UMC #GivingTuesday Promises to Multiply Impact

United Methodists are invited to sustain the spirit of Thanksgiving into the Advent season.

The denomination’s General Board of Global Ministries announced that for one day only, on December 3, 2013, as part of UMC #GivingTuesday, gifts made online to any project through The Advance will be matched.

Marie Kuch, who chairs the communication and development committee of Global Ministries’ board of directors, shared her excitement. “My US context is dominated by a consumer-driven frenzy within hours of Thanksgiving,” she said at last week’s board meeting. “With the Giving Tuesday initiative and matching funds, we have extra incentive to remember what the Advent season really means and to redirect some of our retail-shopping money to a better purpose.” 

The Advance is the denomination’s giving channel that ensures that 100 percent of each gift supports the project designated by the donor. More than 850 Methodist-related projects and more than 300 missionaries are supported by The Advance; all of them have gone through a rigorous review process and are accountable for how funds are used.

Global Ministries announced it will allocate the “matching funds” dollar for dollar up to the first $500,000 in gifts to Advance projects received online on December 3, 2013, between 12:00 a.m. EST and 11:59 p.m. A maximum of $10,000 per individual gift to a project will be disbursed as matching funds. A project may receive a maximum of $50,000 in matching funds.

Bishop Hope Morgan Ward of the North Carolina Annual Conference is the president of the board. Reminding directors that “gifts made through The Advance can bring healing and hope to survivors of natural or civil disasters; help communities build churches, dig wells, feed and educate children, and equip hospitals and clinics; or support a missionary who is sharing the light of Christ,” she said, “I pray that December 3 will be a record-breaking day in the Wesleyan movement.”

Participate in UMC #GivingTuesday by making a gift online to any Advance project or the missionary community on December 3, 2013 www.umcmission.org/give.

Click here to view and download #GivingTuesday banner images.