2023 Summary of Grants

August 8, 2024

2023 Summary of Grants

 Click here to view The Rees-Jones Foundation 2023 Summary of Grants

PRESIDENT’S LETTER | T. HARDIE

As we review our work each year, we ask, “How do we know whether our work has had success?” It’s an important question and it should be answered, but sometimes we struggle to get below the surface.  We count the dollars spent and add up the people helped and conclude that we have done well. But we know that this is only scratching the surface when we think about our work in Christian philanthropy.  Success of course requires definition. In our world, it might be defined by numbers served or lives improved in measurable ways such as increased safety or availability of life’s necessities such as food and housing and education. It might be defined by graduation rates (high school and college) or access to living wage jobs or medical care. Or in Christian philanthropy, it might be defined by professions of faith or gospel presentations or churches planted. These are all useful metrics, but does pursuing these lines of inquiry lead us away from another means of assessing our work that might be more important in our mission as disciples of Jesus Christ?

There is a familiar parable in Matthew 25 about a man going on a journey who entrusted his servants with various amounts of money to invest while he was away. When he returned, he judged his servants on their success in earning a return on the money he had left for them to steward. The ones who had invested well were rewarded as good and faithful servants. And of course, the one who had done nothing with the money entrusted was thrown out into the darkness. I don’t believe Jesus wanted us to read this parable narrowly. Yes, it is about the use and care of money for which we are accountable to God.  But the parable is followed immediately by the series of verses on which we as a Foundation have based much of our work and mission. What have we done for the least of the brothers and sisters of Christ, and thus for Him? Stated simply, how have we loved our brothers and sisters?

When it comes to serving “the least of these,” money is a powerful tool. The temptation we have is to evaluate our work based on data collected, showing the numbers of people served and the effectiveness of the various programs we have supported in improving their lives. And this we should do. The pages of these summaries over the years have included some of that data and I am happy to say that our ability and the ability of our partners to gather that data is improving. We want to know that the money we give is well spent and that it is allocated where the results demonstrate the most impact. But money is cold and hard and we are called to do more, so we must measure in different ways.

Which brings me to another parable in Luke 10 about a man beaten and robbed along the road between Jerusalem and Jericho. Two religious leaders had passed him by, but a Samaritan man stopped to render aid. Money was required in that story too, but more importantly, time, compassion, and a willingness to put aside personal self-interest for the benefit of someone in need. Jesus asks, who was the neighbor to the beaten man? The answer was obvious. We might guess what was appreciated most by the beaten man. Certainly, the financial aid that allowed him to heal was critically important. But my guess is he appreciated as much or more the neighborly love showed him by the Samaritan. How can we measure that?

We are blessed to have financial resources with which we can assist our partners in their important work.  We are held to account for the use of those resources and rightly so. Loving our neighbors involves using these financial resources to invest in them to provide the goods and services that they so desperately need.  We can measure our neighborliness by simply knowing that our money has directly helped someone in need, and if it has, that can be enough. It is for this reason that we have always focused on direct service in our grantmaking. Knowing that someone, a person we can really see, has been helped, has been our reward. 

But we have other resources too which include time and experience and we should use those also to love our neighbors. We have learned that without spending time, without building relationships with those we support, the giving of money alone, though obviously welcome, can be transactional: “I give you money and you give me results.” On the other hand, the giving of money together with the time necessary to demonstrate care and compassion and to offer encouragement and understanding is relational and completes a picture which may be summarized in the word love. So how do we measure our love? After 17 years, we can only measure our success in loving our neighbors by looking at the relationships we have built during that time. In what ways have we shown up and with what consistency. How have we helped our partners thrive and how have they been able to love those they serve?

More than anything, we want to build relationships with our partners. We want to be a part of their work, enjoying their successes and suffering with them in their failures. We want them to know we value them as people and we value their work as they love those they serve. So, more gratifying than any report showing money well-spent are the acknowledgments of love our partners have expressed.  One recent note says it all. “Your team has been so compassionately engaged in our process with Tarrant County families…Outside of the financial support, your team’s recognition of these issues, concern for this population, and support is exceptionally encouraging to those of us who have been serving in the social service field for a long time. The questions, the RJF newsletters, the RJF process, demonstrates that true care. So, thank you.”

How do we measure success? One relationship like this at a time. One note like this at a time. We read them, we cherish them, we even display them. Our work is built on our connections to those we serve. Our faith affirms that we are all part of a mysterious interconnected body of people created by our God to join together for the mutual health and thriving of the whole. We count our success by the evidence that God’s people can build relationships of love and support and mutual benefit. Let’s continue that effort and count each ever-stronger relationship as a measure of success that brings joy to this work.

Thornton Hardie, Foundation President