This is not a book about why people give; it is a guide for how to create outreach partnerships to provide better help more efficiently and responsibly. With text aided by practical worksheets, it explores the entire step-by-step process of outreach, from motivations and documentation of available resources, to focus on desired outcomes and alternative methods to achieve goals.

Written in clear, concise language and illustrated by real-life stories of good and bad programs, the authors include evaluation techniques, bibliography, and index.

The NEW OUTREACH

Church Publishing

Contents

Acknowledgments..........................................vIntroduction.............................................viiCHAPTER 1 Approach.......................................1CHAPTER 2 Basics.........................................15CHAPTER 3 Choices........................................57CHAPTER 4 Decision.......................................111CHAPTER 5 Evaluation.....................................161CHAPTER 6 Familiarity Breeds Success.....................175For Further Reading......................................179

Chapter One

In this chapter we will look at the current situation in outreach programs (or philanthropy or charity—the terms are interchangeable here). We will look at the three critical components of a good program: accomplishment, action, and advocacy. We'll learn why we need to concentrate on why, not who. And we'll learn why we are not trying to "help" anyone.

The better way of doing good. Sounds like one of those TV infomercials that promises a magical tool that will fix your car, weed your garden, and clean your house, all using only one AA battery, doesn't it? A bit too good to be true. A bit pie-in-the-sky. We smile, don't we, remembering the old adage, if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

Well, in this case, the better way to do good is not too good to be true. We want to reach out to those in need in effective ways. We want to make our philanthropy count. We want our outreach programs to make a real, measurable difference. We want to fix the wrongs of the world. But we know that our current way is not really making much of a difference.

We want a new outreach plan that is effective, long-lasting, respectful of the environment and peoples' dignity. We want a new philanthropic model that capitalizes on the best we have to offer and avoids, so far as possible, any potential pitfalls. And we want a new charitable strategy that does all of this at a lower cost in time and resources. In short, we want to be caring, but careful. We want to be both compassionate and competent. If we can come up with a program that does all this, then we will have found the better way of doing good.

A new approach to doing good would have to be different from the programs we have become accustomed to in the past. The past isn't good enough any more. If we are going to find the better way, we will have to stop thinking in the old way. We are going to have to stop jumping on any program that professes to address some problem. We have a moral obligation to do the right thing, in the right way. We must open our minds to a new way, a better way.

This better way is built on an understanding of the elements essential to lasting change. It incorporates the lessons learned from previous programs. It is based on the expertise of those with years of experience in economic and social development—on what are now called "best practices." It is practical. It is a better way.

The principal differences to this new, better way may seem to be pretty ordinary at first glance. They may not seem to be particularly momentous or earth shattering. But believe me, this shift to a better way will make a huge difference in our effectiveness. It will change how we chose our battles, construct our strategies, and carry out our campaigns. It will help us eliminate ineffective tactics. This new approach will enable us to describe clearly what we expect to achieve—and how—and enable us to engage others in the program with us. It will enable us to stay on track, make necessary corrections midstream, and know when we have reached our goal. This seemingly minor shift in focus will have enormous payoff in the end.

We need to pause here and clarify an important issue. In this book we are going to look primarily at setting up outreach programs—not on individual voluntary activities. We are going to assume that you are reading this book because you are thinking of starting a new program, or revamping an old one. We hope that you are also a volunteer in already existing programs. Volunteers are incredibly important—today, tomorrow, and always. You know that your volunteerism has had wonderful benefits—for those you've worked with and for, and for yourself as well.

As the former president of a large Junior League, I am a huge proponent of volunteerism. I firmly believe that volunteers have, throughout history, made life a little easier for millions of people. Our country was built through the efforts of people helping their neighbors, whether by caring for the ill, teaching coping skills and a new language to new arrivals, or through the old-fashioned barn-raising. Volunteers are the most valuable resource we have—and have had.

And volunteerism has been a hallmark of our country since its founding. The Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville traveled around the United States in the early nineteenth century, observing how Americans lived and thought. He remarked on the amazing volunteer spirit he saw everywhere. He attributed it to the frontier spirit. These intrepid pioneers did not feel coerced or bound to serve, so they could volunteer with pluck and pride. Americans felt themselves equal to all others, so they could be generous with their time and their resources. That is, American volunteerism emerges from a foundation of ethical and political independence.

