who lives with people who don't have enough money or food. Ben asked why the man (Chris Heuertz) would do that. I explained that God loves everyone, but he has a special love for the poor. Ben nodded thoughtfully, then disappeared upstairs for a minute. When he came down he solemnly handed me the entire contents of his giraffe piggy bank and told me to give it to the man who helps the poor people. Then he drew a picture for them of someone who was given "clothes, food, money, a hat, and a house".


My son is more like Jesus than I am.

It was a sacred privilege to give his donation to Chris and after last night's event I am glad that Ben's first entry into generosity was in support of such a good organization.

The Abundance Dilemma

For the first time in my professional life I have a larger budget than I'm sure how to spend. Being in the role of making grants to deserving people and organisations is an amazing opportunity, but almost immediately it becomes abundantly clear that there are far more worthwhile causes than we have resources. By foundation standards we really aren't that big, and the needs in our own community and around the world are so immense.
As a foundation we need to do a lot of learning and take the time to figure out how to use our resources most effectively to accomplish what we feel is our part. We've decided that the best way to do this is to take the next several months to focus on getting familiar with a wide range of ministries and work on the fundamentals of what we value and where we believe we can help the most. We aren't planning to disburse any further funds until September while we work on all that stuff.
What I'm realising in this process is that the dilemma of having our funds to distribute among seemingly endless meaningful and worthy possible partners is not all that unusual.
In my personal life I have a certain amount of financial resources, a certain amount of time and energy. And I have the responsibility of determining how to use it all (with my wife of course). The possibilities are diverse and there are a lot of really good options.
So, whether I'm working at Catalyst or planning as a family. I have a pretty significant responsibility to face. The new perspectives and experiences I'm exposed to in this new role only make that more apparent.

Charity and Ego

Browsing The Gathering today I found my way to an interesting sarcastic article about "philanthrotainment". In essence it was criticising the glorification of public charitable activities by celebrities.
It makes a good point, if an obvious one. There are plenty of examples, public and private, of people who do charitable work for their own benefit rather than for the legitimate benefit of others. It's pretty easy to take shots at Geri Halliwell or Paris Hilton for their United Nations work. But if we were a little bit more honest we might find the log in our own eyes.
Helping people does feel good. Most philanthropists do want to see for themselves the results of their investments, or at least receive grateful updates from the field. The fact that the reward is primarily intrinsic rather than extrinsic and shown on TMZ.com seems a little bit convenient as a source of moral superiority to me.
I think its great that Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates are being widely praised for their generosity. Hopefully their example could inspire some others. Same goes for Brangelina and Bono. Is there something less than 100% selflessness at work? Sure. But that's ultimately true for me too.
The real transformation that could occur in this field would be when we learn to honour those who give time and energy instead of just money. When we can respect the degree of sacrifice involved, not just the financial figures.
I'm grateful for the people, including our founders at Catalyst Foundation, who are giving significant dollars to good causes. I sincerely respect what that involves and what it says in a culture that is so focussed on personal wealth. Still, the focus on the volume of financial giving keeps the emphasis on money as the measure of the gift.
If Madonna can trade on her fame, Bill Gates can offer his billions, and George Clooney can use his profile andd film making skills to raise awareness; maybe we can also learn to honour some people in our communities who are giving of themselves as well, even if the scale is less publically noticeable.