I usually try to visit my 80-year-old father at least once every six weeks. He’s in great health, and the other Wednesday he rode his bicycle 118 miles, solo from Kennewick, Wash., to Walla Walla, and back. (No, Dad does not need my physical assistance, yet!) But we genuinely enjoy sharing and picking each other’s brains. There’s a lot to talk about.

The other day when we got together, though, he seemed a bit depressed, and he motioned me toward a stack of third-class mail on his little bookkeeping desk. I could hear that telltale catch in his baritone voice as he cleared his throat, and I knew something heavy lay on his heart.

“Ed, this is really hard,” he began. “Every one of those letters,” he pointed again at the dog-eared stack… “every one of them wants money.” He paused. “And your mother says we can’t give to everyone anymore. And she’s right, you know….”

Dad’s a third-generation Adventist who has the Depression-era self-discipline and a physician’s earning power to have become a wealthy man.

But he’s given most of his wealth—potential and otherwise—away in the form of 13 years of mission service and a host of truly worthy causes.

In gratefulness for the advantages he has (a wealth of memories from mission service, a paid-off house, paid-off cars, paid-off bicycles, and heavenly real estate paid off in full by his Lord and Savior), his heart yearns to give and give some more. But how much, and to whom?

So I shared with him a list of Guiding Principles that have helped me and many others bring cheer back into giving. Of the 10 guiding principles, I’ll share the first two here—just in case even one Adventist Today reader has felt the heavy hand of those tyrannical pleas for help and has silently asked from the heart, “How do I decide where to focus my priorities in giving to worthy causes?”

What Are Your Strengths?

The most helpful principle I have learned is to give to causes related to your own interests and talents. God loves cheerful givers, I’ve heard. Nothing makes me happier than giving to a cause that’s fighting the same battles I’m fighting—whether against error, disease, poverty, deceit, hypocrisy, or all of the above.

The increasing numbers of people giving to  Adventist Today Foundation (see our brand new list of Advisors on page 2) often cite this magazine’s independent candor and search for truth as reasons for their support. They love the culture of Adventism—they’ve invested heavily in Adventism—and they see this magazine as a zealous guardian of the very best within the Adventist culture. Things like accuracy, literacy, transparency, and candid evaluations of Adventism’s true strengths, and sometimes its weaknesses.

They also approve of Editor John McLarty’s gifts in reaching the minds and hearts of highly educated Adventists. Most Adventist Today readers have experienced the twin damage wrought by hypocrisy in the Adventist culture and its caustic effect on the lives of discerning young people. They’ve fought those battles themselves—may still be fighting them with their kids—and they see in Adventist Today a unique colleague in ministry.

All in all, it brings tremendous joy to donate to reputable organizations whose interest- and talentset address the closest concerns of our hearts.

How Dedicated Are They?

The next question I ask is, “How dedicated and self-sacrificial is this organization?” Most nonprofits today consume a substantial percentage of donated funds as “administrative expense.” That’s a fact of life, especially among organizations that have reached their 20th year mark. Somehow “administrative expense” grows, as employees multiply, volunteerism wanes, and executive salaries reach “market levels.” Sometimes these executives may advertise that they receive modest or even low salaries, but hidden benefits in the form of book royalties and benefits for the family may double or even triple their real compensation.

Some highly efficient organizations, such as the Adventist Today Foundation, have few employees but are able to attract accomplished volunteers. Adventist Today Foundation has only one employee—an office manager. (And, yes, Hanan Sadek is a beautiful person—only one of her kind.) The rest of the Adventist Today work force consists of volunteers and part-time contract workers. Yet each and every one is an acknowledged master in some professional phase of science, investigation, analysis, management, writing, and publishing. Most work from their home offices, and the office manager herself commutes to an extremely modest, pre-fabricated office on the campus of La Sierra University in Riverside, California.

Asked recently why Adventist Today doesn’t raise money for a fine new office center, Executive Editor Ervin Taylor replied simply, “We don’t need one. Everything we spend goes directly into our mission as a magazine.”

That attitude is making it possible for Adventist Today to probe as never before some of the deepest and most impenetrable crevasses of the Adventist culture. The emphasis on Adventist tithing in this issue is but a preamble to even more-comprehensive future evaluations of the financial mysteries within our culture.

At a time when many members of the Greatest Generation are making arrangements to dedicate vast sums of money to various Adventist-related  causes, it seems most appropriate to ask, “Where and how will this money really be used?” It’s a tough, invasive question, but someone with absolutely no politically inhibiting ties must ferret out the answers. And Adventist Today can and will.

At the same time, members of the Greatest Generation—my father’s generation—are extremely concerned about the spiritual fate of their children and grandchildren, many of whom withdrew from the Adventist culture in the 1970s and 1980s. Adventist Today is invested in helping to reach this group with a message of invitation and inclusiveness. We want them back in the Adventist culture, where they belong with us!

Next issue we’ll look at more helpful guidelines as we seek to escape the tyrannical torque of competing worthy causes in our lives.

pp.22,23  adventist today | vol. 13 issue 5