Chairman Charles H. Cotros reported to the General Assembly at the 22nd Annual Leadership 100 Conference that with the unanimous approval of new grants by the Executive Committee the total of grants allocated by Leadership 100 since its founding in 1984 reached a record of $35.6 million, while membership increased to 907, toward the ultimate goal of 1,000 members by the 30th Anniversary of Leadership 100 in 2014. Included in the new membership total are fulfilled memberships, now 502 and Leadership 100 Partners and Junior Partners now 118.

The new grants to be distributed in 2013 total $1,369,592. The total of grants to be distributed in 2013, which includes ongoing grants, is $2,424,992. Leadership 100 has ongoing grant commitments of $1 million per year to Holy Cross/Hellenic College for scholarships to students in the Theological School preparing for the Priesthood and $50,000 as the last installment of a $250,000 commitment to the Office of Vocational Ministry.

The Endowment Fund portfolio also continued to rise, according to Cotros, reaching $75.9 million, with total assets reaching $89.4 million. “The link between our robust growth in membership and the increase in grants is demonstrated in the growth of our portfolio and assets, and is evidence of the vitality of Leadership 100 and a hopeful sign of our future in perpetuating our cherished values and heritage,” he said.

2013 GRANTS

Greek Orthodox Telecommunications – $270,000 to produce 26 half hour original programs – 13 Bible lessons and 13 talk shows – so that Orthodox Christians and viewers of other faiths can undergo more rigorous religious education about the Greek Orthodox faith in the United States and around the world.

GOA Department of Youth & Young Adult Ministries – Metropolis Camping Ministries - $270,000 to be distributed at $30,000 per Metropolis/Direct Archdiocesan District to be used for registrant financial assistance as first priority, but also for programming, supplies, transportation, and youth protection training and background checks for staff members.

GOA Center for Family Care Grant - $163,500 - over two years - for Men’s Ministry Group -$27,500 over two years to create a formal group for adult male members of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese; for Seminarian and Clergy Couple Care- $34,000 to support seminarian couples as they prepare to enter into a life of ministry and to clergy couples as they navigate the challenges of parish life; and for Renewal of Family Ministry - $102,000 to publish and disseminate new family ministry resources, ongoing development of current family ministry programs and resources, and the creation of a Family Ministry Flagship Program, identifying one lead parish in each Metropolis to streamline the Center for Family Care’s training programs.

Strategic Plan Grant: a cooperative effort between the Holy Eparchial Synod and the Executive Board of the Archdiocesan Council, under the leadership of His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios - $125,000 for 2013 with an option for the next two years pending review of first year progress report. The Strategic Plan Grant is designed to address the seven initiatives outlined by His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios in his 2012 Clergy-Laity Congress address: interfaith marriages, youth, vocation, disconnected Orthodox Christians, inter-Orthodox relationships, stewardship, and the preservation of Hellenism.

GOA Department of Stewardship, Outreach & Evangelism – Home Mission Parish Grant  - $101,400 to help establish new Greek Orthodox parishes and to help support small Greek Orthodox parishes striving to become self-sufficient during their critical first years of existence. Assigned priests are able to offer much-needed consistency in leadership during critical stages of parish formation and renewal, increasing the likelihood of a parish becoming self-sufficient.

Office of Inter-Orthodox, Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations - $180,000 ($90,000 a year for two years). The office seeks to “promote and strengthen the leadership of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America within the Orthodox Christian community of the United States and also in the Inter-Church and Interfaith arenas, the coordination of pan-Orthodox ministries, through the leadership of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, and in greater American society.”

GOA National Forum of Church Musicians – Enhancing the Church Music Ministry of Our Parishes - $75,000  to develop Archdiocesan-wide liturgical musical activities and resources to enhance the music ministries of individual parishes by drawing young Orthodox Christians more deeply into the faith by teaching them the hymns of the Church and involving them in liturgical worship; implementing a program to train current and new choir directors to better understand their liturgical role; and providing parishes with correct English texts of common hymns so they are more properly sung by youth, chanters, choirs and congregations.

GOA Office of Vocation and Ministry – $61,600 ($30,800/year for two years) to expand the successful CrossRoad Summer Institute, a ten-day program for sixty (60) high-achieving Orthodox Christian high school juniors and seniors to help cultivate the next generation of clergy and lay leaders for the Greek Orthodox Church and for American society.

GOA Department of Marriage and Family - The Intermarriage Challenge: Opportunity for Outreach - $54,400 and option of $60,000 next year pending review of first year progress report to create an outreach program for intermarried couples and their families predicated on the development and formation of an outreach committee in each local parish in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese.

GOA Department of Family and Ministry – $50,000 to create and publish an Orthodox Wedding and Family Bible designed in the Orthodox tradition, produced for purchase in the Orthodox marketplace and geared to Orthodox married couples and their families.

International Orthodox Christian Charities – Orthodox Community Action Network - $178,941 over two years ($82,870 in 2013 and $96,071 in 2014) to expand the first phase of the formal creation of a national Orthodox Community Action Network (Orthodox CAN!) to nurture and activate the Orthodox Christian value of philanthropy by promoting Orthodox Christian volunteerism across all age groups in the United States in  responding efficiently to natural and man-made disasters in the United States, effectively engaging in Orthodox social action initiatives in local communities, and preparing Orthodox Christian youth to serve.

Orthodox Christian Prison Ministry (OCPM) - $20,372 to provide pastoral care to hundreds of Orthodox Christian men and women in prison partly because of the lack of recognition of Orthodox Christianity as a legitimate faith in some areas but mostly because there is a shortage of priests trained in how to make visits to prisons, targeting 12 OCPM cities where there is a need for trained priests to attend to their flocks in prison.