And that spirit of volunteerism still exists. It is amazing and wonderful and responsible for a staggering amount of good work that has been done throughout the world with few resources except willing hands.

A church in a poor section of Ketchikan, Alaska, was concerned about family breakdown, particularly among the most destitute families in the community. They were also concerned about the children's school success and the number of adults in the community who were chronically unemployed or underemployed. So volunteers from the church formed the Ketchikan Resource Center. Every Thursday night, needy families are invited to a free dinner called "Crock Pot Luck." The volunteers cook a simple, low-cost meal in crock pots and rice cookers. Families eat the meal together (that the entire family attend together and eat together is the one requirement of the program). After dinner, volunteers help the children with their homework, while the parents participate in special sessions on topics such as parenting skills, resume preparation, health topics.

These volunteers saw a problem, figured out a program to address it, and made it happen. The cost was small, but the benefits were great. In this case, as with most development programs, volunteers were a primary resource.

In fact, most of the information you'll find in this book comes from my own experience working with and observing volunteers in action. I have seen volunteers become aware of an incredibly tough, complex problem with no easy answer. These conscientious folks came up with a plan to solve the problem. They employed every resource they had at hand to implement their plan, and they reached their goal.

If you are a volunteer now, or have been one, or plan to be one, thank you. You are part of a vast army, unpaid in cash but reaping huge compensation in the lives you have enriched.

This book is designed to build on your volunteer experience. It takes into account our human motivation to be compassionate, to correct some ill we see in the world. It describes a design for philanthropic projects that actually solves the problems that are wounding people's lives. Using the method presented in this book, you will be able to construct an effective program that will have the greatest impact at the lowest cost. By using the fewest possible resources, we will not waste resources. Any that we have leftover can be devoted to solving other problems in the next program we undertake.

This new approach is indeed a better way of doing good. It focuses on three concepts key to this approach: Accomplishment, Action, and Advocacy.

Accomplish

First, we are going to concentrate on what we want to accomplish rather than what we want to do. We are going to focus on where we want to go, not on how we are going to get there. We are going to define, carefully and plainly, what we want to change. We are going to clearly describe the problem that is creating the particular ill we want to address. We're going to get below the symptoms to the cause.

Once we know what the problem is (where we want to go), we can imagine the solution (how we're going to get there). We're going to work at this until we have a concise statement that sums up what success is going to look like. We are going to describe precisely what we expect to have accomplished at the end of the program. After all, if we are going to go to the trouble of doing something, let's be very, very clear about what we want to achieve. Remember, if you don't know where you are going, any road will lead you there.

We might think of this new approach in medical terms. A patient comes to the doctor complaining of severe abdominal pain and a very high fever. The doctor would undoubtedly prescribe a painkiller and work quickly to reduce the fever. But those efforts, necessary and useful as they are, are not cures, but are only temporary measures. Prescribing them would do nothing to treat the underlying cause. Something is creating the pain and the fever, and the doctor's next step would be to ferret out the disease and cure that.

The doctor does not confuse treating the symptoms with curing the disease. Neither should we confuse relieving hunger, or homelessness, or illness with curing the diseases causing these symptoms. Therefore, we will focus our attention on our ultimate goal, our accomplishment, rather than on the intermediary steps. Like the doctor, we should not forget to relieve the pain and reduce the fever, but we should never make the mistake of thinking that if we treat those symptoms we will have cured the underlying illness.

Let's take a couple of other examples to be sure we understand this concept. Getting to the problem instead of focusing on the symptom is key to understanding this better way of doing good.

Homelessness and hunger are both horrible circumstances, but neither is a problem to be solved. Homelessness and hunger are not problems—they are manifestations of problems. They are evidence of a deeper, more systemic problem.

People may be homeless for a number of different reasons. Their homes may have been destroyed in a natural disaster such as a hurricane, or in a civil disaster such as war. They may be homeless because they are unemployed and cannot pay rent. A mother and her children may have escaped an abusive spouse with only their clothes and a few dollars.

Temporary shelters for these people certainly treat the symptom, just as painkiller and fever reducers treat the symptoms of a threatening disease. And we must pay attention and relieve the symptoms. But we cannot confuse treating the symptoms with solving the problem. Useful as they are, the shelters don't solve the problem that created the homelessness in the first place.

