Q: What is the 0.7% all about?

A: About 40 years ago, development economists estimated that 0.7% of the gross national income (GNI) from each of the developed countries would make a significant contribution to worldwide poverty reduction by providing enough working capital for the poor countries to get out of their poverty traps and onto a healthy growing economic path. When the United Nations and the World Bank developed the Millennium Development Goals in 2000, the 0.7% was used to establish the targets for the 8 goals. In 2003 when the Episcopal Church formally endorsed the MDGs, it also challenged all dioceses and congregations to contribute 0.7% of their annual budgets toward achievement of the MDGs.

0.7% is presented by Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation as a first step, a symbol, a doorway.

A first step - Even the poorest among us live in greater wealth than the one-sixth of the world's population who live on less than $1 a day. Giving 0.7% of our income is within everyone's reach because it's proportional. It might require some sacrifice, but it truly is the least we can do - less than 1% of what we have to lift people out of extreme poverty.

A symbol - Anyone can sign a petition. Anyone can hold an opinion or read a pamphlet. In our society we value things with our money. Giving even as small an amount as 0.7% to work that supports the MDGs represents our tangible commitment to this mission. It also gives us moral standing to tell our nation's leaders that our nation should do the same.

A doorway - Giving 0.7% is not just about writing a check. It's about building a relationship. EGR encourages people to use their 0.7% gift as an opportunity to discern where they fit into God's mission of global reconciliation - as an opportunity to build relationship with other people and organizations who are making the MDGs a reality. At its best, the 0.7% gift is more than a check but a doorway to a relationship that will bear fruit long after the money is spent.

Q: How do I calculate 0.7% of my income?

A: Multiply your income amount by .007. Below is a handy calculation chart that uses rounded income figures.

Q: How much will the MDGs cost?

A: Approximately $100 billion a year until 2015. That's a lot of money. But remember, says the Rev. Mike Kinman, Executive Director of Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation, "budgets are moral documents -- they reflect our priorities, and as citizens we are responsible for how elected leaders decide to spend our tax dollars. The 2005 U.S. budget was $2.3 trillion, and only $4.1 billion went for development aid to all of Sub-Saharan Africa."

And consider this: If Christians and churches themselves are giving 0.7% toward achievement of the MDGs, we must also have the integrity to demand that our government do likewise. While the campaign calls for a 0.7% contribution by dioceses, parishes and individuals is a good start to eradicating poverty and lack around the world, it will take funding from federal, state and local government to finish the job.

Here's what Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori had to say about the issue while addressing the convention of the Diocese of East Tennessee in February of 2007: "Giving by members of this church is an essential and prophetic act, one that challenges others, especially governments, to join in the work. But the MDGs can only be met by governmental generosity, and it will be here that the next of the MDGs is going to have to focus. You and I as Episcopalians, and all the other like-minded folks we can muster, of whatever faith or denomination or none, are going to have to lobby our government to raise the level of aid we give to 1 percent of the annual budget."