Tuesday, September 19, 2006

The Gnosis Foundation

In a comment JP suggested having a general Gnostic fund of some sort. This is already in the plans, though not in the works. The Gnosis Foundation is intended to be such a fund, one that can provide direct support in ways that are outside the purview of the Gnosis Institute. The notion is to be able to award grants to aid in starting up services and aiding with expenses for an initial period, providing some general grants by application, aiding with emergencies, and providing scholarships for travel expenses related to education and services.

The reason this is “in the plans not in the works” is that it takes money to give money. When the Institute is up and running, we can start the Gnosis Foundation as an Institute project or a set of related projects, though it may need to become a separate legal entity. The money and governance will be kept separate. There will be a great deal of consideration and work required to set up the governance and dispersal of such funds. And yes, the amounts will probably be small. But this is something that a great deal of thought has gone into, the need has been seen, and there is a solution on the horizon.

I will write more on this later, but I wanted to let people know that it was in the plans, and get some initial reactions.

1 comment:

Fr. Troy Pierce said...

The Gnosis Institute is not denominational, and the Foundation would not be either. Grants for service projects for Gnostics comes up on issues of liturgical/spiritual services, and those can hit the inter-church politics barrier—beyond which nothing passes. That is one of the issues that will need to be worked out, either at the level of governance, or if necessary through dedicating donations in some way. Yet I think the model of the Institute can shape the Foundation. Serving individuals and awarding grants on individual bases, and using direct donations to projects.

As far as looking for potential donors and grants go, it sounds great. I'm just one man working more than full-time, so if it is left to me I don't know when it may happen. Also, soliciting donations is not my forte, obviously, or I'd have more than one set of candles left. ;)

PS: Any grant money for a Psychology PhD? Just wishing out loud.