Giving, for better or for worse?

As a person who is self-educating on the extensive field of international relief and development work, I am sometimes wearied by the vast amount of factors that contribute to this work. In order to be an effective aid agency, you have to consider economics, politics, culture, ethics, psychology, etc. of both donors and recipients. In addition to education and intelligence, as an agency and individual, you have to be an excellent with communication and relationship building. 

Perhaps at times I come across as someone who believes that we should simply observe and respond. While I do believe that Christians have a clear Biblical mandate to serve the poor and oppressed in tangible ways, it would be absurd for me to dictate "ideal" responses. For goodness sakes, I still have a weekly struggle with how to best respond to the local homeless! People with much more experience than I spend their careers arguing about best practices and ethics. This discussion (one of many) about Toms Shoes and the BOGO model or this post about giving unsolicited aid to Japan show some of the topics minds like mine consider. Much, much harm has been done through the good intentions (or even nefarious intentions) of the West.

With all of the debates about the most effective methods of aid (and, believe me, there are divided opinions even on how to measure effectiveness), I have come to two main conclusions. The first is that we should pray about the causes that God is specifically calling us to support. James 1 tells us that if anyone lacks wisdom, he should ask God in faith, as God dispenses the stuff liberally and without reproach. At times, we may be called to support a charity that we may not even view as efficient because God's economy does not work as ours. Conclusion two is that we should start small and research. Scattered approaches do not do as much long term good. It is better to research a charity (say, International Justice Mission) or cause (for instance, human trafficking) and stick with it than to dabble here and there without much thought. Being an educated, committed supporter means that you will be able to be a better advocate for your charity/cause and also that the charity/cause will not waste as much money in trying to solicit your donations. Be aware of the difference between donating and buying products, as well as the differences between charities (non-profit) and social enterprises (could be either non-profit or for-profit).


Finally, my thoughts as to artisan-made products boil down to the concept that if you are going to consume anyway (i.e. birthday and holiday gifts, jewelry, etc.), you might as well buy something that will help someone even if part of your purchase price is mismanaged. You would not complain if Target or Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf mismanaged their business costs, right? You just hand them your $5.00 in exchange for their product. However, if you are buying a product solely because you care about the cause motivating the product's existence, you would perhaps be better off just donating your money to an effective charity that supports that cause. (Note: Fair trade is another issue that I have covered elsewhere as I am trying to move away from buying products tainted by slave labor. This is exceptionally difficult to do, but I already have a head start since I am predisposed to shop at Goodwill and eat dark chocolate.)