Friends,

I pray that you and your loved ones are well.

Thanks to your partnership, we have the chance to fully win campaigns we've worked on for nearly 25 years. While our strategic efforts make significant gains every year - we are in a moment where world leaders are seriously reviewing our proposals to stop financial crisis, protect the vulnerable and address extreme poverty.

After weeks of meetings and strategic planning, on Monday morning Jubilee USA's leadership sent a letter to the head of the IMF detailing a plan to bolster healthcare for the world's poorest people and protect all of us from a financial crisis. Our multi-year advocacy and strategic high-profile efforts achieved a lot this week. In a time that is so challenging, we're grateful to be heartened by so many victories.

Will you please make a gift and support Jubilee USA today? All gifts are doubled now and support our life-saving, transformative work.

• Yesterday, the IMF agreed to our proposal to expand debt relief and provide grant-like aid, as the coronavirus spreads, to the world's poorest countries to bolster healthcare. They are using a mechanism we pushed for and created to deliver relief to Haiti after its earthquake 10 years ago and then transformed to deal with the 2014 Ebola epidemic
  
  
• This week, the IMF and World Bank took up our G20 call to suspend debt payments to the 76 poorest countries in the world
  
  
• The IMF announced it will double its capacity to provide emergency financing and aid to all countries that need it to prevent financial crisis in the face of the coronavirus
  
  
• On Wednesday, after two years of work, the IMF supported the plan to reduce Somalia's debt from $5 billion to $577 million
  
  
• This week our views appeared in tens of thousands of newspapers and outlets around the world like: Fox News, the New York Times, the Miami Herald, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS and the Associated Press

Your contributions now also help us work with and push Congress, the G7, G20, IMF, World Bank and the White House as we expand financial crisis and debt crisis resolution tools in the United States and at the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund. While we’ve made much progress since the 2008 financial crisis, now world leaders are looking more closely at full implementation of many of our proposals.

As our coronavirus campaigns move forward, Jubilee USA continues our campaigns to end extreme poverty and address inequality. In early February, we met with Pope Francis, the head of the IMF and a dozen finance ministers to move forward our campaigns on debt, tax, trade, corruption, transparency, climate and disaster aid. During our day together, we were concerned how shocks like the coronavirus can disrupt both wealthy and poor economies. When Pope Francis addressed our small group, he endorsed all of our campaign efforts.

Your tax-deductible gift now is also vital for us to continue our other campaigns at this time.

• Congress passed and President Trump signed our nearly $6 billion request in healthcare aid for Puerto Rico earlier this year. We also expedited the release of hurricane relief funds. As earthquakes continue to shake the island, we worked with the House to pass nearly $4 billion in aid. We need your help to move the Senate as we work to secure more disaster aid and assistance for Puerto Rico in 2020 as they also wrestle with the coronavirus. In the stimulus package we won more aid for Puerto Rico. With your support over the coming year, we must move forward tens of billions of dollars of additional aid
  
  
• We just won the next phase of debt relief for Somalia. After two years of work, the IMF approved debt relief and President Trump signed our legislation into law. We moved Congress and the International Monetary Fund to pass Somalia debt plans which mean building new roads, women's empowerment, kids going back to school and ending the tragic reality that 73% of people live in extreme poverty. Over the next months, we'll need your help to further move the White House, Congress, the IMF and the Paris Club to authorize and fund the debt relief
  
  
• Our work on climate debt and finance is critical now. Ahead of climate negotiations this year, Jubilee USA is organizing religious communities to ensure that our policies are included in the agendas
  
  
• Our interfaith, bipartisan NAFTA, US Mexico Canada trade campaign won all of our goals. We stopped predatory "vulture" funds from using trade deals to collect on old bad debts. We ensured that most abusive corporations can't exploit trade deals to take advantage of poor people or local laws. We removed the language that would keep medicines and drugs unaffordable for vulnerable communities and all of us. We organized the largest denominations in the US to work with us on this critical campaign and will continue these trade efforts in 2020. We were joined in this work by the leadership of the Presbyterian, Lutheran, Episcopalian, Methodist, Catholic and United Church of Christ Churches. Our work now focuses on 4 countries and a possible Congressional vote in May on access to medicines for all of us
  
  
• We won support from the White House and passed our Jubilee Corporate Transparency Act in the House of Representatives. Once we pass it in the Senate, this legislation helps stop human traffickers, protects debt relief and development aid and raises revenue in the developing world. We are close to a deal in the Senate and organized almost 100 faith communities to work with us to move this forward. We expect our Senate vote in the next few months and need your support to push this across the finish line
  
  
• We continue our strategic efforts on student debt and payday lending. Your support helps us weigh in at critical moments with state governments, Congress and the White House

Please make a tax-deductible gift and support our Jubilee work today. Your gift is needed, has a big impact and is doubled today.

Gratefully,

Eric

Eric LeCompte