Making a Difference

I recently had the opportunity to attend my first large nonprofit conference which was an assemblage of approximately 800 or so leaders of various non profit charitable organizations, foundations and assorted interests. The three-day event was full of interesting forums and discussions on various topics of curiosity to those assembled but I had the interesting viewpoint of being one of the few evangelicals or conservatives present. I don’t assume to know the true religious conviction of all of those present but from a political perspective, it was obvious that most had entered the building from one of the doors on the “left”. If I was a better story-teller, I may describe it as an out-of-body experience.

Despite my feelings of being in a small minority, one of the hopes that I came away with, that I also pray was a common aspiration for most of the leaders in attendance, is that we are making a difference. Christian charities spend over $90 billion annually making a difference: we collectively provide food to those that are hungry and shelter to those that are homeless; we provide medicine, education and training for literally millions of individuals both here in the United States and even more significantly abroad in those nations that are still developing and also in distress; we provide emergency assistance and relief in draught and famine, in natural disasters and in war ravaged areas. Most importantly, we provide hope and the offer of an eternal relationship with the Creator of the Universe and the Savior of all mankind.

Organizations like ECFA are also making a difference. We have mentioned before the very active role that ECFA took in the deliberations these past two years in Washington DC on the Panel on the Nonprofit Sector. The Panel and the meetings have run their course, significantly impacting the breadth and outcome of legislation that was passed and signed into law in August of this year. Interestingly, final recommendations coming out of the Panel addressed how our elected representatives and the IRS may encourage integrity and ethics within our nonprofits, both secular and religious. These recommendations featured prominently the impact of accreditation agencies like the ECFA.

The Panel found that while about half of the large nonprofit organizations (those with revenues of $1 million or more) are covered by one or more of the accreditation agencies, most of these agencies have differing standards--some activity based and some donor based. Some of these accreditation agencies carry the ‘weight-of-law” while others, like ECFA are voluntary and have primarily the impact of membership and reputation.

One of the primary recommendations of the Panel was to encourage accreditation groups to embrace governance, transparency and financial accountability standards. While most accreditation agencies are primarily focused on a narrow segment or activity (i.e. education, health care, child care), very few included what I consider to be the “dna” of ECFA accreditation, which is the integrity of our finances, and transparency in our fund raising. My prayer is that ECFA accreditation may increase in influence and together we may call more and more of our Evangelical charities including our churches to a “higher standard and a higher purpose”.

Christian Evangelicals and U.S. Foreign Policy

For those of you that from time to time visit this Blog, (mostly family and friends) you'll notice that I haven't been posting as much as I've been posting mainly on my organizations website (www.ecfa.org).

Here is an interesting article that was published by The Council on Foreign Relations. A think-tank headquartered here in Washington DC.

Introduction

Evangelical Christians are believed to represent the single largest religious group in the United States, and as their numbers have grown, there are signs of increasing activism in U.S. foreign policy. Opinion surveys show evangelicals overwhelmingly supported President George W. Bush's reelection, are among the country's staunchest defenders of Israel, and remain supporters of the U.S. military campaign in Iraq. But experts say it is wrong to think of evangelicals as a monolithic force in lockstep with the Bush administration. A major evangelical group recently issued an appeal for more activism to prevent global warming and fight poverty, and evangelicals have pressed the administration and Congress to adopt a range of humanitarian and human rights initiatives.

What are evangelical Christians?

Evangelicals generally say they accept Jesus Christ as "Lord and savior," they have a personal relationship with Jesus, and they are committed to spreading his message so others can achieve salvation. Many evangelicals share in the belief derived from the Bible known as premillennialism, which holds that Christ's return will come ahead of a thousand-year reign of peace. Derived from the Greek word meaning "good news," the term "evangelical" took on broad significance when it was adopted by followers of Martin Luther after the Protestant Reformation. Evangelical Protestantism was the dominant form of Christianity in the early years of the United States and remained a strong part of American culture into the twentieth century. Many U.S. evangelicals today follow in the tradition of Billy Graham and Carl Henry, leaders who gained prominence in the mid-twentieth century by promoting activism in spreading the faith, as well as engagement with other religions to improve human welfare.

