Speaking candidly, sometimes I think it’s so easy to get focused on who we are and what we do that we don’t look around and see other organizations accomplishing life-changing work around the world, so I want to share with you several organizations doing excellent work in the same space.
- Edify: My friend and mentor Chris Crane is taking an entrepreneurial approach to changing low-cost private education in the developing world. Coming alongside Christian educators and providing business loans and trainings, he is raising up Christian leaders to break generational poverty. Edify is also high impact and low cost: Outranking their public school counterparts in testing, private, Christian schools can cover all their costs through monthly tuition of only $5-$15. See http://www.edify.org/.
- LifeNet International: Bringing sustainable healthcare to the poor in Africa, LifeNet is franchising Africa’s health clinics—upgrading and expanding existing clinics, providing nurse, management and pharmaceutical training—so that more of the poor have access to quality, affordable healthcare than ever before. LifeNet often accomplishes this in partnership with the local church. See http://www.lninternational.org/
- The Chalmers Center for Economic Development: When anyone asks me about training, I point them to Chalmers. Pioneering in its approach to affirm the poor’s God-given talents and skills, Chalmers equips the church to partner with the poor, creating innovative resources and providing training in areas of savings-led microfinance, microenterprise development, financial literacy, jobs preparedness, etc. Two leaders of this phenomenal organization, Brian Fikkert and Steve Corbett, also co-authored When Helping Hurts—a book always putting The Poor will be Glad to shame in amazon.com ratings—and a must read for anyone interested in making a difference in the developing world. See http://www.chalmers.org/.
- 58: My friend Dr. Scott Todd, senior advisor at Compassion International and leading architect of 58:, is a visionary who has opened my eyes to what is possible—the eradication of extreme poverty in our lifetime. The 58: campaign, an unprecedented alliance of 10 Christ-centered organizations dedicated to eliminating extreme poverty in this generation, is partnering with the global church to respond to Isaiah 58.
- 4-more: My wife Laurel and three friends formed 4-more after recognizing the greatest need for Rwanda’s orphans was the lack of clean water. 4-more provides clean water to Rwandan orphanages by building wells and supporting families adopting Rwandan orphans by creating a network of support (Not to mention the director of Rwandan relations is pretty cute.) See http://4-more.
Question: What are the development organizations you support?
