There is an epidemic happening today.
Great Kingdom visions are being lost because of the individualistic way that nonprofits are currently structured. The system is broken.
World changing dreams are dying before they ever get off the ground. And if they do take off, running a nonprofit according to the current structure often leads to intense leadership burnout. The Cause exists to help God’s Kingdom come. So we partner with the leaders, the visionaries, the Kingdom-bringers, to help them do the work they are called to do. Before sharing more about what we do, here’s the “why.”
The reason I do The Cause is humblingly personal. It’s been years now, but the memories are still painful, even today they bring a knot into my chest and and tears to my eyes…
I sat on the hard booth in the diner-style restaurant. Fluorescent lights glared overhead while I poked at the half-eaten, tasteless dish in front of me. My index finger nervously struck the cuticle of my thumb. Eventually blood appeared. The table was full, the group was supportive, but the conversation was brutal. I looked down as my sister talked to our nonprofit board. She confessed the truth that everyone already knew. We were both burnt out. We were the casualty of the ministry that had consumed our twenties.
For me, burnout was hours and hours of television. I would stay up late into the night trying to get my brain to calm down and stop counting the incessant to-do’s. I would watch one show, then another, then a third until early in the morning, but my exhausted mind still wouldn’t shut off. Burnout was getting home from a long night of laughing, eating, and praying with our homeless guests, then having an extra bagel, a second dessert, or a few drinks. Anything to take the edge off. It was a never-ending tension, being easily offended, and way too ready to defend my actions, even when I knew they were self-destructive. It was the garage I never had energy to clean, the food donations that rotted in the fridge, and the fact that every task, even the simple ones, seemed arduous.
It didn’t begin that way…
We accidently started Fill-A-Belly. The plan wasn’t for our weekly homeless dinners to grow, but they kept getting bigger and bigger. At the beginning, we asked churches, nonprofits, and other similar ministries to let our outreach come under their nonprofit umbrella so that we could focus on the mission. The answer was a universal “no.” We were too messy; too out of the box.
People were handing us donations and we needed a 501(c)(3) to properly process them. We had to decide: either stifle the growth of the ministry, or begin the arduous and time consuming process of starting and running a nonprofit. Out of necessity, we founded a nonprofit. It was expensive. It took a huge amount of our administrative time and resources. Thankfully, due to a lot of hard work and a strong board, Fill-A-Belly, is still successful today, but my sister and I were the carnage. Running a nonprofit took our time and energy away from helping those we were called to serve, and we burnt out. It’s been years. We are still recovering.
That is why I do The Cause – because my story is the story of thousands of others, and I long to provide a better way to run a ministry.
Christ followers are called to take up the cause of those God champions: the widow, orphan, refugee, homeless, poor, exploited, and broken hearted. The goal is to bring restorative justice through community transformation!
The Cause exists to empower those who are giving their lives for that calling, which maximizes Kingdom Impact!
We provide grassroots organizations and individuals with a 501(c)3 covering or umbrella. But our work goes far beyond that, because The Cause is not actually about The Cause… it’s about leaders – our partners! We offer solid administrative support, while strengthening their God-given abilities through leadership, coaching, spiritual, and emotional support. What we do through The Cause allows great Kingdom visions to thrive!
Photos by Markus Spiske and Tim Mossholder on Unsplash
