ABOUT US
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The Agape Always Foundation obtained its 501c3 status at the end of February 2020. Although we are just getting started, the ministry we support is several decades old! The Agape Clinic has experienced steady growth and expansion throughout its long history and now performs approximately 18,000 visits per year on a budget of approximately 1 million dollars.
In kind donations of medications, laboratory services and volunteer time enable the clinic to magnify its impact on the Dallas community to roughly 10 million dollars per year. The Foundation is the arm of the Clinic's fundraising that aims to sustain the clinic so it can achieve some of its long-term financial goals through the creation of an endowment. It's great to give money regularly to wonderful charities, and the clinic receives nearly a third of its support directly from our patients themselves, in small cash donations. 
We count on donations large and small as well as foundation grants and fundraising events, to meet our annual budget at the clinic. However, we also know that some people would prefer to make a donation once and know that it will bring a lasting benefit to a ministry for decades. This is the concept of an endowment.
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Covid-19 has presented challenges...
We are in the midst of a large, sudden downturn in our economy right now, and the Agape Always Foundation is designed to help ensure that the Agape Clinic will always be able to help those in need. For example, those cash donations? We weren't able to allow patients to come into the building for a couple of months this year due to the pandemic, so we "saw" patients by telephone. Even if our patients were still able to donate, it might have required online giving after their telemedicine visits for them to make their donations. Many were unable to give in this way, and many were no longer able to donate at all. Unfortunately, we do not yet have an endowment, and we don't have a lot of reserves to fall back on in order to keep our doors open. Our wonderful paid staff are working hard to get extra grants and keep us going, but in the future, we hope to create a cushion to use in this kind of a situation. God provides bountifully and we are grateful every day for the gifts we receive that enable us to carry on our long tradition of service to medically indigent patients.
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Partners make a difference...
There are many places in Dallas that would like to have a clinic like Agape. Our dream is to use our endowment to help start and sustain those, as we are able. We have wonderful partners in Habitat for Humanity and Park Cities Rotary Club for future projects. While the initial support of these partners, and potentially others like them will greatly help in launching clinics, the need for a foundation to support the Clinic's expansions and long term success will assure it sustains and grows in its future.
Our usual patients in East Dallas have been working but medically indigent. They can and do donate a significant share of our budget. However, in some instances where we may desire to help people these individuals may be older, sicker or less able to donate. These circumstances fuel our vision to start clinics in these areas of need. |
A vision for the future...
Finally, we never know what the future holds. Fortunately, Dr Baxter has been and remains in wonderful health and is still able and willing to lead the clinic as a volunteer Medical Director, as she has since she was in her twenties. Inevitably, a change in leadership will have to occur. For many reasons, the new Director may become a paid position. It would be wonderful if a volunteer is found who vows to support the ministry for several more decades, however, should we need to create a paid position, with advance planning we would be prepared to do this.
The threefold purpose of creating an endowment for this ministry is to help the clinic in downturns, to help the expansion clinics start up and/or be supported, and to prepare for the possibility that a paid medical director may be needed in the distant future. |