Is the Pro-Life Movement an Afterthought or a Partner?
Could our view of how to support charitable organizations be wrong? When it comes to the pro-life movement, it is. The LIFE issue is the most important one we have as Christians. What other issue boasts the “Single-Issue-Voter” label. It’s the one thing that moves people to a decision. You are either pro-life or pro-murder. There may be some single issue “feed-the-poor,” or a tiny group of single issue “transgender-rights” folks out there, but they are insignificant forces. It’s the difference between Google and AOL. In the life issue, there is no middle ground, and there is nothing more important than protecting the life of the legally-vulnerable unborn. Yet, we treat the pro-life ministries like we treat every other charity. We tell them, “go do your work and we’ll throw you some money from our charitable-giving pot.” We give to the pro-life movement like we give to the Scouts selling popcorn outside of the home-improvement store. It’s time to change our perspective to one that matches its importance.
Pro Life Partner Gives 15% of Gross Revenue
When I heard that Pro-Life Payments gives 15% of its gross revenue to pro-life charities, I was intrigued, but dubious. I’ve seen Spirit-led organizations relying on God, while engaging in irresponsible business practices. It’s great to want to give 15% off the top to pro-life ministries, but it’s irresponsible if you cannot sustain a business by doing so. Can God miraculously sustain a business against all mistakes? Absolutely, but I do think it’s our responsibility to consciously follow reasonable plans and let God cover our oversights and mistakes if He chooses to. Some companies don’t even have 15% margins, let alone the ability to give that much away. I had to see the numbers.
Partnership with Pro Life Movement
But, let’s get back to the perspective that Jared Huffman, founder of Pro Life Payments, has regarding the pro-life movement. He looked at his business as a partner with the movement, not a stand-alone business. He didn’t consider a normal donation of some fraction of his businesses profit to be sufficient, and he knew that what he gave from his personal income was tiny compared to what was possible as a business force for the cause. If you are reading carefully, you’ll notice that Pro Life Payments donates 15% from ALL of its revenue, not a percentage based on its profit. That equation creates a much bigger number for the charities. That’s a partnership, a commitment, not just an afterthought. Pro Life Payments operates as a partner with the pro-life movement, not just a company whose owners are pro life.
Are You Stuck Thinking in the Afterthought Model?
It’s normal to scratch your head and wonder if the financials make sense, but believing 15% is too much before you know the numbers shows you are stuck in the old ‘afterthought’ perspective instead of the partnership perspective. What is the power when businesses are started or converted into the pro-life partnership model? Multiply the millions of dollars that go to the pro-life movement today by 10 or more. Multiply the number of babies saved by 10 or more. If 100,000 babies are saved a year, how will we feel when 1,000,000 babies are saved a year? Pro Life Payments calculates that $1,000,000 donated to pro-life causes saves 1,428 babies—a noble impact. $1,000,000 invested in Pro-Life Payments multiplies that blessing, saving an estimated 11,072 babies over five years and continuing to grow far beyond.
Yes. We’d feel great, but do the numbers work, and do the customers have to pay more to cover the massive giving? To my surprise, the numbers for Pro Life Payments do work, and that’s while charging customers the same or less than competitors. To be fair, the numbers work in the payments space and may not work in other industries. We know that there is always a tradeoff when making plans, and prioritizing the partnership approach is no exception.
Partnership Service and Sacrifice
The Partnership model carries with it an expectation of service and sacrifice. Sacrifice is the nature of a trade off. What will you give up in order to accomplish your mission? The owners of Pro Life Payments knew from the beginning there would be less money for expenses and for paying themselves. Flexible expenses like marketing and sales would be curtailed by the reality of the budget, which would in turn likely slow growth. However, the owners are bought in to the mission of changing how pro-life, for-profit businesses work with the pro-life movement. The new model anticipates the growth of companies pursuing partnerships, which grows the impact on the unborn well beyond what Pro Life Payments alone can produce.
Save Ten Times the Number of Preborn Children
The point again is that for-profit businesses, if they partner with the pro-life movement in a real way, can save 10 times more unborn children from death than the ‘afterthought’ model of today. The owners of Pro Life Payments were dedicated to the mission of saving babies, not building a business to make themselves rich.
How Do You Know Who to Trust?
There is a sub-text here that should be made clear. How do you know when someone is sincere? Are we settling for the word of the second son in Matthew 21:30 when his dad told him to go work in the vineyard he said, “’I will, sir;’ but he did not go.” Are we satisfied with assumptions and promises without evidence instead of visible work in the
vineyard? The transparent giving of 15% provides credibility to the words written and spoken by Pro Life Payments. You can see the amount given by the company right on their website homepage. You can see the actual receipts. Contrast this commitment and transparency with other affinity groups. Labels like “Pro Life,” “Christian,” “patriot,” and “conservative” move people to those providers, but to what end?
I believe we give our business to those organizations to protest liberal, woke services providers, not necessarily to accomplish a specific goal. We don’t want to give our money to organizations that actively fight against our beliefs, but again, to what end are we making the change? Where does that money go after we buy the ‘conservative’ product or service? Some of these organizations are certainly generous, but that is in the afterthought-model definition of generous, not the partnership-model definition.
Pro Life Payments had Better be Sincere
When you have a company name like Pro Life Payments, and you’ve made a commitment to transparently give 15% of your gross revenue to pro-life ministries, there is nowhere to hide. You are either sincere, or you go away. The name gives you 1 minute of a customer’s time, after that, all the indicators for trust must line up, or you are categorized as a fraud.
Giving From the Gross, Not the Profit
It’s easy to stay in the afterthought model, but it doesn’t make it right when it comes to the pro-life issue. We are proposing a partnership model that activates your business into a perpetual funding source for pro-life ministries. Is that your calling? Are you willing to give out of your poverty rather than your wealth? When teaching about the old lady who gave to the Temple treasury, Jesus said, 43 “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.” -Matthew 12:43-44. Your poverty doesn’t have to be everything, but it’s from the top line, not the profit. Someone moved to a partnership model must sincerely answer a few questions for themselves. What is my life’s mission? Am I willing to sacrifice much of the money I would otherwise personally make to support a cause? Can I organize and fund my business in a way that supports giving a large percentage of its gross revenue to a charitable cause? Am I willing to be transparent as an indicator of my sincerity?