The Bridge to Love – the Presbytery of Cincinnati One Hopeful Fund
Lisa Allgood, Executive Presbyter
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ – Matthew 25:40
For some of you, the One Hopeful Fund may be a new term, but it’s a critical element of the work of the Presbytery supporting our own churches and their missional programs. This first blog will describe the formation, implementation and work of the OHF, and later blogs will tell some amazing stories of the work the fund supports and what it has accomplished since it was created.
The One Hopeful Fund is an annual program funded by the shared mission giving of the congregations of the Presbytery of Cincinnati, supporting mission and ministry passions of the congregations within the Presbytery. Thus congregations partner and collaborate in support of ministries both established and growing, as well as for innovative mission work in the areas of evangelism, justice, and poverty. Almost all of our grants go to help the special programs for children’s programs in underserved and marginalized areas of the Presbytery
Begun in 2019 after the work of the Evaluate and Imagine Team completed, the One Hopeful Fund is overseen by a small team and Council. The One Hopeful Fund is a separate and restricted fund managed by the Presbytery office, funded only by shared mission giving across our churches. It is not a part of the Operations budget, and the two never cross incoming or outgoing funds at any time.
One of our guiding principles is that we do not fund non-profit work outside that of our churches, or the individual personal needs of those who participate in our programs – we fund only the programs of our congregations themselves.
Over the 5 years we’ve had the One Hopeful Fund in place, the Presbytery has funded over $330,000 in giving to summer youth programs in marginalized communities, food pantries and non-food pantries in food deserts and needy neighborhoods, and training efforts to continue our Matthew 25 work in all 3 areas – poverty amelioration, racial equity, and congregational revitalization. These efforts are vital to our collective work in sharing the tangible love and grace of the Lord with our communities. We rely on our congregations giving to the Presbytery’s One Hopeful Fund to continue this amazing work, and invite you to join us! The Presbytery website has a “Give Now” button and welcomes individual donors as well!
