Our Giving
With God’s leading, and the key global trends in view, First Fruit directs the foundation’s giving based on specific areas of focus.
Our Operating Principles explain how we work. We strive to make lasting and significant impact and highly value quality leaders in the Majority World. We make decisions that integrate compassion, strategy and good stewardship. We work generously, flexibly, and collaboratively with others. We are willing, thoughtful risk takers and are purposeful about developing a dynamic base of wisdom.
First Fruit no longer accepts Letters of Inquiry (LOI process). Only invited proposals will be accepted by the foundation.
First Fruit has selected the following areas of focus for the foundation’s giving:
Holistic Ministry
First Fruit is deeply concerned with all forms of human suffering and believes in responsible stewardship of the environment.
We work with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and faith-based organizations (FBOs) that engage faith communities as agents of transformation within their regions.
Our focus is to alleviate poverty and fight injustice through supporting a wide range of programs.
Leadership Development
In the developing world, Christian leaders face enormously complex and daunting challenges as they work towards community transformation.
Whether the context of leadership is rural or urban, grassroots or multi-national, church-based or in the business, public or social sectors, we want to support these leaders by offering the most applicable resources available.
We aim to create highly relevant material targeting areas such as development of ministry skills, technical skills, organizational leadership, and spiritual and character growth. Be it through a degree program, a nonformal program, or informal mentorship, we look to deliver these resources in a way that will be most effective for each situation.
Reaching the Less &
Least Reached
We believe that the Church that lives out the whole Gospel in word and deed is the hope of the world.
The eternal mandate of presenting the Gospel and making disciples cannot be lost, even if entailing great risk and cost, but it should be done in loving and culturally-appropriate ways.
We support creative initiatives that demonstrate and proclaim the love of Christ to communities that have limited Christian witness. Through whatever means possible, we encourage efforts to regularly gather together seekers and followers of Christ.
Where We Work
Since 1976, two key pillars have guided our calling:
We give to Christian organizations working in the Global South.
Our geographic scope for giving spans across 83 countries primarily in the 10/40 window, which is home to some of the largest unreached people groups in the world. Our foundation considers a variety of indicators (Human Development Index, population size, Gross National Income, and the percentage of Christians present in that country) to inform our giving strategies. Our giving also prioritizes regions where the Church is growing rapidly and needs critical resources of support.
Our Philosophy
Gail Ochs on Passions and Mentoring
Peter and Gail on a Multigenerational Legacy
Peter and Gail on Giving Together in Marriage