How We Work: One Living System
Our four programs are stages in a single life.
Parish Partner Grants plant seeds. They invest in new or growing parish ministries when support matters most. Parishes are the seedbed. They are often the first to see a need, and a Parish Partner Grant is where a relationship with Episcopal Charities begins.
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Some seeds grow into trees. Our Nonprofit Partners come from our parish partnerships. A nonprofit becomes eligible when it is connected to a parish that has received Parish Partner Grant funding for at least two years. This keeps our work rooted in parish ministry, and it gives every nonprofit partnership a history of trust behind it. New nonprofit partners join us as Impact Nonprofit Partners. Over time, mature partners become Legacy Nonprofit Partners. Their new place makes room for new growth, and it lets us respond to needs as they emerge.
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The Catalyst Project Fund keeps us responsive. Since 2025, we have directed funds into this mission-driven pool. Catalyst projects are flexible ideas and initiatives that can emerge at any point in the year. We shape them in collaboration with diocesan partners, clergy, lay leaders, and community organizations. Catalyst is also where we convene and start new work ourselves, building on something Episcopal Charities has explored for years. Sometimes we fund a project. Sometimes we also help organize it, coordinate it, or serve as its fiscal agent. Project PEWS and Caring Light, described below, show both.
Inner Capacity Building is the root system beneath all of it. Much grant-making is transactional. Ours is relational. Inner Capacity Building is an investment in leaders as people, because a leader's emotional and spiritual health shapes the success and culture of the organization they lead. Twice a year, leaders gather for day-long Leadership Cohort Gatherings. Between them, our nonprofit CEOs meet every other month for lunch and conversation on the same themes. We are now opening the program to leaders from every partner in our orbit: parishes, nonprofits, and Catalyst projects alike.
Learn more about Inner Capacity Building at Episcopal Charities →
Over many years, we have built trust with parishes, clergy, and partners across the Diocese of Chicago. We bring them together, and we help them find one another. This network is our greatest asset.