Give to People Who Need It Most - Never to WHC!

Worldwide House Church chooses its charities and causes to help you feel the most good by doing the most good. Many church institutions – and other non-profit efforts – prioritize the former, without being able to prove the latter. We’re not denying the positivity you might have toward these institutions at all – we have felt the same! We’re just asking you to more deeply consider how much of that positivity results from them spending most of their money and time to focus you on them, instead of focusing themselves on the world in far more life-saving ways.

Did you know that 90% of the offerings given to God at the average church institution gets spent on the institution? They tout expensive, emotionally-appealing gatherings and facilities, making you feel inclined to devote your money, time, and advocacy to them. But the world’s most in need, who can’t benefit these institutions nearly as much in return, are deprioritized as a result.

Some will excite you with numerous “converts” (who almost universally tell us they aren’t when we’ve asked!), while hiding their worsening long-term discipleship statistics. Many publicize large quantities of aid, but typically to people redundantly aided by numerous other parties. Or through methods and events that cost more collective time and money than the aid is worth. Or via handouts that don’t offer the dignity or specific type of aid that’s actually needed. And the more they spend to promote themselves, the less they spend on those who need it so much more.

We celebrate how these institutions benefit others, because to some extent they do! But follow the money, and you’ll discover that they know how to make you feel good about primarily benefiting them, while the evidence proves that much less good – and sometimes even harm – is actually being done to those who need to benefit most. Don’t believe us? Ask your church to specifically show you how much of their donations (even “missions” money!) is spent on their own payroll, facility, and promotional efforts, versus the poorest and most unreached people in the world.

At WHC it’s 0% versus 100%, because Jesus teaches that our hearts are where our treasure is. And his heart was clearly with the “least” well off (Matthew 6:21, 25:34-46). To ensure they’ll be better off, the impact of our charities is confirmed by objective, third-party researchers. Too often, the emotionally-based stats crafted by institutional marketing staffers have proven to be untrustworthy.

Our charities were chosen and have been updated by merit alone, without their knowledge of being chosen and without any form of compensation affecting these choices. The third-party charity evaluators providing the research used in our composite analysis are listed below, and we welcome you to visit their websites for more detailed confirmation of their research methods. WHC has its own dedicated research partner called Bless BIG to organize and weigh the data’s value from these evaluators. We then use Bless BIG’s very thorough and reproducible methodology to rate charities according to our three core parameters: Impact Evidence, Budget Transparency/Efficiency, and Relative Need.

Impact Evidence gets top priority, as it matters very little how honestly and cheaply an institution doesn’t prove a quantifiable benefit to those in greatest need. You’ll make far less of a difference if you pick charities primarily by financial efficiency (or by a few compelling images or stories). Instead, we maximize your impact by combining the high-quality outcomes research analyzed by the seven best charity impact research groups we could find. They are Give Well, The Life You Can Save, Founders Pledge, Happier Lives Institute, Giving Green, ROI Ministry, and Charity Navigator. Other think-tanks that conceptually inform both our approach and Bless BIG’s methodology are Giving What We Can, Effective Altruism Funds, Innovations for Poverty Action, and the Center for Reducing Suffering.

These evaluators use research methods ranging from retrospective population surveys to randomized-controlled trials to isolate the impact made by charities on objectively measurable outcomes (e.g. decreased mortality or disease prevalence). This results in WHC Impact Evidence ratings of Strong, Stronger, or Strongest.

Budget Transparency/Efficiency gets second priority, as charity-provided records wouldn’t reliably reflect that institution’s financial efficiency if information were dishonest or withheld. We cross-reference the vast expertise of the above research groups with excellent and well-known scam/fraud protection agencies quantifying transparency. WHC recommends only the most open and honest charities!

And of course efficiently maximizing bang-for-the-buck is important, once you know the institution is honestly producing an impactful bang! We synthesize the charity budget efficiency data collected by thirteen charity evaluators. They are Charity Navigator, Ministry Watch, Charity Watch, Guidestar, So Give, Excellence in Giving, the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance, the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, Ministry Voice, Wallet Hub, Consumer Reports, Forbes Top American Charities, and America’s Best Charities. This leads us to only recommend reliably impactful institutions offering the greatest benefit for every dollar you donate, with Budget Transparency/Efficiency ratings of Strong, Stronger, or Strongest.

Relative Need is our final priority, as even great charities become much greater when they choose to address needs that are relatively consequential, solvable, and neglected. For example, most of us have witnessed expensive medical tests or treatments that weren’t likely to – and didn’t – offer significant benefit, often tried simply because they were available. These endeavors – even their deductibles – cost the same as saving the lives of numerous children by preventing malaria with a cheap and easy-to-use bednet where there’s no access to medical care. The lives involved in both approaches are all immensely valuable, but when you or a charity devotes your finite funds to meet the Strongest needs, you make a far greater difference and matter to far more people.

You’re not ignoring one needy person to favor another. Rather, you’re deciding not to be the twentieth person interacting with someone in a way that may not even be helpful, so that you can save the life of a precious person no one else is aiding. We make this easy for you, by cross-referencing research from the US Government, the Effective Altruism movement, Define Financial, the Charities Aid Foundation, Giving USA, the National Philanthropic Trust, the Candid Report, and the charity evaluators above. These data reveal which approaches best aid our cause groups, as well as which populations receive the least media attention, government/non-profit services, and donation dollars. WHC primarily recommends institutions offering powerfully simple but scarce solutions to the world’s most physically and spiritually underserved, with Relative Need ratings of Strong, Stronger, or Strongest.

This focus on producing the most fruit for Jesus’ “least of these” requires that we prioritize cause groups that allow you to make the biggest impact with your money, rather than others…even ones we’re personally passionate about! This does not mean these other causes are less important! Rather, many of them already do or will receive a disproportionately high amount of financial attention, because they’re domestic concerns of wealthy nations or global threats these governments will be forced to address. Also, several of these causes require very expensive, long-term, or complex solutions difficult to execute (or even identify) effectively. And for some causes, the magnitude of the problem and the financial impact of the solution is nearly impossible to objectively quantify.

WHC gladly affirms your passion and support for any great cause! We just want you to feel the most good about your generosity because you’re doing the most good with your generosity! And we’re hopeful that one of our cause groups will excite you to that end.