Illustration by Ellen Marello

Grants can energize people toward a common goal or outcome. For individual schools, grants can focus energy, minimize risk, and allow experimentation. They can give financially fragile schools a chance to take a breath, move beyond the daily pressures of survival, and dream of the future of their work and mission.

The structure of grants requires schools to regularly assess their work, monitor progress, and set measurable outcomes. These processes are immensely important for schools seeking to maintain or improve quality, strengthen sustainability, and adapt mission to the changing needs of constituents. Grants allow them to develop those skills on a small scale and apply them to the larger work of the organization.

Grants within large scale initiatives also allow an entire community – in our case member schools – to work together and learn from one another. The diversity of projects sparks ideas and expands perspective. Together, grantees can do adaptive work needed to learn their way into the future.

It’s important for these grant programs to continue embracing the diversity of schools within ATS and equip them to apply for and implement these grants. Together, we may create a more accessible, affordable, and sustainable future for theological education.