Are they different from fundamentalist Christians?

Experts say a common misperception is to equate evangelicals with fundamentalist Christians. Timothy Samuel Shah, senior fellow at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, says both groups share a number of common beliefs, but an important difference is the activism of evangelicals. "Both evangelicals and fundamentalists tend to believe that [biblical] scripture is inerrant, that it is without error, and both tend to read scripture fairly literally and view it as absolutely authoritative from beginning to end," Shah says. "The difference, though, is that fundamentalists tend to be separatists [withdrawing from politics and culture] while evangelicals tend to be activists." Major evangelical denominations in the United States include the Southern Baptist Convention, theAssemblies of God, the National Baptist Convention, and various Pentecostal churches. Their adherents are estimated to range from 40 million to 75 million, a widely varying figure because of the lack of institutional identity, such as that which exists in mainline Protestant denominations or in the Roman Catholic Church.

What has been their traditional role in U.S. foreign policy?

Christian evangelicals have long been fervent backers of an Israeli state, predating its creation in 1948, but their activism on this issue has been most pronounced in recent years. Another issue they have taken a strong interest in for the past twenty-five years is international family planning. Evangelicals are prominent among the groups that have pressed administrations since the Reagan presidency to withhold funding for population programs that permit abortion.

CFR Senior Fellow Walter Russell Mead writes in the latest Foreign Affairs that the worldview of U.S. politicians tended to be dominated by liberal Protestantismduring World War II and the Cold War. Among those coming from this tradition, he says, were presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and Dwight D. Eisenhower. But evangelical Christians have become more prominent in recent years. Former President Jimmy Carter is one, and experts say President Bush fits the profile of an evangelical Christian, although Bush doesn't describe himself as such.

How influential are evangelicals on U.S. foreign policy?

Experts say their influence has been notable on human rights issues over the past ten years and is growing. Evangelicals, often working with coalitions that involve other Christian groups, secular liberals, and Jews, among others, have played a prominent role in the following issues:

The end of Sudan's north-south civil war. U.S. efforts to end Africa's longest civil war were a response in part to steady campaigning by evangelicals concerned about reports the government in Khartoum was imposing slavery and Islam on the predominantly Christian south. The 2005 peace deal, brokered by former U.S. senator John Danforth, an ordained Episcopalian minister, still holds, although a separate civil conflict in Darfur rages on. Evangelicals are among a number of groups pressing for international action to end the bloodshed in Darfur.

AIDS/humanitarianism.

During Bush's time in office, U.S. aid to Africa has risen 67 percent, including $15 billion committed over five years for programs to fight HIV and AIDS. The policy has faced criticism from some health advocates who say its emphasis on abstinence at the expense of efforts such as condom distribution has slowed the response to fighting the disease. Delegates from Africa, speaking at an international AIDS conference in Toronto in August 2006, said the administration's strategy has a mixed record so far.

The International Religious Freedom Act of 1998.

Experts say evangelicals played a key role in the effort to pass legislation making freedom of religion and conscience a top objective of U.S. foreign policy. Under the law, the U.S. State Department set up an agency to advise the government on how countries perform on religious freedom. Countries given poor grades could face economic sanctions and other punitive measures.

The North Korea Human Rights Act of 2004 (PDF). This act required Bush to appoint a special envoy for human rights in North Korea and says human rights in the country should be a "key element in future negotiations between the United States, North Korea, and other concerned parties in Northeast Asia."

The Trafficking Victims Protection Act (PDF). Passed in 2000, the act aims to deter trafficking, punish traffickers, and protect and rehabilitate victims. New legislation signed by President Bush in January 2006 will provide an estimated $360 million over the next two years to fight human trafficking and offer victim protection.

