THE MINISTRY OF THE ENDOWMENT
The St. Mark’s Endowment Fund distributes grants to further our ability to do God’s work with our hands locally and around the world. Because the Endowment Fund supports projects specifically outside of the congregation’s annual budget, these grants help to innovate and bring new ideas to how we serve our community.
DREAM IT! MAKE IT HAPPEN!
St. Mark’s Lutheran Church is a progressive faith community that emphasizes God's grace, promotes inclusive love, gathers people together in worship, invites questions of faith, values justice and peace, strives to follow in Jesus' way, and remains open to the call of God's Spirit to be the Church for a new generation. We specifically welcome grant applications that further our community’s goal of seeking actively to become antiracist through collaboration with outside groups in pursuit of social justice and racial equity.
GRANT FUNDING
Historically, approved grants have ranged from $500 to $3,000. We encourage applications for funding within that range. If we approve your application and your grant request exceeds that range, or even if it is within that range, we may only partially fund your grant application.
GRANT CRITERIA
In evaluating projects, the Endowment Committee will prioritize projects that:
Have the greatest impact consistent with the mission and ministries of St. Mark's
Expand or enhance the ministry of St. Mark's
Establish or further develop new relationships between St. Mark's and other organizations and agencies with missions consistent with that of St. Mark's
Have not previously received allocations from the Fund
Application Process and Timing
Application Period: Sunday, May 26 – Sunday, August 25, 2024
Deadline: Sunday, August 25, 2024
Grant Notifications: During October and November
APPLICATION & Reporting Forms
Grant Application (Online Form) (PDF) (Word)
DONATE TO THE FUND
Your commitment will always be felt. Our Endowment Fund gives donors the opportunity to create a long-lasting legacy to support the ministry of St. Mark's into the future. The St. Mark's Endowment Fund Tax ID Number is 94-1418294. Donations may be sent directly to St. Mark's Lutheran Church, Attn: Endowment Committee, 1031 Franklin Street, San Francisco, CA 94109.
If you would like to speak with someone about including a bequest to the Endowment Fund in your estate plan, please send an email to endowment@stmarks-sf.org.
PAST GRANT RECIPIENTS
2023
San Francisco Night Ministry: Programs for the most-marginalized neighbors in the community including accredited Clinical Pastoral Education ($3,000)
St. Mark's Sanctuary Committee: Emergency housing until a sanctuary person or family can live independently, in partnership with NEAT and IM4HI ($2,000)
St. Mark's Square MLTI: An Interfaith Intergenerational Campus at St. Mark's Square for conducting a series of workshops to impact St. Mark's itself and its surrounding community ($2,500)
Project Homeless Connect (San Francisco, CA): The Every Day Connect service program for appointments, Hand-Up, mailboxes, hygiene kits, sleeping bags, etc. ($2,500)
St. Mark’s Worship Committee: Purchase of reusable non-budgeted supplies (e.g., kids-size robes, safe torches) for the new initiative to bring acolytes into St. Mark's worship ministry ($1,200)
Coastside Lutheran Church (Half Moon Bay, CA): Concerts by the Church’s Pride Chorus and support related projects of music director, pianist, sheet music, and hospitality ($1,500)
Grace Lao Lutheran Church (Richmond, CA): Pastoral care and projects by those who speak the language of the Lao congregants ($1,500)
Rwanda School Project: Solar-powered lighting for security due to intruders and for safety of 200 children onsite at the Rwamagana Leaders School ($1,300)
2022
Lutheran Social Services of Northern California; for community activities at affordable/supportive senior housing in the Embarcadero ($1,800)
Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary (Berkeley, CA); for food pantry and therapy/spiritual direction benefiting seminary students ($1,000)
Project Commotion (San Francisco, CA); for students participating in after-school movement classes in the Mission District ($2,300)
Rwanda School Project; for biology laboratory’s supplies at Rwamagana Leaders’ School ($2,000)
St. Andrew's Refugee Services (Cairo, Egypt); for Medical Access Program and Children's Education Program serving refugees in Cairo ($2,400)
St. Mark's Music & Worship Ministries; for Jazz Vespers worship services ($1,000)
St. Mark's Racial Equity Team and Martin Luther Tower, Inc.; for an ethnobotany garden, racial justice & climate education, and Earth Day event with mural’s artists ($2,000)
St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church (Brookings, OR); for book study group for caregivers accompanying youth during climate crisis ($1,500)
2021
ReconcilingWorks, to pay for the Spanish translation of “Building an Inclusive Church Training Toolkit”, about the welcome, inclusion, and advocacy of LGBTQIA+ people ($1,500)
St. Mark’s Racial Equity Team, for the initiation of a partnership with the Center for Climate Justice at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary and to provide for climate justice training for St. Mark’s leaders ($1,600)
St. Mark’s Music Ministry, to support new Jazz Vespers worship services ($1,500)
Rwanda School Project, for furnishings for the new school library at Rwamagana Leaders’ School ($1,000)
St. Mark’s Sanctuary Team, to support short-term housing for immigrants, refugees, and former detainees ($2,000)
