I have been blessed to travel around the world on short term mission trips with various organizations. One specific trip to Malawi in 2015 truly changed my heart, perspective, and future plans. On this trip, I worked with a company that sells products made by women in a specific village partnership. My eyes were opened to how for-profit companies can be leveraged to create lasting impact. I dove head first into learning all I could about corporate social responsibility.

During this process, I reached out to people I respected and asked how I could learn more. Consistently a book called, When Helping Hurts was recommended. It became an incredibly valuable resource for me and has to continued to be to this day.

When Helping Hurts looks at the best approach for alleviating poverty. Unfortunately, so often the tactics used for helping the poor end up adding to the negative cycle that hurts the recipient and the giver. Written by Steve Corbet and Brian Fikkert, the book presents many examples of how even with the best intentions, it is easy to get a vastly different outcome than what the donor intended. Corbet and Fikkert provide a new way of looking at impoverished situations and offer a fresh perspective for how to go about delivering developmental aid.

This book has been crucial in how I examine our potential charitable partners here at Artistry. I highly recommend it. Feel free to pick up your copy here.