Nancy E. Roman, CFR vice president and director of its Washington program, says this pattern of activism by evangelicals is likely to intensify. "I think in general the Southern Baptist Convention and other organized groups of evangelicals have decided that really it's important to engage politically and certainly in the foreign policy realm," Roman says. "By sheer dint of the numbers, I think the evangelicals are having more of a measurable impact right now" than other religious groups. "Evangelicals," Mead writes, "have given new energy and support to U.S. humanitarian efforts under President Bush."

What is the evangelical stance on U.S. policy toward Israel?

Evangelicals generally view the Middle East through a biblical prism and thus are staunch supporters of Israel, experts say. Richard Land, head of the Southern Baptist Convention's public policy arm, said at a CFR meeting in September 2005 that his group does not "give blind acceptance of everything that the state of Israel does or has done." But he added: "I think it's safe to say that a significant majority of the people who identify themselves as evangelicals believe that God gave the land of Israel to the Jews ... and that God has said that God blesses those who bless the Jews and God curses those who curse the Jews."

Adds Mead, writing in Foreign Affairs: "Many believe that the promise of [the bible's book of] Genesis still stands and that the God of Abraham will literally bless the United States if the United States blesses Israel." But fundamentalist Christians tend to hold more rigid views on policy matters related to Israel than mainstream evangelicals. Some fundamentalists have raised funds to promote the Israeli settlement of the occupied West Bank and Gaza. Some conservative evangelicals disagree with the Bush administration's support for the "roadmap to peace" because it foresees an Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories as part of a compromise with Palestinians. One prominent fundamentalist evangelical, Pat Robertson, said after then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was stricken with a debilitating stroke in January that it was God's punishment for withdrawing from Gaza.

What is the view of evangelicals toward Muslims?

Surveys taken by the Pew Forum (PDF) show that of all Americans, evangelicals have the most negative views of Islam and Muslims. Shah of the Pew Forum says the 9/11 attacks confirmed the view among many evangelicals that Islam is a source of violence in the world. He said evangelicals already equated Islam with the high incidence of religious persecution found in many Muslim states. "In a sense I think many evangelicals see the war on terror, the war in Iraq, the struggle [against] religious persecution as part of a piece, as part of a general foreign policy thrust to challenge radical Islam," Shah said. "I think many evangelical elites see it that way."

Reverend Franklin Graham, a leading evangelist and son of Billy Graham, created a stir when he said after the 9/11 attacks that Islam was a "very evil and a very wicked religion." Land, of the Southern Baptist Convention, said at the 2005 CFR meeting that "many evangelicals too easily equate radical Islamic jihadism with Islam" and that his view is that Islam is a "many-splintered thing," much like Christianity. Evangelicals have also supported the Bush administration's campaign to democratize Iraq more consistently than most other domestic groups, according to polls conducted earlier this year by both Pew and Zogby International.

What are some other foreign policy priorities of evangelicals?

Evangelicals have shown an increasing interest in environmental issues, which they call "creation care." In late 2004, the National Association of Evangelicals adopted a platform on civil responsibility that included a section onenvironmentalist activism (PDF). Pursuing the environmental theme further, a group of prominent evangelicals in February 2006 formed the Evangelical Climate Initiative, which they described as a collective effort to encourage action by evangelical Christians and others to make adjustments in their lives to help ease global warming pressures. They released a statement that said human-induced climate change is real, it will disproportionately affect the poor, and that Christians have a moral responsibility to act urgently to address the problem, such as reducing carbon dioxide emissions. CFR's Roman says the new environmental activism, which is challenged by some evangelicals, signals that evangelicals cannot be easily pigeonholed into a political bloc. "The evangelicals do not very neatly align themselves with one policy prescription, there's more diversity than one would think," Roman says.

