After The Storm: How to Shape Our Mercy Ministries for Long-term Success
SONYA STEARNS
Network Manager
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Media coverage of the devastation wrought by recent hurricanes alerted us to the awful conditions many Americans suffered. The images of isolated communities without help for days and testimonies of hopelessness have been heart-wrenching.
Reports of outstanding organizations and private companies offering relief through funding, personnel, and supplies are inspiring. Yet recovery in many areas will take months and years, not days or weeks. Collaboration between local nonprofits and churches will be pivotal in providing the ongoing assistance needed for individuals to thrive again.
Hurricane survivor scenarios are very similar to those experiencing poverty during normal weather conditions. Many struggle to make ends meet because they have been devastated by family, medical, or employment storms. And while government, private agencies, and churches and nonprofits can be outstanding sources of short-term relief, few of them will help with long-term recovery. Individuals are often left isolated to clean up—personally, financially, and communally. Instead, they need a functioning social network to help them strive toward independence and flourishing.
Many True Charity Network Members do an excellent job of building programs that provide the relationships and opportunities to make that happen. These nonprofits and churches do so by avoiding the pitfall of making individuals dependent on their services. Instead, they walk alongside the people they serve to help them become independent, self-sustaining contributors to their communities. How can you do that, too?
Here are five suggestions for helping people after their “storm.”
1. Educate your people so the proper foundation is laid
Serving people well takes time. Most of us recognize that having a 10-15 minute training conversation with a volunteer or staff worker before they start serving is sufficient for short-term relief but probably insufficient to make a long-term difference. So how do you comprehensively train staff, church members, and other volunteers to serve individuals with long-term success in mind?
True Charity has easy-to-follow video courses designed for group viewing or individual engagement. True Charity University (TCU) offers many free courses, including the foundational Seven Marks of Effective Charity. Anyone can create an account, complete each course, and receive a certificate of completion. Other courses are available to the public for a nominal fee. (Network member organizations receive everything on TCU free of charge for up to 10 people.)
True Charity’s Volunteer Engagement Toolkit, which features the Beyond Volunteering Video Series, is an excellent training resource. Many nonprofit organizations report using it as the basis for their volunteer and staff training.
Network members also have access to a webinar library covering topics like Program Design, Best Practices, and Community Collaboration. Most True Charity live webinars are free to the public.
2. Inventory your outreach programs while planning for the future
What services are offered by other organizations in your area? Try not to duplicate them — but if you do, take heart! That means you probably have the personnel and resources to craft other programs or classes that meet deeper developmental needs.
Decide what should be scaled down or cut altogether. This is hard but necessary. Some programs have served your community well for years, but their time is up. Others simply need to be tweaked. Regardless, just about every program will thrive better with some changes.
True Charity’s Program Refinement Toolkit (PRT) walks nonprofit and church workers through a comprehensive plan to evaluate their mercy ministries and outreach services. Accompanied by a workbook, the PRT is easy to implement with a staff, committee, or group of volunteers.
3. Build sustainable programs and classes focused on development and long-term outcomes
Just as communities devastated by hurricanes need months and years to recover, individuals in poverty need ample time to recuperate from what may have been years of dependency and hopelessness.
That type of recovery and development requires persistence on your part and commitment to the process on theirs. “No-strings-attached” hand-outs of food, clothing, and other material items do not meet those sustainability and development requirements.
Veteran charity and church workers understand that individuals are more likely to succeed when they realize they are capable of developing their own solutions — and are willing to do so. True Charity teaches that every person is created with the capacity to contribute and create. Those capacities might have been buried or damaged by life’s storms long ago, but they lie waiting to be uncovered. When we function under the belief every person is created in God’s image (the Imago Dei), our long-term results will be measurably better.
True Charity Network members can access detailed program plans through the Model Action Plan (MAP) library. Each step-by-step guide is designed to help an organization or church of any size begin a specific program suited to their community’s needs and context. Examples include starting or improving a Christmas Market, Food Co-op, Childcare Program, Mentoring Program, Work Shuttle, Benevolence Ministry, and temporary housing programs.
A thoroughly researched Recommended Client Classes and Programs Library on the network members’ portal can help nonprofits and churches determine which classes to offer and what resources they need to get started.
4. Regularly evaluate and revise your mercy ministry or benevolence program
Just as no person is perfect, neither is a program or organization. We can all improve!
Have a plan for analyzing and comparing your outputs (including volunteer hours and fiscal expenses) to your desired results (outcomes). Ask pertinent questions of your volunteers, committee members, or staff every quarter. One question you must consider is, “In 2, 5, or 10 years, where do we want this individual or family to be financially, relationally, and spiritually?” Another fitting question is, “How can we help this person or family live independently (i.e., not needing outside assistance — including ours)?”
If your mercy ministry keeps individuals and families dependent on you for the long term, it’s time for a change. A well-executed and regular evaluation plan will always propel you toward better results!
True Charity’s Outcomes Toolkit can help you identify and measure desired long-term outcomes. As mentioned earlier, the Program Refinement Toolkit has several resources to help you inventory your results.
5. Collaborate with others and plan for broader community impact
A sense of community is pivotal for individuals and organizations. Join forces with other churches and nonprofits. Communicate regularly with community leaders.
Purchase software to share pertinent information about the people you serve in common with other service providers in the area. Establish regular meetings and training opportunities so the entire community can move toward flourishing.
Network members can host a full-day TC Community Workshop or a TC Gathering to build buy-in with their community. Organizations can also invite a True Charity staff member to speak at a community event, fundraiser, or gala.
Storms come and go, and damages vary by degree. That’s true for hurricane victims — and non-weather “storm” survivors. With both, short-term relief is sometimes necessary, but it is always a temporary solution. If we don’t follow it with long-term developmental help, we fail to help those in poverty achieve long-term sustainability.
We can do better. We can model our mercy ministries to meet deeper needs, walking alongside others to help them write their own success stories. We can help them live flourishing lives. And we can begin today!
Need help getting started? Take the Path to Effective Charity Quiz to see which True Charity tools can help you right now in your nonprofit or church work.
