Community Model
C3 has developed a general operational template that efficiently and effectively works. The operational details of C3 funded orphanages vary from location to location, but the general template is as follows:
Through much prayer and due diligence, C3 finds and partners with churches in a “cluster,” or community, model to care for children in the C3 fold. C3 partners with other organizations, commonly churches in the U.S., that fund the construction of and develop a local church in the target destination, build a school in connection with the local church, and fund a micro-business on the property. C3 then plants a children’s home (or a number of homes) within this “cluster.” Each component in this “cluster” is operated by indigenous people, which promotes credibility in the local community. Caretakers from the local church - often widows - care for the children. This is an amazing, scripturally sound component of the local church that helps the local community thrive.
C3 builds culturally relevant orphanages, not extravagant buildings with amenities that cost a fortune. Building and funding culturally relevant orphanages is vitally important to C3’s mission. First, this approach allows C3 to build and fund more orphanages, i.e., to care for more children. Second, C3 does not set-up the children for disappointment when they’re adults integrating into adulthood in an economically oppressive environment. Third, C3 does not set-up the children for resentment from their peers in the local community.
On average, C3 spends roughly $30,000 to build an orphanage. The cost varies depending on where in the world C3 builds, but $30,000 is a good average cost estimate.
C3 spends roughly $40/month/child to care for and educate a child. Again, the monthly amount varies in different places in the world, but $40 is a sound average cost. $40/month from C3 funds a child’s physical and spiritual care and development, and pays for the child’s education. C3 constantly holds its ministry partners to account on C3’s standards, including orphan care and financial standards, without unduly interfering with the development of true community.
As stated above, C3 does not spend extra dollars each month to “Americanize” orphaned children in third world countries. C3 does, however, allocate extra funding each month for education. Here’s why. In most third world countries, the illiteracy rate is quite high. Unemployment and poverty is so rampant that it’s impossible to accurately track the statistical significance of these problems, especially for the illiterate population. The children in a C3 funded orphanage will receive schooling as part of their everyday lives. They will be educated well beyond merely “literate.” Many will also receive training in high-demand trades in the local community. With God’s blessing, C3 funded orphanages will yield Christian leaders educated in the upper tier of their nations. This brings great hope in very dark places in the world.
C3’s system reflects God’s awesome transformational power. $40/month/child = a transformed life = a transformed community, with the Gospel at its heart. And, just as importantly, we’ve witnessed God use C3 to transform the hearts of givers in truly amazing ways!
