Re-Imagining Charity with Dr. Shawn Duncan
How Re-Imagine Charity is Impacting Gaston County
Right at Home had the pleasure of attending the highly anticipated Re-Imagine Charity event held at Carothers Funeral Home in Gastonia. Below are some notes on the key factors that Dr. Shawn Duncan identified as key points to positively impacting a community in need by providing the right kind of resources, to the right people, at the right time.
Special thanks to my friend Guy Fleming with Carothers Funeral Home, "we have that national reach, with a local personal touch.” For putting forth the tremendous effort and time into executing this event. It was nothing short of perfection, promoting healthy community engagement and education. Thanks also to Dwayne Burkes for his assistance in planning the event, as well as an exemplative effort in the recently successful launch of “Resource Gateway.”
Speaker, Dr. Shawn Duncan with FCS Ministries reached out to the audience with humor and compassion. He was an expert on the subject, very approachable, down to earth, and an inspiration for all.
FCS Mission
“Focused Community Strategies partners with undeserved neighborhoods to provide innovative and holistic development that produces flourishing communities where God’s Shalom is present.”
Core Values
- Dignity: We practice equality, believing that every voice matters and that all people are made in the image of God.
- Empowerment: We practice friendship with a guiding adage, “Never do for others what they can do for themselves.”
- Neighboring: We practice local living, believing that the poor and the privileged need each other and benefit from living life together.
Guiding Principles: The Oath for Helpers
- I will never do for others what they can do themselves for themselves.
- I will limit one-way giving to crises and seek always to find ways for legitimate exchange.
- I will seek ways to empower by hiring, lending, and investing and offer gifts sparingly to celebrate achievements.
- I will put the interests of those experiencing poverty above (or organizational) self-interest even when it means setting aside my own agenda.
- I will listen carefully for spoken and unspoken needs.
- Above all, to the best of my ability, I will do no harm.
5 Principles of Smart Charity:
- Smart Charity is about Mutuality. We have to ask how the served are effected, not just the servers.
- mart Charity is Participatory. We must remember that everyone has something to contribute.
- Smart Charity is Holistic. We have to resist simplistic approaches.
- Smart Charity engages the Mind. We have to do more than touch hearts.
- Smart Charity is about Impact. We have to remember that activity is not the same as outcomes.
Crisis vs. Chronic
A Crisis need demands emergency intervention. Examples of crisis' are war, famine, or tsunamis. The goal is to "stop the bleeding." The needs of a crisis are met with quick action to feed the starting and giving shelter to those in need. Chronic needs require a development response. Needs like rebuilding homes, infrastructure, and restarting business; activities to strengthen capacity for achievement.
The Progression of one-way giving:
- Give once = appreciation / sympathy
- Give twice = anticipation / inspiration
- Give three times = expectation / disillusionment
- Give four times = allowance / judgement
- Give five times = dependence / resentment
Dr. Shawn Duncan is the Director of Training and Education for FCS Urban Ministries. Shawn is also the Co-Founder of EIRO, an organization helping local churches participate more fully in the mission of God in their neighborhood.
Additional Resources: References in support of the notes from Re-Imagine Charity
Robert D. Lupton has authored these two amazing works supporting the Re-Imagine Charity Mission.
Charity Detox: What Charity Would Look Like If We Cared About Results Hardcover – July 7, 2015
Toxic Charity: How Churches and Charities Hurt Those They Help, And How to Reverse It Paperback – October 2, 2012
Our Mission: Gaston County
Have you ever imagined receiving the famous Mission Impossible assignment? You know the one. “Your mission, should you choose to accept it. . . ” What would you do if you received this message and your mission assignment was to find a cure for cancer? Would you accept this mission? It is simply not a mission that can be accomplished alone. But what if your assignment was a little bit unique because it included a full team of experts to help you. Furthermore each expert would bring a hard-working support team in toe? Would you take this assignment? Your chances of success would surely be better with so many people working together wouldn’t it? Chances are that none of us has been commissioned to cure cancer, but we our communities certainly face other significant challenges. One challenge that cries out for our collective cooperation is generational poverty.
Providing Care in Gaston County
Believe it or not Gaston County had over 700 homeless children in our school system last year. Think about that staggering number. Based upon typical family sizes that means we could have as over 1700 homeless people inside our comfortable little county. Of course, this number does not include the working poor who are just one layoff, one car breakdown, or one paycheck away from homelessness.
Countless individuals work on the mission of addressing poverty every day as social workers serve families and church groups distribute everything from book-bags to baloney sandwiches to people in need. But one critical question of effectiveness hovers over all our good deeds. In spite of countless giveaways and grocery drives how often do we hear about anyone actually escaping the clutches of generational poverty? One wonders if our generosity is helping or could it actually be hurting? Could it be that our efforts are just keeping the real problems hidden from view instead of addressing the root causes?
Fighting Poverty in Gaston County
While our community doesn’t have its own crack oncology tackling a cancer curing mission we do have the ingredients for a team to solve generational poverty. Gaston has over 700 houses of worship (interesting how that correlates to the same number of homeless children, isn’t it?), These churches are filled with thousands of dedicated members whose stated mission is to love and care for impoverished spirits and souls. If that is not enough we have stellar health, human service, and nonprofit professionals doing great work in every corner of our county. Does it make sense to think that our seemingly impossible mission of addressing generational poverty would increase dramatically if we could harness the collaborative force of our faith, business, and human service communities?
The Resource Connection Gateway
Well there is a move afoot to do just this and the hope of truly helping the least among us is filling the air. The YMCA’s Resource Connection Gateway served almost 1500 families in need this year. Each has received caring connections with appropriate resources. Instead of merely passing people in need to another short-term intervention, the Gateway connects people with the appropriate resources for resolving poverty’s challenges. Likewise families are connected with no-cost counseling, career and financial coaching, or other integrated services. Over 80 houses of worship, crisis agencies, businesses, and governmental entities are already working together to provide collaborative, results-focused supports to Gaston’s generationally impoverished.
On January 19 the YMCA convened a symposium on Reimagining Charity. More than 125 local leaders learned more about extending a hand-up and not just a hand-out to those in need. We are on the verge of a major paradigm shift in the way we care for one another. Imagine a day when someone who loses a job or faces eviction or encounters an emotionally traumatic event could reach out and find an entire community ready to engage the mission of walking alongside them. Imagine laid off worker getting back to work in six weeks instead of six months. Imagine the depressed or discouraged person finding hope sooner rather than later.
The late Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir said: "I never did anything alone. Whatever was accomplished in this country was accomplished collectively.” Gaston’s collective effort to accomplish great things is underway. The table is spread and it is time to come together. January 19 is the next step in an exciting journey.