Three pathways
Find where you stand in the work.
Ministries receive. Givers supply. Owners sell. Each has a different question, so each has its own page below.
For ministries and their parishioners
A more reliable source than the weekly offering.
Northward Group invites unincorporated Faith Based Organization ministries to become Ministry Members, and to share in the net cash flow of real estate held by our F.B.O. Integrated Auxiliary Irrevocable Trusts.
Your ministry keeps its calling, its leadership and its mission field. What changes is where part of the funding comes from: rent paid by tenants of well-kept homes and commercial buildings, rather than a second and third appeal to the same faithful people.
The real estate does not need to be in your community. A property in one city can fund a food ministry in another country.
Ask about Ministry Membership
Three funding streams
A sustainable ministry draws from more than one well.
Donations
Tithes and offerings. Valuable and worthy, but unpredictable, and lowest exactly when a community is hurting most.
Related earned revenue
Education, counseling and job training for people in need. Revenue that comes from carrying out the mission itself.
Passive cash flow
Rents from real estate held in trust and owned free and clear. This is the stream Northward Group exists to build for its Ministry Members.
How a ministry takes part
From first conversation to first grant.
Tell us about your ministry
Your mission, where you serve, and how you are organized. One short form starts it.
Confirm eligibility
Ministry Members are churches and F.B.O. Integrated Auxiliary ministries within Section 508(c)(1)(A), or other eligible charitable ministries.
Join and invite
Your ministry is designated as a Ministry Member. Your parishioners may give toward the real estate portfolio if they are moved to.
Receive grants
Net cash flow is granted under a written grant agreement, and your ministry reports how the funds served the mission.
For parishioners
When you give to Northward Group for this cause, your gift is not spent in a week. It is gathered with gifts from believers around the world and used to buy real estate that a trust owns whole.
The Ministry Member where you attend service shares in the net cash flow of that portfolio, and puts it to work in your community.
Where the cash flow goes. Churches and their integrated auxiliaries are mandatorily excepted, under 26 U.S.C. § 508(c)(1)(A), from applying for recognition of tax exemption. The proceeds of the trusts' rent rolls remain wholly dedicated to ministry: expansion, mission objectives and good works. They are granted to ministries, never paid to individual givers.
What steady cash flow makes possible
Pure religion, practiced every month.
In our teaching example, one community of 400 homes produces about $4.85 million a year for mission. This is one way that could be put to work.
| Mission use | What it does | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Family support | 300 families in affordable homes, about $400 a month each | $1,440,000 |
| Orphans and widows | Direct care for those who are alone | $1,000,000 |
| Grants and growth | Granted to other ministries, or used to grow the portfolio | $800,000 |
| Work and learning | Enterprise center, community farm and literacy programs | $750,000 |
| House of worship | Pastoral counsel, family care, worship and fellowship | $500,000 |
| Home upkeep | Keeping the affordable homes in excellent repair | $360,000 |
| Total | From a single property, illustrative | $4,850,000 |
Bring your ministry into the network.
Tell us where you serve. We will reply with the membership steps and what to prepare.
For donors and corporations
The gift that keeps on giving.
Most charitable gifts are spent once. A gift to Northward Group buys part of a building that capitally provides for ministry every month, for as long as the trust holds it.
Our approach will feel familiar to anyone who has used a donor-advised fund. You give. Northward Group takes exclusive legal control of the gift. You keep the privilege of recommending which ministries the resulting cash flow should serve, including ministries in your own community.
Ask about giving
How a gift travels
From your hand to a ministry's mission field.
Cash, securities or property
Gifts may be cash, publicly traded securities, real estate or closely held stock. Property gifts over $5,000 need a qualified appraisal.
Exclusive legal control
The gift is complete and irrevocable. You receive a written acknowledgment that says so.
Real estate, owned whole
Gifts are combined to purchase income-producing property into a designated F.B.O. Trust, with no debt on donor-funded acquisitions.
Grants of net cash flow
You may recommend ministries. Each year you receive an impact report showing what the portfolio earned and where it went.
Plain terms
What a giver receives, and what a giver does not.
You receive
- A written acknowledgment of your gift for your tax records
- A charitable deduction, within the limits that apply to you
- The privilege of recommending ministry grantees
- An annual impact report
You do not receive
- Ownership of, or a share in, any property or trust
- Cash flow, distributions, loans or any financial return
May I worship at a ministry that receives grants? Yes. A giver may be a member parishioner of a Ministry Member, and may recommend that ministry. The grants fund the ministry's mission in the community. They do not pass to the giver, the giver's family or the giver's business.
That line is what keeps a gift a gift. If cash flow returned to a donor, the gift would become an investment, the deduction would be lost, and the fund would face penalties. We hold the line so that your generosity, and the ministries it serves, stay protected.
A deduction lowers the cost of giving. It never makes a gift profitable. Please confirm your own figures with your tax advisor.
