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Global Launch of AI-Powered Common Growth Fund to Support Social and Faith-Based Enterprises

Rome: June 14, 2025 – IMMEDIATE RELEASE

A bold new initiative to support social and faith-based enterprises was officially launched this week at the Shape the World Summit 2025, held at the Pontifical University of Urbaniana in Vatican City. Download more detailed preliminary information and Operations.

In response and in loving memory of Pope Francis, who at the Vatican in 2017 called on the global Economy of Communion to change the rules of the socio-economic system, Consulus, Religious Freedom & Business Foundation, and the FoRB Foundation of the United Kingdom announced the launch of the AI-Powered Common Growth Fund.

This innovative initiative seeks to raise 100 million USD to provide capital to social enterprises through a merit-based, AI-powered platform also known as ComGrowAI. Using technology to quickly evaluate enterprises based on governance, business model, impact, and capital needs, the fund ensures that support goes to those who can make the greatest difference, efficiently and at lower cost.

The fund is built on two key pillars:

1. 1. The Faith-Friendly REDI Workplace Index to ensure enterprises are open to people’s deeply held faith identities at work.
2.  2. The 7 Impact Measurements inspired by the principles of the Economy of Communion, ensuring holistic evaluation of purpose, people, planet, and shared prosperity.

The launch was witnessed by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, underscoring the initiative’s alignment with Catholic social values and the broader vision of the Jubilee Year of Hope.

“This is our most impactful response to the late Pope Francis who called us in the global economy of communion to change the rules of the social-economic system. Too many faith-based social enterprises are not able to access large funds to truly make a difference, we are here to change that with this initiative” – Lawrence Chong, Group CEO, Consulus

A Collaborative Response to Emerging Challenges

The Common Growth Fund is part of the Shape the World Initiative, a long-term effort by Consulus to build inclusive economies through creative leadership and shared purpose. Together with Religious Freedom & Business Foundation and The FoRB Foundation, the fund seeks to address critical structural gaps, particularly in access to capital, technology, and cross-sector collaboration faced by social and faith-rooted enterprises.

“The common growth fund is about bringing hope and opportunity to challenged communities. Those who have experienced FoRB violations deserve opportunities to provide for families, to receive education and to contribute to their community. Faith or belief isn’t a problem – it is a solution.”

– Matthew Jones, Member Board of Trustees, The FoRB Foundation,

The ForB Foundation’s commitment reflects the growing consensus among values-based institutions that freedom of belief and inclusive economic opportunity must go hand in hand. This fund is not only about financial investment but about enabling systems that respect dignity and people’s deeply held faiths at work and in enterprise.

“As Pope Leo has challenged the world to shape the 4th industrial AI revolution for good, this includes making workplaces human-centered and faith-friendly. By including our Faith-Friendly REDI Workplace Index as part of the criteria for what we expect from those we invest in, we hope to help the future of work focus on people’s flourishing not only profit.”

– Dr Brian Grim, Founding President, Religious Freedom & Business Foundation (RFBF)

Sumreen Ahmad shared “Why We Need Faith Inclusion in the Workplace” at the Gala Awards and Dinner at the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation’s Dare to Overcome conference on May 21, 2025, at the Catholic University of America in Washington D.C.

Read her full remarks in the Interfaith America Magazine.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, workplaces faced unprecedented challenges, requiring them to become resilient and cultivate healthier, more honest cultures. Amidst this backdrop, Patrick Regan OBE embarked on a quest to rethink organisational wellbeing. Engaging in insightful conversations with leading experts across various disciplines, Patrick identified a pressing need for practical solutions that would empower organisations and their people. Brighter Days offers innovative training programs designed to address the evolving demands of the modern workplace.

With Patrick’s vision and expertise, Brighter Days has become a part of the solution, helping organisations and their people navigate uncertainty, develop resilience, and foster cultures that prioritise wellbeing and authenticity. We are reshaping the future of work, one brighter day at a time.

Patrick Regan OBE is an activist who is passionate about speaking on themes such as resilience, courage and wellbeing. He has founded two award-winning charities; XLP, a Schools and Community Charity which he ran for 22 years and pioneered Kintsugi Hope which has Wellbeing Groups all over the UK to help people in the area of their mental health. He is a mental health first aider, a campaigner on issues of social justice and was awarded an OBE for his services to young people by the late Queen Elizabeth II. He is an Honorary Fellow of the South Bank University for his contribution to Justice and Wellbeing and recently was awarded CEO of the year 2023 for mental health training.

