Joint Learning Initiative Announces Plans for Orderly Closure, with Commitment to Preserving Its Legacy – Full Statement
October 2026
The Joint Learning Initiative on Faith & Local Communities (JLI) announced that its Board of Directors has made the difficult decision to initiate an orderly wind-down and closure of the organisation, with active operations expected to conclude on October 31, 2026.
The decision follows an extensive strategic review and sustained efforts to identify a financially sustainable future for JLI. While several partners expressed willingness to provide some level of continued or additional support, JLI faced an immediate shortage of confirmed funding to sustain operations beyond October and no clear path to long term financial viability.
The Board considered the organisation’s financial position, the risks associated with continued operations, and possible alternative organisational arrangements. Ultimately, none offered a sufficiently certain and financially viable basis on which JLI could responsibly continue its operations.
We recognise that this announcement will be disappointing for the many colleagues, partners and supporters who have invested their time, expertise and commitment in JLI’s work.
Since its founding, JLI has played an important role in advancing research, evidence based learning, and collaboration on the contributions of faith actors to humanitarian action, international development, and peacebuilding. Through its research initiatives, Learning Hubs, Regional Hubs, and extensive network of partners, JLI has helped connect researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and faith-based organisations across geographic, institutional, and religious boundaries.
While JLI’s organisational life is coming to an end, its mission and contributions remain profoundly relevant. The Board is committed to seeking ways to preserve the knowledge and resources developed through JLI’s work, wherever practicable, so that they may continue to benefit the wider community.
Planning is underway to explore the creation of a publicly accessible digital archive of JLI’s research, publications, and other knowledge products. JLI is also considering how the networks and relationships fostered through its work might be sustained or carried forward through future partnerships and initiatives. The Board will oversee these arrangements as part of the close-out process.
The Board wishes to express its deep appreciation to JLI’s leadership and staff, past and present, whose dedication, creativity and commitment have been central to JLI’s achievements. It also recognises the considerable efforts undertaken by the current team to sustain JLI’s work, explore possible futures, and support its partners and wider community during this difficult period.
We are equally grateful to the many organisations and individuals who have contributed to JLI’s work over the years. We are especially grateful to Episcopal Relief & Development, whose support as JLI’s Strategic Operating Partner has been instrumental in sustaining the organisation through a particularly challenging period, and which is working with JLI to support an orderly transition.
Although this is not the outcome any of us had hoped for, we believe that JLI’s lasting contribution lies not only in the institution itself but in the knowledge it has generated, the relationships it has fostered, and the wider community it has helped build.
While active operations are expected to conclude on October 31, the necessary legal, financial and administrative close-out processes will continue beyond that date. The Board is committed to ensuring that these arrangements are undertaken responsibly, with due regard for existing obligations and the preservation of JLI’s legacy.
As the close-out process proceeds, JLI will provide further information about arrangements to preserve its work and make its resources accessible wherever possible.
The closure of JLI marks the end of an important organisational chapter, but not the end of the ideas, relationships, and shared commitments that have defined its work.
With gratitude,
The JLI Board
