How can we help impoverished people break free from the grip of poverty so they don’t have to rely on outside aid? Hope for Tomorrow programs are designed with this question in mind.

People living in extreme poverty might have the determination to work hard, but they need training, tools, business or farming opportunities, or a loan or scholarship. Simply put, Hope for Tomorrow projects help people earn more money and promote education and vocational training.

Microfinance

“Microfinance” is big word that means “a little financial help can go a long way.” Here’s how that plays out:

Scenario 1: For most of us in the Western world, if we needed to spend $300 to invest in growing our business, it wouldn’t be the end of the world—it’s a very, very small percent of our yearly income. But if you lived off less than $1.90 a day, and already didn’t have enough food, and already couldn’t pay for your kids to go to school, saving $300 may be an insurmountable challenge because, as soon as you have a little money in your hand, you have to spend it on the next most urgent thing needed for survival.

Scenario 2: We’re working with a church in a farming community where farmers have to sell their maize harvest for rock bottom prices. However, if they could grind that maize into flour, they could TRIPLE their profits.

No-brainer: let’s help the church and community get a grinding mill so they can have a business—a reliable source of income generation—and the farmers who come to them for grinding can make a lot more income too.

So, our microfinance programs provide opportunity for churches and individuals to get the boost that they need to take a step out of poverty.

We do this in various ways, including:

  • providing grants to finance microenterprise businesses such as maize mills, bakeries, beekeeping, water bottling, fruit pulping, oil presses
  • providing microloans for individuals
  • community savings groups
  • providing grants for churches

All these things can begin to increase a family’s financial assets, improve their livelihoods or help them get through a family crisis such as unexpected medical bills. Through these programs, families can get the starting capital needed to launch or boost income-generating activities that will help them meet basic needs like health, food, and school fees for their children.

Some of these group-oriented programs also put an emphasis on working together to invest in their communities, solve problems together, and to use some of their saved money to help community members in need.


Savings brings us together but we end up helping each other as a family. I am grateful for SFL because it has really changed my life.

—Remmy, a Savings for Life member in Kenya

Our work

URGENT NEED – HOPE FOR TODAY Five Kids—Five Reasons to Hope Marycruz. Meshach. Ben. Hertzley. Mukisa. They’re just names to you now, but over the next two months you’ll get to know them one by one. Five stories, five countries. You’ll get a glimpse into what it’s like growing up in a developing nation, the challenges they face and the goals they reach for. Ranging in age from an infant to a young adult, these five aren’t just part of a statistic—just 5 out of the 387 million children around the world living in poverty—they’re real people with likes and…
Bright Hope is an international Christian charity whose mission is to bring Hope to those living on less than $2 a day. We envision a world where under-resourced, local, in-country churches transform their communities and bring Hope to the extreme poor. What Is Charity in Christianity? Why is Charity Important in Christianity? How Do Christian Charities Help the Poor? Effective Charity Through Local Churches Around the World We have been engaging the local church around the world for more than 45 years in the global fight against extreme poverty in their communities. Each community within the countries we serve has…
Our Mission To bring Hope to the extreme poor (those living on less than $2 a day). Our Vision Bright Hope envisions a world where churches transform their communities by bringing Hope for today, tomorrow and eternity to the extreme poor, while becoming self-sustainable. We have been engaging the local church in the fight against global poverty in slums and rural communities for over 50 years. Each community we serve has its own unique needs. Yet, the one thing they all have in common is an established group of Christ-followers. These churches provide an infrastructure that, when engaged and carefully…

Agriculture & Animals

Let’s hear it for pig power! In a developing nation, giving someone the gift of a couple of pigs is handing them a small business opportunity with an ongoing—expandable—source of income and nutrition. The same goes for giving a family a flock of five or ten chickens.

In many rural areas where we work, small-scale farming is the main source of income and food for their families. Often, though, they lack knowledge, access to high-quality seeds, tools or irrigation equipment and techniques. They may have limited access to markets to sell their crops in as well.

For farming families, Bright Hope will provide:

  • training in farming and animal rearing
  • technical advice
  • starter seeds
  • animals
  • agricultural loans

Church and school farms are also supported to help provide nutrition and extra income for their programs and ministries.

*BONUS EXPONENTIAL IMPACT: In cases of starter seeds and animals there is a really cool payback system built in. After the first season of growing crops or raising animals, the recipient “pays back” a pre-determined amount of seeds or animals that are then given to a new family so they also can increase their livelihood and nutrition. Awesome. In supporting agriculture, we see increased food security, income, and longer-term livelihood development.

