Fighting poverty is tough and there should always be healthy discourse about how to do it best. However, we at True Charity believe that some principles are foundational, and we want all of our members to agree on them.

Statement of Foundational Principles

• All people are created equally, in the image of God, and we ought to treat them with dignity and respect. We have a moral obligation to help those in need as best as we can, as per the Biblical mandate to love our neighbors as ourselves.
• The causes and nature of poverty are complex and there are no easy answers.
• Relief (short-term aid in response to crisis), rehabilitation (restoration to a previous pre-crisis position), and development (advancement to new levels of flourishing) are all different needs that usually require different responses.
• The best form of charity is one which is:
  • Voluntarily Funded: People giving their own time and money out of a heart of compassion.
  • Challenge Oriented: Leverages relationship and accountability to challenge recipients to help themselves.
  • Outcome Driven: Achieves long-term, measurable results.
• Organizations should embrace opportunities to work with others to further the goal of resolving all forms of poverty. This includes both networking within their own communities and sharing encouragement and insight with organizations outside of their communities. 

True Charity Statement of Faith

Note: This is a statement of our beliefs, however, members are required to respect it, though not necessarily to agree with it in all respects, as explained in the member’s policy.

• We believe the Bible to be the inspired, infallible, ultimate authoritative Word of God.
• We believe there is one God, eternally existing as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
• We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is Deity, that He was born of a virgin, was sinless during His life on earth, that we are redeemed by His atoning death through His shed blood, that He bodily resurrected and ascended into heaven, and that He will come again in power and great glory.
• We believe that individuals are saved through the exercise of a singular, exclusive faith in the risen Lord, at which time they are regenerated by the Holy Spirit who sanctifies and sets them apart from evil in the world.
• We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit, by whom Christ indwells each believer, enabling him or her to live a godly life of obedience as he or she reaches for maturity.
• We believe the Holy Spirit unites all true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ and that together they form one body, the church.
• We embrace the historic orthodox Christian understanding of Scripture and its teachings with regard to human sexuality, marriage, and the family. Accordingly, we affirm sexuality is a gift from God and basic to human identity and that sexual intimacy is to take place within the context of a marriage covenant between a man and a woman in which they vow and commit, with God’s help, to build a faithful relationship that will last for a lifetime (Genesis 2:18, 21-24; Hebrews 13:4; Matthew 19:4-9).

Member Policy

True Charity is a subsidiary of Watered Gardens Ministries and holds a Christian worldview. This worldview provides us with the backbone of our philosophy and practice and includes foundational concepts such as the dignity of work, the moral necessity of justice, the sanctity of every human life, and the value of a strong nuclear and extended family.

Because we would like our poverty resolution framework to be understood and practiced broadly, we do not require our network members to agree on issues not directly related to resolving poverty. Consequently, our network members are required to agree to a set of principles, which are essential in the field of poverty resolution (as outlined in our statement of foundational principles). Members are also required to respect True Charity’s statement of faith.

Additionally, our moral framework makes it impossible for us to knowingly support any activities, programs, or organizations which are antithetical to our Christian faith and worldview. We firmly support the freedom that others have to hold and express fundamental beliefs or religious precepts that are contrary to our own. However, as a private organization, it would not be reasonable for us to knowingly advance values and causes contrary to our own moral framework.

Consequently, we reserve the following rights, and will exercise them in as reasonable and considerate a manner as we can.

True Charity reserves the right to deny grants and prizes to organizations whose objectives are in opposition to the core values of our faith, even if they meet other requirements of the grant or prize.

True Charity reserves the right to deny network membership to either an applicant organization or an existing member organization based on a determination that the member or applicant is not adequately aligned with the values of our faith. (In the event of a dismissal of a member, membership dues would be refunded on a monthly pro-rated basis for each full month remaining in the term of membership.)

True Charity reserves the right to deny certification to organizations whose objectives are in opposition to our core faith values, even if they meet other requirements of certification.