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Wall Watchers
2514 Plantation Center Dr
Matthews, NC 28105
Thank you
Thank you for your interest to pass on wisdom, understanding and discernment to others.
“There is gold, and an abundance of jewels;
But the lips of knowledge are a more precious thing.”
(Prov. 20:15, NASB)
If you appreciate what Wall Watchers is striving to do and would like it to continue, click on the Network for Good or PayPal icon to give an online donation, or use the contact details to send a check made out to “Wall Watchers”.
"Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary." (Gal. 6:9, NASB)
The Challenge
The most persistent challenge facing the ministry is finding and securing the financial resources required to support the programs and day-to-day operations of the ministry. The ministry has been blessed by the support of the founders and other like-minded individuals. Their generous contributions have permitted the ministry a base of operation and laid the groundwork; however, there is a need to find additional sources of support in order to maintain and expand the ministry's scope. As it is, we have had to take down a sister website (thegoodsteward.com) because of a lack of support.
The websites have its genesis out of the founders own frustrations with obtaining basic information from various charities now profiled. The founders were donors to various ministries and at some point felt as a donor they had a stewardship responsibility to ask for audited financial statements or annual reports from organizations that were not already sending them. They were shocked to learn that some refused to send anything and actually made them feel like they did something wrong for just asking.
The founders did some research and found that no organization or group could help them with their information needs as a donor; so they created the organization and website to not only further help them with their stewardship responsibility in giving, but to give away information to others as well.
It was their hope that other donors would catch this vision to pass on wisdom to others. It does indeed need the support from others as no one person can lift this load on their own shoulders.
To learn more about the founders and the start of the ministry, go to this link at History.
Biblical and Logical Reasons Donors Seek Ministry Information
Acquire Knowledge
- The mind of the prudent acquires knowledge, And the ear of the wise seeks knowledge. (Prov. 18:15, NAS)
- The mind of the intelligent seeks knowledge, but the mouth of fools feeds on folly. (Prov. 15:14, NAS)
- "How long, O naïve ones, will you love simplicity? And Scoffers delight themselves in Scoffing, and fools hate knowledge? (Prov. 1:22, NAS)
- A senseless man has no knowledge... (Psalm 92:6a, NAS)
- Also it is not good for a person to be without knowledge...(Prov. 19:2a, NAS)
These verses are pretty plain: God wants us to acquire knowledge.
Act upon Knowledge
- Every prudent man acts with knowledge, but a fool displays folly. (Prov. 13:16, NAS)
- Apply ... you ears to words of knowledge. (Prov. 23:12, NAS)
- Five prudent women acting with knowledge, contrasted with five women who did not. (Matthew 25:1-13, NAS)
These verses take us to the second step: We are not just to acquire knowledge, we are to act upon that knowledge. Notice the harsh word for the person who does not act with knowledge. That person is called a "fool." Please listen to Scripture even in your giving habits. Be prudent by acting with knowledge when giving your money as a steward, and do not be foolish with what God has entrusted to you.
Be Careful in Your Actions
- The naïve believes everything, but the prudent man considers his steps. (Prov. 14:15, NAS)
- And he who hurries his footsteps errs. (Prov. 19:2b, NAS)
These verses take prudence to a new level. We are not only to seek knowledge, we are to examine what we learn. In other words, we are not only required to ask ministries for information, these verses suggests that we are to carefully consider our next steps. We should examine ministries closely before we give money to them.
Seek Consultation
- Without consultation, plans are frustrated, but with many counselors they succeed. (Prov. 15:22, NAS)
- In abundance of counselors there is victory. (Prov. 11:14b, 24:6b, NAS)
The free exchange of ideas, discourse, discussion, and information flow is encouraged by scripture, not discouraged. Consultation takes many forms given many different issues and circumstances. Scripture is not limiting to only some types of consultation. Seek charity specific knowledge from an information provider like MinistryWatch.com and others. Then your intended stewardship will succeed and truly be used in a worthy manner, instead of the real possibility of being mismanaged, wasted, or abused.
Spread Knowledge
- The lips of the wise spread knowledge, but the hearts of fools are not so. (Prov. 15:7, NAS)
- On the lips of the discerning, wisdom is found...(Prov. 10:13a, NAS)
- The lips of the righteous feed many... (Prov. 10:21a, NAS)
- The tongue of the wise makes knowledge acceptable, But the mouth of fools spouts folly. (Prov. 15:2, NAS)
- There is gold, and an abundance of jewels; But the lips of knowledge are a more precious thing. (Prov. 20:15, NAS)
These verses are ones that we at MinistryWatch.com take to heart, for these verses go to the very heart of what we do. Indeed, when we are criticized for spreading knowledge about Christian ministries, a natural answer could be: Should we be disobedient to these verses? Of course not. These verses not only encourages us to share information, but it also should be an encouragement to the ministries themselves to actively attempt to educate their own donors and the community about their financial operations and their ministry efforts.