Pension Reform Act not all bad for Charities

The bulk of the Pension Protection Act is intended to compel employers to shore up their pension plans. In addition, it will in many ways encourage more non-defined pension plans including 401K’s and 403B’s in lieu of defined plans. Presently, many pensions are under funded, which means that promised pension benefits would exceed the funds available, leaving pensions short of money. The Pension Protection Act of 2006 "requires most pension plans to become fully funded over a seven-year period" starting in 2008, according to a CCH tax briefing.

According to a press release by Sen. Grassley, the pension bill includes a “good package of charitable giving incentives and loophole closers.” Grassley commented, “It makes sense to tighten areas of abuse while increasing incentives for charitable giving. Americans are very generous with their donations. They deserve to know that their money helps the needy, not the greedy.” Grassley thanked Sen. Santorum, Republican of Pennsylvania who he said was especially helpful in developing the giving incentives, and the Panel on the Nonprofit Sector, who Grassley said, “represented many of the nation’s charities in a comprehensive effort to study ways to improve the non-profit sector”.

To achieve full pension funding, the new law allows employers to deduct the cost of making additional contributions to fund the pension, provides strict funding guidelines, and imposes a 10% excise tax on companies that fail to correct their funding deficiencies.

Charitable IRA Donations

The good news for charities is that The Pension Protection Act allows taxpayers to donate money to charity directly from their IRA account. The distributions will be tax-free and avoid the penalty on early withdrawals. Taxpayers are allowed to donate up to $100,000 per year from their IRA. Since the distribution will not be included in taxable income, individuals will not be able to claim a tax deduction for the charitable contribution.

Individuals won't get a tax deduction for the contribution. So why should they do it?

At age 70 ½ individuals must start taking a minimum amount of money out of their IRA each year. The Money taken out is added to your adjusted gross income, and is subject to federal and state taxes.

If the same amount is donated to charity, the amount qualifies for a tax deduction but it doesn’t negate the full amount of the tax. That is because the amount of the IRA withdrawn is still in adjusted gross income, which may affect a number of things. The amount many have been enough to place the individual into a higher tax bracket; an increase in adjusted gross income would also reduce the deduction for medical and other expenses and personal exemptions. Likely, the higher adjusted gross income would increase income tax on Social Security benefits.

With the new allowable Charitable IRA donation, a donation of money directly from the IRA to a charity would never show up in the adjusted gross income, eliminating the possibility of higher taxes. Charitable IRA donations also fully qualify as a portion or the entire minimum amount of money required to be withdrawn from IRA’s belonging to individuals age 70 ½ and older.

Stricter Rules on Charitable Donations

The Pension Protection Act toughens the tax laws for charitable donations. Effective in 2007, to qualify as a deductible expense, taxpayers must now keep records of all cash donations. Individuals must show a receipt from the charity, a canceled check, or credit card statement to prove their donation. No tax deduction will be allowed if the taxpayer cannot provide any supporting documentation. Previously, receipts were required if an individual monetary gift was $250 or more.

Taxpayers will not need to mail in the receipts with their tax return. Instead, taxpayers will need to keep receipts and other documentation with their copy of the return in the event of an IRS audit.

The new law also toughens the rules for non-cash donations. Donated items, such as clothing and household goods, must be in good used condition. While the new law does not define “good condition” the law does specify that no tax deduction will be allowed for items in less than good condition. In addition, for non-cash donations in excess of $500, taxpayers will be required to file a qualified appraisal for the donated property.

Future legislation

The “Panel on the Nonprofits” which included ECFA participation along with nineteen other national organizations, reviewed and commented on a number of other charitable provisions of which some are still likely to ultimately become law. Sen. Charles Grassley, mentioned above and the sponsor of the Pension Reform act commented, “I look forward to working with the same individuals to put together more legislative proposals to increase governance, transparency, and accountability in the non-profit sector."

