Paying What You Can vs. Paying the Full Cost

A few months ago, a headline about a recently-closed cafe/coffee shop in Toronto called The Anarchist caught my eye; this self-described “anti-capitalist” business had a “pay what you can” model for its drip coffee, while charging high prices for other drinks as well as pastries. It also allowed the public to use its restroom and hang out in the storefront without making a purchase. Naturally, the locals called out the hypocrisy of the owner, Gabriel Sims-Fewer, for charging high prices while claiming to be anti-capitalist. More importantly, his business survived only a year; the owner blamed a “lack of generational wealth/seed capital from ethically bankrupt sources.” In other words, “Hey, my anti-capitalist business didn’t survive because you venture capitalists out there didn’t support me!” The end of his statement to the public was filled with expletives.

The Anarchist (good riddance, by the way) story brought to mind an organization called Promise Keepers. This is a Christian organization that seeks to equip men to be Christian leaders of integrity in their homes, churches, workplaces, and communities. Back in the mid-1990s, I attended two large outdoor stadium conferences with other brothers from my church. There were several speakers, each one focusing on one of seven promises; if you’re interested in what they are, click here https://promisekeepers.org/about-us/7-promises/ and scroll down a little. Interspersed with the challenges from the speakers was music from the Promise Keepers Praise Band. We literally rocked the stadium, and I came home reinvigorated to live out those promises!

I don’t know how many men were at those two outdoor events, but looking around, the stadium looked pretty full, with a capacity of ~48,000. A couple of years later, Bill McCartney, the founder and CEO of Promise Keepers (which began in 1990), announced that from that moment on, their conferences would be free. This is how the press reported it; actually, conference-goers were encouraged to pay/donate whatever they could. When asked why PK was going to stop charging for its conferences, McCartney said: “We stopped charging admission because we felt it was the heart of God that we would not charge admission.” In a different interview, he said this: “I felt during a prayer session, like the Lord told me the expense was too much for some people, and felt like we needed to make sure everyone could come.” The problem was that ~72% of PK’s revenue had been coming from its conferences, which had been charging an average of $60 a ticket (with lunch provided); attendees (including me) also bought various resource materials, particularly books.

The high point of Promise Keepers was in 1996, when 1.1 million men attended 22 stadium events; the revenue for that year was $87.4 million. However, following McCartney’s announcement of no-admission conferences in early 1998, along with the switch to volunteerism on the part of staff, the organization nearly fell apart, coming close to bankruptcy before the year was out. I was not able to find year-by-year financial or attendance records, but here are some numbers:

• 2000: conference admission fees were reinstated; total revenue for the year was $32 million, down sharply from $87.4 million in 1996
• 2004: attendance was 179,000, down very sharply from 1.1 million in 1996
• 2005: staff dropped to 100, down from 470 in 1996
• 2010-2021: revenue ranged from $1.1 million to $4.6 million

As the years went by, events were held in indoor arenas (drawing 7000-10,000 men) rather than outdoor stadiums. And naturally, online events (free of charge) began when COVID hit.

Bill McCartney was a visionary man of God, but he was not a businessman. Furthermore, it seemed as though he did not have an awareness of “scholarships.” At the church I was a part of back in the 1990s, when someone was not able to pay the full cost of a given event, whether for kids or adults, partial scholarships were often available. Admittedly, I don’t know how common these are at churches around the country, but I think they are a great idea and could even occupy a small portion of a church’s budget. I suppose even Promise Keepers could have offered a limited number of scholarships. Instead, McCartney said in 1998, on the heels of switching to free events and volunteerism: “I believe that every church that names the name of Jesus is supposed to give Promise Keepers $1,000.” Notice the phrase “is supposed to.” It seems to me that would be more likely to alienate churches than result in donations. And in fact, as mentioned earlier, Promise Keepers nearly went bankrupt a few months later. I should also mention that McCartney stepped down five years later.

One passage in the Bible that came to mind as I was reflecting on Bill McCartney was Exodus 18, where Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, advises Moses. In verse 18, Jethro says, “You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone.” Jethro goes on to tell Moses that he should select men and appoint them as judges over the people; Moses wisely follows Jethro’s advice. Here’s another good verse; Proverbs 15:22 says, “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.”

Bill McCartney did not operate alone, but it seems as though he did not have people with various skill sets (including in business) who could give him wise counsel and challenge him if need be. What of Promise Keepers today? I’m glad to say that they are alive and reasonably well. Their seven promises have not changed from the ones I posted on my bedroom wall 28 years ago, and I’m grateful to them for helping equip me at that time in my life. I noticed that there are those who have attacked them over the past few years because of, among other things, their standing firm against the encroachment of the LGBTQ activists and their agenda in society at large; my prayer is that the leadership of more churches would follow PK’s example.

On a final note: Back when McCartney made his announcement about switching to free-admission Promise Keepers conferences, I talked with several of my brothers about it. We were unanimously against it because, among other things, we were aware of the cost of putting on such events. My idea of giving was (and is) that when I give, I don’t expect anything tangible in return. Could I have attended another Promise Keepers event for free and donated to the organization? (As I mentioned earlier, that’s what Promise Keepers encouraged in 1998.) Yes, but that didn’t sit right with me, especially when I had saved enough money to pay for the conference itself. My brothers and I were united: Tell us what the cost is, and we’ll pay it if we can afford it; otherwise, we won’t go. And as I also mentioned earlier, I like the idea of churches building “scholarships” into their budget.

If you disagree and you like the idea of paying what you can, I’m not saying you’re wrong, but frankly, it doesn’t seem to work out well in the real world, whether you’re a coffee shop or a parachurch organization holding events.