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Please read through the descriptions of our regional priorities. Some regions have made their application available online. You may download an available application from a link at the end of the approriate regional description. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader in order to view this file. You can find the link to download Acrobat below. AFRICA [ Asia ] [ Middle East ] [ Europe and Central Asia] [ Latin America ] [ North America ] Before you download our application materials we would like you to review our priorities for funding in sub-Saharan Africa in 2006. We are giving highest priority to grant-making in the large urban centers of Africa. Specifically, we are focusing our granting in the following cities: Abidjan, Accra, Addis Ababa, Cape Town, Dar es Salaam, Johannesburg, Kampala, Kinshasa, Lagos, Lusaka, Maputo, Mombassa and Nairobi. Additionally, the primary countries where we will consider granting are: Cote D'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. In addition to targeting large urban centers, we are encouraging applications that are focused on AIDS (if the project is evangelistic), leadership development, and revolving loan funds. Please be advised that we will not consider applications for buildings, land purchases or general vocational training, and we will only review complete applications that are for one specific project. As with all applications we review, we will continue to expect to see church financial giving toward any project we would consider funding. All applications (except new ministries) should include a bank statement and a budget from the past two years, along with letters of recommendation from churches or individuals supporting the project. Applications should include instructions for wiring funds to your church or organization's bank. Please be sure to include a swift code (if available), organization name, and account number. We look forward to learning more about what God is doing through his Church in the major cities of Africa and it is our hope that we will be able to continue to participate in many of these initiatives. ASIA [ Middle East ] [ Africa ] [ Europe and Central Asia] [ Latin America ] [ North America ] The Asia Region includes the sub-regions of East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia (including Oceana and the Pacific) and spans from India to Tahiti, Mongolia to New Zealand. It contains over half the world's population. Given the enormity of the region, the large number of grant requests received from within the region, and the limited funding available, we have chosen to focus almost exclusively on the major and strategic urban centers within the region. Granting Restrictions and Priorities: In addition to the general giving parameters established by the Foundation, we will give priority to grant requests originating or targeting the major urban centers of at least 1 million inhabitants within the region, with particular emphasis on those metropolises containing over 5 million, primarily found in China, India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand. Unsolicited grant requests and inquiries are welcome from urban Asia. Furthermore, we continue to prioritize our support of grass-roots, new indigenous ministry efforts that receive significant financial support from local churches in these larger urban contexts. We anticipate that most grants awarded will be less than $5,000. Successful applications typically come directly from indigenous churches and Christian organizations (strongly associated with local churches), and not through outside intermediaries, unless necessary due to specific restrictions within some contexts. More Information: A prospective applicant may wish to submit a one-page letter of intent in order to determine if it is worth submitting a formal and full grant application. These letters of intent should contain a brief description of the initiative, cost of project, grant amount being sought, and reference the other major sources of financial support for the project (including that of the local church or churches). Letters of intent may be submitted for ministry efforts in urban centers of roughly 1 million inhabitants or more or for more rural income-generating initiatives primarily among Christians (aka MSF "Empowerment" initiatives). Please be sure to have carefully read through our grant application and guidelines prior to submitting a letter of intent. We will respond only to those letters of intent that contain this information and originate and/or target these geographic priorities. EUROPE and CENTRAL ASIA [ Asia ] [ Middle East ] [ Africa ] [ Europe and Central Asia ] [ Latin America ] [ North America ] Mustard Seed Foundation's current delineation of this region encompasses all of Europe including Turkey, and consists of the following countries of Central Asia: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Armenia, and Georgia. Funding Criteria The Foundation is aggressively pursuing granting opportunities with indigenously-led, church-based initiatives in the region's larger cities with national church financial support in the proposed project. We are interested in supporting churches engaged with unreached, marginalized, and foreign-born populations. These individuals may include (though not exclusively) refugees, drug addicts, street children, orphans, Roma (Gypsy) families, and people groups from areas where the Gospel is being suppressed. Where the Church is especially growing among young people (oftentimes in Post Communist settings), we recognize there is an attendant need for strong discipleship, and would like to further the church's efforts. Where church growth is happening among young and displaced migrants in urban contexts (oftentimes in Western European urban centers), we desire to support these emerging churches in their efforts to reach other newcomers, and we will do our utmost to support the discipleship of these Christian immigrants. Particularly in Western Europe, we are interested in the concept of Christ-centered schools providing scholarships (with Mustard Seed matching grants) to non-Christian immigrant children in order to provide an excellent education that they would not otherwise receive and as a way to invite these families into Christian community. Funding Biases We have a bias toward coming alongside local churches in the region's larger cities and capital cities such as: Istanbul, Moscow, London, Paris, Almaty, Tashkent, Bishkek, St. Petersburg, Belgrade, Bucharest, Sarajevo, Budapest, Prague, Athens, Berlin, Essen, Marseilles, Madrid. However, while this region's priority is urban granting, we recognize the strategicness of rural economic empowerment. Therefore, we are interested in accepting applications for revolving loan funds from churches or parachurch groups strengthening the economic situation of church and community members. However, we will not fund projects with Western organizations as the grant sponsor or projects funding Western missionaries or West to East short-term mission trips. If a Western group is working with a national church, the national leader should be the applicant; it is the funding of the national churches that MSF would consider matching with a grant. In addition, the Foundation affirms the legitimacy of historic Orthodox and Catholic churches, and looks to establish relationships among them, as well as Protestant and evangelical congregations. Funding Scenarios Mustard Seed matches the funding of local churches interested in entering a new phase in