Watch

Syed Rahim is a Senior Change Leader with an astute understanding of Operational Excellence. He is a Powerlisted, Corporate Belonging Champion.

CUBE Network is an umbrella network for Muslim Employee Resource Groups and Staff Faith Networks covering the interests of Muslim employees.

Introducing the new Workplace Insights on Spiritual Expression (WISE) Toolkit by Dr. Paul Lambert and Dr. Eva Witesman. The WISE Toolkit includes validated survey instruments designed to measure levels of faith-friendly climate and practices within a company—so you can connect those findings to measurable business outcomes.

• Quick Start Guide on WISE Toolkit
• Presentation on WISE Toolkit

Americans are more likely to encounter religious diversity in their workplaces than in any other sphere of life. In an era defined by polarization, successful leaders recognize this diversity as both a challenge and an opportunity: acknowledging that team members hold fundamentally different worldviews while identifying the shared values that strengthen their team culture.

Interfaith America CEO Adam Phillips and distinguished leaders from business and healthcare discussed this at Dare to Overcome, May 20-22, 2025. They shared powerful stories of interfaith leadership and proven strategies for transforming religious diversity into a competitive advantage through meaningful inclusion and cooperation.

Video: Report at Washington DC Dare to Overcome Conference, May 2025. 

By Brian Grim

Below is a summary of visiting 4 of the 10 schools in India that participated in our “Human Rights & Business Skills” secondary school curriculum pilot. We supplemented the curriculum, which is based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Indian Constitution, with business skills that reinforce and apply the human rights.

Roundtable (February 2025)

MIT World Peace University School of Education professors and student teachers kicked off the week with a roundtable demonstrating how they adapted the curriculum to the Indian context and piloted the curriculum (see the picture above). The professors include the department head Dr Shalini Tonpe, Asst Prof Rahul Landge and Asst Prof Priya Kale.

The Roundtable conference began with Asst Prof Rahul Landge, in the picture below, reading a comprehensive report on the implementation of human rights curriculum, which was piloted across different schools of Pune city. The report provided valuable insights into curriculum’s execution, identified opportunities for growth, highlighted the challenges encountered, and included series of accountable recommendations for enhancing future efforts. This review played a crucial role in assessing the curriculum impact its adaptability within diverse educational settings.

The human rights were very well received, and each of the 10 school principals were especially attracted to the practical business skills tied to higher values. Asst Prof Priya Kale, in the photo below, shows that while none of the schools has a business skills curriculum and only four are aware of such a curriculum, they all would like to implement such a curriculum in their schools.

The team’s student teachers demonstrated as part of the roundtable four of the 10 human rights lessons that they piloted in the fall: Freedom of Religion, Protection from Child Labor, Right to Marriage and Family, and Freedom from Bullying.

In the Schools

The class teacher at Anjuman Islam Peer Mohamed High School – Pune, an all-girls Muslim school (pictured below, bottom right), gave a ringing endorsement after the demonstration lesson, Freedom from Bullying. She and the chief school administrator invited us to implement the curriculum on an ongoing basis.

At a Punbe school for underprivileged students, the Bharati Vidyapeet School, the pilot was on the fundamental human right to Marriage and Family. The class was executed effectively, with a variety of engaging activities designed to raise awareness about this right. Students actively participated in role-playing exercises, group discussions and case studies, which helped them explore marriage laws, family dynamics and personal freedoms.

A highlight was the performance of one of the 10 original songs written by one of the Hindu student teachers. He partnered with a Christian student teacher (both pictured below) to write the songs to go with each of the 10 lessons.

At a prep school attached to MIT WPU, the pilot class on Religious Freedom was animated through “gamification” – using games and competition to motivate learning. In one game, teams competed to see who could find the most similarities between India’s multiple religions. My minor but really fun part was to come on stage and hand out the awards.

The final demonstration pilot was at a tutoring center giving evening classes for underprivileged students. The center is an act of love by a husband and wife team who offer daily coaching classes on English and math as well as other subjects as needed. The lesson was one that hits close to home for these students: Freedom from Bullying.

The Impact and Next Steps

Comments from students ranged from, “I didn’t realize we had universal rights at birth,” to coming up for strategies on how to combat discrimination.

We are working towards sustainability and expansion of the initiative across India and worldwide through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funding. Indian companies must spend a minimum of 2% of their average net profit over the preceding three years on CSR activities.

