Resources for Mission: Expanding the Impact Around the World
For centuries women religious have quietly, even invisibly, been demonstrating, one heart at a time, what a revolution of the heart looks like. Now, with an aging population and smaller numbers, no longer able to be as personally active in their sponsored ministries, they have discovered other ways to make a difference, including collaboration with lay partners, impact investing and direct giving.
The Comprehensive Community Plan, adopted by the Congregation in 2014, directed the Congregation Leadership Team to develop a plan to use the Congregation’s financial resources to express our charism into the future. The Leadership Team commissioned the Resources for Mission (RFM) committee, tasking them with the development of a pilot program. The committee rooted their work in the directive to read the signs of the times and in the founding principles of the Congregation, primarily the charism of peace through justice evidenced by Mother Clare’s passionate call to service to those who are poor, especially women and marginalized people, in order to benefit those in greatest need, the environment, and all creation.
The sisters and associates on the Resources for Mission committee began by expanding their own head and heart knowledge, spending a significant amount of time and care clarifying their purpose and mandate and determining how to use resources responsibly. They created a mission statement to direct and focus efforts and ultimately decided the best way to implement their goals was through impact investing and direct giving. Their work involved a lot of education and research as well as collaboration with trusted partners and advisors.
The committee then reached out to the members of the Congregation for input through a survey about what causes they wanted to support. It turns out there were many! No less than 75 organizations were suggested. Reading the signs of the times, the committee decided to focus the pilot project on the global refugee crisis, with the goal of making a real impact by meeting immediate needs, helping women and children, providing pathways to livelihoods, and addressing root causes.
The Mother Clare Social Justice Impact Fund was born, giving life in the 21st Century the desire she expressed in her 19th Century autobiography: “it did matter to me a great deal in view of our common humanity, and in view of my love of the poor, that I should do all I could for those whom He had loved so well.” With the assistance of philanthropic advisors, the committee created the grant-giving process and identified grant recipients. Because of their desire to make an impact both locally and globally, grants were given on an international level and also in each of the Congregation’s three regions—Eastern and Western United States and the United Kingdom. Sixteen grants were made, impacting more than 80,000 lives. [See sidebar.] In addition, the Congregation made Impact Investments with the UNICEF USA Bridge Fund, a global fund that saves lives through education, nutrition, water, and hygiene, and Global Partnerships, a fund that provides loans to social enterprises and cooperatives globally.
You may be wondering how the sisters have the funds to make impact investments and for direct giving grants. “Sisters worked in ministries where they earned salaries and stipends but chose to live simply in fidelity to their vows of poverty, explains Deborah Fleming, then Congregation Chief Financial Officer in an article in a 2018 issue of Living Peace. “Funds not needed for immediate living expenses were invested with a constant eye toward continuing to respond to the changing critical needs of the times. New ministries were created, and financial assistance was given where it could have the most impact. Over time, the CSJPs have closed some ministries and sold some properties. Funds from these events were invested to provide for current operations, sisters’ retirement expenses and ministry support.”
The sisters continue to read the signs of the times and discern new ways of living out of revolutionary heart stance, impacting lives locally and globally. Impact investment and giving is yet another way the sisters are embracing creative, impactful ways of serving those most in need and responding to the signs of the times. A new leadership team will begin their term in July. One of the recommendations to them is to enhance the foundational and widereaching work Resources for Mission has started. We look forward to sharing in future issues what direction that takes.
Grant Recipients
Action Aid – Climate Change livelihood resilience in India and Gambia
Bakhita House – Support services for trafficked women in London
BIASAN – Support for asylum seekers and refugees in Bradford, England
Catholic Relief Services – Cholera prevention & nutrition support in Yemen
Climate Refugees – Research climate displacement in Somalia and Kenya
First Friends – Case management for asylum seekers in New Jersey
HelpAge International – Resilience against drought in Ethiopia
Helvetas – Sustainable Agriculture/women-led households in Mali
International Rescue Committee – Food security and livelihood support in South Sudan
Lutheran World Relief – Flood response and resilience in India and Nepal
Mercy Corps – Solar home kits and cook stoves in Uganda
Refugee Women’s Alliance – Job Readiness in Seattle, WA
RefuSHE – Case management for refugee girls and young women in Kenya
SAWA for Development and Aid – Education and support for Syrian refugees in Lebanon
Windle Trust International – Environmental Sustainability Skills in Kenya and Uganda
YARID – Self sufficiency for young urban refugees in Uganda
This article appeared in the Spring 2021 issue of Living Peace.