Project GREEN’s Pay-It-Forward (PIF) alliances are changing that. PIF is a partnership between Project GREEN and select churches and organizations in Kent County to provide fair alternatives to traditional payday loan stores. PIF is a repayable gift initiative that equips churches to use their benevolence fund program in a unique way. Traditionally, when someone approaches a church for emergency financial assistance and that assistance is granted, it’s considered a gift of help with no expectation of payback. What’s unique is that through PIF, that recipient is given the opportunity to pay back the church’s gift of assistance, and so much more.
Pay-It-Forward for Churches
Too many people use payday loans because they feel they have no better alternative.
Here's how it works:
- Participant goes to PG partner church for financial help; agrees to PIF
- Church makes payment to the participant’s vendor
- Participant sets repayment and savings goals with church mentor
- Participant attends/completes Project GREEN’s Money Talk Workshop
- Participant makes payments to church
- Participant continues saving up to $250 in outside bank/credit union account
- Church makes matching savings deposit of $250
- Participant has $500 in savings account!
This new savings account will allow the participant to respond to his/her own financial needs more easily in the future. Through PIF, Project GREEN and our church partners help move Kent County families from asset-reducing to asset-building products and practices.
In turn, households who are served by Pay-It-Forward:
- Avoid payday lending
- Reduce the amount of fees they pay for emergency financial services
- Increase their savings and create an emergency fund
- Build their financial management capabilities
