Birthday Offering
Order a 2012 Birthday Offering packet
Order
Visit the church store to order other promotional materials to help you celebrate the Birthday Offering or download free resources.
Download a Birthday Offering grant application in PDF format
Download a Birthday Offering grant application in Microsoft Word format
Give to the Birthday Offering
What Is the Birthday Offering?
Grant Recipients
History of the Birthday Offering
Birthday Offering Grant Process
Birthday Offering Application
Birthday Offering Resources
What is the Birthday Offering?
The Birthday Offering is a PW offering collected in the spring of each year to celebrate the blessings in the lives of Presbyterian Women. The offering funds up to five projects that are not included in ongoing General Assembly mission support, such as agricultural development, child care, community organization, criminal justice, drug counseling, economic justice, elderly care, employment training, homelessness, literacy, violence and women’s concerns.
PW in the Congregation Remittance Form
PW in the Congregations (PWCs) typically collect the Birthday Offering in the spring and dedicate their offerings at spring gatherings. No giving guidelines are suggested other than “give as you are blessed.” PWCs who collect the Offering should send their donation (as a check made payable to Treasurer of Presbyterian Women) with a PW Remittance Form to the treasurer of PW in the Presbytery.
Email Presbyterian Women to find out the name and address of your PWP treasurer.
Grant recipients
2012 Recipients
After reviewing 32 proposals, the Creative Ministries Offering Committee chose three projects to receive grants from the Birthday Offering. Gifts to the 2012 Birthday Offering will impact lives from Texas to Romania.
Circle of Friends: Celebrating Life, Inc.
Living Water for Girls
Peachtree City, Georgia
Circle of Friends: Celebrating Life, Inc. serves, empowers and equips women to help other women and youth. The organization’s newest program, Living Water for Girls, will rescue, rehabilitate and provide safe refuge for young American girls who are victims of sex trafficking and exploitation. Birthday Offering gifts will allow Living Water for Girls to offer their services on a self-contained campus, ensuring the safety of the girls. A garage will be converted into classrooms, staff offices, counseling space and a commercial kitchen (for culinary training). After a small chapel is constructed, it will house additional educational and counseling programs, as well as worship and Bible study.
Read a thank-you letter from Living Water for Girls/Circle of Friends.
New Opportunities for Romanian Orphaned Children (NOROC)
Gymnasium and Activity Center
Tulcea, Romania
New Opportunities for Romanian Orphaned Children (NOROC) is a program that shares God’s love and blessings with children who have been orphaned. NOROC facilitates the spiritual, social, physical and emotional development of these vulnerable children. The organization offers these supports to various racial and ethnic groups, including a large Roma population. After the state-owned gym used by NOROC was repurposed, NOROC had no facility for team activities and physical play. A Birthday Offering grant will help make possible the purchase of land and the construction of a gymnasium/activity center for the roughly 400 children served by NOROC.
Read a thank-you letter from NOROC.
Synod of the Sun
Solar Under the Sun (SUTS)
Irving, Texas
Solar Under the Sun (SUTS) trains lay people to lead teams in the installation of solar-powered energy systems. The systems provide clean, inexpensive and long-lasting energy in low-income communities, supplying power for health, education and communications services. Half of the Birthday Offering grant will be used to install a variety of solar panel equipment at Ferncliff Camp in Arkansas, where church mission teams can be trained on installation techniques through a lens of mission partnership. The other half of the grant will match funds for the purchase of solar panels and related hardware for projects in Haiti, where SUTS currently focuses.
Read a thank-you letter from Solar Under the Sun/Synod of the Sun.
Watch the Birthday offering video
This eleven-minute video provides an overview of the 2012 Birthday Offering. See images of the three projects—Circle of Friends/Living Water for Girls (Georgia), New Opportunities for Romanian Orphaned Children (Romania) and Synod of the Sun/Solar Under the Sun (Texas) funded by the 2012 Offering—and learn about how you can support the Offering.
You may also watch the video in Spanish.
History of the Birthday Offering
In 1922, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Woman’s Auxiliary (PCUS), it was decided that an offering should be made for a definite cause. That same year, Hallie Paxson Winsborough, superintendent of women’s work, visited Miss Dowd’s School for Girls in Kochi, Japan. Realizing the school’s needs, she challenged members of the Women’s Auxiliary to give one penny for each year of their life as a birthday gift to the school. Over the years, that tradition has become known as the Birthday Offering. Presbyterian Women have given more than $29 million in support of mission projects throughout the world.
Birthday Offering grant process
Birthday Offering grants range from $200,000 to $750,000. Grant requests come from a variety of sources including PC(USA) governing bodies, health agencies, overseas churches, ecumenical councils, community groups, educational institutions and church related groups. Projects must meet the criteria established by Presbyterian Women.
Download a Birthday Offering grant application in PDF format
Download a Birthday Offering grant application in Microsoft Word format.
Applications for grants must be submitted by May 15. The Creative Ministries Offering Committee of Presbyterian Women meets in the fall to review applications and make selections. Up to five projects will be selected for funding. Projects will be notified in November and will receive the first payment in October; second payment will be made by May 1 if the interim report is received by February 1.
Birthday Offering resources
Visit the church store for promotional materials and other resources to help you celebrate the Birthday Offering or download free resources.
Questions?
Email Presbyterian Women. For more information, see the January/February issue of Horizons each year.