Both church or ministry leaders and their members are under the impression that the President and Congress have allocated millions and millions of public funds for faithbased organizations?for any purpose, religious or non-religious and that the faithbased grant tree is full of unrestricted, no strings attached ?ready to pick? fruits?also known as grant awards. In this book, my goal is to help churches and ministries across the United States?large and small, denominational and non-denominational?understand how to align institutions and congregations to receive the abundance intended under the Federal government?s faithbased grants initiative.

Writing Grants for Faith-Based Organizations and Community Non-ProfitsSection 1“Identifying Sources for Grants”Grants are a different type of fundraising. Within any community, small town, or major city there are businesses and industries that are part of a franchise, or owned by a national chain. These businesses have foundations. Foundations give money. In Section 1, you'll understand about funding from local foundations, corporate support, and community foundations. This book does not address the large federal grants, but the basic information can be applied to any type grant.Section 2“Key Areas of the Application”Virtually all grants require detailed information in certain key areas. A rule of thumb: Always follow the prescribed format, and place the requested information within the appropriate section. Different foundations use basic headings and subheadings—however, follow the guidelines for specific grants. Section 3“Tips for Being Funded”Knowing what works—and what doesn't—often determines if your grant is funded or rejected. Simple, common sense practices “can” make a difference!Section 4“Selecting a Grant-Writing Committee”Selecting a group of creative people who can work together, complete a project, and follow-up with a final report are crucial to the success of a grant. This section offers advice on finding those people within your organization.Bonus!To simplify grant writing, I've included examples of forms that will make the process easier. Understanding how to fill out forms will remove some of the anxiety of this process. When faced with a difficult project, I've discovered that if I do a “task analysis,” I can break it down into manageable parts. This removes some of the fear of a new or unknown undertaking.A glossary of terms associated with grant writing will prove helpful as you work with funders who represent individual foundations and corporations.The Appendix also contains a published article on “Funding Your Ministry Through Grants” that was published online forwww.childrensministry.com/readers.Additional space provides pages for notes as you research grants to fund your project. In your search, identify the gap in what your organization has and what it needs to run an effective program. Where is the gap? How can a funder fulfill that gap? And then, match the need to the funder. When you've answered these questions, you're on your way to securing funds for specific needs.I believe that writing is a gift from God. He gives us the talent and it's up to us to learn the mechanics of putting words on paper. A Bible verse that has given me hope follows: “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint” (Isaiah 40:31).

The instant New York Times bestseller and companion book to the PBS series. “Absolutely brilliant . . . A necessary and moving work.” —Eddie S. Glaude, Jr., author of Begin Again “Engaging. . . . In Gates’s telling, the Black church shines bright even as the nation itself moves uncertainly through the gloaming, seeking justice on earth—as it is in heaven.” —Jon Meacham, New York Times Book Review From the New York Times bestselling author of Stony the Road and The Black Box, and one of our most important voices on the African American experience, comes a powerful new history of the Black church as a foundation of Black life and a driving force in the larger freedom struggle in America. For the young Henry Louis Gates, Jr., growing up in a small, residentially segregated West Virginia town, the church was a center of gravity—an intimate place where voices rose up in song and neighbors gathered to celebrate life's blessings and offer comfort amid its trials and tribulations. In this tender and expansive reckoning with the meaning of the Black Church in America, Gates takes us on a journey spanning more than five centuries, from the intersection of Christianity and the transatlantic slave trade to today’s political landscape. At road’s end, and after Gates’s distinctive meditation on the churches of his childhood, we emerge with a new understanding of the importance of African American religion to the larger national narrative—as a center of resistance to slavery and white supremacy, as a magnet for political mobilization, as an incubator of musical and oratorical talent that would transform the culture, and as a crucible for working through the Black community’s most critical personal and social issues. In a country that has historically afforded its citizens from the African diaspora tragically few safe spaces, the Black Church has always been more than a sanctuary. This fact was never lost on white supremacists: from the earliest days of slavery, when enslaved people were allowed to worship at all, their meetinghouses were subject to surveillance and destruction. Long after slavery’s formal eradication, church burnings and bombings by anti-Black racists continued, a hallmark of the violent effort to suppress the African American struggle for equality. The past often isn’t even past—Dylann Roof committed his slaughter in the Mother Emanuel AME Church 193 years after it was first burned down by white citizens of Charleston, South Carolina, following a thwarted slave rebellion. But as Gates brilliantly shows, the Black church has never been only one thing. Its story lies at the heart of the Black political struggle, and it has produced many of the Black community’s most notable leaders. At the same time, some churches and denominations have eschewed political engagement and exemplified practices of exclusion and intolerance that have caused polarization and pain. Those tensions remain today, as a rising generation demands freedom and dignity for all within and beyond their communities, regardless of race, sex, or gender. Still, as a source of faith and refuge, spiritual sustenance and struggle against society’s darkest forces, the Black Church has been central, as this enthralling history makes vividly clear.

Start and Grow Your Faith-Based Nonprofit offers clear guidance on how to fund and manage a faith-based social ministry. If you have been called by God to fulfill a mission through a nonprofit organization, this is the book for you. Written specifically for grassroots faith-based groups, this important book is a tool for the thousands of individuals and churches that heal emotional, physical, and spiritual wounds through faith-based social service programming. In this much-needed resource, Jill C. Esau, founder of We Care Northwest--a nonprofit designed to build capacity in and advocate on behalf of faith-based organizations, provides professional step-by-step guidance. Start and Grow Your Faith-Based Nonprofit addresses vital issues such as church sponsorship, volunteer management, the grant making process, observing government regulations and certification, fiscal responsibilities, partnering with complementary programs, and much more.

Michael Steinhardt left a stellar career on Wall Street and spent the next three decades launching revolutionary philanthropic programs like Birthright Israel and OneTable that offer a proud, rich future for the next generation of secular American Jews. What are the keys to a proud Jewish life? Part memoir, part manifesto, Michael Steinhardt’s Jewish Pride offers a compelling vision for a rich, rewarding future for Jews in America and around the world. From his middle class beginnings in Brooklyn to a spectacular Wall Street career, Steinhardt understood that apathy and assimilation were threatening the Jewish future in America. Meanwhile established Jewish institutions were failing in the urgent task of strengthening secular Jewish identity. Using his own capital and the wisdom and connections he’d gained in his successful business career, Steinhardt recruited partners, focused on data and results, and even got the Israeli government to help launch the revolutionary Birthright program. By turns provocative, inspiring, revealing, and outright hilarious, Jewish Pride captures its author’s unique personality and outlook and offers honest talk about the Jewish world today, along with a bold prescription for revitalizing Jewish life in the future.

"I'm excited about Faith Driven Entrepreneur. Anyone who is following the example of their creator God can find echoes of their work in this book." --Lecrae Entrepreneurship can be a lonely journey. But it doesn't need to be. God has a purpose and a plan for all those entrepreneurial dreams and creative gifts he gave you. The work you do today--the company you've built, the employees you work with, the customers you serve, the shareholders you report to, all of it--serves as an active part of what God wants to accomplish on earth. You are not alone in this journey. Join other faith-driven entrepreneurs as, together, we identify the values, habits, and traits that empower us to successfully build businesses, serve our communities, and faithfully pursue a loving relationship with God; read stories that exemplify how those values, habits, and traits unfold in everyday life; and discover the potential God wants to unleash through our work. Each book purchase includes access to the eight-session Faith Driven Entrepreneur video series, a discussion guide to encourage conversation among peers, and an invitation to join a Faith Driven Entrepreneur Group to meet other like-minded entrepreneurs.