November 5, 1998 | Read Time: 2 minutes
THE PHILANTHROPY 400 – No. 68
(Table of Contents)
Year founded: 1981
What it does: Collects and distributes food, medicines, and other supplies to needy people overseas and coordinates volunteer efforts and product donations in response to natural disasters in the United States and other countries. The charity also maintains several clinics and other facilities overseas.
Number of staff members: 210
Spending on fund raising: $344,173
Largest single gift in 1997: $21-million worth of medicine donated by a pharmaceutical company that officials declined to name
Location: Berlin, Ohio
How Christian Aid Ministries reached the top: The primary reason for the big increase in private support at the charity was a nearly three-fold jump in donated products. Many gifts came as a result of corporate mergers inwhich companies made donations to streamline inventories and to obtain tax breaks. The organization also has a core of loyal supporters. Founded by an Amish-Mennonite, the charity appeals to Amish and Mennonite churches and to some 10,000 individual church members in 17 countries. The charity attracts continuing support by offering donors a wide variety of giving options: Donors can choose from among 18 different sponsorship programs, which generated $4.6-million last year. Another factor in the charity’s success is a tangible link to its overseas work. Up to 1,000 volunteers each month work in one of the group’s facilities to can food, sort clothing, or prepare goods for shipping.
Biggest fund-raising challenge: Leaders say their biggest challenge is not raising money but obtaining donations of medicine. That job got harder, officials say, when the World Health Organization in 1996 began to urge countries to reject donated drugs that did not have a full year left until their expiration dates. Pharmaceutical companies are far less willing to get rid of products that have more than a year’s shelf life remaining.
Fund-raising climate for international relief groups: International-aid groups on the Philanthropy 400 list saw private support increase by 17.6 per cent from 1996 to 1997. Much of the rise was due to big jumps in donated products; they make up 50 per cent or more of contributions for close to half of the groups. But such charities continue to struggle with public skepticism, due in part to press reports aboutovervalued or useless products collected by charities or donated supplies that never reach intended recipients. Even without those problems, many groups must overcome Americans’ tendency to give close to home rather than to overseas projects. And because so many donors make one-time gifts in response to crises like natural disasters and famines, many groups are hard-pressed to find people to support their work year after year.
‘We Avoid All Gimmicks’
“We are very different from other organizations. We try to present the needs clearly, but we do not push. People have to decide for themselves. Anything good that has come our way is the result of God’s blessing. We are plain people. We avoid all gimmicks or looking sensational. We are not highfalutin. We are painfully honest, and we strive for accuracy.”
— David Troyer, General Director and Founder
