Seth Barnes May 26, 2010 8:00 PM

The importance of accountability to donors

We're here in Port-Au-Prince.  One of our team members said it was, "the most pitiful sight I have ever seen.  There were children begging for mon...

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We're here in Port-Au-Prince.  One of our team members said it was, "the most pitiful sight I have ever seen.  There were children begging for money against the van windows as we stopped for traffic. There were tent and tarp cities of thousands everywhere. Imagine a city that size with no garbage pickup in over four
months."

Let's say you wanted to respond to this need and you've got some money to give. When you give a donation, are you owed anything in return?

"Thank you" would be nice for starters. But is there anything else?

Our Haiti team has done a great job of connecting churches in America with churches in Haiti. We're not the biggest NGO here, but we do a couple of things really well.

1. We go deep in our relationships with local churches, meeting physical and spiritual needs - we especially focus on discipleship.

2. We  emphasize accountability to donors. Every donation goes to meet the needs in a local Haitian community. We send along a videographer to record the event and send the video back to the donors.

God is doing so much in Haiti. But what keeps many people from giving is their concern that the money isn't going to go where they intend. They wonder if it's really going to make a long-term difference.

It's been great to see our staff's desire to be accountable in a detailed way to our donors and to bring them into the middle of what God is doing in Haiti.

When you give, how do you want to answer the question, "Will my gift really make a difference?"

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