I really do not know how to express my joy; I am never usually a laughing person; but since I got my pigs I have been laughing. I feel so happy.

—Teddy, a single mother in Uganda

Our work

Eternal Hope Amid Grief: Alice’s Story
Alice, a mother from Mabo Kunda, Zambia, experienced an agony no parent should ever endure. She tragically lost her treasured eleven-year-old daughter. As grief overwhelmed her, Alice was plagued with the empty space her daughter once filled with joy. She had so many questions for God.    Alice describes her pain: “I felt a deep hole in my heart when my daughter died. I couldn’t come to terms with the fact that she was gone. I needed reasons why and where she had gone.”   As she searched for answers, she found refuge in the discipleship classes she had taken through…
Community: The Antidote to Isolation
Across the ages, Christian believers have grown and developed through engagement with community. We depend on one another for support, teaching, growth, and encouragement. New believers are instructed by the more experienced to press toward the goal of “Christlikeness.” But what about today? In a culture ever pushing for independence and self-identity, what is happening to the culture of discipleship that the Body has relied on for so long? A 2021 Barna study on discipleship provides some pretty harrowing statistics on the current state of the church. According to the study, 56% of Christians identified their spiritual life as “entirely…
Poor Mothers Face Great Danger
It’s May—a month to thank God for our moms. Mothers give us life, love, and the courage to face our fears.   But in Uganda, becoming a mother can be scary. In many cases, it can be deadly!    Nearly one out of 50 expecting moms in Uganda will die from pregnancy-related complications, most often because they give birth at home without sanitary equipment. With stats like these, it’s easy to understand why Charles and Desire, a young couple who were excited to start their life together, felt frightened when Desire got pregnant.    Would you like to help reduce the fear of expecting parents like…

Education

You know education is important… but just how important is it? Well, it’s been noted that, in developing countries, every extra year of schooling can increase a person’s future earnings by about 10%.

That’s a big deal when we’re talking about kids who know what it means to live off less than $1.90 a day.

But we also know it’s not just about getting kids to show up for school, it’s also making sure they’re getting a quality education in a safe environment. So, we try to keep kids in school, foster quality education, and support vocational skills in various ways:

For Teachers, Schools and the Community:

  • provide educational curriculum and supplies
  • teacher training and workshops
  • infrastructure improvements
  • stay in school campaigns that raise awareness on the importance of education
  • promote and organize PTA groups to increase parental involvement
  • promote school gardens for better food security in schools

For Students:

  • primary and secondary school scholarships –vocational scholarships
  • after school programs that provide food and homework help
  • “I Read a Book” literacy incentive program
  • peer-to-peer mentoring
  • life skills workshops for children
  • computer learning center

It’s thought that if all the students in low-income countries could attain basic reading skills, that about 170 million people could be lifted out of poverty—reducing the global rate by 12%! So, yeah, it’s that important… bring on the books!

I felt happy because it was my first time to pick and own a book of my choice, my parents don’t often buy me story books, I felt so happy because I love stories.

—Shariff, literacy program participant

Our work

Eternal Hope Amid Grief: Alice’s Story
Alice, a mother from Mabo Kunda, Zambia, experienced an agony no parent should ever endure. She tragically lost her treasured eleven-year-old daughter. As grief overwhelmed her, Alice was plagued with the empty space her daughter once filled with joy. She had so many questions for God.    Alice describes her pain: “I felt a deep hole in my heart when my daughter died. I couldn’t come to terms with the fact that she was gone. I needed reasons why and where she had gone.”   As she searched for answers, she found refuge in the discipleship classes she had taken through…
Community: The Antidote to Isolation
Across the ages, Christian believers have grown and developed through engagement with community. We depend on one another for support, teaching, growth, and encouragement. New believers are instructed by the more experienced to press toward the goal of “Christlikeness.” But what about today? In a culture ever pushing for independence and self-identity, what is happening to the culture of discipleship that the Body has relied on for so long? A 2021 Barna study on discipleship provides some pretty harrowing statistics on the current state of the church. According to the study, 56% of Christians identified their spiritual life as “entirely…
Poor Mothers Face Great Danger
It’s May—a month to thank God for our moms. Mothers give us life, love, and the courage to face our fears.   But in Uganda, becoming a mother can be scary. In many cases, it can be deadly!    Nearly one out of 50 expecting moms in Uganda will die from pregnancy-related complications, most often because they give birth at home without sanitary equipment. With stats like these, it’s easy to understand why Charles and Desire, a young couple who were excited to start their life together, felt frightened when Desire got pregnant.    Would you like to help reduce the fear of expecting parents like…

Stories of Hope and Transformation