Becoming an Advocate

Being so close to the Washington D.C. area, I’m starting to develop a new and different perspective on how the non-evangelical world looks at evangelicals. For years, I’ve been so involved in my church and ministry, it was easy to not understand how completely different some of our elected officials and others look at not only what we do, but who we are.

One of the first telephone calls I received from the media when I took this position was regarding relief efforts still going on in the hurricane ravaged gulf area and the fact that evangelicals were still there, helping and sharing.

“They are proselytizing you know….trying to get people to become Christians”, was his comment as well as his obvious, but unasked, question.

I tried to help our friend from the press understand that sharing the good news of Jesus Christ is what we do. We are to be motivated by both the Great Commandment ---to love God and neighbor, and the Great Commission -- to share our faith in Jesus Christ.

One of the other things that I’m starting to understand being close to Washington DC, is the increasingly loud call for transparency in our finances; both with respect to our typically donated income as well as our expenses.

ECFA standards of responsible stewardship advocate full financial disclosure (Standard 5 – providing a copy of current audited financial statements when requested) as well as specific communication and truthfulness in communicating with the donors regarding fund-raising. ECFA Accredited Members have taken the lead and not only comply with standards related to financial disclosure but also have agreed to an independent board, to having audited financial statements, to avoiding conflicts of interest, etc.

If you pay attention to what some of our political leaders are saying, the Charitable Community (including our evangelical organizations) are not doing what they should be doing with regard to providing comprehensive and accurate information about their financial activity (typically, income and expenses). While the 1,200+ accredited members of the ECFA lead the way in accountability, it is time that we become advocates for the rest of our evangelical friends including the churches that we attend.

Churches are largely exempt from government regulation because of historical understandings of the First Amendment. However, donor trust as well as government wonder, has much to do with the willingness of our organizations to freely provide financial information and become transparent with regarding to our fund-raising purposes and results.

It’s really time for all of us to become advocates for financial accountability and transparency. Providing simple financial statements and balance sheets on a regular basis to our donors and/or positing financial information on our websites helps answer many questions before they are even asked.

Over the past twenty-seven years, ECFA accredited members have taken the lead on financial accountability and transparency. We now need to become advocates as well for the rest of our evangelical friends in order to maintain the publics’ trust and to clearly show that we have a “higher standard and a higher purpose”

Charitable Tax Incentives included in Senate Pension Bill

WASHINGTON – Sen. Chuck Grassley today won final Senate approval of his bill that broadly reforms pension plans and, like many other House and Senate Bills, contains other legislation that may or not be related to the original intent of the Bill. Included in the Senate Pension Bill are provisions that provide additional tax incentives that should help charities.

Chief among the charitable tax incentives included in the pension reform bill (H.R. 4) is an IRA rollover provision that allows individuals age 70 ½ and older to make charitable donations up to $100,000 from an IRA without having to count the donation as taxable income. This provision, while highly contested, has broad applicablity for two years, allowing the charitable community to demonstrate its value as an incentive for increased giving that could be either eliminated or expanded in the future. The bill also provides expanded tax deductions for contributions of book and food inventory and qualified conservation contributions. The bill does not include a charitable deduction for taxpayers who do not itemize.

The IRA rollover provision, as well as other recommendations were identified by work accomplished in part by ECFA involvement in the "Panel on the Nonprofit Sector". The Panel was an independent effort by charities and foundations that included twenty top executives and national leaders including ECFA President Emeritus, Paul Nelson.

The work of the Panel was welcomed and encouraged by Sen. Chuck Grassley, Republican of Iowa and the Chairman of the influential Senate Finance Committee. The reforms were part of comprehensive legislation Grassley also helped to draft that will shore up the nation’s pension funding for workers nationwide.