For corporate givers
The corporate deduction, plainly.
A worked example for a corporation with $50 million of taxable income that gives $5 million.
| Taxable income | $50,000,000 |
|---|---|
| Charitable gift | $5,000,000 |
| Not deductible: first 1% of taxable income (from 2026) | − $500,000 |
| Deductible amount | $4,500,000 |
| Federal tax saved at 21% | $945,000 |
| Net cost of a $5,000,000 gift | $4,055,000 |
Three rules shape every corporate gift
- Deductions in a year are capped at 10% of taxable income. The excess carries forward for up to five years.
- Beginning in 2026, gifts up to 1% of taxable income are not deductible.
- Every gift needs a written acknowledgment, and property gifts over $5,000 need a qualified appraisal.
Corporate givers may also ask that Ministry Members serve the communities where their people live and work.
For Capital Providers
When your capacity is larger than a gift.
Some benefactors can do more than give. Capital Providers lend the strength of their balance sheet so the trusts can acquire properties of $25 million and above.
A Capital Provider arranges collateral, such as a cash-backed standby letter of credit issued bank to bank, that supports a line of credit for an acquisition. The collateral remains the Capital Provider's own, and is released when the line is retired.
- Used alongside charitable gifts, so larger properties come within reach
- Every arrangement is documented at fair value and reviewed by counsel
- The issuing bank, the lender and the repayment plan are independently verified before any instrument is issued
- A Capital Provider does not act as a donor-advisor on grants
This is a private conversation. Capital Provider participation is arranged case by case, with your counsel and your bank at the table.
Give toward a building that gives back to ministry.
Tell us what you are considering. We will reply with next steps and the acknowledgment you can expect.
For property owners and developers
A buyer that offers more than your asking price.
Northward Group's trusts acquire multiunit residential and commercial real estate valued at $25 million or more. Our policy is to offer a purchase price generally above market value, in exchange for agreed payment terms.
We buy the whole property into a single F.B.O. Trust. There is no syndicate to assemble and no fund committee to wait on. And what you built keeps working after you sell: its rent funds ministry.
Present a property
What we acquire
Income-producing property, with or without an existing mortgage.
Multiunit residential
Workforce and market-rate apartment communities, especially in walkable live, work, play neighborhoods.
Office and strip retail
Gross, modified gross or triple net leases, underwritten on tenant credit and lease term.
Triple net retail centers
Regional and community centers where tenants carry taxes, insurance and maintenance.
Hotels and inns
We acquire the land and building only. A third-party operator leases and runs the business.
How the price is paid
Two purchase plans, shown on a $50 million asking price.
The premium is your consideration for accepting the terms. Which plan applies depends on the capital committed to the acquisition.
| Standard plan | Accelerated plan | |
|---|---|---|
| Asking price | $50,000,000 | $50,000,000 |
| Our offer | $55,000,000 | $55,000,000 |
| Paid to you at funding | $13,750,000 (25%) | $55,000,000 (100%) |
| Balance | $41,250,000, paid by month 24 | None |
| Your stake while a balance is owed | 50% of the trust's Beneficial Interest Units, returned when you are paid in full | Not needed. Units are relinquished at closing. |
| Title | Conveyed by Warranty Deed at closing | Conveyed by Warranty Deed at closing |
| Existing mortgage | Paid off at closing, release recorded with the deed | Paid off at closing from your proceeds |
Illustrative figures. Actual price and terms are set in the letter of intent and the purchase agreement for each property.
The path to closing
About ninety days from letter of intent to deed.
- About 90 days out
Letter of intent
Price, payment schedule and your interim stake are set out in writing.
- Days 90 to 45
Due diligence
Title commitment, survey, environmental report and an audit of the rent roll.
- About 45 days out
Agreements signed
Purchase agreement, trust agreement and Beneficial Interest Unit terms.
- About 30 days out
Financing confirmed
Acquisition capital is issued and verified bank to bank before closing is scheduled.
- Closing
Deed recorded, payment released
Any existing mortgage is paid off, the Warranty Deed is recorded, and your payment at funding is released.
Questions a well-advised seller asks
Why would you pay above asking?
Because under the standard plan you receive part of the price at closing and the balance over up to 24 months. The premium pays you for that.
What protects me after title moves?
You hold half of the trust's Beneficial Interest Units until you are paid in full, and the payment schedule and default remedy are written into the purchase agreement.
How will I know the plan is on track?
We offer an independent administrator and regular written reporting to the seller while any balance is outstanding.
What about tax on the sale?
Installment sale treatment may defer part of the gain. Confirm that with your own tax counsel before you sign.
To start a review, have ready: the current rent roll, a trailing twelve-month operating statement, any mortgage payoff figure, and your asking price.
Have a property or portfolio to present?
Send the basics. Our acquisitions team will reply and tell you whether it fits.