HOW DO WOMEN DISCERN WHAT ORGANIZATIONS TO GIVE TO AND STILL AID WOMEN

I was writing a reply on a blog, about this issue along with another and well it just poured out, so I thought I'd just post it here because the word limit thing kept popping up and I just don't deal with that anymore, though I understand it like you don't want thesis on comments, etc.  So, it's just better to post it here and then refer the reader to here--

anyway, I was writing Waneta over at Submission Tyranny about women, ministries and capital/transferance of patriarchal internalization's, self policing and so forth, and what I had learned, or what God has been showing me rather, about how to NOT be cynical for one, because for me I had the leaven of Pharisee AND the leaven of Herod to be delivered from, so I see the commonalities of both Especially where the misogyny and patriarchy are concerned.  So like when I started looking at NGOs and Relief Organizations I wanted to find those that were women friendly, and I learned a lot, so I will share here what I was relaying to Waneta.

reply:  [actually not full reply but what is relevant to the topic as I was replying to two things]

WE can police ourselves to the point where we hide the candle under the bed--and a candle under the bed will eventually go out--because it's not getting enough air.

So yea, I think the enemy does use guilt on women especially to get them to just not do anything, and sure, he uses those corrupt to do just that--to get us to get our eyes on the corruption and to just not do nothing,

I have seen this work in helping through charitable foundations, sure there are numerous that either don't help or that if they do, the governments steal, and all that,

at the same time, for 50 that are corrupt, there could be 10 who are not, and so like IF we just stop giving, then that only makes it where the corrupt have total ownership.  And then no one gets help...

you know you mentioned the ministry that you had reservations about, due to his wife, etc., well that one right there would get me to look elsewhere, because Jesus said, if one isn't faithful in the small they won't be faithful in the large, because I have a tendency to do this--why I know a bit about it because Jesus has been on my ass about this, a Lot [like focusing on the world and not on my kids, that sort of thing], anyway,

that and taking care of what others own and if we can't do that how can we take care of what He gives us, etc.  So like the Bible has a lot of references to how to judge wisely, I think, mostly about how to measure ourselves [how those should be applied] so what I have learned to do,

is look for the Fruits of relief organizations and I don't always go by if they are Christian or not--in fact I tend to be turned off by those who plaster Churchianity [because it's not really Christ in my opinion] on any relief org, more than they do the need of those they claim to help.

So like I look a lot into what type of in depth work they are doing, now I'm referring to relief work, there on my blog [and I'll list it here] there is a link, of Charity Watch, it's one of the better because one it's not the corporate one [I wouldn't trust the corporate/chamber of commerce type for all the money in the world NOR the IMF/WTO type either, if it has development in it I stay clear--]

but this is a independent watch that does really check on ministries, that do relief, and they have a good rating scale, and I will say, other than a few, there are little to no Christian relief organizations that even GET a good enough rating to even Get on their score card, and THAT is really sad.

Compassion International, was one of the FEW, that got an A rating...so many of the others, that claim to be helping, if they can't get a B, they don't even get on the list.  So I kind of go by that,

and I also look personally, for me, the type of work they do for Women, like if they only focus on children, that tends to turn me off because if the status of women is low, then what good does it do to put a bandaid on the problem with children?  It's really an oxymoron, this is why I chose to go with Oxfam in the future and Women Thrive, because they Do work to empower women economically which then will turn and help also the children and whole communities, rather than just perpetuate the patriarchal/capitalist/hierarchy that KEEPS women in low oppressed status and KEEPS the poverty machine strong.

But Waneta I learned a lot about how the whole infrastructure works, especially internationally, in politics [study] and it is so corrupt that I think that is one reason I did get very cynical there for a long while---but the liberalism groups are not that much better, if it's not for a religious/mixed with patriarchal nationalism/greed agenda it is for a leftist/anti-christ agenda, so it really is like weeding through the pharisees and the herods.

But then, it came down to really, you can't rid the world of all the corruption so like those who need the help, I don't think they really care if there is agenda, they are so desperate they'll take any help they can get, so I am learning to keep That in mind and that to let God deal with the rest.  So it's a balance, you know,

and just having that peace.  Anyway my point is, I don't just look for Christian, anymore that just doesn't do it for me where trust is concerned, I look for Fruit, and even if, like it's a secular that isn't spreading the gospel, IF they are working on human rights, status of women, water/ag development via grass roots/community and NOT big development, then I support it, because it takes those needs, to open the doors for the Gospel,

when it's the Gospel with a little to minimum of the social and physical needs of the Whole community and not just the men or elites who can then kiss the asses of big development [why I got turned off on a lot of mega Christian ministries, that I concur with the left, many are just flat out imperialist crooks], I tend to stay clear of those in a big way.  I just don't buy into their whole rhetoric, even if they got Jesus plastered all over their web sites, etc.

