These two numbers get tossed around quite a bit as we talk about the Millennium Development Goals. Where do they come from? What's the difference? How are the related? It's really pretty simple:

0.7% is the amount of rich nation's gross national income it would take to achieve the MDGs. In 1998, the Lambeth Conference asked all dioceses to fund international development at a minumum of this level of their budget. General Convention resolutions in 2000, 2003 and 2006 affirmed this and dioceses, congregations, individuals and our national structures have followed suit.

ONE is a national political advocacy campaign of which the Episcopal Church is a partner. The ask is an additional 1% of the U.S. budget for global poverty eradication ... as well as debt cancellation, trade reform and anti-corruption measures. This additional 1% ($24 billion) would get us halfway (0.35%) to 0.7%.
But they're both about much more...

0.7% giving is a beginning -- an entry point. It's a tangible, measurable commitment that speaks in the language our culture values, the language of our wealth. It also engages us in one of the paramount spiritual struggles of our society ... our relationship with our material wealth. Giving also provides an opportunity for education (where should we give?) and resources for common mission through avenues like companion diocese relationships. Our own giving also helps us speak with a louder voice when we engage our government -- because we're not asking them to do anything we aren't willing to do ourselves.

ONE is also more than just the 1% ask. It's a vision of a nation coming together as ONE, acting as ONE, speaking with ONE voice to end extreme poverty around the world.

0.7% and ONE go hand in hand -- and not just because the 1% ask gets us halfway to the 0.7% promise. They are part of the same movement. Part of our answer to the question: "What Can One Do?" at every level of our individual and common life. That's why EGR promotes both 0.7% giving and the ONE Campaign ... and prayer and education and the many other ways we incarnate God's mission of global reconciliation.

So sign the ONE Campaign pledge . But don't stop there. Commit yourself, your congregation and your diocese to a minimum of 0.7% giving. But don't stop there. Because both ONE and 0.7% are beginnings, not ends. The real joy comes in what we do next -- how we let our stewardship and our advocacy -- and our prayer and our study and every other part of our lives be vehicles of God's saving grace for this world, for this church, for every ONE.

Click below for:
More information about the ONE Campaign.

More information about ONE Episcopalian.

A FAQ about 0.7% giving

A joint statement from EGR, ERD and ONE Episcopalian