HISTORY

A Brief History of the Philanthropy Forum and the Christian Science Nursing Collaborative

by Bruce Jeffrey, March 28, 2022

Following a conference on Christian Science nursing at The Mother Church in February of 2014, a series of meetings of donors to Christian Science nursing took place.  From 2015 through 2022, these donors have met at least once annually to consider how they might better support Christian Science nursing.

At the second conference in 2016, this group of donors named itself the Christian Science Nursing Philanthropy Forum, or Philanthropy Forum or PhilFo.  The PhilFo Steering Committee was formed to give oversight.  At the conference, the PhilFo agreed to support the idea of a national fund to support Christian Science nursing.  After a period of research, a subgroup asked The Principle Foundation to launch such a fund.  The National Fund for Christian Science Nursing opened in April 2017. 

Also in 2017, the Association of Organizations for Christian Science Nursing (AOCSN) Executive Committee (EC) met with the PhilFo Steering Committee to see if collaboration might offer new ways to support Christian Science nursing.  Shortly after, the Christian Science Nursing Network (CSNN) and the Nursing Activities department at The Mother Church joined these meetings.  These four organizations and their members began referring to this collective effort as the Christian Science Nursing Collaborative or simply the Collaborative. 

The Collaborative created the Collaborative Coordinating Committee (C3) to help organize and oversee its work. (info@csncollaborative.org)

From the beginning, the annual conferences of the PhilFo and the Collaborative focused on identifying issues that needed a collaborative approach to solve.  With each problem identified, they formed a Working Group.  For more information on these, go to www.csncollaborative.org.

In 2017, the Calling and Career Working Group commissioned a research project to determine what factors encouraged and what factors hindered individuals becoming Christian Science nurses.  Several Working Groups formed to seek solutions for the factors identified in this research project.

In late 2017 and early 2018, four conferences on Christian Science nursing took place at The Mother Church, the first collaborative conference, the Philanthropy Forum and AOCSN.  Each of these conferences identified a set of priorities for supporting Christian Science nursing.  Five of these priorities were identified at all four conferences.  Those priorities have been recently restated and updated by the C3.

Currently we have the following active initiatives focused on those five priorities:

·       Valuing CS nurses – Self-employed

·       Valuing CS nurses – Organizations

·       Continuing Education

·       Training Accessibility and Affordability

·       International Fund for Christian Science Nursing

·       Caring for Christian Scientists: RiperYears.org and the Call Center

·       Leadership and Management

·       Youth Action Committee

·       Communities of Christian Caring