Level Funding Playing Field for Faith-Based Organizations

Shouldn’t those in need have access to the best social services, whether the organizations that serve them happen to be faith-based or secular?

After 30 years spent in relief and development, this writer can personally attest many Faith-Based Organizations (FBOs) are committed to breaking poverty . . . not just serving it.

If FBOs are marginalized from competing for government grants and unable to become recommended providers, it will only hurt people seeking a hand up and escape from the grip of poverty.

Conversely, if given the opportunity FBOs can provide significant savings to taxpayers.

There are three primary reasons why outsourcing social services to churches and faith-based charities makes economic sense:

FBOs are uniquely equipped to deliver the ongoing care and mentoring that lift people out of dependency and into sustainability.

A change of heart and habits is the essential process needed to break free from a never-ending cycle of reliance on public assistance.

FBOs can leverage public funds with private resources to deliver proven social services.

FBOs have proven the ability to build community collaborations between churches, charities, businesses, and civic groups.

With this in mind, let’s level the playing field so that every qualified church or charity can compete for federal, state, and local funds.

FBOs such as Prison Fellowship, Teen Challenge, Rescue Missions, Dream Centers, Operation Blessing, Convoy of Hope, Habitat for Humanity, and CityServe (which this writer co-founded) are just a few examples of organizations serving with a sense of responsible compassion.

They aim to maximize every dollar they receive to renew lives and repair communities.

What could happen if this army of compassion were unleashed to solve systemic social challenges in America, and around the globe?

The potential impact was demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic, when CityServe and its faith-based partners were able to distribute over 17.3 million food boxes as part of Ivanka Trump’s vision and USDA Farmers to Families program.

Together we worked with local churches and ministries in neighborhoods across the nation — thousands of them — to help communities get back on their feet in a time of desperate need.

This untapped American force for good is precisely why President Donald Trump’s unprecedented elevation of the White House Faith Office under the leadership of Pastor Paula White-Cain is so critical.

To be clearer, previous faith-based offices were relegated to the massive gray Eisenhower Executive Office Building next door.

By moving the new Faith Office into the West Wing, the president has signaled to FBOs — and indeed the world — that the faith-based community will have direct access to his administration. . . . And as any Beltway-dweller will tell you, that’s huge!

"Let’s bring religion back," President Trump declared at the National Prayer Day Breakfast. "Let’s bring God back into our lives."

Those are powerful words coming as they do from a leader who now openly credits Divine Intervention for his survival of not one but two assassination attempts.

The president’s statement tells the faith-based community all we need to know about the golden opportunity that lies ahead. . . . It's literally an answer to prayer.

President Trump’s clarion call for the faith-based community to take its rightful and responsible place in bringing hope and help to millions of Americans . . . and billions of people globally . . . must not be overlooked.

Churches, ministries, and faith leaders everywhere need to pray, unify, and advocate for more responsible-compassion initiatives.

We also must prepare ourselves to compete for grants at the federal, state, and local levels.

And the faith leader who deserves our eternal gratitude for this opportunity? It’s Pastor Paula White-Cain, the senior adviser of the newly created White House Faith Office.

Ever since President Trump appointed Pastor White-Cain to lead his faith-based outreach, this writer has seen a surprising degree of vituperation hurled her way on social media. A lot of it comes from critics who frankly would be inclined to criticize any action by this president.

The main point is this, the trusting relationship Pastor White-Cain has built over two decades with the president has now opened the door for FBOs to serve those in the "last mile of need" like never before.

Rather than use that relationship to advance her own interests, Pastor Paula has graciously opened the door for FBOs generally to greatly expand their unique impact.

As Jentezen Franklin put it, Paula is "like the small hinges used to swing open big doors" for the faith community.

This writer has known Pastor Paula White Cain for many years.

She is a woman of enormous faith, integrity, and conviction.

She is an extraordinary leader with enormous capacity to strategize, mobilize, and inspire a compassion revolution to accomplish what would otherwise be impossible.

This writer believes that all of us in the faith-based community owe Pastor Paula White-Cain our sincere and heartfelt gratitude.

This writer is confident that with her help, the playing field finally will be leveled: Churches and FBOs will be able to compete equally for federal, state, and local grants.

That means FBO social service providers, and the recipients of their services, will soon have unprecedented opportunities to provide even more help and hope.

The world will soon see how FBOs are able to lift people out of poverty and put them on a path from poverty to prosperity, and from being wounded to becoming a wounded healer.

May the prophet Isaiah’s declaration become our clarion call: "Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings," (Isaiah 58:12).

His father's death and mother's debilitating injury due to a drunk driver at age 9 propelled Dave Donaldson to dedicate his life to building healthier families and stronger communities worldwide. In 2017, he co-founded CityServe International, which has since distributed over $1.2 billion of goods to communities in need. Read more of Dave Donaldson's reports — Here.