The PIVOT program is a year-long program that will build upon the learnings from the previously awarded Lilly Endowment grants and move into the digital world with online resources from the Congregational Leadership Initiative program (CLI). This will help expand the scope and impact of these programs to underserved and underrepresented communities. By leveraging our digital offerings and capacity, ECF will -
- Evaluate, alter and modify our CLI offerings so that they meet the contextual needs of expanded groups of constituents and are more effectively disseminated online
- Design a digital system that is flexible, malleable and responsive to the needs of changing faith communities
- Work with communities to enhance their digital capabilities to learn, grow and thrive with minimal financial impact on local budgets
Grant Components
The current PIVOT program’s design and purpose relate to the aims of Trinity’s Leadership grants by building upon the foundation created in the past six years. In the PIVOT program, we are focused specifically on leveraging online digital platforms to maximize outreach and service delivery; disseminating our work throughout the wider Church; and initiating and nurturing Episcopal and ecumenical partnerships to expand our scope and widen our impact.
In the next year, ECF will -
- Lead a discovery process to bring together stakeholders from across the Church who work with communities that are small, rural, ethnic, or emerging and discern the learning and technological needs of these communities
- Design a digital delivery system that is adaptable and expansive, and can be integrated into or linked from the Trinity Leadership Initiative online platform
- Outreach, recruitment and service delivery for two pilot cohort groups to beta-test the new online CLI program
Our goal for this program is to create a comprehensive program, modelled on our current CLI, that is flexible, adaptable, contextual and useful to a broad diversity of underserved and alternative faith communities throughout the church. Our emphasis will be on supporting these communities with what they need and want - meeting them where they are rather than pushing them to places they do not want to go.
Funding
During the 2021-2022 year, ECF has received $100,000 from Trinity Church Wall Street Philanthropies for a grant entitled Pivot 2021: Addressing the Needs of Underserved Episcopal Faith Communities in a Digital World.
For further information on ECF’s initiative, please refer to this previously published piece.
Haley Bankey