its ministry -- starting a new initiative in response to a new calling upon the congregation or taking an existing initiative to the next level to meet the growing need for that ministry. We are interested in ways to further the goals of the local church in country by matching their funds through various approaches, including assisting mother churches establish daughter churches, holistic outreach activities, economic projects to strengthen the resources of Christians and others in the community, new church establishment, discipling current believers to deepen their faith and prepare them for leadership, further discipling, and outreach, offering camp scholarships to children who would not otherwise have an opportunity to hear the Gospel, and a variety of other interesting projects. Because we believe in local leadership and ownership, the Foundation matches the funds from local churches in the country where the project is taking place. Church investment ensures that the project is truly desired by indigenous churches, local church funding contributes to the project becoming self-sustainable in the long term, and local church involvement facilitates accountability primarily to local Christians and not to outsider funders. Mustard Seed looks forward to learning more about how God is moving throughout Europe and Central Asia in the coming year, and we are grateful for you as our teachers and our friends. May God continue to grant you His peace and wisdom as you bring glory to Him throughout the region. [ Download Grant Application for Eastern Europe and Central Asia] [ Download Grant Application for Western Europe] MIDDLE EAST [ Asia ] [ Africa ] [ Europe and Central Asia] [ Latin America ] [ North America ] The Middle East Region includes the sub-regions of North Africa and Southwest Asia, spanning from Mauritania to Pakistan and Iran to Sudan. Given the enormity of the region and the limited funding available, we have chosen to focus almost exclusively on the major and strategic urban centers within the region. Granting Restrictions and Priorities: In addition to the general giving parameters established by the Foundation, in 2004, we will give priority to grant requests originating or targeting the major urban centers of at least half a million inhabitants within the region, with particular emphasis on the larger and more strategic cities within the region, including metro Cairo and Alexandria in Egypt, Karachi and Lahore in Pakistan, Beirut, Amman, and Jerusalem/Bethlehem. We are also eager to support creative ministry efforts in many more geographic contexts within the region. We continue to prioritize our support of grassroots, new indigenous ministry efforts that receive significant financial support from local churches in these larger urban contexts. We anticipate that most grants awarded will be less than $5,000. Successful applications typically come directly from indigenous churches and Christian organizations (strongly associated with local churches), not through outside intermediaries, unless necessary due to specific restrictions in some contexts. More Information: A prospective applicant may wish to submit a one-page letter of intent in order to determine if it is worth submitting a formal and full grant application. These letters of intent should contain a brief description of the initiative, cost of project, grant amount being sought, and reference the other major sources of financial support for the project (including that of the local church or churches). Letters of intent may be submitted for ministry efforts in urban centers of roughly half a million inhabitants or more or for more rural income-generating initiatives primarily among Christians (aka MSF "Empowerment" initiatives). Please be sure to have carefully read through our grant application and guidelines prior to submitting a letter of intent. We will respond only to those letters of intent that contain this information and originate and/or target these geographic priority locations. NORTH AMERICA [ Asia ] [ Middle East ] [ Africa ] [ Europe and Central Asia] [ Latin America ] [ North America ] The North America region includes the United States and Canada. We will look to grant to churches that are in the inner city boroughs of NYC; inner city Chicago; Los Angeles County; Miami/Dade County; Vancouver; Toronto; Detroit; Philadelphia/Camden; SF/Oakland; Houston; Montreal; or inner city Washington, DC. The Foundation would consider funding of short-term mission trips for inner city youth from one of the aforementioned cities, provided it is their first trip out of country. We will be looking to partner with congregations with a parish mentality, that are ministering to the homeless, university students, gangs, mentally ill, refugees, artists, prostitutes, intellectuals, and addicts in their respective neighborhoods. Our biggest joy is to partner with local churches that are raising up indigenous and/or minority leadership into their staff teams. We are most interested in receiving applications from smaller multi-ethnic churches that are actively living out racial reconciliation in the leadership of the church and ministry. We will only accept grant applications that originate from, and are financially supported by, the individual applicant's home church. No applications from US and Canadian parachurch organizations will be accepted. For ministries outside the US and Canada, we would consider applications from parachurch ministries working with local churches, where the parachurch is operating in that specific city, and not a US-based ministry office. Prospective applicants from this region must first contact the MSF office to obtain an application form before submitting an application. Brian Bakke Director for North America LATIN AMERICA [ Asia ] [ Middle East ] [ Africa ] [ Europe and Central Asia] [ Latin America ] [ North America ] The Latin American region includes Mexico, and all countries in Central and South America, as well as the Caribbean. Before you download our application materials we would like you to review our priorities for funding in Latin America in 2006. We are giving highest priority to grant-making in the large urban centers of this region. Specifically, we are focusing our granting in the following cities: Bogota, Buenos Aires, Caracas, Ciudad de Mexico, Ciudad de Guatemala, Kingston, La Paz, La Habana, Lima, Managua, Port au-Prince, Rio de Janeiro, San Jose, San Salvador, Santiago, Sao Paulo, Quito, Tegucigalpa. In addition to targeting large urban centers, we are encouraging applications that are focused on evangelism, discipleship training, leadership development, and revolving loan funds. Please be advised that we will not consider applications for buildings, land purchases or general vocational training. We do not give more to a specific than the applicant's local church - which needs to originate from the city where the ministry is taking place. All applications (except new ministries) should include a bank statement and a budget from the past two years, along with letters of recommendation from churches or individuals supporting the project. Applications should include instructions for wiring funds to your church or organization's bank. Please be sure to include a swift code (if available), organization name, and account number. We can supply an application form in Spanish. But for the sake of our Board, all applications should be in English. We would be willing to work on an English translation of an application, but only if it is in one of our target cities. |
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