November 30, 2021 - The Pension Boards-United Church of Christ has been selected to receive a $500,000 grant in supplemental funding from the Lilly Endowment to expand participation in the Ministers’ Financial Vitality Initiative (MFVI), a financial wellness program for the United Church of Christ clergy. This is the third grant awarded to the Pension Boards by the Lilly Endowment in support of this initiative.

MFVI launched in 2017 with an initial $1,000,000 implementation grant from Lilly’s National Initiative to Address Economic Challenges Facing Pastoral Leaders and was awarded another $1 million grant in 2019 to further expand the program.

MFVI was initiated in response to high rates of clergy indebtedness in the denomination, which was identified by General Synod in 2013 as a critical issue facing pastoral leaders, along with limited income and lack of financial education.

The supplemental funding from the Lilly Endowment will allow the United Church Board for Ministerial Assistance (the philanthropic arm of the Pension Boards, which administers MFVI) to make the program of education and assistance more immediately and fully available, particularly to clergy from historically underrepresented groups within the denomination. It will also allow timely availability for those whose financial lives have been adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Securing the Future,” a $3 million joint capital campaign with the national setting of the UCC was launched at General Synod this year, to ensure the sustainability of MFVI into the future.

Additional information about expansion of the MFVI program will be available soon on the Pension Boards website, www.pbucc.org.