GBCS Grants

The General Board of Church and Society helps local churches and organizations advocate and establish social justice ministries. Below is a list of available grants, click on the links to review the qualifications and application details.

Peace with Justice Grants

Applicants must work toward achieving at least one of the following objectives:

• Objective 1: Assist United Methodists in understanding and responding to violence and militarism.
• Objective 2: Involve United Methodists in efforts to end conflicts and violent aggression around the world.
• Objective 3: Promote just national and international policies and actions (governmental and non-governmental) seeking to restore communities and respond to the disproportionate effect of injustices on racial and ethnic persons.
• Objective 4: Support policies that promote systematic economic justice and the self-development of peoples.

Ethnic Local Church Grants

The purpose of the GBCS Ethnic Local Church Grants (ELCG) Program is to provide grants to strengthen the ethnic local church through education, advocacy, or leadership training and development as they engage in social justice. Grant recipients must be programs initiated by or developed in partnership with one or more United Methodist ethnic local churches. Racial/ethnic persons shall be the majority of those served by the program. The project must focus on needs identified by ethnic local churches as they address one or more chronic social problems or concerns, such as housing, employment, health care, human rights, education, the environment and racism.

Human Relations Day Grants

To be considered for funding, a project must be initiated by or developed in partnership with a United Methodist church. The project must focus on needs of non-violent juvenile youth offenders as they address one or more chronic social problems or concerns, such as housing, employment, health care, human rights, education, the environment and racism.

Peace With Justice Grants

Download PWJ Grant application (Word)
Download PWJ Grant application (PDF)

Background

Required Steps

• Plan ahead to meet the Feb. 12 deadline.
• Review eligibility requirements and objectives.
• Request Bishop’s or Bishop’s designee letter in time to be included with application.
• Prepare project description and budget (1 page each). Include 1-page copy of your organization's budget.  
• Get Annual Conference information.
• Fill in application form completely.
• Prepare 20 copies of all material (U.S. only).

Optional Steps

• Seek references
• Call for help
• Request translation services, if needed

According to the 2008 Book of Discipline, the purpose of the General Board of Church & Society shall be to:

…relate the gospel of Jesus Christ to the members of the Church and to the persons and structures of the communities and world in which they live. It shall seek to bring the whole of human life, activities, possessions, use of resources, and community and world relationships into conformity with the will of God. It shall show the members of the Church and Society that the reconciliation that God effected through Christ involves personal, social and civic righteousness. (¶ 1002)

In order to achieve its purpose, the board shall:

Encourage Christian lines of action that assist humankind to move toward a world where peace and justice are achieved. (¶ 1002.4)

Further, funding for this program is generated by the local churches and Annual Conferences from the Peace with Justice offering taken on Peace with Justice Sunday that “witnesses to God’s demands for a faithful, just, disarmed, and secure world.” Fifty percent of the offering is retained in the Annual Conferences and the remainder is forwarded to the General Church. (see paragraphs 263.5 and 823.5).

Ethnic Local Church Grants

Download ELC Grant application.

Purpose

Required Steps

• Plan ahead to meet the Jan. 10 (March funding cycle) or Aug. 10 (October funding cycle) deadline
• Review eligibility requirements and objectives
• Request Bishop’s or Bishop’s designee letter in time to be included with application
• Prepare project description and budget (1 page each)
• Get Annual Conference information
• Fill in application form completely
• Prepare 10 copies of all material (U.S. only)

Optional Steps

• Seek references
• Call for help
• Request translation services, if needed

The purpose of the GBCS Ethnic Local Church Grants (ELCG) Program is to provide grants to strengthen the ethnic local church through education, advocacy, or leadership training and development as they engage in social justice.

Background

According to the 2000 Book of Discipline (Paragraph 1002), the purpose of the General Board of Church and Society (GBCS) shall be to:

[R]elate the gospel of Jesus Christ to the members of the Church and to the persons and structures of the communities and world in which they live.  It shall seek to bring the whole of human life, activities, possessions, use of resources, and community and world relationships into conformity with the will of God.  It shall show the members of the Church and Society that the reconciliation that God effected through Christ involves personal, social and civic righteousness.

As one of the four international program boards of the United Methodist Church, GBCS:

• Seeks to implement The Social Principles and other General Conference policy statements related to social concerns (i.e., The Book of Resolutions).
• Enables church members to identify and respond to critical social justice issues.  Throughout the United Methodist connection, GBCS provides resources and training for Christian Social Action at community, state and regional levels.
• Expresses to the church and to the world its convictions, interpretations and concerns, recognizing the freedom and responsibility of all Christians to study, interpret and act on social justice issues. Located at the United Methodist Building on Capitol Hill, the GBCS provides a key witness to lawmakers on issues of moral concern.

Human Relations Day Grants

Download Human Relations Day Grant application.

To qualify for a Human Relations Day grant, the applicant must be either:

• a United Methodist local church, district, annual conference or other affiliated group/organization; or
• an ecumenical group/organization working with and through at least one United Methodist agency or organization, whose program affects at least one United Methodist local church.

Grants are awarded on two funding cycles. Jan. 10 is the deadline for March funding; Aug. 10 for October. Grant decisions are made by GBCS’s Board of Directors.

To be considered for funding, a project must be initiated by or developed in partnership with a United Methodist church. The project must focus on needs of non-violent juvenile youth offenders as they address one or more chronic social problems or concerns, such as housing, employment, health care, human rights, education, the environment and racism.

Applicants must have a supervisory board consisting of a majority of members of The United Methodist Church that shall make all policy decisions.

All funding from GBCS must be used for programmatic components and not for salaries, purchase of equipment, purely administrative costs, and direct delivery of services or building construction.

Intent of the grant is to provide start-up money.