Programs and results
What we aim to solve
World Renew embraces a family-centered approach to ending global poverty with food security, peace and justice, economic opportunity, community health, and disaster response. Through this whole-person intervention model, World Renew joins hundreds of thousands of families in more than 50 developing countries to change global hunger, poverty, and injustice.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
International & Disaster Response Services
World Renew is showing God's love to 300,000 people in poverty this year. We work with them and their communities to create positive, permanent change worldwide. To do this, World Renew: 1. Builds Leaders - World Renew works alongside 190 churches and community organizations in some of the world's poorest countries to equip them to meet the needs of their neighbors. This allows programs to continue long after World Renew funding and partnership ends. 2. Strengthens Churches - by working through churches, World Renew strengthens the witness of God's love to people in need. While programs are offered to people regardless of their religious background, the outreach of churches has improved their image in communities, strengthened their ministries, and resulted in more believers. 3. Pursues justice - CRWRC helps local leaders identify key issues in their communities that are keeping people poor. This can include civil unrest, lack of land ownership, gender inequality, child labor, or international debt. We then help them to organize and advocate for change. 4. Improves lives - World Renew helps local churches and community organizations design programs that will help people help themselves. This includes programs in literacy, health, agriculture, income generation, and environmental stewardship 1000 people took steps to improve their lives last year. 5. Promotes Action - World Renew helps North Americans develop their understanding of global and domestic poverty so that they can get involved in a solution. This includes education, and opportunities to experience World Renew 's ministry through volunteering. 6. Responds to Disasters - World Renew also responds to the needs of those affected by disasters. This includes providing emergency food, shelter, and supplies to those most in need. For North American disasters, it also includes sending volunteers to disaster sites to clear debris, assess needs, repair homes, and help communities rebuild their lives for the long-term.
Village Savings and Loans Program
Village Savings and Loan programs work by focusing on the resources, initiative, accountability and social support that are present in vulnerable communities. Instead of waiting for money from the outside to begin their work, groups of 15-30 members make weekly savings deposits into a group fund. They manage the fund themselves, make decisions about who can receive loans and what the terms are, and hold each other accountable for the repayment of their loans. Group members need each other to be successful and repay the loans so money is then available for themselves and other members in new rounds of lending. This kind of accountability leads to very high repayment rates.
World Renew plays the role of a catalyst, encouraging groups to form, helping them to develop group rules, and providing training in group process, money management, and leadership. Often group meetings are the place where members learn about other ways to improve their families and communities. In some countries, World Renew provides seed funding to the savings groups after a designated savings goal has been reached, and in other contexts loans from the partner are available, either at the beginning in order to build up the fund, or later in the program when some member businesses have grown to a point where a larger boost of capital is needed to expand. In every country, groups manage the funds themselves, and initial savings is a requirement.
Country/Regions served: Bangladesh, Cambodia, Haiti, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Laos, Malawi, West Africa, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia
Sustainable Agriculture
World Renew is committed to helping small farmers feed their families and earn extra income through sustainable agriculture practices that protect and nourish the land. According to Roland Bunch, a leading expert on sustainable agriculture, World Renew has “increased food security, promoted Biblical principles of brotherhood and healthy ethnic relations, improved gender relations, [and] improved economic conditions … I would definitely put its work in the top quartile of NGO agricultural work around the world.”
This has been achieved through working side-by-side with local farmers to test and adopt sustainable agriculture methods that improve soil fertility, establish drought resistant crop varieties, boost productivity, extend the growing season through small-scale irrigation, secure post-harvest storage, and improve husbandry of farm animals.
Country/Regions served: Bangladesh, Cambodia, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Laos, Malawi, West Africa, Mexico, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia
Where we work
Awards
Top 100 Canadian Charities 2021
Charity Intelligence
Sojourners Readers' Choice Award 2022
Baxter Research Center
Affiliations & memberships
Evangelical Council of Financial Accountability (ECFA) 1993
Food Resource Bank - Implementing Member 1995
InterAction 1990
UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) 2022
National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD) 2023
US Agency of International Development (USAID) 2023
Core Humanitarian Standard Alliance (CHS) 2023
ACT Alliance 2023
Accord Network 2023
Christian Connections for International Health (CCIH) 2023
Integral Alliance 2023
Global Impact 2023
Growing Hope Globally (GHG) 2023
CORE Group 2023
Humentum 2023
Alliance to End Hunger 2023
PovertyCure 2023
External reviews

Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of participants engaged in programs
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
Total participants who benefited from all World Renew development, disaster, and justice programming.
Number of volunteers
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
Total number of volunteers who supported the work of World Renew.
Hours of volunteer service
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
Total number of volunteer hours supporting the work of World Renew.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization collecting feedback from the people you serve?
SMS text surveys, Electronic surveys (by email, tablet, etc.), Paper surveys, Focus groups or interviews (by phone or in person), Case management notes, Community meetings/Town halls, Suggestion box/email,
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals,
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What significant change resulted from feedback?
We heard from BIPOC staff that we were not appropriately caring for them, we responded in several ways to care for them and will continue to disarm all racism within the organization.
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With whom is the organization sharing feedback?
The people we serve, Our staff, Our board, Our funders, Our community partners,
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We act on the feedback we receive,
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
Staff find it hard to prioritize feedback collection and review due to lack of time, It is difficult to get honest feedback from the people we serve,
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
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- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
World Renew
Board of directorsas of 02/28/2023
Rebekah Vanderzee
World Renew US
Andrew Geisterfer
World Renew Canada
Rebekah Vanderzee
World Renew US
Monika Grasley
World Renew US
Chuck Adams
World Renew US
Jeff Banaszak
World Renew US
Bonny Mulder-Behnia
World Renew US
Shanti Jost
World Renew US
Charles Udeh
World Renew US
Thomas Christian
World Renew US
Andrew Geisterfer
World Renew Canada
Darren Degroot
World Renew Canada
Margaret Van Oord
World Renew Canada
Darryl Beck
World Renew Canada
Joseph Hamilton
World Renew Canada
Echo MacLeod
World Renew Canada
Ray Anema
World Renew Canada
Jane Vander Velden
World Renew Canada
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
Equity strategies
Last updated: 07/20/2022GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.