Since Henry Ford II’s resignation from the Board of the Foundation his grandfather created, the trustees and staff of the Ford Foundation have been widely held up as the ultimate example of every foundation founder’s legitimate concern – the hijacking of donor intent. By the time Henry Ford II resigned, the direction of the foundation was antithetical to the values and practices of his grandfather. The Ford Foundation was virtually synonymous with the funding and support of liberal causes around the world. In his letter of resignation to the Board in 1976 Ford wrote, “In effect, the foundation is a creature of capitalism, a statement that, I’m sure, would be…

In his recent address to the United Nations, Pope Francis used the story of Zacchaeus in Luke’s Gospel as his template to support the redistribution of wealth. He called for “the legitimate redistribution of economic benefits by the State, as well as indispensable cooperation between the private sector and civil society.” “The account of Jesus and Zacchaeus teaches us that… Jesus… simply inspires him to put everything, freely yet immediately and indisputably, at the service of others.” The Pope finished his talk with a plea to “put into practice a shared ideal of fraternity and solidarity, especially with regard to the poorest and those most excluded.” We are left with…

I think it was long-time Chaplain of the Senate Dick Halverson who said, “In the beginning the church was a fellowship of men and women centering on the living Christ. Then the church moved to Greece, where it became a philosophy. Then it moved to Rome, where it became an institution. Next it moved to Europe where it became a culture, and, finally, it moved to America where it became an enterprise.” My introduction to the enterprise was in the late 60s as a college student employed by Word Records in Waco, Texas. Word had begun in 1951 as the brainchild of Jarrell McCracken with the publishing of a single…

I noticed an article in the Chronicle of Philanthropy the other day that may indicate a change in a 10-year trend of measuring nonprofit performance. The “effective philanthropy” movement took a hit when the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation announced recently it was closing down its eight-year, $12-million funding of projects to “get donors to rely as much on their heads as their hearts.” Their funding for Charity Navigator, GiveWell and Guidestar will be ending after this year. As you probably know, these organizations are three of the most visible and successful tools for public information about financial performance and social impact of nonprofit organizations. Ironically, the decision to drop…

When my father became ill near the end of his life, he fought death as hard as anyone I knew – just as he had willed himself to overcome every other obstacle in his life. He often told us about his mother who would set chairs across the kitchen to hold her upright when she could no longer stand. She had drilled into him, “When nothing but your will says go.” As his physical condition deteriorated, my father’s will to beat death only grew stronger. His enormous spirit to persevere that had served him well for so long was not open to – or capable of – allowing him to…

I was 38 when I realized I was a misfit in my work. I was teaching in a traditional boarding school on the East Coast and working overtime to adapt – but unsuccessfully. It was no one’s fault. It was simply not the right place for me. During that time I discovered a book by Ralph Mattson and Art Miller, Finding a Job You Can Love. Their writings changed my life because the authors (who then became friends) showed me that God had designed me in a particular way to accomplish a particular kind of work. I could try to shoehorn myself into a job but there would be very…

Many years ago when I was just out of the Navy, I spent a summer in Colorado working in construction. I met a carpenter named Jimmy, and although he wasn’t that much older than I was, he had an understanding of working with wood I had never seen – and haven’t since. Jimmy had been doing this so long that his work had become second nature to him. He was not an expert, but he was a craftsman. I think it was then that I decided I wanted to be the same – no matter what I did in life. I didn’t want to be a “knowledge worker.” I wanted…

Like most of us, I’ve heard the Parable of the Good Samaritan all my life, and one thing has remained constant. The Samaritan has always been presented as a second-class citizen to the Jews and as undesirable and unclean as a Gentile. The Samaritan is always the underdog – the victim – and the object of scorn, derision and even persecution. So naturally, I’ve been trained to think of them as victims who did nothing to deserve the injustice they suffered. Isn’t the point of the story that it’s the people we least expect to be compassionate who reveal our hypocrisy? Isn’t it those who have been demeaned who show…

Emily Dickinson said: “Tell all the truth but tell it slant.” As evangelicals we have too often been harsh, blunt, combative and intimidating in telling the story of the Gospel. Our insistence on bold proclamation has isolated our audience and made our creative efforts wooden, amateurish and unimaginative. We’ve not appreciated the wisdom of Eugene Peterson’s words in “What Are Writers Good For?”. “Our task is to counter the reduction of language to godtalk – language that is severed from a God-created and God-saved world, language that is depersonalized and functionalized. The dreaded godtalk.” Clearly, I am a fan of creative license and imagination, and I applaud an author’s ability…

If you watched the Academy Awards this year you probably heard Robert De Niro’s introduction to the Best Adapted Screenplay award: “The mind of a writer can be a truly terrifying thing. Isolated, neurotic, caffeine-addled, crippled by procrastination and consumed by feelings of panic, self-loathing and soul-crushing inadequacy. And that’s on a good day.” The next day I was in a conversation with a music artist and asked him if there was any truth in that. He assured me it was true, and every musician, writer and artist he knew was at times plagued by what he called “the inner critic.” While the term has been around for years I…