About Us

The beginnings of ‘His Work’ stretch back to the early 60’s in Keren, Eritrea.  Early on, it involved construction projects, building schools, medical clinics,  and churches in Eritrea and Sudan.  From there it grew into multiple projects in other African countries, particularly in Kenya and Ethiopia.  

We are a small group of Catholic clergy and lay missioners who have lived and worked in Africa for decades doing 'His Work'.  The founders are a priest - Monsignor Ken Leone, a deacon - Hugh Downey, and a nurse - Marty Downey.  With more than 100 years combined missionary experience, these three came to understand the needs of the Church and her people from a unique perspective . . . from the priests and the rural communities which they serve.

His Work Foundation seeks out dedicated priests and religious in remote places in Africa.  They know and understand the needs of their people and the most effective ways to grow the Church in their areas.  These good men have given up much to live and serve in small villages where the needs are great and resources limited.  Through them we have learned how to best serve the needs of their people and communities.

Most foundations and funding agencies work from the 'top down', with people at the top determining what the needs are and how to fund them.  His Work Foundation works from the 'bottom up', seeking the advice and requests from priests in rural African parishes.  We respect that the people in the local churches and schools know best what their own needs are.  Our purpose is to help them with what they themselves believe is important for their churches and communities.

Foundation grants are accepted from churches and schools in rural areas of Africa, as these are often overlooked by larger funding agencies.  Every applicant is either personally known to the foundation directors or personally recommended by their local bishop, often times, both.  His Work Foundation offers advice and consultation based on experience and grants are usually small: $2,000 to $5,000.  This may seem small to many funding groups but are really huge to the rural African communities we have chosen to serve.

We are a 501 (c) (3) tax deductible organization and our operating costs are consistently below 15%  All contributions go to desperately needed programs and projects in Africa.

   The purpose of His Work Foundation is to provide practical needed assistance to the Church in Africa, and hopefully outside of Africa in the years to come. The assistance is in the form of advice, encouragement and importantly, financial support in the form of small grants (not over $5,000) to mostly rural parishes, churches and schools in remote parts of Africa. The goal is to assist church and education projects in areas which are mostly overlooked by other (mostly larger) foundations.  

Knowing the limited resources of many schools and churches in rural Africa we try to make the process as simple as possible. Grant applications are encouraged to be submitted on a single page of paper describing the need, grant amount requested and people who will benefit. Applications must have the approval of their bishop or religious superior who are known to us and are responsible for accountability. If additional information is required, the applicant will be asked for detail or clarification.

Grants are made by wire-transfer only to churches and schools, never to individuals. His Work Foundation has no operating expenses or overhead costs. All contributions pass directly to the project described in the grant application. In the United States, no one receives a salary, travel expenses or compensation in any form. All or most of the wire-transfer fees are waived by the bank we do business with.

Purposes of the grants vary widely and include: church construction and operation, catechist training, orphan care, education, church furnishings, public health, famine relief, school construction, roof repairs, elder care, well drilling, peace promotion and daily support for priests.  

The source of income for the foundation is from individual contributors, Catholic schools, and parish churches.

The beginning of “His Work” dates back to the mid 1960’s when two of the founders, Hugh and Marty Downey, lived in Eritrea. Learning of the needs of the Catholic Church they encouraged family and friends, both in Eritrea and in the United States, to partner with individual churches and support the needs of priests in rural areas with specific needs. The very first of these was in a grass-hut village named Schinara located near Keren in Eritrea. Through the 60’s and 70’s these small church projects ’sprinkled seeds’ which encouraged Hugh and Marty to further develop relationships between donors and beneficiaries in Eritrea and soon Sudan. During these years both Hugh and Marty served as CEO’s for an organization called Lalmba Association, a non-profit, charitable organization.

In the early 1980’s Hugh was ordained a permanent deacon in the Archdiocese of Denver and Marty changed profession from education to medicine and became a registered nurse. They brought their missionary endeavors to the attention of Father Ken Leone (later to be Monsignor Ken Leone) who traveled to Africa with them and likewise became actively involved in tying together the needs of churches and schools with donors in the United States. These efforts flourished in their own small way until 2010 when it became obvious that growth was taking place which required a permanent organizational structure.

In 2012 the three founders, Deacon Hugh, Marty and Monsignor Ken established a religious, non-profit organization and named it ‘His Work Foundation’ – the name indicating the purpose of the organization as one which is to accomplish God’s work in a small, meaningful and quiet manner.

Last year, His Work Foundation made grants to 36 priests for 47 different projects in 5 African nations of Kenya, Tanzania, Eritrea, Sudan, and Ethiopia amounting to $149,421.