Going Behind the Seal | Michael Martin

Show Notes

Nonprofits and churches were experiencing a “crisis of confidence” in the late 1970s. Scandal after scandal highlighted the great need for standards and accountability, and from it, the ECFA seal was born to help regain and enhance trust.

In episode one, Michael Martin unpacks a little of the seal's history and gives a taste of the conversations coming over the next few weeks. 

Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts: https://www.ecfa.org/podcast
Watch the video version: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheECFA

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Table of Contents:
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02:41 – Michael’s inspiration for the podcast and what to expect!
06:33 – History of ECFA and the origin of the Seal. Inspiring credibility and confidence. 
14:03 – Integrity does not mean perfection!
17:32 – What’s behind the seal? Trust.

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ECFA Links:
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• ChurchEXCEL (Free Resources): https://www.ecfa.church/ChurchExcel.aspx
• Become accredited: https://www.ecfa.org/JoinECFA.aspx
• Seven Standards of Responsible Stewardship: https://www.ecfa.org/Standards.aspx
• About ECFA: https://www.ecfa.org/About.aspx

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Connect With Us:
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• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/accountability
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/evangelical-council-for-financial-accountability/
• Podcast: https://www.ecfa.org/podcast

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Disclosure: This video is provided as general educational information and with the understanding that ECFA is not rendering legal, accounting, or other professional advice or service. Professional advice on specific issues should be sought from an accountant, lawyer, or other professional. Opinions presented are those of the speakers and not necessarily the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.

Video Topics: church, Christian, Christ, God, bible, scripture, church plant, missions, ministry, mission, congregation, worship, money, giving, tithing, tithe, give, finances, financial accountability, governance, stewardship, budgeting, budget, podcast, nonprofits, nonprofit, audit, transparency, trust

Creators and Guests

Host

Michael Martin

President & CEO of ECFA

What is Behind the Seal?

ECFA's blue seal has been a symbol of trust and accountability for over four decades, but what does that mean? Is it the seal alone that inspires confidence, or is it the nonprofits and churches behind the seal?

Tune in to conversations between ECFA's President and CEO, Michael Martin, and prominent leaders. Together, we'll share stories from behind the scenes of various Christ-centered ministries and churches, highlighting how trust serves as the foundation of it all.

00:00:04:13 - 00:00:35:00
Michael Martin
Welcome to ECFA's new Behind the SEAL podcast. I'm so honored and grateful that you would take this time to spend with me and with ECFA. Now, this episode is a little different than ones that you'll see later this season because it's our first episode, which we're so excited about. I want to take this opportunity for you just to get to know us to share with you the heart behind this podcast and what we mean by behind the seal.

00:00:35:28 - 00:01:00:25
My name is Michael Martin and I have the privilege of serving as a president of the ECFA. And during this podcast, just what to look forward to on today's episode. Just take the opportunity to share some reflections with you on integrity and Christian ministry, what integrity is and isn't, and really how it enhances trust, which is what we're all about here at ECFA.

00:01:01:12 - 00:01:27:13
Now, after today's episode, over the next several weeks and season one of the podcast, you'll have the opportunity to go on a journey with me as a President of ECFA through conversations with our ECFA team, plus special friends and partners who share the same heartbeat of our Ministry of Enhancing Trust I know that many of you listening in today.

00:01:27:13 - 00:02:06:23
You're already in the community of friends and partners who know ECFA well, but for those who don't ECFA, we'll start there. It's the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. We help enhance trust in the integrity and accountability of churches and ministries so that they can more effectively reach the world for Christ. For over 40 years now, that's been done here at ECFA through resources that we publish, and you probably have heard of our accreditation program for churches and ministries that want to model high standards of integrity and accountability.

00:02:07:24 - 00:02:53:09
Today, it may sound cliché, but honestly, just this work is more important than ever. It's more important in the world that we live in as Christian ministries that we demonstrate those high standards of integrity and accountability before a watching world. So today we'll go deeper into ECFA story, which is a great segue to why we're launching this podcast series So really the inspiration for this podcast comes from my service here with the ECFA team for over a decade now, including the last two years as president.

00:02:54:07 - 00:03:19:24
And someday I hope to share with you more of my story. But for now, I'll just say that I'm so honored and grateful to be in this role and maybe just a little sneak peek into my my background in my heart since I became a Christian at an early age. Maybe like you, my heart has always been broken over the stories that we see of failures and scandals in the church that give the gospel a black eye.