Likewise, people may be hungry for a variety of causes. Is there simply not enough food to be had? Are the grocery shelves well stocked, but the hungry don't have enough money to buy food? Are they refugees fleeing a savage rebellion? Are they too sick with malaria to farm their small acreage?

Food handouts will provide short-term relief but will not, in the long-run, solve the problem of hunger. For that we need to figure out what created the crisis and focus our attention on fixing that.

So our first step in this new approach to a better way of doing good is to focus on what problem we want to solve, and what the solution would look like if we accomplished it. Now turn to Exercise 1-1 (Causes, not Symptoms) to see if you can identify the root causes, rather than the symptoms, of some major humanitarian concerns.

Exercise 1-1

Causes, not Symptoms

See if you can think of at least four causes for each of the conditions below.

We've repeated the causes of hunger from Chapter 1 to get you started.

HUNGER Drought No money Too sick to work Refugees from civil war

HOMELESSNESS

ILL-HEALTH

ILLITERACY

What have you discovered about the difference between the symptom (hunger, for example) and the cause? ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________

Can you give one example of a "better way" to prevent people from being hungry rather than just giving them some food?

________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________

Action

Next, we are going to focus on the activities that would solve the problem, not on the people who are affected by the problem. We are going to talk about why and what, not about who. We are not going to focus on the people who are homeless or hungry or sick. They are not the problem. Their unfortunate condition is a result of the problem. We must focus our attention and our actions on the problem, not on those who suffer as a result of the problem.

Don't mistake me here. I am as softhearted as anyone about those who are suffering. I too would feed every hungry person, and house every homeless child—but I know those actions alone won't solve the problem. Because the problem isn't them (nor is it hunger or homelessness—the symptoms), the problem is whatever is creating the hunger and homelessness in the first place. We need to concentrate on solving the why. When we do, we will know what to do, and who will then reap the benefits. Now turn to Exercise 1-2 on page 10 to practice seeing the difference between Symptoms and Actions.

* * *

To be certain that we keep our attention focused on the right target, we should never describe our objective or our actions in terms of people. The people are not the problem. They are the survivors of the problem. They are weighted down by the problem. They can't break its hold. To focus our attention on people diverts us from seeing clearly the origin of their misery and knowing how to fix it.

To prevent our slipping into the old mode, we are going to outlaw one word as we go forward. Danger lurks when we focus on helping instead of solving. Too often when we think in terms of helping people (an activity), we think of doing to them, or for them. Neither one is the right approach. Neither one is appropriate. People are not objects. We don't do something to them. And doing for them is treating them as children or as incapable.

Exercise 1-2

Symptoms versus Actions

See if you can think of at least four actions you might take to solve the problem of two of the causes of hunger.

HUNGER Drought

Too sick to work

What have you discovered about the difference between the symptom (hunger, for example) and the actions needed to solve the problem?

________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________

Oh, sure, sometimes helping is the right thing to do (the Boy Scout oath, for sure, requires the boys to be "helpful"). We help the old lady across the street. We help our children with their homework. We help out at the local street fair.

These kinds of helpfulness—these activities—are wonderful and important and to be encouraged. They result in crossing the street, in homework done, a successful street fair. But they are different from the kind of "helping" that we're talking about here. These kinds of activities treat symptoms.

The helping that we decry is the helping that is an activity that masquerades as a solution to a problem. If we avoid using the term help, we will avoid falling into the trap of thinking that we have actually changed the system instead of merely smoothing over the symptom. If we avoid the word help, we will avoid focusing on people rather than problems.

In A River Runs Through It, and Other Stories by Norman Maclean, the father is speaking:

So it is ... that we can seldom help anybody. Either we don't know what part to give or maybe we don't like to give any part of ourselves. Then more often than not, the part that is needed is not wanted. And even more often, we do not have the part that is needed.

So in this book, we will never use the word help to describe our work to do good a better way. We're talking about something more important, more vital that merely "helping." We're talking about a better way to make lasting change in the world.

You have undoubtedly been involved in assistance programs in the past. You've reached out to someone in need. You've been part of a philanthropic or charitable group. You've acted on your charitable impulses. Thank you.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from The NEW OUTREACHby Sandra S. Swan Copyright © 2010 by Sandra S. Swan. Excerpted by permission of Church Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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