Membership in PCP

Who are pcp Members?

PCP Members are Christians,

    those professing a personal faith in Christ.

Our members come from all corners of Christian orthodoxy. We are nondenominational and broadly evangelical. Our only requirement is that our members follow Jesus as Lord.

 

PCP members are professional grantmakers,

    those hired or entrusted to do the work of making grants to nonprofits and NGOs.

Our members’ primary responsibility is grantmaking, whether or not they are paid for this work. For most PCP members, this is their full-time responsibility. Some members wear more than one professional hat or have roles that involve things other than grantmaking, but we expect grantmaking to generally comprise at least 50 percent of their responsibilities.

PCP members are typically hired or entrusted by a foundation, another grantmaking entity, or an individual family with its own corpus. This means that those who consult for foundations, serve in multi-family offices, or work in other grantmaking arrangements that do not carry a responsibility to a single entity usually will not qualify for PCP membership.

 

PCP members are Kingdom workers,

    those who direct funds to Christian nonprofit organizations and causes.

Our members make grants in diverse geographies, pursuing diverse causes and using diverse methods. What we share is a longing to bring the fullness of Christ’s hope and healing to the broken places of the world. We expect that PCP members’ portfolios will include at least one grantee whose work is explicitly Christian in nature.

 

PCP members are peers and colleagues,

    those who share a unique, dual-facing professional philanthropic role.

Our members focus externally on forming and cultivating relationships with grantees. They seek and identify new grant prospects, assess the strengths of prospective grantees, support grantees throughout the lifecycle of a grant, and evaluate the success of grants.

Our members also focus internally on making grant recommendations to their boards and/or principals. They typically do not sit in final decision-making seats and do not have the ability to approve grants on their own. Generally speaking, PCP members are executive directors and program officers at foundations, but it is the grantmaking role, and not the title or organizational structure, that is the key qualifier.

Our members’ philanthropic work occupies this dual role.

Who can become a PCP Member?

Qualifications

We are delighted to welcome anyone who meets the criteria outlined above as a PCP member. Determining eligibility will require learning about an applicant’s work and role, and thus decisions are made on an individual basis.

The world of philanthropy is vast, and within it there are many meaningful ways to resource and support the incredible work done all over the world to tangibly love (philos) people (anthropos). We believe that these myriad expressions and roles of philanthropy are invaluable, and we hope to see more and more of them flourish. At the same time, we believe that what PCP uniquely offers to members is a community of peers who share similar roles and, thus, similar challenges, questions, and opportunities.

As a general rule, our membership requirements mean that we consider those working in the following contexts to be outside the scope of PCP’s membership:

  • Consultants
  • Philanthropy advisors working through multi-family offices
  • Other arrangements through which the individual or their employer seeks new clients or offers paid services for which PCP members could be customers
  • Foundation principals or trustees acting on grant recommendations, unless serving in a staff role and required to bring grant recommendations to a full board for approval
  • Those managing DAFs
  • Those doing grantmaking on behalf of churches or through a church-based foundation
  • Managers or employees of community foundations
  • Those working at operating foundations that primarily run their own programs
  • Those managing single-family offices, unless grantmaking comprises at least 50% of their time

At the same time, we understand that there are nuances in the structures around grantmaking, and will consider exceptions to these general rules on a case-by-case basis. It is ultimately a person’s alignment with what our community is and who it is for that is the key qualifier, and we welcome inquiries from those who believe they align despite working in one of the above professional arrangements.

 

Individuals, not Institutions

PCP members must be Christians, but there is no requirement that they work for faith-based organizations. While most of our members do work for Christian foundations, we have members who work for secular foundations or other grantmaking organizations.

Partly because of this, membership in PCP is offered to individuals, not to organizations. Each person at a given foundation or organization who wishes to become a PCP member must apply for membership individually. This also means that membership does not transfer from one person to another.

How does one become a PCP member?

Application Process

After reviewing the membership criteria above, we invite anyone who believes they are a fit for PCP and is interested in joining to apply for membership. To do so:

  1. Contact PCP to let us know of your interest. A staff member will reach out to schedule a call so we can start getting to know you and have an initial conversation about your fit for membership.
  2. As appropriate, after that call we’ll invite you to complete our membership application.
  3. Once we receive your application, our membership committee will review it and, when appropriate, forward it to PCP’s board for consideration and approval.
  4. You should hear back from us regarding your application within a few weeks. If travel or event schedules are likely to delay consideration of your application, we’ll let you know.

 

Membership Costs

There is no cost associated with becoming a PCP member. We don't have a membership fee, and we don't charge for access to our content, services, or online events. As much as possible, we want PCP offerings to be available to all our members, rather than available only to those who can afford to pay. Members are responsible for their own travel expenses and registration fees for in-person events.

So how do we keep the lights on? PCP is supported by the generosity of its members and their foundations. We simply ask, once you have joined our community and experienced its value, that you encourage your foundation to contribute generously, whatever that looks like in your context.

 

Five Essential Characteristics of PCP

We are guided in our efforts by the following essential characteristics:

  1. We build trusted relationships with one another. These connections are at the core of what we do.
  2. Our community is a safe environment. PCP is always a “pitch-free zone.”
  3. We value and seek multifaceted diversity within our membership.
  4. Our community and work are faith-inspired. We are believers in Jesus Christ, and grant-makers to Christian organizations and causes.
  5. We are peers and practitioners, professionals entrusted with the work of making grants.