A Chance for a Ministry - Using my gifts

So I wanna run something by you guys, and I want your input/ideas/comments. Yes this particular blog requires participation. I don't mind the normal "blog-stalking", but I request that you break the silence at least this one time. I also ask that you share this with people you think might also be helpful, so I can get their responses as well.

Y'all know I'm a programmer. As such, my "unique" skills don't often have a place when it comes to ministry as it relates to the poor, needy, and 3rd world countries. This has always bothered me because I'm called to use my gifts to "further Christ's kingdom", and I'm also called to help the poor, sick, widows, and children. I've wanted for a long time to be able to combine my skills with this need, and I think I've found a way.

This will be a long post because it contains an idea for a ministry. Those of you who may be reading that don't consider yourself "religious"; don't tune out yet. This is a ministry idea, true - but in reality it is just a good thing to do, and I think you'll still identify/appreciate the idea.

Ok, so here goes:

Wendy, Julie, Kirk, Wendy's bosses Anita and Jerry, and I just recently went to a Children's Hunger Fund (CHF) fund-raiser/sponsorship-awards banquet about 2 weeks ago. As I'm sure you gather by the name, this Charity feeds children/poor/needy people all over the world. They do more than that though. They also provide medical care, and clothing - I'm not sure if they also provide education, but it wouldn't surprise me.

While at this event, they awarded/acknowledged people and organizations that have provided significant contribution to their mission (even if the contribution was not directly through CHF but instead through a parallel charity). Two companies that they honored that do contribute directly to CHF were Dole Foods, and Nestle. They also honored the Chapman's (as in Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife) for their own personal ministry called Show Hope, and Focus on the Family for their contributions to society.


I make E-Commerce web sites for my "day job". In other words, I make online shopping cart systems. (Think shopping at bestbuy.com, or better yet, checkout one of the sites I've actually done: Swell.com or ActiveRideShop.com) This is what I'm employed to do... and I really enjoy it. However, I also have a bunch of personal projects that I'm trying to complete, all relating to programming. Given that my commute takes up approx. 2 hours of my day, and I work for 8, that leaves me very little time for my numerous other projects.

This presents me with a very big problem as it pertains to ministry. Where do I get time to add a ministry to the list? I thought hard about this... and I was extremely reluctant to give up on any of my dreams relating to my personal endeavors. Then I thought, "What if I could turn my day job into one that meets the needs of charities like CHF, without quiting my job?" This would mean that I would have to find a need for 3rd world countries and the poor to make use of an ecommerce website... which doesn't make a lot of sense, since they aren't likely to have computers with internet access in these 3rd world countries...

... and then it struck me. I'm looking at my role in these ministies backwards. Maybe I should be looking to facilitiate the supporting of the charities by others, rather than directly supporting the charities themselves.

AnitaG, Inc. (Wendy's company) provides clothing and financial assistance to CHF. Major corporations like Nestle, and Dole also provide financial (and perhaps food?) assistance. Besides believing in the Charity's mission; Why do major corporations give?

Well, besides "feeling good about themselves", there are tangible benefits. There's a major tax write-off for charitable contributions (though there is a limit). Additionally, there's the public exposure and image - they can appear to be "good" companies, which can potentially drive people to pick them over their competitors.

In the case of the Tax write-off, there's a limit to how much the giving actually helps. Plus, they still have a company to run and be profitable, so there's only so much "direct giving" they can do before it just doesn't make financial sense. It perhaps isn't even that they wouldn't give more... they just hit a wall of how much before it doesn't make sense.

As for the public image... well, this only works if the public is aware of your giving. In the case of CHF, many of you might not even know about them, and I'm sure most if not all of you certainly didn't know that these companies were contributing. In other words, the opportunity was lost.

So I came up with an idea, to assist companies in capitalizing on both the tangible opportunities presented by giving. The idea is this:

Create a website "in the name of" CHF (or any other worthy charity). Like any other ECommerce site, there is a shopping cart, and a list of products. These products are provided to the site a very low cost by companies like Dole, Nestle and AnitaG. Perhaps they are provided "at cost", or maybe with a very small mark-up. The products have the companies brands extremely visible. Consumers can purchase from this site, and see the companies who's product they are purchasing. This breeds consumer awareness about the companies "good deeds", and potentially even makes a very small profit (or at least covers all production costs) for the company. Reporting tools are available (our system already has them) for tax/write-off purposes. Plus, the companies aren't out any costs, and thus it doesn't "hurt" them to extend the amount of giving they do.

Here's the thing... the product that is purchased is not purchased for the consumer, but rather on behalf of the consumer for the charity!

Example: AnitaG provides a girls dress for a cost of $5. It costs them $4 to make and ship. So if you, the consumer, purchased this dress, AnitaG makes $1 profit. Furthermore, you now have purchased a dress for the charity, and the charity will actually receive the dress to give away to the poor, etc. You know it was an AnitaG product you purchased, so it creates good-will with you toward AnitaG. Also, AnitaG has a charitable write-off (they normally sell the dress to retailers for $8), which is complied in a report for them by the Ecommerce system. In the same way, the consumer (you) gets reports for your tax purposes too (that's right, you get a write-off as well!). The Charity gets material to give away. Everyone wins!

What about the ECommerce system? It costs something right? Right... But at a reduced cost to the charity (thus a write-off for my company). Plus, these major corporations that are submitting their product??? EXPOSURE!!! That's right. Hopefully, they will see our system in action and like it (they still have consumer-driven businesses to run), and decide to use our system. In other words, the charities site becomes an instant relationship to these corporations, and hopefully will pay off in sales.

Even cooler: Our system has a Wishlist functionality. Ever been to church during christmas, and they have a "gift-drive" where you grab a gift request by some poor child, and buy that gift? Well now imagine the ability to go online and pick through wishlists (created on behalf of these kids by the charities on their site) and fulfill them... all online. Churches recommend/support these sites to assist the ministries they believe in and love.


I talked to my boss about this idea. I was worried he'd say, "that's a nice idea, but not really on the plate for any time soon", or "that doesn't really fit with our future", or something of the sort. Instead, he loved the idea. He thinks it's great! So there you have it. It's more important to me than ever, because I actually have an opportunity to turn my secular job into a ministry providing for other ministries!

So, where do you come in? My boss likes the idea so much, he told me to write it up professionally. We talked about it again today, and he wants me to do something this weekend if I have time (In other words... "it's a good idea, so lets not waste time. Get it done!") I want to make sure I don't miss any aspects of this, because the better I make it, the more likely it is to happen. So I need your clarity of thought. What have I missed, both in opportunities, as well with hurdles to its execution?

Heck, if anyone of you has the "ins" with a ministry that could benefit from this which is big enough to drive the "promise" of this idea (so that the "business" minded people see the promise and want it to happen), that's also very helpful.