Measuring Technical Super-Efficiency of Christian Faith-Based International Humanitarian Organizations

COVID-19 left a wake of destruction upon its descension, pervasion, and diffusion across the continents. Not only did this happen at individual, household, and corporate levels, but also the nonprofit world. Christian ministries, faith-based organizations, and faith-based charities are among some of the largest international relief and development agencies that are on the front lines of humanitarian and disaster relief efforts (MinistryWatch & Smith, 2023). Understanding the effects of COVID-19 or phenomena with similar magnitudes on faith-based organizations is critical to understanding the impact at the level of their international humanitarian development and relief programs. There is a need for real-time research that elucidates those characteristics that contribute to faith-based organizational effectiveness in carrying out organizational objectives despite major national and international crises. The purpose of this study was to conduct a quantitative comparative analysis of comprehensive technical efficiency levels amongst Christian denominational, nondenominational, and interdenominational nonprofit organizations that focus on global food and water assistance as well as agrarian empowerment in poverty-stricken undeveloped/least-developed/third-world countries that face severe food and water shortages. Four research objectives and corresponding research questions guided this study. The author-researcher of this dissertation-in-praxis used data envelopment analysis models to measure the efficiency levels of international humanitarian faith-based organizations. Efficiency levels were measured in the areas of fundraising and program service delivery. To help solidify and better position faith-based humanitarian organizations that seek to meet the most fundamental of human needs and promote self-sufficiency and economic empowerment in poverty-stricken under/least-developed regions across the globe, the researcher added to the scholastic body of knowledge, both awareness and an understanding of those elements that helped ensure organizational success in tumultuous times.