00:03:20:28 - 00:03:47:19
Now, I realize sin is to blame. We're never going to cure the sin issue on this side of eternity. But surely there's something that can be done to help protect the reputation of Christ, right? Well, that's why I was so thankful to hear about ECFA and the ministries that have become accredited by ECFA to take a stand for integrity and accountability in my journey.

00:03:47:19 - 00:04:12:23
Once I really knew about ECFA I just felt this sense of hope and an immediate connection with the mission and have been really compelled by it ever since. And I think as you have the opportunity to go on this journey with me through the podcast, you'll sense the same. Just this sense of hope that there's something out there where organizations come together and take this stand for integrity.

00:04:13:21 - 00:04:37:09
But a little bit back to my story. Fast forward now to these last couple of years as president when I took on the leadership role. If you're counting the years and when we're releasing this podcast or looking back these last couple of years in a pandemic season, and so many just different challenges in the world around us, it has been an extremely difficult time in our world.

00:04:38:01 - 00:05:05:16
But as I've connected with leaders of ECFA members and hear their stories, I'm constantly reminded of the amazing work that God is still doing in the world and really in such a unique way through this community of churches and ministries that, first of all, share a common identity and Christ But then also just this commitment to honor him through high stewardship standards.

00:05:06:16 - 00:05:29:28
And in many of these private conversations that I've had with leaders, too many Zoom calls to count. I'm sure you can relate. I just kept telling myself that these stories, this good news We've got to find a way to tell it. It must be told if people could only see what goes on behind the scenes of ECFA and our members.

00:05:30:14 - 00:05:59:26
So I'm happy to say that thanks to the awesome team here at ECFA, especially in our media team, we are bringing those stories to you now. Through this Behind the Scenes podcast, and we chose a podcast because really the conversational format where you can listen along with me as we hear these incredible stories from the team that's behind the scenes here at ECFA, but also other leaders who are friends and partners in this work.

00:06:01:12 - 00:06:27:07
A little something else too about me as an attorney and a CPA. I had to tell you this podcast hosting thing is a little bit new to me as a regular speaker at conferences and on other webinars. I'm usually on the other side of the mic being interviewed or making presentations. So I hope that you'll bear with me as I learn the ropes of sitting here in the podcast.

00:06:27:07 - 00:07:10:06
Host Seat probably a good place for us to start. Is the ECFA seal itself and let me paint a picture for you. It was the late 1970s and one of the biggest problems in the United States at the time is what President Jimmy Carter described in a televised speech to the nation as a crisis of confidence. This was true not just in the broader American culture, but even among nonprofit and religious organizations.

00:07:10:29 - 00:07:53:22
People were suddenly beginning to question these institutions that had been in hesitantly trusted for so many years, and in some cases they were losing this trust for good reasons. In a January 6th 1980 essay entitled Where Do Charity Billions Go? Charity researcher Carl Back chronicled several scandals in the nonprofit world and the public's growing concerns over donating to charities. First there was the asthmatic children's foundation that had raised $10 million over a ten year period for its stated purpose of helping asthmatic children.

00:07:54:13 - 00:08:26:24
However, a close examination of the foundation's records show that only about $0.14 of every dollar collected actually went for this purpose. But they were not alone. Similar stories were told of the United Police Fund in Washington, D.C., and the Foundation for Research and Education Action and sickle cell disease. And among religious organizations, there were the Palatine Fathers, a Roman Catholic order operating out of a Baltimore warehouse.

00:08:27:09 - 00:08:59:12
It was a highly sophisticated, tightly secured, multimillion dollar mail-ordering fundraising operation that spent less than, get this, 3% of the estimated $20 million it raised for helping, quote, the starving sick or naked overseas. Instead, the Palatine fathers were investing in questionable real estate and other business deals or they were diverting funds to the fundraising director into secret bank accounts.

00:08:59:12 - 00:09:45:11
And money was being squandered on fellow politician's friends and their family. Trust was crumbling But a few years earlier, as the crisis of confidence was still unfolding, a U.S. senator made a call not to his staff, not to another legislator, but to another follower of Christ. This senator saw this outrageous behavior would catch the attention of lawmakers on nearby Capitol Hill.