In recognition of the leadership making this pilot possible, we will be conferring the Global Business & Interfaith Peace Gold Medal to MIT-WPU’s Executive President, Dr. Rahul V. Karad (pictured below, center). The award will take place during our upcoming Dare to Overcome conference in Washington DC on May 20-22, 2025.

I made the announcement of this prestigious award during MIT-WPU’s Executive Board meeting. Also present was the founder, Revered Prof (Dr.) Vishwanath D. Karad. He established the university’s guiding principle based on the teachings of India’s Noble Son Swami Vivekananda, “The union of science and spirituality will bring peace and harmony to mankind.”

Leading figures from the worlds of AI and religious liberty – a senior fellow at Microsoft, co-lead of Accenture’s AI for Good initiative, an evangelical leader, and an AI researcher – explore the rapid development of AI and its growing, multifaceted impacts on religious liberty in the United States and abroad.

The discussion examines the risks AI poses to humanity, especially to religious pluralism and freedom of thought and practice, as well as the potential opportunities for AI tools to serve the flourishing of religious communities across the world.

The session also considered how religious leaders can engage more in the broader discourse around AI governance and development, what safeguards and mechanisms might help to prevent AI from being used to surveil or suppress religious minorities, and what responsibilities AI companies might have to consult with religious stakeholders when designing systems that may affect spiritual life or expression.

We are thrilled that the 6th National Faith@Work ERG Conference — cohosted by RFBF and the Busch School of Business at The Catholic University of America — has a fantastic group of sponsors from corporations and civil society partners, including Platinum Sponsor The Future of Life Institute.

Panellists:

– Suhail A. Khan – Suhail Khan serves as Director of External Affairs at Microsoft Corporation and a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Global Engagement, a Christian religious freedom think tank. Khan served as a policy advisor and counsel on Capitol Hill, and a senior political appointee with the Bush administration, where he served in the White House and as an advisor for two cabinet secretaries. He was awarded the U.S. DOT Secretary’s Team Award in 2005 and the Gold Medal for Outstanding Achievement in 2007. Khan was awarded the Young Conservative Coalition’s Buckley Award in 2010.

– Rev. Johnnie Moore – Rev. Moore is the founder and CEO of The KAIROS Company, now part of JDA Worldwide, and President of The Congress of Christian Leaders. He was twice a presidential appointee to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom serving during the Trump and Biden administrations. Previously, Rev. Moore was Senior Vice President and campus pastor at Liberty University, and Chief of Staff and Vice President of Faith Content for the United Artists Media Group in Hollywood.

– Max Tegmark, Ph.D. – Max Tegmark is an AI professor and researcher at MIT, and the founder and president of the Future of Life Institute (FLI) and the Improve the News Foundation. Tegmark’s most recent AI safety research focuses on mechanistic interpretability and provably safe AI. He is the author of over 300 publications as well as the New York Times bestsellers “Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence” and “Our Mathematical Universe: My Quest for the Ultimate Nature of Reality”. In 2023, Time Magazine named him one of the 100 Most Influential People in AI 2023.

– Will Jones (moderator) – Will is a Futures Program Associate at the Future of Life Institute (FLI), lead FLI’s work to amplifying faith perspectives on AI issues and opportunities and supporting religious leaders to steer AI in a better direction for their communities. Jones graduated with First Class Honours in English from the University of Cambridge.

MIT-WPU’s Dr. Rahul Karad Honoured with 2025 Global Business and Interfaith Peace Award at Prestigious International Forum in Washington, D.C

Washington, D.C : Dr. Rahul Vishwanath Karad, Executive president MIT World Peace University, was recently awarded the 2025 Global Business and Interfaith Peace Award at the Inaugural IRF Builders Forum & Roger Williams IRF Awards Dinner held in Washington, D.C.

Organized by the International Religious Freedom Secretariat, the two-day forum brought together individuals and institutions working to promote religious freedom and mutual understanding across communities and cultures. The award recognizes individuals who have made meaningful contributions at the intersection of business, education, and interfaith peacebuilding. Read full article.

Also see article by India Education Diary.

Brian Grim shares his calling to be a missionary when he was only 4-years-old and how that eventually led him to Catholicism, but also a life as an educator in the former Soviet Union, China, Central Asia, the Middle East, and Europe from 1982-2002. Eventually his research in economics reveals that religious freedom is good for business. Brian J. Grim, Ph. D. (Penn State), is the founding president of the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation and works with Fortune 500 companies to include religion and belief as part of their belonging initiatives.