These are just a few of scores of verses in Scripture that encourage us to diligently seek knowledge, and to responsibly share that knowledge with others in an effort to make them wise.
The bottom line is this: God would have us be wise, diligent stewards, and he would have us encourage each other to be and do the same. Why? Not because God needs us or our money, but so that our own joy can be full, so we can have the satisfaction of knowing that we truly participating in a meaningful way in what God is doing in His world.
Practical Focus of Donors
Donors are looking for an advocate to help facilitate the following information:
- Openness and transparency. Prudent donors want to understand what it is they are going to support. Foundational to ethics and morals is transparency and openness. Donors want committed ministries that are open and transparent, not experts in pushing emotional buttons in fundraising persuasion. Transparency is foundational in order to make a good decision.
- Due diligence integrity research. The knowledge that their donation is being used as solicited. Donors want to know that a nonprofit organization is telling them the truth and doing the right thing before God and man. Even when no one is watching.
- Values and beliefs. Donors want to understand which ministries represent their values.
- Efficiency and effectiveness. Donors want to know that their dollars are being used in an efficient and effective manner. Donors generally do not want to give to ministries that are overly focused on their own financial gain. Donors do not want to see leaders of ministries enamored with riches, but maximizing the ministry at every opportunity.
- Best practices. Donors would like some assurance that ministries are adhering to best practices, such as good governance in its operations and open to accountability measures.
Sometimes being in the role as an advocate may cause an uncomfortable feeling. It is not our intent to carelessly or capriciously state things, but to communicate ministry information to would be donors. Many times we are only communicating what we believe to be fundamental key information in order to inform donors. Donors indicate a frustration with not obtaining basic information that in turn not only hurts that particular ministry from future donations but hurts the charitable sector as a whole. It is understandable that the method of communication may not always be as precise as we like and on specific issues we would welcome feedback to take a look and examine if there is better or different ways to communicate basic information to donors.
Donors make decisions where to give and how much to give based on some level of knowledge. The greater the knowledge a donor has the more likely a donation will take place. Additionally, greater knowledge produces a greater perceived value and the more likelihood of a repeat donation.
Vision if Supported
- If supported, to maintain ministries profiled and don’t scale back
- If sufficiently backed, to expand the number of ministries profiled
- Expand donor information tools to such things as a Worldview or Values Taxonomy. A way for donors to more readily understand key values of ministries so that they may examine if those values correspond to their own.
- Organizational structure charts that better differentiate between things like church and Public Charity status
- A Needs Rating
- Additional Analyst Comments
- Expand research to a greater level of due diligence
- Report on a greater range of aspects concerning ministries, including their effectiveness
- Also a noticeably needy area witnessed by Wall Watchers staff is the increased capacity to examine complaints sent in by stakeholders of ministries. Many have concerns in the operation of how ministries are being conducted and want a Christian resource to turn to.
- And additional resources to attend to donor research for those “On-call” issues that donors request that are of a miscellaneous nature but are not sure where else to seek the donor questions related to ministries. Wall Watchers started out as an idea in the early 1990's and launched thegoodsteward.com as its first website. It was an educational website aimed at providing practical and useful information on biblical stewardship principles to the Christian community.
- For the moment thegoodsteward.com has been taken down because of a lack of support. Lord willing, we hope to have an opportunity for a robust library of articles on various topics. For now we profile some articles at MinistryWatch.com, but we would like to do more. Wall Watchers believe that there is a great need throughout the Christian community for re-introducing the biblical conception of stewardship back into the lives of believers.
Donations are Tax Deductible
MinistryWatch.com is a website of Wall Watchers. Wall Watchers was founded in July 1998 as a North Carolina nonprofit corporation and is also recognized as tax-exempt by the Internal Revenue Service as an Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3) organization. Donations are tax deductible to the extent provided by law.
Help Wall Watchers maintain a voice and momentum as a Donor Advocate. Your financial support will be used as a type of multiplier effect by providing confidence in the charitable sector. Charity is historically and ostensibly a Christian ideal. The sector now has extremes from the secular to the religiously fraudulent, cults and scammers. As a pooled resource of concerned donors, we will overcome the fraudsters, scammers and misdirected gifts.
Much work needs to be done to improve the lot of donors and to raise the standards in the Christian Ministry Marketplace. Wall Watchers has the potential of meeting vital needs, but it is not being funded as it should.
An outcome of Wall Watchers’ work will be the increased amount of money available for the Lord’s work by raising donor confidence in the ministry’s carrying out these efforts. Donors are mostly left to fend for their interests individually as no group formed and financed by Christian donors, other than Wall Watchers currently exists.
Improving donor representation and empowering donors can ignite a renewed interest in giving. It would also cause current giving to be targeted more effectively and strategically.
If you appreciate what Wall Watchers is striving to do and would like to contribute to seeing this vision become a reality, you can click on the Network for Good or PayPal icon to give an online donation, or use the contact details to send a check made out to Wall Watchers.
Thank you for your interest to pass on wisdom, understanding and discernment to others.