Locke Innovative Leaders Create a Giving Circle to Support Innovative Ministries

What if experienced ministry innovators pooled their generosity, wisdom, and relationships to help emerging leaders create transformative ministries and seize opportunities when they matter most?

That’s the vision behind the Locke Leaders Innovation Fund, a practitioner-led giving circle created by Locke Innovative Leaders who have spent years building courageous new forms of ministry in communities across the country. 

Together, they are creating a responsive layer of support, insight, and encouragement to cultivate the conditions for new leaders and opportunities for ministry to emerge and flourish.

Locke Innovative Leaders know from experience that emerging leaders often carry bold ideas for ministry but often lack the resources, support, or encouragement needed to take the next faithful step. Sometimes even a modest investment at the right moment can help a ministry begin — or help a leader keep going through challenging seasons.

As a donor-advised fund (DAF), the Locke Leaders Innovation Fund allows individuals to join a growing community of generosity, shared discernment, and investment in the future.

The fund will help nurture the next generation of courageous ministry leaders through small, catalytic grants. By utilizing a DAF, Locke Innovative Leaders have one giving account that positions them to best leverage their collective wisdom, networks, resources, and vision and invite others to join them.

The fund, managed by Wesleyan Impact Partners, allows Locke Innovative Leaders to recommend grants that help emerging leaders:

• pilot new creative ministry ideas 
• host community gatherings
• build and strengthen neighborhood collaborations 
•  provide breathing space for leaders to rest, renew, and sustain their call.

For Locke Innovative Leaders, the fund reflects something larger than financial support alone. It represents a living cycle of generosity — where leaders who were once encouraged and nurtured are now helping encourage and nurture others.

As one Locke Innovative Leader shared, the fund is “a giving circle where anyone can participate — even in small ways — helping nurture a culture of generosity that continues to grow.”

If you feel called to support these efforts or other ministries you care deeply about, we invite you to connect with Chief Philanthropy Officer Justin Gould. We would be honored to help you explore how your generosity can help courageous leaders launch new ministries, strengthen communities, and nurture hope for years to come.