Orchard’s staff and Board of Directors are excited to share that Orchard has been awarded a $95,000 grant from One Hundred Shares! One Hundred Shares is a Christ-centered organization that awards financial grants to selected Christian non-profit ministries in the greater Atlanta area that serve those in need and proclaim the Gospel. Orchard was selected as a recipient following an extensive application and review process. We are praying it will lead to the launching of 100 new Christ-centered non-profits over the next decade!
A portion of this grant will be utilized to update computers, invest in new software, and purchase additional hardware. Technology is an integral part of any organization, and it has certainly been a big part of our growth and expansion in recent years. Keeping our technology capabilities up to date is crucial for our ability to effectively serve the ministry leaders God sends our way. But the bulk of this grant will be used for something far more exciting!
“Can you help me start a non-profit?” This is one of the most frequent questions our staff hears. God has inspired people to launch new works, and they come to Orchard for help. They have a burden for a cause and enough faith to believe God may use them to help. Our world needs more of these faithful risk-takers. Over the years, our team has done what we could to help these people. But we’ve never had a way to help people broadly and consistently. This grant will allow us to develop a brand new offering supporting these brave innovators in a way that is intentional, organized, and sustainable.
The bulk of our One Hundred Shares grant will be used to develop a brand new program offering to help people with an idea to start a new ministry. It’ll be broken down into three key sections:
- Listening | This is the most important step! During this process we will utilize guided prayer, scripture readings, dialogue with mature Christians, and other outlets to answer one key question: Is God calling me to start a new non-profit now? To continue to steps two and three, both Orchard’s leadership and the participant must agree that the answer to that question is “yes.”
- Organizing | Participants getting a “yes” in the Listening step will be moved on to the Organizing phase. During Organizing our participants will be guided through forming their organization and programming. The goal is to set a direction for the first two years and form an initial launch structure and team. This is the structure they will use to get their work going.
- Incorporating | The final step will be helping each leader establish their organizations on the federal and state levels. This includes setting up bank accounts, securing insurance, and other operational needs/legal requirements. The final part of this phase will be filing paperwork with the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) to receive 501c3 tax-exempt status. This gives organizations the ability to fundraise and offer tax exemptions to their donors. Participants will be considered “graduates” when they receive their IRS-issued non-profit determination letter.
We will spend the remainder of 2023 creating this new material and recruiting our first group of participants. We aim to launch with 8-10 leaders in January 2024. As with all Orchard services, selected participants will be invited to participate in this cohort at no cost. Your donations make that possible!
Our big prayer is that from 2024-2034, God will use this new resource to establish 100 Christ-centered non-profits serving our communities in the name of Jesus! Once each leader completes this program and launches their new ministries, Orchard will continue our journey with them by inviting them to participate in our Foundations training. Foundations is the flagship training program of the Orchard Institute, equipping those who have launched new works to lead those works well. Pairing our new content with our existing resources will empower Orchard to accomplish our mission more effectively and completely than ever before! Orchard inspires Christ-followers to launch and lead creative initiatives serving those in need.
Our whole team is incredibly grateful to One Hundred Shares for entrusting us with this gift! We don’t take our stewardship lightly. We are also thankful for each of you who have given to help build Orchard into what it is today! If these new developments excite you, we hope you’ll consider joining our monthly donor program, IGNITE. Monthly donors help Orchard remain strong so we can continue inspiring Christ-followers to launch and lead creative initiatives serving those in need without charging for our services.