Charities, Churches, and Change

My city, Nashville, is full of charities and churches. As someone who works in the nonprofit world, I know firsthand the amount of charitable organizations in the city and how the market is saturated and donations are becoming increasingly difficult to come by. (If you want an incomplete, but still extensive, list of Nashville area nonprofits, click here.) I also heard today that Nashville has so many fundraisers, that there could be one charity event a day in Nashville. That’s right – 365 silent auctions, cookouts, dances, parties, bake sales and car washes.

Nashville is also known for having the most churches per capita than any city in America. Next time you’re in the city, start downtown and drive in any direction on any road. Count the churches as you pass them, and when you get to double digits, look in your rearview mirror. I bet that Batman building still looks mighty big.

With all these charities and all these churches, one would think Nashville would also be the home of positive change. You would think that people would come from miles around to see how Nashville did it – how they ended poverty, how they ended homelessness, how they turned around their schools, how they made sure no one went to bed hungry. But, this recent survey cites Nashville in every category when it comes to the problems that perpetuate hunger. So what gives?

Even though there are so many change agents here in the Music City, change is clearly lacking. Yes, several churches and nonprofits are doing great things and making great advancements to better living and working conditions. Giving is still high and money can still be found even after tsunamis and hurricanes wiped out the most reliable of giving sources. How then, can we bring about positive change in this city?

Innovation is key. Like the business world, innovation produces results. New products and services flood the market and the good ones become gold mines, often many times over. Creativity is also a valuable asset. Dreaming up new possibilities, looking at old problems with fresh lenses, and walking a new path toward the destination will give society’s beacons a chance to shine once more. And lastly, being able to manage change will be the quality all leaders of tomorrow (which is quickly becoming today) will need. People skills, vision casting and long-range planning are all parts of this, but being able to successfully navigate the waters of change will set apart the good from the great. Taking people to a different endpoint than first planned will be the task of the leader of the future.

Churches and charities must embrace and find leaders with the above qualities in order to exact the maximum impact on a needy world. We can have buildings on every block and we can have fundraising campaigns every hour, but until we breath new life into old concepts, or better yet, birth new concepts all together, we can continue to expect our cities to maintain their high rates of poverty and hopelessness.

For the church, this can be a scary place to dare to be. Many sacred cows will need to be tipped and maybe even butchered, but hamburgers are awfully tasty to the hungry.