The bill is considered by many to be the most comprehensive reform of pension funding laws since 1974. Developed in large part through the Senate Finance Committee, which Grassley chairs, it contains a number of reforms to shore up pension funding. A major change includes changing the formula companies must use to contribute to their pension plans. The bill also increases the amount of fees companies must pay to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, which guarantees pension funding if companies can no longer afford their contributions.

The Senate passed the bill by a 93 to 5 vote. It now goes to President Bush for his signature.

America's Fastest Growing Churches

Outreach Magazine has published an annual report on America’s fastest growing churches the past few years and are now known as the provider of the "Top 100 Largest and Fastest-Growing Churches in America". The data is self-provided and all the reports are provided by Dr. John N. Vaughan, president and founder of Church Growth Today, who specializes in research related to megachurches both domestically and globally.

Click on the link for the entire list but here is a sampling of just the top 10

1. Lakewood Church (Houston, TX) +12,000
2. Park Cities Presbyterian (Dallas, TX) +5,108
3. New Birth Missionary Baptist (Lithonia, GA) +3,500
4. Salem Baptist (Chicago, IL) +3,366
5. Without Walls International Church (Tampa, FL) +3,330
6. Asbury United Methodist (Tulsa, OK) +3,240
7. St. Luke Community UMC (Dallas, TX) +3,037
8. Willow Creek Community (Chicago, IL) +2,900
9. Grove City Church of the Nazarene (Grove City, OH) +2,861
10. Community Bible Church (San Antonio, TX) +2,858

Elders Want Audit of Church Finances under Ousted Pastor

A popular church in Bellevue that recently ousted its pastor is auditing some of its financial records after concerns about the church's bookkeeping, a spokesman for the church elders said.

The audit of documents at Bellevue Community Church is of records directly involving former pastor David Foster, spokesman and elder Richard McKinney said Tuesday.

He would not elaborate on exactly what records were being audited. He said elders met with an attorney Monday who recommended they hire a "forensic auditor" to review the records.

McKinney said the elders discovered some of the issues more than a year ago and confronted Foster about them and the problems stopped.

However, as elders are facing a revolt among church regulars over their decision last week to fire the charismatic pastor, they have called in an accountant to review the books.

"It did not follow standard accounting practices," McKinney said of the records. "It did not have the normal checks and balances you'd expect in an organization this size. We're having an accountant review it to see if there's anything untoward."

Foster said he does not know what McKinney and the other elders are talking about. He said he didn't handle the church's books or its money — that fell to an office administrator and the elders.

Foster said he believes the elders are picking out issues to pile on him in the wake of an unpopular decision to fire him and his wife, Paula Foster, who was the head of the nondenominational church's youth ministries.

"In all the 13 months we've had discussions and meetings, I've never heard that brought up," Foster said. "I have nothing to do with the finances. I don't sign the checks. I don't count money."

McKinney said the financial issues have been a concern for elders, but the chief issue that led to Foster's ouster was his style and bullying of staff.

"His personality and his unwillingness to be anything but the boss, period," McKinney said. "In any work setting, but in a church particularly, you have to have a congenial work environment.
You cannot have someone bullied."

Foster has acknowledged that he has not always acted as he would like in dealing with the staff, but he said it was more a matter of his "passion" for doing the job right than any effort to mistreat the staff.

McKinney said the flare-up that led to Thursday's firing started in June 2005 after an elder approached Foster about two of the pastor's daughters being on the church payroll. Foster blew up at the issue being raised, McKinney said, and the concerns of the elders quickly shifted to what they describe as Foster's explosive temper.

"He just blew up, and he said, 'I've had it,' " McKinney said. That episode sped up a process of elders looking to hire a head pastor and move Foster into a founding-pastor role.

Foster disputes McKinney's version of the discussion regarding his daughters being on the payroll. He said he never quit, but he does not wish to battle the elders on their decision to fire him.

"It's over," he said. "They've fired me. I accept it. I accept that my wife and I have been fired"

Source: www.tennessean.com staff writer: BRAD SCHRADE