My Nonprofit Reviews

Other ministries should take their cues from Samaritan's Purse! There are so very many reasons to praise this organization! Perhaps the most praise-worthy thing that they do is that they live out the Gospel in a very concrete way!

Operation Christmas Child is one of my favorite charities! I have great joy all year long, collecting items to fill shoe boxes, knowing that these gifts will bring joy to child, and in particular, that the gift will be accompanied by an invitation to grow closer to Christ!

We have been sponsors to CFCA/Unbound for over a decade and for the most of those years had been well pleased with how the organization and its programs had been run, but that was until the significant name change and corresponding mission drift.

The practice of 'deliverance' -- freeing those who are bound -- is a serious work of the Christian community that cannot occur without reliance on God in the name of Christ! (See Luke 10:17). We had been well impressed with the agency in years past, because it had appeared that the organization was faithfully following the Biblical ideal of providing practical assistance along with the Gospel. Now it appears that their friendship with the world, the lure of riches, etc. (James 4:4; Mark 4:19) have choked out the genuine Gospel message, in that the organization has transformed itself into a "humanitarian organization" rather than a Christian "ministry."
Jesus rebuked followers who cared little for his teachings but wanted only to receive bread (John 6:26); then as now He urges us to "not work for food that perishes, but food that endures unto eternal life" (John 6:27). We feel very disappointed by Unbound, because it appears that the organization is emphasizing the food that perishes rather than the food that endures to eternal life.
Furthermore, although the organization has received high marks from non-profit rating agencies, there is a small detail we've discovered recently, one which brought a twinge of sadness to our family. We have always sent donations for birthdays and Christmas to our sponsored elder, believing that these donations would be hers (perhaps minus some small administrative fee?). However, the donations that are supposed to be personal gifts to the sponsored are the donations which are POOLED and used however.

Think about that business tactic for a moment. How would you feel if a friend sent you a personal gift and you found out that your 'family' took that money and did whatever they wanted to with it, and that maybe you received very little or none of it? How would that make you feel? There is something about that policy that seems terribly unjust and disingenuous. The organization claims that all basic sponsorship monies go directly to support of the sponsored, yet ironically, those are the funds that would most reasonably be expected to serve ALL the participants.

At this point we are still sponsors, but having observed all the organizational changes during the previous decade have caused us to reconsider our level of support.