00:09:46:07 - 00:10:21:17
And he was right, as politicians do. One introduced a bill in Congress that would more strictly regulate financial disclosure among nonprofits in their fundraising activities, with no exceptions for religious organizations. Senator Mark Hatfield recognized the very slippery slope of more government regulation of religious organizations, which, as we know, is not the ideal solution. When we're talking about religious giving, which is essentially an act of worship.

00:10:22:22 - 00:10:53:19
So in the fall of 1977 Senator Hatfield called in friends from World Vision and from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. And he urged them and other ministry leaders to find a way to self-regulate or face the potential, the real threat of government intervention. These two ministries invited 30 more to join them for their first gathering on a blustery December day in Chicago.

00:10:54:27 - 00:11:39:07
They met, prayed and even debated. And over the next year, a committee worked earnestly on developing an appropriate response which was then shared with a thousand other concerned ministries. What emerged was a set of truly revolutionary financial accountability standards for Christ centered ministries and a seal a seal that would be awarded by ECFA to Christian ministries that could be used in communicating to their donors and a watching world that they had earned accreditation based on meeting all of ECFA Phase seven Standards for Responsible Stewardship.

00:11:40:22 - 00:12:19:19
A March 2nd 1979 press release from the newly formed ECFA face stated While membership in the ECFA is strictly voluntary, we believe that publicity by members in the media will help educate the public to question the absence of the seal in any solicitation for funds. And if the public questions the absence of the seal, be it a religious or secular charity, ECFA face influence will extend far beyond evangelical charities Now, keep in mind, the standards were truly revolutionary.

00:12:20:10 - 00:12:47:26
They were revolutionary in requiring audited financial statements to be made available to the public upon request. Well, that might seem like old hat now, but back in those days, virtually no nonprofits had CPA audited financial statements. The standards were also truly revolutionary in requiring an active, responsible governing body, a majority of whom had to be independent board members.

00:12:48:09 - 00:13:13:07
When many Christian ministries at the time had this mindset. You'd go back and look and you read the things that they wrote. They would say that they felt like they were only accountable to God. While these pioneers were successful in forming ECFA and preventing passage of the threatened charity Financial Disclosure Bill. Keep in mind, ECFA was by no means an overnight success.

00:13:14:06 - 00:13:45:22
Over a thousand Christian ministries had approved the initial ECFA standards, and our first executive director, Olan Hendricks, had these high hopes for up to 1500 ministries to come on board in those early days. But that dream would not become reality for many, many years, especially due to the stringent nature of the ECFA standards that required this massive shift in how nonprofit organizations thought and how they operated.

00:13:46:26 - 00:14:24:04
A much more modest 150 charter members would go on to earn accreditation and the right to display ECFA seal in those first two years. And over time, and despite a lot of bumps and bruises along the way, ECFA face steadily grew from 150 charter members to over 2600 accredited members today. But not perfectly. Mind you. And that's really a good place for us to camp for a moment with just a reflection in for today's podcast.

00:14:24:18 - 00:14:54:22
You know, I've been thinking a lot about this and reflecting on the history of ECFA and those pioneers and just what the journey has been like over these last 40 plus years. And what really comes to mind for me is this thought that integrity does not mean perfection. But it does mean first of all finding our identity in Christ, but then caring enough to do the hard work towards high standards that honor God.

00:14:55:17 - 00:15:23:08
You know, ECFA has never been perfect. What the founders of ECFA may have considered that perfect plan of having hundreds or even over a thousand members in those early days, it didn't come to pass like they thought And over the years, ECFA has made mistakes just like every other ministry. The reality is there's no perfect person and there's no perfect ministry.

00:15:24:04 - 00:15:49:24
The only one who has ever walked on this earth who has been perfect is Jesus Christ himself. So I think you and I and our ministries, we can find freedom and knowing that integrity doesn't mean perfection. Speaking of standard perfection would be an impossible one to reach. And while integrity isn't perfection, it also doesn't mean we're off the hook.

00:15:50:14 - 00:16:15:26
It does mean coming back and finding our identity in Christ and caring enough to do the hard work toward high standards that honor God. That's the hard work that our members are committed to each day. It's this desire for integrity that inspires so many ministries each year to first of all, pursue the ECFA accreditation to apply and get that initial recognition.