So that's what I do, and I do this not just with relief/Christian organizations but also if I was giving to any of the other kind of relief I would like for those things too, like in psychology, that's another field that I am a bit wary of, because IT can be tied into gov controls via social psychology/indoctrinating the masses.  And it's even More sinister than the whole relief work/poverty industry scams.  So one really has to pray for discernment I think,

without falling into cynicism.  You know wise as a serpent, harmless as a dove...etc.  But we'll never find perfect sinless, you know, that's utopia and we err and are flawed, so I do or have learned, actually, to allow flexibility, not to set Unrealistic standards, this is something Jesus taught me to.

You see this is what the toxic of religion and politics, did to me, made me so cynical that I talked myself out of loving and giving for years, the enemy uses that to feed our selfishness [or we can look for those things to Hide our true selfishness, I think I tended to do both], but anyway, God dealt with me on all these areas, and still is, at the same time,

the wisdom I did learn, well, maybe God can use it to aid someone in being more careful, without getting into all the negativity that I was in bondage to for so many years, or deal with someone that is at that place now, or Keep someone from getting into that place, that whole if your eye is dark then darkness indeed, etc., but on the other hand, there tends to be that other lie of 'optimism' that really is just a clever denial of seeing reality and creating an environment where evil flourishes, so yea, it really needs discernment that's for sure.

That watch btw is:

http://www.charitywatch.org/toprated.html

I also recommend looking at the ideology, though I tend to not toss aside those who may not have the religious beliefs, not when they are building up/edifying, but like if it's obvious that they have an one world agenda/cultural relativist [and with Women's orgs you Really have to watch out for this one because a lot of the social engineers, like the religious chauvinists, are using women's issues just to push their agenda then of course once they succeed they do far worse than the west-agendas, so like if they are, for example tied into population control, I avoid them.  Same with those that are all about anti-planned parenthood, I avoid them because they also support cultural relativism where blatant human right abuses of women are concerned, so what I do is look for Women Centered NGOs/Relief, or that focus only on economic and community grass roots women development such as water, sanitation, agriculture, education, micro finance, human rights, etc.  If they [Christian or not] do not mention those,

I don't give them a second look.  Especially if they are working in Africa or Asia or South America.  It kind of depends too on what the focus of the organization is, so I weigh a lot of those things.

And I look [sorry this is so long] for key words, like recently I was looking over Water projects, ok so like there are a lot of good ones, but I am a bit hesitant on some, one we've have put So much money into development/water for these countries yet the status of women is so low that the problem is worse, so I ask, why is this?  Another one, that I thought, wow they are good, what turned me off when I looked deeper into their philosophy is where they said that it was the community that they were expecting repayment, Immediately I tossed them aside because like in Bangladesh those women/poor don't even have the funds to buy food,

so it's kind of that whole 'deserving poor' b.s. that I just can't stand, so like little things like that, I can sort of tell, what the real 'agenda' is behind or if they have that attitude which actually tends to be very Racist, the projects won't work, just like funneling money and not addressing the Root causes won't work either.

And so I did find one and the thing is, they are right in the city I am in, which I thought That was cool, and they have a blog where they update/discuss and I really liked them because they recently were talking about how India has all these cell phones yet still no sanitation/water,

so like you know Women are the ones that work with water mostly, and the ones with children who Die more due to disease, etc., so like you can see how keeping or laying in bed with the misogynists actually doesn't do any good, to aid in resource/human needs overall because if Those issues aren't addressed,

then the priorities, aren't addressed either.  So like you have a poor nation with cell phones yet their women have no maternal care, no water, no sanitation, no medical, I mean that's just ridiculous.  And billions of dollars have been poured in for water,

so like that kind of shows you that there is a lot of b.s. floating around.  This organization addressed that, and so I liked them a lot.

They addressed other reasons for failures to so like that was good, That tells me, the reason I share this,

is that this is how you can tell that the organization is Actually on the ground doing more than just EXPLOITING MISERY for profit or agenda, because they've taken the Time to get to know the root causes as well as the failures, and so like you can tell, these folks Really care about what they are doing AND about the people,

they Love them.

So, that to me, says it all.

If all they do is say oh such and such church being built, forget it.

So, maybe this helps.

Love, Janed