Written by: gfesadmin on January 26, 2013

William Cavanaugh in Being Consumed challenges the contemporary Christian’s values on how they spend their money. He argues that Christians are a part of a global community of individuals in the Christian Church and that our resources should be focused on providing for the larger community (Cavanaugh, 2008). I was impressed by the example Cavanaugh used, the Economy of Communion Project Focolare Movement who sponsors for-profit businesses that divide their profits in three equal parts: a third for direct aid to the poor, a third for educational projects that further a culture of communion and a third for the development of the business. Apparently more than 700 businesses are thriving under this model at the time the book was written.

Cavanaugh’s book caused me to reflect about the company I have been working for over the past 13 years – ABHOW(American Baptist Homes of the West). We are a not-for-profit faith based organization whose mission is “American Baptist Homes of the West, as an expression of Christian mission, seeks to enhance the independence, well-being and security of older people through the provision of housing, health care and supportive services (http://www.abhow.com/passion/mission)”. I was forced to ask, do we demonstrate the kind of benevolence that Focolare demonstrates? I was pleased to discover that we take care of the poor and the larger community in a different way that is articulated in our annual social accountability report (http://www.abhow.com/passion/sm_files/SocialAccountabilitypages.pdf).

A couple of days ago, I was talking with ABHOW’s Corporate Council about ABHOW’s not-for-profit status. With California’s strained economic status, many not-for-profit companies are being questioned regarding their benefit to society and some not-for-profits are losing their tax exempt status. The way we keep our not-for-profit status is by recording in an economic model how our services to the community by far exceed the monies we benefit from our tax exempt status through the social accountability report. We collect from all of our communities’ hours that residents and staff volunteer towards other non-profits in the surrounding city, we open up our meeting spaces at no charge to outside individuals or organizations and we also have 34 low income housing HUD facilities that we either own or manage. These facilities offer very nice apartments to older adults who cannot afford normal housing. We charge them what they can afford which is way below average apartment rentals. Some of our communities are in Tahoe, Carmel, San Francisco, Seattle and San Luis Obispo. They are very nice areas to live. It makes me proud to know that we are serving our older adults who are poor. As an organization, we are impacting a segment of our society that cannot afford average apartment rental fees.

As Christian leaders, we need to continue to evaluate the benefit we are contributing to the greater community and make sure we are making a bigger difference with the profits we make in our organizations. What does your organization do to make a difference in your community?

Cavanaugh, William T. Being Consumed: economics and Christain Desire. Grand Rapids, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 2008.

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