Frequently Asked Questions

Charity Reimagined is a 501(c)3 tax exempt, non-profit created in 2018 to educate, inform, and influence faith and non-faith charitable organizations in Kootenai County to focus on development resources that will build capacity, not dependency, in the people they are serving. These 3 pillars guide what we do:

Pillar 1: Connections

• Christmas for All (Year) Initiative
• Charity Tracker Initiative
• Bridging the gap between faith and non-faith efforts for helping

Pillar 2: Metrics

• To better understand needs and available resources
•  2022 launch of Charity Tracker

Pillar 3: Training

• Hosting seminars with national poverty experts
• Providing access to training resources through True Charity Network, Lupton Center and others
• Local presentations on complexities of poverty

1.  We cannot serve the poor out of poverty.  Historical data going back to the 1960s proves that despite spending trillions to eradicate poverty, today 83% born into generational poverty never leave it.

2. ​Well intentioned, but hurtful charity results from having a heart for the poor without a mind for the poor.  Myriad gifts and talents are lost to poverty because of built-in disincentives to leave the system. Too many living in poverty have accepted the lies that they are destined to live a meager existence.

​Honestly asking the question: “Would I feel good about myself if I was on the receiving end of the charity help I’m providing?” is a critical first step for evaluating our methods for helping people in need.  If our charity erodes dignity and self-worth, if it is merely helping people to cope, if it does not include the people being helped, we wind up “serving” a lot of people but seeing very little change in their long-term situations.

​The question is not if resources are needed, but rather, how resources are deployed.  If children are coming to school hungry or cold because they don’t have a winter coat, we need to understand what is happening at home and provide the right resources to help the family successfully care for itself. 

​We may not be able to change government handouts, but we can change private charitable help to provide the right tools and motivation that people need to improve their lives.  At a local level we can shift our resources from sustaining chronic dependency to building individual capacity so that people living in poverty have hope and the support needed to get out and stay out of poverty.  

Developed in response to Hurricane Katrina, this is a community-wide communication and collaboration web-based software that collects data and measures outcomes for services that are provided to help people in need.  It is being used in several hundred communities throughout the US with over 25,000 users. See more on Tracker here.