00:16:16:14 - 00:17:03:18
But also for our over 2600 current ECFA accredited organizations to renew each year their accreditation with ECFA. It's also integrity that motivates the team here at ECFA to work hard each day to provide meaningful accountability to our members to ensure that the ECFA seal of integrity has real value And as I'm sure we'll talk about in future episodes, if there's a gap that's identified somewhere in compliance by a member with the ECFA standards, we're guided by a biblical redemptive approach with its own systems of accountability that are in place here to restore a member's compliance with those standards.

00:17:04:23 - 00:17:33:11
Second Corinthians eight, 21. It's such a guiding verse here at ECFA, it states We are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of God, but also in the eyes of man. So integrity is not perfection, but it does require taking pains, doing the hard work for the glory of God.

00:17:51:24 - 00:18:22:08
Finally, in addition to leaving you at that reflection today on integrity I also want to introduce you to an ongoing theme that you'll hear throughout this podcast. What's behind the seal is trust the kind of trust that is built and maintained through high standards of integrity and accountability. Hopefully, as you can see from today's podcast, from the history of ECFA, we recognize the power of trust.

00:18:22:22 - 00:18:50:07
When trust was broken in the crisis of confidence, of the late 1970s, the ministries who formed ECFA did everything they could to set high standards to be held accountable to them. And to repair trust in the nonprofit community trust. It's the why behind what we do. But there's yet an even greater why trust itself is not the end goal.

00:18:50:20 - 00:19:28:17
It's a tool. We do all that we can to enhance trust, ultimately to help churches and ministries more effectively reach the world for Christ. As Evangelical in our name implies. It's all about reaching the world with the eternal life changing good news of Jesus Christ. So as we go behind the seal together, you'll continue to hear us talk more about the power and the practical implications of trust when, as we wrap up this first episode, giving you a taste of what's coming behind the seal.

00:19:29:05 - 00:20:00:00
I look forward to making this journey with you because it's really, you As donors and leaders of churches and ministries, who are the real heroes of the Exodus story from the beginning? As you've seen, ECFA has been a movement of individuals and ministries that's so much bigger than this organization itself. So we want this podcast to serve you as you seek to be good stewards of your resources.

00:20:00:21 - 00:20:25:25
And as together we enhance trust with you for the glory of God. We pray that you are challenged and inspired by what you hear as we go behind the seal. And again, on a personal note, I would love to hear from you with your thoughts and your ideas for future podcast episodes at [e-mail]. Also subscribe and leave a comment.

00:20:26:01 - 00:20:42:03
Wherever you get this podcast and be sure to share this podcast with a friend. Well, we'd appreciate that so much. And we appreciate you again taking this time to join us today. Thanks again for tuning in. And we look forward to going behind the seal with you.

00:20:46:01 - 00:21:00:13
Walter Kim
There's trust problems within the community as evangelicalism has come sorted out into different streams and tribes within the evangelical movement that have come to question one another.

00:21:00:13 - 00:21:12:24
Jake Lapp
So this isn't a one time thing. It's not just go through an application and then you're in for life. This is this is a big commitment. It's a commitment not only of their time, but it's also a commitment of their resources.

00:21:13:15 - 00:21:31:23
Edgar Sandoval
Go back to your mission statement. Go back to the DNA of the organization. Why were you established to begin with? I like to say that the fruits are in the roots. Right. And our fruits are for World Vision. They're in the church. We were founded by a youth pastor.

00:21:31:23 - 00:21:54:08
David Wills
Physical poverty issues are very close to his heart, and we are seeing advances in every area. I mean, some some breathtaking advances This attracts this attracts capital as well. Strong leadership, clear vision and extraordinary momentum. Those three things attract capital no matter what a business of ministry or church.

00:21:54:08 - 00:22:14:20
Tami Heim
I mean, I really challenge you to find a story in scripture where there wasn't this refining difficult moment that said, I have to do this in partnership with God, and then I have to trust that he's going to do it. And then when he shows up, he will do the things that I cannot do

00:22:14:20 - 00:22:31:12
Michael Martin
So subscribe today wherever you get your podcasts, subscribe and watch each episode on YouTube. Also, all those subscription links and episodes will be on ECFA.org/Podcast. That's ECFA.org/Podcast.