Sierra Pacific Synod Resource Center, for new acquisitions ($500)
Bethlehem Lutheran Church (New Orleans, Louisiana), to support their Community Table hot meal program ($1,500)
San Francisco Night Ministry, to provide operating funding for major programs in light of a more challenging funding environment ($1,500)
Iglesias Cordero de Dios/Santa Fe (El Salvador), to support vocational workshops for adults and youth in Soyapango, El Salvador ($2,400)
2020
An extraordinary, unrestricted gift to St. Mark’s Lutheran Church; later designated by Church Council for coronavirus relief ($10,000)
Garuna (Grace) Foundation for a handwashing station and public health education at their school site in Kampong Chhnang, Cambodia ($500)
Ministerio Latino (a ministry of Plymouth United Church of Christ in Oakland) to provide economic support to LGBTQI Latinx immigrants and to support virtual worship services and community activities ($2,000)
Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries to fund a webinar program centered on LGBTQIA+ BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) issues for Proclaim Ministry participants ($1,600)
2019
St. Mark’s Sunday School for equipment purchases ($300)
St. Mark’s Sanctuary Team for legal, bilingual speakers to assist with accompaniment of immigrants ($2,000)
2019 ELCA Sierra Pacific Synod Delegation to Rwanda to assist with travel expenses ($500)
Friday Night Group of Christ Church Lutheran in San Francisco for hygiene kit supplies for young women in Tanzania and Guatemala ($500)
Lutheran Social Services of Northern California to support breakfast gatherings for formerly homeless individuals in supportive housing in San Francisco ($1,000)
Farming Hope to support a job training program for formerly incarcerated and homeless community members in San Francisco ($3,000)
Garuna (Grace) Foundation to support school transportation of students from underprivileged families in Cambodia ($1,200)
2018
A grant to St. Mark’s Community Garden ministry to replace raised beds and for other garden improvements ($1,800)
A grant to ReconcilingWorks Sierra Pacific to enhance their annual San Francisco Pride parade presence ($1,000)
A grant to St. Mary and St. Martha Lutheran Church (Santa Maria y Santa Marta) in San Francisco for their sanctuary program assisting immigrants in need ($1,000)
A grant to Mariposa Lutheran Church in Mariposa, CA to provide food and refreshments for a children’s and youth ministry serving high-risk, low-income community members ($1,000)
A grant to the CLIPArts Ministry of Christ Lutheran Church in Visalia, CA to purchase program supplies for their youth theater production ($1,000)
A grant to Advent Lutheran Church in Morgan Hill, CA to purchase world percussion instruments for their Beloved Arts Community Center music outreach program ($1,000)
A grant to Asociacion para la Diversidad Sexual en El Salvador (ALDES) to provide media training for journalists in El Salvador on how to humanely and sensitively report LGBTQ stories ($1,200)
A grant to Rukundo Foundation of Rwanda to pay for tuition and school supplies for children who have been reunited with their families ($500)
2017
A grant to Cordero de Dios Lutheran Church in El Salvador to fund the salary for a social worker focused on children and youth ($2,000)
A grant to Lutheran Social Services of Northern California in support of two programs serving people with HIV/AIDS in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco ($1,000)
A grant to a St. Mark’s member to pay for a diversity seminar open to St. Mark’s members and the broader community ($1,000)
A grant to the Trinity Lutheran Church, Fresno, California, Chapter of Women of the ELCA (WELCA) to provide infant feeders to a sponsored ministry in Tanzania ($800)
A grant to St. Mark’s Parents with Kidlettes to support two parent education workshops open to St. Mark’s members and the broader community ($710)
A grant to Immanuel Lutheran Church, Saratoga, California, to support homeless kits for a People Helping People project ($500)
2016
A grant to Cordero de Dios Lutheran Church in El Salvador for construction of an exterior wall to make their church building more secure and visible ($2,000)
A grant to the St. Mark’s Social Ministry/Holy Land Ministry Committees to support a photography exhibit featuring the work of students from Dar al-Kalima University in Bethlehem, Palestine ($800)
A grant to the Lutheran Church of Rwanda Women's Ministry to assess women’s ministry at the congregational, parish, and district levels as part of a strategic planning process ($700)
A grant to the St. Mark’s/St. Paulus Chapter of Women of the ELCA (WELCA) to provide childcare during weekends workshops on the ELCA’s Women and Justice social statement ($500)
2015
A grant to Kigali Lutheran Parish in Rwanda for construction of their children’s worship space ($2,000)
A grant to St Mark’s Social Ministry Committee to pay for the home visit of our ELCA Missionary in Rwanda, Pastor Kate Warn ($1,000)
A grant to St. Mark’s Music Ministry to fund a choir retreat ($500)
2014
A grant to the El Salvador Committee of St. Mark’s Social Ministry Committee to defray hospitality expenses of a benefit fundraiser for the Salvadoran Lutheran Church Pastors Endowment Fund. ($1,500) The resulting benefit event in September 2014 raised over $21,000 for the fund, established to help pay the salaries of Lutheran pastors in El Salvador.
A grant to Lutheran Volunteer Corps to fund volunteer trainings in partnership with Seminary of the Street. ($500)