South America
The South America granting region includes the entire continent of South America from Venezuela to Argentina. It does not include Mexico and Central America. We give highest priority to projects in the largest urban centers of South America. Specifically, we focus our granting in the metropolitan area of the following cities: Belo Horizonte, Brasília, Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Caracas, Curitiba, Fortaleza, Guayaquil, La Paz, Lima, Manaus, Medellin, Porto Alegre, Salvador (Brazil), Santiago (Chile), São Paulo, Quito, Recife, and Rio de Janeiro. The average grant size for this region is $4,800 USD.
Successful applications have significant funding and direct oversight and accountability from the local congregation, are in a megacity, and have a creative and innovative approach to share the love of Jesus Christ in word and action. We give priority to small, dynamic start-up initiatives that are locally managed and sustained. We do not provide ongoing support for projects that began more than two years ago. We do not fund national or citywide strategies.
The Foundation will only fund up to 50 percent of the total cost of a specific project for one year. Therefore, organizations that are heavily funded from outside their local community and have little church support are less likely to receive our funding. Because of our emphasis on partnering with the local church, if the applicant is a parachurch organization, we require that it have a strong financial connection to a supporting congregation in the neighborhood of ministry.
In South America, the Foundation encourages applications focused on leadership development, discipleship training, establishing new churches in urban centers, revolving loan funds, reaching out to youth or supporting missionaries through creative means, marriage counseling, and outreach to artists, university students, street kids, gang members, and people being trafficked in the sex industry.
We do not consider applications for buildings, land purchases, or general vocational training.