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We love to give. Every year, evangelical Christians give hundreds of millions of dollars annually to missions, Christian colleges, relief organizations, rescue missions, and other proxies for our do-good impulses. Indeed, 92 percent of CT readers give to nonchurch-based Christian organizations. On average, those readers give more than $2,000 annually to parachurch groups, based on research surveys.

We love to give because we want to extend our ministry beyond our own reach by supporting those who will devote themselves full-time to saving, shaping, and changing lives.

What do we expect in return for our dollars? Efficiency: We expect an organization not to spend too much on fundraising or too lavishly on administrative salaries and perks, and we expect it to get maximum mileage from donor dollars. Effectiveness: We expect the organization to use the money to produce measurable results. Faithfulness: We expect a Christian nonprofit to conform every aspect of its work to the gospel. Christian nonprofits that are efficient, effective, and faithful earn our trust-and our gifts.

DAMAGED TRUST

The New Era scandal that washed over America's nonprofits in May has damaged the sense of trust that has developed through many years of ministry (see "The 'Post-New Era' Era," in this issue). The Foundation for New Era Philanthropy had promised to solicit matching-fund grants from anonymous wealthy donors for Christian colleges and ministries, as well as for secular nonprofit organizations. All the nonprofits had to do was meet new fundraising targets, place the money on deposit with New Era, and in six months, they would receive double the amount. For harried development directors and ministry leaders, New Era was a dream come true-until, just three years after its promising beginnings, the dream became a nightmare. There were no anonymous benefactors. The ministries that had been depositing funds with New Era were actually funding each other's matching grants. The scheme demanded, of course, rapid and continual expansion to keep delivering on the "double-your-money" promises. And one day in May, it all came crashing down-with the organizations having funds on deposit at that moment sustaining heavy financial losses.

The big questions on everyone's lips: How could we have been taken in? How can we be sure it will never happen again? The net result has been an enormous loss of confidence.

Evangelicalism is all about having confidence in the face of uncertainty and risk. Our theology emphasizes the reliable faith of our forebears. Our spirituality emphasizes an assurance of salvation through the finished work of Christ. But our movement is fragile sociologically. Evangelicals forever walk on the wild side, fostering creative vision and impetuous responses to urgent needs. Most evangelical organizations are the result of risk-taking, entrepreneurial visionaries. Such people-unwilling to wait for slower denominational machinery to act-have sought to save, heal, or disciple people in fresh ways. In their younger days, these organizations often teeter on the edge of insolvency, using every dollar they get to further their vision.

The only way such ministry can operate is on trust: Trust in the Lord to provide, and mutual trust with donors and prayer partners. High-living, immorality, and financial mismanagement (such as occurred in the much-publicized PTL case) damage the climate of trust necessary for all ministries to thrive. If ministries felt a financial pinch following the PTL scandal (the failure of but one ministry to live up to the trust placed in it), will the cash flow be narrowed even more after the New Era revelations?

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July 17 1995, Vol. 39, No. 8