{"id":17369,"date":"2015-06-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-06-19T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leithart.level2d.com\/?p=2202"},"modified":"2015-06-19T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-06-19T00:00:00","slug":"the-n-in-ngo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/06\/the-n-in-ngo\/","title":{"rendered":"The \u201cN\u201d in NGO"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n<\/head>

N<\/span>ongovernmental organizations have been on my radar since I heard a pro-family activist from Ireland describe the array of forces pressing for approval of same-sex marriage\u2014many political leaders, business leaders, some church leaders, and NGOs. Where, I wondered, do these NGOs get their resources? Who is actually funding these efforts?<\/p>\n

Robert Wuthnow\u2019s\u00a0Boundless Faith<\/em><\/a> gives some hints. \u201cBy definition,\u201d Wuthnow writes, \u201cNGOs are independent of government,\u201d but that doesn\u2019t express their real status: \u201cthe very reason for calling them NGOs is that they typically work closely with government agencies and receive legitimacy from government charters. NGOs usually adopt an administrative structure that resembles government bureaus and often play a role in distributing government funds. Governments . . . sometimes initiate NGOs or bring influence to bear on established NGOs to promote government policies\u201d (118). Even religious NGOs come to the trough. Wuthnow acknowledges that \u201cthe lion\u2019s share of faith-based NGO funding continues to be from private sources\u201d but they have relationships with governments that \u201cplay an important role in shaping what they do and how they do it\u201d (119).<\/p>\n

So, for instance: \u201cWorld Vision International applied for its first government grant in 1975\u2014over opposition from a few of its leaders, but this marked the start of the organization\u2019s increasing reliance on revenue from government grants\u201d (124). According to a 1981 study, Adventist Development and Relief Agency received 78 percent of its funding from governments; World Relief, 55 percent, and Lutheran World Relief 35 percent (124). In 2003, Catholic Relief Services got 74 percent of its support from government; World Relief was at 50 percent.<\/p>\n

Government funding has greatly expanded the reach and activity of NGOs, and Wuthnow sees two other developments accompanying this expansion. First, \u201cfaith-based NGOs are no longer segmented within particular denominations or confessional traditions.\u201d Catholics, Adventists, Evangelicals, Lutherans are all competing for the same money, and grands are at times shared among different NGOs \u2013 a sort of government-encouraged ecumenism. Second, there has been \u201can increase in formal reporting requirements,\u201d and developments that makes NGOs \u201cdependent to a much greater degree on being integrated into networks of Washington officials\u201d (134).<\/p>\n

Governments don\u2019t give money without strings; there are no free gifts. Wuthnow writes, \u201cFor purposes of securing government grants, faith-based NGOs must demonstrate that they are nonsectarian, nonpartisan, effective, and willing to abide by such procedural norms as regularly audited financial reporting\u201d (135). What happens to NGOs who don\u2019t toe the line of government policy on, say, gender equality or sexual orientation? Will the funds dry up? Will NGOs stick with principle or chase the money?\u00a0<\/p>\n

I<\/span>t\u2019s a clever ruse. NGOs, faith-based or not, can get train loads of money. Governments can advance their policy agendas, but make it look as if the policy advocacy is coming from the grassroots rather than from the top. \u201cWe\u2019re just responding to popular will,\u201d say the government officials who gave money to the NGOs who express the popular will to which the officials then respond. It\u2019s a great game for everyone, except for those who oppose the policies being advanced by governments and their non-nongovernmental allies.<\/p>\n

To circle back to the original question: Who funds the NGOs who agitated for same-sex marriage in Ireland? The Irish government? Did tax money from traditionalist Irish men and women end up in the bank accounts of Irish NGOs, who used the money to undermine their religious beliefs? Were the NGOs funded by foreign governments \u2013 the US <\/em>government? Perhaps someone has investigated; if not, there\u2019s a story there.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nongovernmental organizations have been on my radar since I heard a pro-family activist from Ireland describe the array of forces pressing for approval of same-sex marriage\u2014many political leaders, business leaders, some church leaders, and NGOs. Where, I wondered, do these NGOs get their resources? Who is actually funding these efforts? Robert Wuthnow\u2019s\u00a0Boundless Faith gives some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1324],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ngos"],"yoast_head":"\nThe \u201cN\u201d in NGO<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Nongovernmental organizations have been on my radar since I heard a pro-family activist from Ireland describe the array of forces pressing for approval of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/06\/the-n-in-ngo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The \u201cN\u201d in NGO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nongovernmental organizations have been on my radar since I heard a pro-family activist from Ireland describe the array of forces pressing for approval of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/06\/the-n-in-ngo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Leithart\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-06-19T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter Leithart\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@PLeithart\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Peter Leithart\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/06\/the-n-in-ngo\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/06\/the-n-in-ngo\/\",\"name\":\"The \u201cN\u201d in NGO\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-06-19T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-06-19T00:00:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d\"},\"description\":\"Nongovernmental organizations have been on my radar since I heard a pro-family activist from Ireland describe the array of forces pressing for approval of\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/06\/the-n-in-ngo\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/06\/the-n-in-ngo\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/06\/the-n-in-ngo\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The \u201cN\u201d in NGO\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/\",\"name\":\"Leithart\",\"description\":\"My blog is a public notebook, featuring essays, notes, and explorations on Scripture, theology, literature, politics, culture.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d\",\"name\":\"Peter Leithart\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Peter Leithart\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PLeithart\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/author\/pleithart\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The \u201cN\u201d in NGO","description":"Nongovernmental organizations have been on my radar since I heard a pro-family activist from Ireland describe the array of forces pressing for approval of","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/06\/the-n-in-ngo\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The \u201cN\u201d in NGO","og_description":"Nongovernmental organizations have been on my radar since I heard a pro-family activist from Ireland describe the array of forces pressing for approval of","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/06\/the-n-in-ngo\/","og_site_name":"Leithart","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/","article_published_time":"2015-06-19T00:00:00+00:00","author":"Peter Leithart","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@PLeithart","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Peter Leithart","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/06\/the-n-in-ngo\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/06\/the-n-in-ngo\/","name":"The \u201cN\u201d in NGO","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-06-19T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2015-06-19T00:00:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d"},"description":"Nongovernmental organizations have been on my radar since I heard a pro-family activist from Ireland describe the array of forces pressing for approval of","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/06\/the-n-in-ngo\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/06\/the-n-in-ngo\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/06\/the-n-in-ngo\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The \u201cN\u201d in NGO"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/","name":"Leithart","description":"My blog is a public notebook, featuring essays, notes, and explorations on Scripture, theology, literature, politics, culture.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d","name":"Peter Leithart","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","caption":"Peter Leithart"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/PLeithart"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/author\/pleithart\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3021"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17369\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}