Empowering Charity

Empowering Charity is a penetrating confluence of scholarly research, evidentiary data, and spirituality. In Booker-Drew’s dismantling of myths, stereotypes, and systemic constructs she gifts the philanthropic world with a tool which can be used to inform our giving beyond the impactful to transformational. With a foundation of life’s experiences, fueled by data and anchored by scripture Dr. Booker Drew’s volume guides readers to marry its content with self-reflection to acknowledge the impacts of socially engineered inequities. This book is not for those who are content with being hostages to hand out verses to help up-giving. It is, however, instructive for those who desire to move beyond superficial philanthropy to become systemic disruptors.

~Terry Flowers, Perot Family Headmaster and Executive Director, St. Philip’s School and Community Center

In this book, Booker-Drew invites us to explore our own biases as she relays insight through personal experience and reflection on matters relating to (mis)perception and resulting action. Walking us through the many myths that attach themselves to societal issues we seek to address, she peels back the layers of complexity, falsehood, and truth to encourage us to look deeper and consider. As we have opportunity for our own charitable endeavors, the book invites us to unite with those we may be desiring to come alongside and serve, seeking fuller understanding and acting as 'co-conspirators' to do something different to impact communities in new ways. A charge to seek empathy and deeper relationships is key to accomplishing better.

~Terese Stevenson, Vice President of Grants, The Rees-Jones Foundation

Through my forty-five years working among the under-resourced and marginalized, I’ve heard scores of negative comments and distortions from outsiders who spew misinformed views why they think people are poor. Empowering Charity not only confronts those pejorative stereotypes, but calls disconnected Christians to build relationships, a broader biblical theology, and engagement in the neglected neighborhoods where injustices thrive. Booker-Drew has provided an outstanding practical tool to guide the conversations that need to happen in Christian circles.

~Jimmy M. Dorrell, Founder of Mission Waco Mission World, Pastor of Church Under the Bridge in Waco, TX

Empowering Charity is a dynamic and robust conversation. Booker-Drew provides hard-hitting food-for-thought, obliterates familiar myths about giving and race relations, challenges the reader to make a compelling Narrative Change, and then provides potential action plans and brings the conversation home with profound scripture to consider. Her fast-paced rhythm makes it hard to put this book down, makes you uncomfortable in a good way, and makes reading it a life-transforming experience.

~Albert L. Reyes, President & CEO, Buckner International

A tour de force of belonging. Finally, a book that not only exposes the myths and faulty reasoning that blur the way we have been taught to view one another, but actually offers us a clarity of vision for how to live more faithfully in the future. It turns out that future begins when we see one another not as a problem to be solved, but as someone to love. This message, challenge, and vision could come from no one better than Froswa Booker Drew. Drew lives these truths and embodies them in her daily work. She is a trustworthy guide for those willing to risk the journey.

~Matthew Ruffner, Senior Pastor, Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church in Dallas, TX

For professors teaching philanthropy-related subjects, foundation managers, grant-makers, nonprofit leaders, or individual philanthropists, Booker-Drew’s work is an indispensable handbook on meaningfully serving marginalized communities. The arguments and suggestions made in Empowering Charity: A New Narrative of Philanthropy are easily applicable to all marginalized communities, be they Muslim, Latin American, Asian, Native American, or other wise.

~Salma Taman, Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, Journal of Muslim Philanthropy & Civil Society