The Quaker Fund for Indigenous Communities provides grants to Indigenous communities enabling their work to build cultural, economic, environmental, and social well-being. We give priority to projects created and carried out by Indigenous peoples of a one-time nature: pilot projects and seed money to help initiatives which serve a community get off the ground. One organization we have supported this past year is Native Roots Farm Foundation (NRFF) for their work rematriating culturally meaningful plants. [Read more…] about Quaker Fund for Indigenous Communities supports the work of Native Roots Farm Foundation
Grants
Net Zero Consultant | Request for Proposals
For decades, PYM has set benchmarks to guide our shared witness on critical issues. With the Creating a Playbook for Climate Action, this tool provides meetings with practical resources and ideas for planning, taking action, and staying accountable in areas like activism, education, and reducing carbon footprints.
[Read more…] about Net Zero Consultant | Request for Proposals
Quaker Fund for Indigenous Communities | Annual Report – October 1, 2023 through September 30, 2024
Members were Tom Armstrong, Cherie Clark, Miriam Fisher Schaefer, Tom Grave, Carol Ann Gray, Winnie Hope, Lois Kuter, and Fran O’Neill. We welcomed attender Edie Paige for her insights at our meetings. New group members: Winnie Hope began attending in February 2024. We welcomed Terry Cooke in August 2024 as an ex-officio member from the Granting Committee.
PYM Welcomes New Director of Development and Middle School Co-Facilitator
We are thrilled to welcome Joe Kirkenir as Director of Development (pictured left) and Daniel Doan as Middle School Co-Facilitator (pictured right). We are excited for the experience and dedication they will bring to their roles within PYM.
[Read more…] about PYM Welcomes New Director of Development and Middle School Co-Facilitator
New Case Management Services for PYM Friends
A new resource is available for Friends in our yearly meeting!
Thanks to a generous need-based grant, members and regular attenders of PYM may be eligible to receive up to 10 hours of professional case management services through Living Care Home Services (LCHS). Eligibility is determined by individual need. LCHS, though based in Pennsylvania, serves the entire PYM region.
Case management can connect Friends with long term care, health care referrals, mental health resources, debt management and debt consolidation counseling, support with housing, help applying for social services, and help securing in-home care.
[Read more…] about New Case Management Services for PYM Friends
Providence Monthly Meeting Celebrated Its 340th Anniversary
Providence Monthly Meeting (PMM) in Media, PA, celebrated its 340th anniversary on October 26, 2024. The event began with a program led by PMM Clerk Meg Barney, which included a Land Acknowledgment delivered in both English and Lenape, a brief history of PMM, and introductions of guests from local faith communities, community organizations, and government representatives. During the celebration, attendees explored guided stations across PMM’s grounds, learning about the Meeting’s legacy through exhibits on topics such as the Underground Railroad, climate justice, and racial equity, as well as historical landmarks like the grave of abolitionist Graceanna Lewis. State Senator Tim Kearney presented a citation from the Pennsylvania Senate.
[Read more…] about Providence Monthly Meeting Celebrated Its 340th Anniversary
Aging Assistance For PYM Friends: What is Available and a Family Thank You
How to Apply: Aging Funds Available at Philadelphia Yearly Meeting
AAGG and Greenleaf Granting Group clerks sat down Aging Support Coordinator, Sheila Sorkin, and Director of Grantmaking and Data, Joey Leroux to discuss the application process for funds to support Friends in need of financial assistance with their basic needs or to make it possible to live in retirement facilities, or to remain in their own homes.
[Read more…] about Aging Assistance For PYM Friends: What is Available and a Family Thank You
Upcoming Grant Deadlines: December 1, 2024 – March 31, 2025
Funds are available for outreach, traveling for interfaith dialog, service, or ministry, Indigenous people and communities, and more. Apply today!
[Read more…] about Upcoming Grant Deadlines: December 1, 2024 – March 31, 2025
We Invite You to Join a PYM Granting Group!
Granting groups are a very meaningful part of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (PYM), and each group is thankful for the volunteers who give their time and effort as granting group members. PYM Friends are encouraged to join a granting group to have the opportunity to practice philanthropy through discernment and to be part of distributing grants on behalf of all of PYM’s members.
[Read more…] about We Invite You to Join a PYM Granting Group!
Quaker Education Granting Group awards Post-Secondary Education Grants!
At its June meeting, PYM’s Quaker Education Granting Group met for discernment and approved a total of $49,050 to eighteen students from the yearly meeting to support their post-secondary education. The granting group meets annually for discernment of these grants, and applications are due May 1st.
Friends’ interests are diverse! Grants will support students in their pursuits of medicine, clinical counseling, human rights, environmental science, and more. This is what Friends are studying:
Words of gratitude and excitement have poured in since we shared the news with grantees. One friend wrote, “Thank you so much!! This is such great news! I’ll share it immediately with my mom!!!!” Other Friends shared how their faith is with them on their journeys. One Friend wrote, “My Quaker upbringing has played an integral role in my passion for human rights law, and I am so appreciative of your support.” Another shared, “It means so much to me to be fortified by Quakers as I start this next chapter.”
Funds to support post-secondary education come from Mary Jeanes and Anne Townsend. The Mary Jeanes Fund was established in 1896 by the Jeanes family estate “to aid deserving young Friends to procure an education, also to assist them to obtain the necessary course to prepare them for teaching by loaning money without interest, to be returned by them as soon as able.” The Fund was minuted in 2013 to be entirely a grant fund. The Anne Townsend Grant Fund was established in 1896 by the estate of Anne P. Townsend to provide grants to PYM Friends securing an education in the field of “domestic, industrial or practical arts”.
If you feel led to participate in this work, either by applying for funds or serving on a granting group, please reach out to grants@pym.org to find out how to get involved, or learn more on the grants webpage.
Words of gratitude:
“I am so appreciative of PYM’s continued support.”
“My Quaker upbringing has played an integral role in my passion for human rights law, and I am so appreciative of your support.”
“It means so much to me to be fortified by Quakers as I start this next chapter.”
“Thank you so much!! This is such great news! I’ll share it immediately with my mom!!!!”
“Thank you so much for your continued support. It is much appreciated!”
“Omg!! Thank you so much!! You have no idea HOW much this means to me!!”
“Thank you, thank you!!!”
“Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful news with me. I am incredibly grateful for PYM’s support.”
